Robert D. Bullard, Ph.D., is the Edmund Asa Ware Distinguished Professor of Sociology and Director of the Environmental Justice Resource Center at Clark Atlanta University. He has been described as the father of environmental justice. Professor Bullard was featured in the July 2007 CNN People You Should Know, Bullard: Green Issue is Black and White.  In 2008, Newsweek named him one of 13 Environmental Leaders of the Century, in 2009 Utne Reader named him one of 50 Visionaries Who Are Changing the World and in 2010 he was listed in the The Grio’s  100 History Makers in the Making. Professor Bullard is the author of 15 books. His most recent books include Just Sustainabilities: Development in an Unequal World (MIT Press, 2003), Highway Robbery: Transportation Racism and New Routes to Equity (South End Press, 2004), The Quest for Environmental Justice: Human Rights and the Politics of Pollution (Sierra Club Books, 2005), Growing Smarter: Achieving Livable Communities, Environmental Justice, and Regional Equity (MIT Press, 2007), The Black Metropolis in the Twenty-First Century: Race, Power, and the Politics of Place (Rowman & Littlefield, 2007), and  Race, Place and Environmental Justice After Hurricane Katrina: Struggles to Reclaim, Rebuild, and Revitalize New Orleans and the Gulf Coast (Westview Press, 2009). He is completing work on a new book titled Deadly Waiting Game Beyond Hurricane Katrina: Government Response, Unnatural Disasters, and African Americans (New York University Press, forthcoming 2010).

Terrence Courtney is a native Atlantan, with social and economic justice work with  SEIU local 1985.  He worked on a Healthcare Campaign in California and has done union organizing work in Washington, D.C. and New York. From 2000 to present Terrence has been a full-time organizer with SEIU Local 1985. He works in various capacities such as a trainer, organizer, and leader organizer for campaigns in the public sector throughout the state of Georgia. In 2002, Mr. Courtney began to represent SEIU within the coalition of Atlanta Jobs with Justice (AJwJ). Since 2003, Mr. Courtney has organized with local activists from labor, community, faith, and student groups on areas of immigrant rights, worker rights, defense of public sector, and environmental justice. Recently, Terrence in his capacity at Atlanta Jobs with Justice has initiated a Human Rights Freedom Charter Campaign that will bring together human rights issues in the public sector to change public policy.

Dennis Creech is a co-founder and executive director of Southface, a non-profit that addresses the southeast region’s need for research and education in energy policy, sustainable technologies and applied building science. During his 31-year tenure as Southface’s executive director, the organization’s staff has grown to include more than 50 professionals who deliver education, research, advocacy and technical assistance programs that reach more than 40,000 individuals each year. Southface’s influence on regional and national policy is further reflected by its 200 million annual news media impressions. A LEED Accredited Professional, Mr. Creech has served on the boards of numerous organizations, frequently participates in policy initiatives, and has forged Southface partnerships with Fortune 100 firms, government agencies and community-based organizations. Named one the “100 Most Influential Georgians” by Georgia Trend magazine, Mr. Creech was nominated in 2009 for the prestigious Hanley Award. He is widely viewed as a thought leader on matters pertaining to regional and national energy and sustainability policy, and is a sought-after speaker who is frequently quoted in the media.Mr. Creech resides in Atlanta where he works at the Southface Eco Office, lives in an EarthCraft-renovated 1950’s home and drives a hybrid vehicle.

Edward L. Davis joined Clark Atlanta University’s School of Business Administration in 1980 as a professor in the Department of Decision Sciences. Prior to joining Clark Atlanta, Dr. Davis taught at North Carolina A&T State University, the University of Cincinnati, Morgan State College and the United States Army Air Defense School. He has been a visiting professor at North Carolina Central University and the University of Texas at El Paso. He has been the director of the Economic Development Center at Clark Atlanta University since 1983. Professor Davis chaired the Department of Decision Sciences from 1983 to 1996. In 1996 Professor Davis became interim Dean of the School of Business and in January 1999 accepted the position of Business School Dean. Dr. Davis teaches in the areas of statistics, information systems management, production management and forecasting. His research interests include operations research techniques, minority business development and statistical analysis of procurement procedures. He specializes in the statistical analysis of availability and utilization with minority/women business enterprises (WMBE) in private and public procurement processes. He has authored  several articles for national publications including the International Journal of Mathematical Education Science and Technology, NAFEO Proceedings, DSI Proceedings, Tech Trans, The Status of Black Atlanta, and the Transportation Planning and Technology Journal. He has also authored or participated in more than 50 research studies and consultant reports.

