Human Rights Day 2010 Presenters

Dr. Mary Burke, Director of Training for the Doctoral Program in Counseling Psychology at Carlow University, is committed to social justice and equity. She currently represents the Association for Women in Psychology on the United Nations Conference of Non-Governmental Organizations Committee on Mental Health. Dr. Burke also collaboratively founded and directs.

The Project to End Human Trafficking, a U.S. based non-profit group working around the world to raise awareness of enslavement and economic exploitation of human beings. During the summer, Dr. Burke serves as an affiliate faculty member in the Dept of Counseling and Human Services at Johns Hopkins University. Her commitment to social justice and equity is manifest in her research, teaching, and activism.

Angela Ciccolo is Interim General Counsel/ Secretary to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). A native of Indianapolis, she earned a degree in Foreign Service and a J.D. from Georgetown University, where she received an Earl Warren Scholarship and was an editor of the Environmental Law Review. She was an attorney with Ashcraft & Gerel and on the Board of Governors of the Trial Lawyers Assn in Washington, D.C. She was co-counsel in NAACP v. Harris, NAACP v. AA Arms, and NAACP v. Ameriques—and an election monitor for the Venezuelan Presidential Election in 2006. She was named NAACP Staff Lawyer of the Year in 2003, receiving the Medgar W. Evers Award for Excellence. Ms. Ciccolo is also on the board of the Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project and a nationally acclaimed speaker on civil rights issues. She and her husband and their three children live in Virginia.

Human Rights Day 2009 Presenters

Dr. David Brunsma researches and teaches at the University of Missouri. He earned his doctorate at Notre Dame and his special interests include racial identity, race and ethnic relations, and sociologies of culture, knowledge, and human rights. He currently serves on the board of Sociologists Without Borders/Socíologos Sin Fronteras (SSF) - a transnational association committed to equal rights, political freedoms, legal protections, socioeconomic security, and self-determination for all people. SSF promotes the idea that collective goods, including a sustainable environment, cannot be privatized. These principles challenge ideologies that subordinate peoples, communities, and societies to global markets, transnational corporations, and financiers.

Last year, at Columbia University's Center for the Study of Human Rights, Dr. Brunsma presented "The Way Forward", a provocative plan for increasing the place of Human Rights in Sociology and academia. Other recent publications include The Leading Rogue State: The U.S. and Human Rights and an article, ..."Imagining a Sociology Without Borders". He continues to work to bring social justice and human rights into the discipline of sociology and to advocate for human rights.

Helen Prejean joined the Sisters of St. Joseph of Medaille in New Orleans. A former junior and senior high school teacher, she began her prison ministry in 1981, dedicating her life to the poor of New Orleans. She became pen pals with Patrick Sonnier, convicted killer of two teenagers who was sentenced to die in the electric chair of Louisiana's Angola State Prison, and repeatedly visited him as his spiritual advisor. After this experience she wrote Dead Man Walking, which was nominated for a 1993 Pulitzer Prize and made the 1994 American Library Associates Notable Book List. The book was # 1 on the New York Times Best Seller List for 31 weeks and became an international best seller - translated into ten different languages.
Sister Helen served on the board of the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty from 1985 - 1995 and was its Chairperson from 1993 - 1995. She is an honorary member of Murder Victim Families for Reconciliation, a member of Amnesty International, and presently Honorary Chairperson of Moratorium Campaign, which advocates for a world-wide moratorium on the death penalty.

Her second book, The Death of Innocents: An Eyewitness Account of Wrongful Executions, was published in December 2004, and details the stories of Dobie Gillis Williams and Joseph O'Dell, whom she accompanied to their executions. Sister Helen believes them to be innocent and examines inextricably entwined flaws in the death penalty system which make it unworkable and lead to the execution of innocent people.

Robert Stone specializes in Family Practice and Emergency Medicine in Bloomington, Indiana. A graduate of the University of Colorado College of Medicine, Dr. Stone is also co-founder and director of Hoosiers for a Commonsense Health Plan. HCHP is made up of doctors, nurses, social workers, and others and is affiliated with Physicians for a National Health Program, more than 14,000 members strong. Stone advocates a “single-payer” system (similar to Medicare) for all citizens - which would cut through layers of coverage and categorical restrictions to offer better medical care and access to services on a par with the majority of the world's industrialized countries. Dr. Stone will present statistical information to support his case—from both economic and medical standpoints.

Tony A. Kirkland, Executive Director of the Indiana Civil Rights Commission, also serves on the boards of the IN State Minority Health Coalition, IN Black IN Commission on the Social Status of Black Males (Chairman), March of Dimes Central IN, IN Assoc for Community Economic Development, and the IN Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. He is married to Deanna Lynn Kirkland and they have a son, Thadeus Uriah Kirkland.

Dr. Pearcey, a social researcher and academic administrator, resides in Terre Indiana. He works as the director of the McNair Graduate Opportunity Program at Indiana State University. He is committed to expanding conventional notions of diversity through his work in teaching multicultural education. He serves on the editorial board of the Journal of GLBT Family Studies. His published works include articles on mixed-orientation marriages, the coming- out process, and international education. Additionally, he teaches a variety of sociological and psychological courses at University of Phoenix.

Helen J. Marberry is Warden at the Federal Correctional Complex (FCC) in Terre Haute, whose 3300 inmates are all adult males and where all federal death sentences are carried out. Warden Marberry is a native of St. Louis, earned Bachelors and Masters of Science degrees from University of Central Missouri, and has worked in corrections for 25 years—including Special Agent with the Office of Internal Affairs (Washington, DC), Assoc Warden at FCI(Oxford), and U.S. Penitentiary (Leavenworth). She was the first female Warden at Milan (MI) and McKean (PA). She is a member of the National Association of in Criminal Justice, the American Correctional Association, and Association of Women Executives.

Todd Nation is the owner/operator of Book Nation (Terre Haute’s oldest independent bookstore). He graduated from T.H. North Vigo and Purdue University and served as a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer in Thailand (1987-89), where he taught English and agriculture to junior high school students. He has written and edited educational materials for the Indiana State Museum. He is currently President of the Terre Haute City Council, representing Terre Haute’s 4^th District. He also serves on several other community boards.

Rose Galer grew up in rural Iowa and graduated from Anamosa High School. She completed her BS in Environmental Studies from the University of Iowa in May of 2003 and shot off to Peace Corps Paraguay in September 2003. After completing her Peace Corps service Rose backpacked through South America and moved back home to Iowa only to return to Paraguay six months later to serve as the Peace Corps Environmental Education Trainer. After that, she worked as an Environmental Scientist for Tetra Tech Inc. in Washington DC. Currently, Rose is pursuing her Masters of Public Affairs at the School of Public and Environmental Affairs (SPEA) at Indiana University-Bloomington as well as working as the Campus Peace Corps Recruiter.

Koshy Oommen, M.D., is a partner in the firm, Illiana Internal Medicine (Terre Haute, Medical Director for Southwood Nursing Home, co-Medical Director for Wabash Valley Hospice, part of the team at Union Hospital's Wound Center, and on the staff at Regional Hospital. He also serves as a volunteer physician at St. Anne's Medical Clinic. Dr. Oommen earned his medical degree from Assam Medical College in India and completed his residency in Internal Medicine at the Hurley Medical Center (affiliated with Michigan State University). He and his family live in Terre Haute.