Contributors
STEVE ANDREWS teaches American literature at Grinnell College. His research
interests center on R.W. Emerson, William James, and W.E.B. Du Bois, and he is
currently working on a project dealing with the poetics of landscape in which all three
authors play a significant role. A creative writer as well, he envisions the article included
in this collection as part of a series of non-fiction meditations dealing with the poetics of
place as it relates to reading, citizenship, and assimilation. (e-mail:
andrewss@grinnell.edu).
MICHAEL BEARD teaches in the English Department at the University of North
Dakota. He and his wife were Peace Corps volunteers in Rafjan, Iran from 1968 to 1970.
(e-mail: michaelbeard@mail.und.nodak.edu).
ALBERT I. BERGER (Ph.D., Northern Illinois U.) is an Associate Professor of History
at the University of North Dakota. (e-mail: albert.berger@und.edu)
DORIS BORNHOEFT is the Senior Client Support Specialist, Information Technology
Support Services, the University of North Dakota. She created the layout and set up the
website for John F. Kennedy, History, Memory, Legacy: An Interdisciplinary Inquiry. (email: doris.bornhoeft@und.edu).
ROBERT BOYD is Vice President for Student and Outreach Services at the University
of North Dakota. (e-mail: robert.boyd@mail.und.nodak.edu)
JAMES D. BOYS is the Director of the MA program in International Relations
at Richmond, the American International University in London, where he specializes in
the study of the American system of government and the role of the United States on the
world stage. He consults frequently with the BBC, Sky News and Aljazeera English on
current events and all aspects of American political life. Dr. Boys is currently engaged in
several projects including a text examining Conspiracy Theory; and a history of the
Clinton Administration. (e-mail: boysj@Richmond.ac.uk)
CINDI GALWAY BUYS is an Associate Professor of Law and Director of International
Law Programs at the Southern Illinois University of Law, where she has taught since
2001. Prior to entering academia, Professor Buys spent ten years in public and private
practice in Washington, D.C. She holds an LL.M. in International and Comparative Law
from Georgetown University and an M.A. and J.D. from Syracuse University. (e-mail:
cbuys@law.siu.edu).
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RALUCA-LUCIA CIMPEAN was born in 1981, in Blaj, Romania. In 2004 she
graduated from Babes-Bolyai University, in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, with a BA in English
(major) and in Romanian (minor). She then earned an MA in American Studies from
Heidelberg Center for American Studies, Ruprecht-Karls University, Germany. She is
currently enrolled in a PhD program at Heidelberg Center for American Studies. The title
of her dissertation is John F. Kennedy through the Looking Glass: Docudramatic
Representations of the Kennedy Image. (e-mail: (christa_lucia@yahoo.com).
RICHARD E. COLLIN is the Communications and Education Director of the State
Historical Society of North Dakota. Previously, he was the coordinating producer for
NASA’s videoconference series, Update for Teachers, broadcast from Oklahoma State
University. Richard was following in the footsteps of his father, Everett E. Collin, who
was
NASA’s
Deputy
Education
Director
from
1961-1973.
(e-mail:
rick@dakotabooknet.com).
HEIDI CZERWIEC is assistant professor of English and Creative Writing at the
University of North Dakota, where she was the Director of the annual UND Writers
Conference from 2006-2009. She is the author of Hiking the Maze (Finishing Line Press,
2009), the recipient of a 2009 Bush Foundation/Dakota Creative Connections artist
grant, and has poems and translations published or forthcoming in Measure, Nimrod,
Evansville Review, Southern Indiana Review, Hunger Mountain, and International Poetry
Review. (e-mail: heidi.czerwiec@und.nodak.edu).
ROBIN DAVID is Associate Director of the University of North Dakota Honor Program
where she coordinates service-learning She is also president of the Board of Directors of
the Global Friends Coalition, the local non-profit which assists refugees resettling in
Grand Forks, North Dakota. (e-mail: robin.david@und.nodak.edu).
CORY ENGER served in the Peace Corps from 2006-08. He served in Niger in
sustainable agriculture. He currently is working on a Master’s degree in Geography at the
University of North Dakota. (e-mail: cory.enger@und.edu).