Charles Jaret  is a  professor of sociology at Georgia State University. An interest in socioeconomic inequality, family patterns, and changes in local community life in cities and suburbs initially attracted Dr. Jaret to sociology. In graduate school he also studied race and ethnic relations, the American Jewish community, and demography. Dr. Jaret came to Georgia State University in 1975. His research and teaching interests lie in urban sociology, race/ethnicity, and immigration. Dr. Jaret's research focuses both on individuals' attitudes and behaviors (e.g., racial-ethnic identity; responses to racial-ethnic humor), as well as on larger units and social processes (e.g., connections between metropolitan economic restructuring and economic inequality among racial groups; the process of suburban sprawl). He also studies immigration and recently published a comparison of American attitudes towards immigrants today and in the early 1900s. Other publications include a textbook on race and ethnicity, a comparison of racial identity among blacks, whites, and biracials, a study of comic strip portrayals of American parents, an analysis of black-white income differences, and a case study of suburban sprawl in Atlanta. Dr. Jaret teaches courses in urban sociology, race/ethnic relations, and immigration. His goals in these courses are to provide students with a clear understanding of useful sociological concepts and perspectives, to help them become well-informed with accurate information, and to improve their ability to express and evaluate ideas.

Glenn S. Johnson, Ph.D., is research associate in the Environmental Justice Resource Center and Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at Clark Atlanta University. He coordinates several major research activities including transportation, urban sprawl, public involvement, facility siting, and toxics. He has worked on environmental policy issues for eight years and assisted R.D. Bullard in the research for the book Dumping in Dixie: Race, Class, and Environmental Quality (1994). He is co-editor of a book entitled Just Transportation: Dismantling Race and Class to Mobility (New Society Publishers, 1997). He also co-edited with Robert D. Bullard and Angel O. Torres a book entitled Sprawl City: Race, Politics, and Planning in Atlanta (Island Press, May 2000). His most recent book is co-edited with Robert D. Bullard and Angel O. Torres and is entitled Highway Robbery (South End Press, 2004).

Tamara Jones is Director of Program Development and Government Relations at Southface, an Atlanta-based nonprofit that, since 1978, has been working to promote environmentally sustainable homes, workplaces, and communities through education, research, advocacy, and technical assistance. Tamara ‘s current assignment is working on the Sustainable Cities Institute – a project funded by the Home Deport Foundation which aims to help small and medium cities across the country make their communities and government operations environmentally sustainable.Prior to working at Southface, Tamara served as Director of Policy & Management Analysis in both the Mayor’s Office and the Department of Finance at the City of Atlanta. She has also served as Deputy Director of Grants Development in the Mayor’s Office at the City of Houston. Ms. Jones holds a Master of Arts degree in Political Science from Yale University and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Long Island University.

Deirde Aine Oakley is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology at Georgia State University. Her research focused on how social disadvantages, often created or reinforce by urban policy choices, are compounded by geographic space for the following interrelated areas (1) homelessness and affiliated questions concerning government-assisted housing and service provision; (2) geographically-based economic development efforts targeting distressed inner-city communities; and (3) unequal public education opportunities rooted in the pervasive segregation that prevents younger generations from escaping poverty. She is one of the Principal Investigators on the National Science Foundation-funding Urban Health Initiative, a longitudinal study examining the impact of public housing relocation on the overall health and well-being of public housing residents. She has published in the American Journal of Sociology, Journal of Urban Affairs, Urban Affairs Review, Urban Studies, Cities, City & Community and Ethnic and Racial Studies.

Yanique Redwood is a founding member of The 303 Community Coalition/Dirty Truth Campaign, a grassroots organization dedicated to the elimination of built environment inequities in south Atlanta.  Dr. Redwood received both her MPH and PhD degrees from University of Michigan School of Public Health in the Department of Health Behavior and Health Education.  She received her Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry from Georgia Institute of Technology.  Her dissertation focused on the social, political, and economic processes that, together, created built environment inequities in Atlanta’s Neighborhood Planning Unit-V.  Her research interests include racial/ethnic disparities in health; community-based participatory research; qualitative research; and social marketing.