John Algeo has been international Vice President of the Theosophical Society since 2002. Previously, he was national president of the American Section for nine years and has served in various offices locally, regionally, and nationally. He has been a member of the Theosophical Society for 60 years, publishing in Theosophical journals and lecturing around the world. He is editor of The Letters of H. P. Blavatsky (v. 1, 2003) and of G. R. S. Mead’s Echoes from the Gnosis (Quest Books, 2006), author of Reincarnation Explored (1987), coauthor of The Power of Thought: A Twenty-First Century Adaptation of Annie Besant’s Classic Work, “Thought Power” (2001), and author of such pamphlets and study courses as Senzar: The Mystery of the Mystery Language (1988), Getting Acquainted with "The Secret Doctrine": A Study Course(1989), Blavatsky, Freemasonry, and the Western Mystery Tradition (1996), Living Theosophy (1998), The Essentials of Theosophy (2002), and Theosophy: An Introductory Study Course (2003).

Algeo holds the Ph.D. from the University of Florida, where he also taught for 10 years and served as Assistant Dean of the Graduate School. He is now Professor Emeritus of English at the University of Georgia, where he was also Alumni Foundation Distinguished Professor and served as Department head and Director of Linguistics. He continues active in his academic field, the study of the English language. His most recent academic book is British or American English? A Handbook of Word and Grammar Patterns (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2006). Others include The Origins and Development of the English Language, (Thomson, Wadsworth, 5th edition 2004), The Cambridge History of the English Language, volume 6: English in North America (edited for Cambridge Univ. Press, 2001), and Fifty Years "Among the New Words": A Dictionary of Neologisms, 1941-1991 (Cambridge Univ. Press, 1991). He is past president of the American Dialect Society (whose journal, American Speech, he also edited for ten years), the American Name Society, and the Dictionary Society of North America. He has been a Fulbright Senior Research Scholar and a Guggenheim Fellow at the University of London.

For further biographical information, see Who's Who in America, Who’s Who in the World, Dictionary of International Biography etc.

Dr. Jean Houston, scholar, philosopher and researcher in Human Capacities, is one of the foremost visionary thinkers and doers of our time. She is long regarded as one of the principal founders of the Human Potential Movement.

In 1965, along with her husband Dr. Robert Masters, Dr. Houston founded The Foundation for Mind Research. She is also the founder and principal teacher of the Mystery School, a school of human development, a program of cross-cultural, mythic and spiritual studies, dedicated to teaching history, philosophy, the New Physics, psychology, anthropology, myth and the many dimensions of human potential. This school is in its 24^th year and takes place on both the East and West Coasts. She also leads an intensive program in social artistry with leaders coming from all over the world to study with Dr. Houston and her distinguished associates. This program in innovative leadership strategies is now in its 4th year. She is also the Founder as well as the Program Director of the International Institute for Social Artistry.

A prolific writer and author of 25 books including A Passion for the Possible, Search for the Beloved, Life Force, The Possible Human, Public Like a Frog, “A Mythic Life: Learning to Live Our Greater Story, and Manual of the Peacemaker . A recent book Jump Time explores a new Global Paradigm and speaks boldly of a regenesis of human society. The questions raised in this book and the exciting suggestion of possibilities are producing new pioneers - Social Artists - working on the frontiers of this new global society

As Advisor to UNICEF in human and cultural development, she has worked to implement some of their extensive educational and health programs, primarily in Myanmar (Burma) and Bangladesh. In 1998, Dr. Houston worked with leaders throughout New Zealand to help bring forth that nation's promise. With other international agencies, she has implemented the social development of indigenous people through the integration of their unique cultural gifts into their health and educational systems. In September of 1999, she traveled to Dharamsala, India as one of the distinguished group chosen to work with the Dalai Lama in an informative and advisory capacity . Her advisory work with the Dalai Lama has continued.

Dr. Houston has also served for two years in an advisory capacity to President and Mrs. Clinton as well as helping Mrs. Clinton write, It Takes A Village To Raise A child. As a high school student she worked closely with Mrs. Roosevelt on developing strategies to introduce international awareness and United Nations work to young people. She has also worked with President and Mrs. Carter and counseled leaders in similar positions in many countries and cultures.

She has worked with numerous corporations, including Xerox, Beatrice Foods, General Electric and Rodale Press. She has also worked with governmental agencies, including the U.S. Department of Commerce, the U.S. Office of Technology Assessment and the Department of Energy.

In the past three years she has been working with the United Nations Development Program, training leaders in developing countries throughout the world in the new field of social artistry. To date this training has occurred in Albania, the Easern Caribbean, Kenya, Nepal, and the Phippines.