JOSHUA P. FERSHEE is an Assistant Professor of Law at the University of North
Dakota. (e-mail: jfershee@law.und.edu)
JAMES H. FETZER, McKnight Professor Emeritus at the University of Minnesota
Duluth, has edited three major collections of studies on the death of JFK, Assassination
Science (1998), Murder in Dealey Plaza (2000), and The Great Zapruder Film Hoax
(2003). A former Marine Corps officer, he has chaired or co-chaired four national
conferences on this subject and also produced a 4.5 hour documentary, JFK: The
Assassination, the Cover-Up, and Beyond (1994). (e-mail: jfetzer@d.umn.edu).
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RICHARD M. FILIPINK is an Assistant Professor of History at Western Illinois
University, specializing in Cold War American history. Filipink received his Ph.D. from
the State University of New York at Buffalo in 2004. (e-mail: rm-filipink@wiu.edu).
KATHLEEN GERSHMAN is Professor of Educational Foundations and Research at the
University of North Dakota. She has an Ed.D. in Teaching, Curriculum and Learning
Environments from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She served in the Peace
Corps in Bolivia from 1967-69, doing public health work in the Youngas area of that
country. She is the author of They Always Test Us on Things We Haven't Read: Teen
Laments and Lessons Learned (Hamilton Books, 2005) and co author with Donald Oliver
of Education, Modernity and Process Philosophy (SUNY Press, 1989). (e-mail:
kathleen.gershman@und.edu).
LAURA JANE GIFFORD is an independent historian and adjunct professor at George
Fox University in Newberg, Oregon. Her first book, The Center Cannot Hold: The 1960
Presidential Election and the Rise of Modern Conservatism, was published in 2009 by
Northern Illinois University Press. She holds a Ph.D. in American history from the
University of California, Los Angeles. (lgifford@georgefox.edu).
GREGORY S. GORDON is Director of the University of North Dakota Center for
Human Rights and Genocide Studies and teaches in the School of Law. After receiving a
J.D. from the University of California, he worked with the Office of the Prosecutor for
the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, which conducted the first postNuremberg of radio and media executives for incitement of genocide. His scholarship on
international criminal law has been published in the Columbia Journal of Transnational
Law and the Virginia Journal of International Law. He was the Chair of the UND JFK
Conference Committee. (e-mail: gordon@law.und.edu).
ROBERT OTIS KELLEY (Ph.D., the University of California).is President of the
University of North Dakota; he is also Professor of Anatomy and Cell Biology. He
previously held administrative and academic positions at the University of Wyoming, the
University of Illinois at Chicago, and the University of New Mexico. He has long been
involved with upgrading the medical educations of international students. His writings
have been in the field of cell biology. (e-mail: rokelley@mail.und.edu).
JOHN FITZGERALD KENNEDY was the 35th president of the United States. Under his
administration, the Peace Corps was initiated, space exploration was expanded, and the
civil rights initiative was set in motion. The ending the missile crisis in Cuba was a major
accomplishment. He wrote While England Slept, and the Pulitzer Prize winning Profiles
in Courage. His address at the University of North Dakota on September 25, 1963 is
included in this volume.
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BRIAN K. LANDSBERG is Distinguished Professor and Scholar at Pacific McGeorge
School of Law and the author of two books about the work of the Civil Rights Division
of the United States Department of Justice, Free at Last to Vote and Enforcing Civil
Rights. He served in the Division as a lawyer and section chief from 1964 to 1986. (email: blandsberg@pacific.edu).
DAVID F. MARSHALL (Ph.D., NYU) is professor emeritus of English at the University
of North Dakota. Prior to teaching, he was in publishing in New York and Philadelphia.
(e-mail: david.marshall@und.nodak.edu home: 160 Janet Marie Lane, Winona MN
55987.)
CHARLES PELLEGRIN is Assistant Professor of History at Northwestern State
University at Natchitoches, Louisiana where he teaches American Foreign Relations,
U.S. Military History, and History of Modern China. He earned his Ph.D. from
Mississippi State University in 2005. (e-mail: pellegrinc@nsula.edu).
SCOTT RACEK is a graduate student working on his dissertation in political science at
the University of Maryland. In addition to teaching undergraduates, he is a high school
teacher by day, teaching Government and a course on the history of the Cold War. Mr.
