13th National Conference June 19-22, 2010 Hosted by: Weber State University 3848 Harrison Blvd. Ogden, UT 84408 Toll-free 1-200-848-7700 www.weber.edu		For Conference Questions, please contact the CUR National Office at 202-783-4810 or cur@cur.org
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Mary Alice Morgan and Andrew Silver, Mercer University "Research as Activism: The University and Anti-Trafficking Community Movement-Building"

S.T.O.P. began in a first year seminar class at Mercer University called “Engaging the World.” While writing their research essays on contemporary ethics and justice, students started asking questions about the many spas and spa billboards dotting Macon’s landscape. They soon joined ranks with members of Baptist Collegiate Ministries and Women’s and Gender students enrolled in a course devoted to violence against women. At the end of spring semester 2008, this diverse coalition of students formed S.T.O.P. (Sex Trafficking Opposition Project): middle-Georgia’s first anti-trafficking group. They resolved to bring a conference to Mercer, and they set out to raise awareness about sex trafficking.

The plenary session will be presented by Mary Alice Morgan, Director of Women's and Gender Studies and Senior Vice-Provost for Service Learning, and Andrew Silver, Professor of English and designated 2003 Georgia Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation. Dr. Morgan received her B.A. degree from Duke University and her Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She recently led a Mercer on a Mission trip to South Africa. Dr. Silver earned his undergraduate degree in religion at George Washington University and his doctorate in English literature at Emory University. Dr. Silver and Dr. Morgan will be joined by two students who are involved in S.T.O.P., an on-going project at Mercer. Hannah Vann is a senior Women’s and Gender Studies major enrolled in the Honor’s Program at Mercer, and Sarah Hedgis is a recently graduated double major in Women’s and Gender Studies and Christianity. Sarah is currently enrolled in the Candler School of Theology at Emory University.

Robert Joseph Full, University of California, Berkeley "The Value of Interdisciplinary Research-based Instruction"

Professor Full directs the Poly-P.E.D.A.L. Laboratory which studies the Performance, Energetics and Dynamics of Animal Locomotion (P.E.D.A.L.) in many-footed creatures (Poly). His research laboratory applies the same techniques used in the study of human gait - 3D kinematic, force platform, and EMG analysis - but in miniature. His internationally recognized research program in comparative physiology and biomechanics has shown how examining a diversity of animals leads to the discovery of general principles of locomotion. General principles can then be used as hypotheses to explain the remarkable diversity in physiology and morphology in nature. His programmatic theme is Diversity Enables Discovery. At the same time, discovering the function of simple, tractable neuromechanical systems along with a knowledge of evolution can provide new design ideas applicable to the control of animal and human gait. Recently, Professor Full's research has focused on the role of the mechanical system in self-stabilization. Undergraduate students are an integral part of his research program.

Full's research also has provided biological inspiration for the design of multi-legged robots and computer animations. His research interests extend from analyzing the pitching motion of a Hall of Fame pitcher to assisting computer animators make children's movies (Pixar/Disney Bug;s Life). In 1990 Full received a National Science Foundation Presidential Young Investigators Award. In 1994 he presented his research at the Annual Meeting of the National Academy of Sciences. Professor Full's research has been featured in the popular press such as newspapers, various science magazines and on several television shows (CNN, NBC Today Show, ABC World News Tonight, Discovery Channel).

Robert Full received his undergraduate degree in 1979 from SUNY Buffalo where he also received his master’s and doctoral degrees. In 1996 he was given a Distinguished Teaching Award. In 1997 Professor Full became a Chancellor's Professor and the director of a new biological visualization center. In 1998 Professor Full received a Goldman Professorship for teaching.

Gabrielle Foreman, Occidental College "Activating the Archive: Transformative Practices and Community Partnerships"

P. Gabrielle Foreman works in the area of literary history with a focus on race and nineteenth-century reform movements. She is the author of dozens of articles and reviews and has served on the editorial and consulting boards of some of the leading journals in American literature. Her most recent publications include the book Activist Sentiments: Reading Black Women in the Nineteenth Century and a 150th anniversary edition of Harriet Wilson's Our Nig or, Sketches from the Life of a Free Black in which she and her co-editor "picked up one of the coldest trails in nineteenth-century African American studies" by uncovering the last forty years of the life of a once forgotten, and now well-known, early Black woman writer.

For more than fifteen years, Gabrielle has been active with community and educational groups as a scholar, speaker and organizer. She is currently Visiting Distinguished Professor of Africana Studies at Bowdoin College. She lives in Los Angeles where she is a Professor of English and American Studies at Occidental College.

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