Racek lives in Virginia with his wife Kathleen and his children Drew and Caitlin. (email: Scott.Racek@fcps.edu).
RICHARD REEVES is a historian and a preeminent political author. He has written
books on Presidents Kennedy, Nixon, and Reagan. His President Kennedy: Profile in
Power is considered an authoritative work on the 35th president. He had an illustrious
career as a journalist as well. He was the Chief Political Correspondent for the New York
Times. He has made several televisions as well.
GARY SEVERSON is a native North Dakotan and a graduate of the University of North
Dakota. He teaches at suburban Bloomington John F. Kennedy H.S. the Minneapolis-St.
Paul, Minnesota metro area. Much of his continuing research about JFK is based on
events surrounding JFK's 1963 Presidential visit to the University of North Dakota on
9/25/1963. (e-mail: spearman@chaska.net).
TED SORENSEN worked on a daily basis with John F. Kennedy as a speech writer and
special counsel. He crafted JFK’s rhetoric. He was present at many important moments in
Kennedy’s presidency, particularly the Cuban missile crisis. Most recently, Sorensen
wrote a book about his life, Counselor: a Life at the Edge of History.
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MICHAEL SNYDER received his Ph.D. in English from University of Oklahoma. He
focuses on mid-to-late twentieth century American literature and culture and Native
American literature and theory. His publications can be found in such journals as
Critique: Studies in Contemporary Fiction and Studies in American Indian Literatures,
and the book Gerald Vizenor: Texts and Contexts. He is working on books on two
gay American authors: the underrated genius James Purdy and James Leo Herlihy, the
author of Midnight Cowboy. (e-mail: mkesnyder@yahoo.com).
KATIE M. STEPHENSON received a Master’s degree in English from Texas A&M
University. She currently works as an advisor and teacher at the University of Texas at
Arlington. (e-mail: katiematilda@hotmail.com).
MARY STROMME received her MA degree at Iowa State University and is currently
working toward her Ph.D. in English at the University of North Dakota. She is Editorial
Assistant of The Oral History Review. (e-mail: mary.stromme@und.nodak.edu).
JOHN R. TUNHEIM is a United States District Judge for the District of Minnesota.
From 1994 - 1998, he served as the Chair of the U.S. Assassination Records Review
Board, an independent federal agency in charge of declassifying the government records
of the Kennedy assassination. The Review Board completed its work on September 30,
1998, presenting its Final Report to the President and establishing a legacy of over 4
million pages of materials concerning the assassination now available to the public at the
National Archives in College Park, Maryland. (e-mail:
(Debbie_Lancette@mnd.uscourts.gov).
Professor JOSEPH J. VACEK teaches and researches in the areas of air and space law,
transportation studies, and environmental issues at the University of North Dakota. He
is especially curious about human powered transportation, having studied it in his travels
and in the Peace Corps. He commutes year round by bicycle and insists he enjoys every
minute of it. (e-mail: jjvacek@aero.und.edu).
BOB WAITE, Ph.D., is a historian based in Shusan, New York. From 1988 to 2008 he
was a Historian, and later, Senior Historian, in the Office of Special Investigations, U.S.
Department of Justice. (e-mail: bwaite9@verizon.net).
ELEANOR WILLIAMS is an Assistant Professor of English and an Osher Lifelong
Learning Instructor in the Division of Continuing Education at the University of North
Dakota. (e-mail: eleanor.williams@und.edu).
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JOHN DELANE WILLIAMS ( Ph.D. U. Northern Colorado, Ph.D. Fielding Graduate
U.) is Professor Emeritus, Educational Foundations and Research. He is also a licensed
clinical psychologist. His writings have been in statistical methodologies, statistical
applications, psychology, and the JFK assassination. His JFK writings have appeared in
JFK/Deep Politics Quarterly, The Dealey Plaza Echo, The Fourth Decade, and Kennedy
Assassination Chronicles. (e-mail: john.williams@und.nodak.edu).
SEAN LORAL WINDINGLAND was a student at the University of North Dakota. He
videotaped much of the conference and the sessions available to the public on U-Tube.
Several of the transcriptions in this volume were retrieved from his videotapes. (e-mail:
somethingseaarchives@gmail.com).
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