A past President of the Association of Humanistic Psychology , she has taught philosophy, psychology, and Religion at Columbia University, Hunter College, the New School for Social Research and Marymount College, as well as summer sessions in human development at the University of California at Santa Cruz and the University of British Columbia. She was Distinguished Visiting Scholar at the University of Oklahoma in that university's Scholar-Leadership Enrichment Program in 1982.

In addition, Dr. Houston presented the William James Lecture at Harvard Divinity School, the Orr Lectures at Wilson, and the Alfred Stiernotte Lecture in Philosophy at Quinnipaic College. She has spoken at hundreds of colleges and universities all over the world. She has directed two three-year courses in human capacities development and a program of cross-cultural mythic and spiritual studies, now entering its twenty first year. In 2002 she instituted the first summer Institute in Social Artistry with participants coming from all over the world. A description of this program can be found at her website, www.Jeanhouston.org.

She has chaired, among many other academic and scientific convocations, the 1975 United Nations Temple of Understanding Conference of World Religious Leaders. Under the sponsorship of the Department of Commerce, she also helped to initiate and then chaired the 1979 Symposium for leading government policy makers.

Her work has been the core of a great many teaching-learning communities throughout many parts of the world. In 1984, she created a national not-for-profit organization, The Possible Society, to encourage the creation of new ways for people to work together to help solve societal problems. Giving seminars to large groups of citizens in 17 cities throughout North America, she established ongoing teaching-learning communities devoted to the enrichment of their citizens and the betterment of their cities.

In 1985, Dr. Houston was awarded the Distinguished Leadership Award from the Association of Teachers Educators. In 1993, she received the Gardner Murphy Humanitarian Award for her work in psychology and the INTA Humanitarian of the Year award. In 1994, she received the Lifetime Outstanding Creative Achievement Award from the Creative Education Foundation. The following year, she was given the Keeper of the Lore Award for her studies in myth and culture. In 1997 she was made a Fellow of the World Business Academy and also received the In 1999 she received that Pathfinder award from the Association of Humanistic Psychology. She was given the Millennium award in 2000.

Her PBS Special, A Passion for the Possible, has been widely shown. Her book drawn from the program was published by Harper San Francisco in August of 1997.

A powerful and dynamic speaker, she holds conferences and seminars with social leaders, educational institutions and business organizations worldwide. Jean Houston has worked intensively in 40 cultures helping to enhance and deepen their own uniqueness while they become part of the global community. She has lectured in over 100 countries and is the recipient of many awards. She works at all levels of leadership. Her ability to inspire and invigorate people enables her to readily convey her vision - the finest possible achievement of the individual potential. That same ability lets her share with her audiences and students throughout the world, the excitement of that possibility,

She holds a B.A. from Barnard College, a Ph.D. in psychology from the Union Graduate School and a Ph.D in religion from the Graduate Theological Foundation. She has also been the recipient of honorary decorates.

Jamal Rahman is Muslim Sufi minister at Interfaith Community Church, director of Sacred Psychology School and adjunct faculty at Seattle University. He is also co-host of Interfaith Talk Radio and travels extensively, co-facilitating workshops and retreats locally, nationally and internationally. He is author of The Fragrance of Faith – the Enlightened Heart of Islam.

Educated from childhood by teachers of the Islamic Sufi Tradition, Jamal’s passion lies in interfaith community building. He remains rooted in his Islamic Tradition but cultivates a "spaciousness" by being open to the beauty and wisdom of other religions. By authentically and appreciatively understanding other paths, Jamal feels that he becomes a better Muslim. This "spaciousness" is not about conversion but about completion.

Edward Tick, Ph.D., is an expert on post-traumatic stress disorder. A practicing psychotherapist for more than 25 years, he is a nationally recognized authority on the psychological, spiritual, historical, and cultural aspects of war in the healing of PTSD. Dr. Tick specializes in transformational work with war veterans and all survivors of severe trauma, which include sexual and substance abuse victims, those with acute mental and emotional disorders, and those in need of deep psycho-spiritual healing. In his work, Dr. Tick applies his own innovative model of treatment based on his research of worldwide spirituality, mythology, traditional cultures, and the warrior archetype in order to develop a new and strengthened psycho-spiritual identity.

A writer, educator, and overseas journey guide, Dr. Tick holds an M.A. in psychology from Goddard College and a Ph.D. in Communication from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He is a clinical member and has held various officer positions with the American Academy of Psychotherapists and the American Holistic Medical Association, as well as many other professional organizations. He is also an ordained interfaith minister.

Dr. Tick began treating Vietnam veterans in psychotherapy in 1979 before PTSD was a diagnostic category. Since that time, he has treated veterans and survivors of WWII, the Holocaust, Korea, the Vietnam War, the Gulf War, Central American conflicts, Lebanon, the Balkan wars, the Irish civil and religious wars, the Greek Civil War, the Middle East conflicts, and the Iraq War, among others. He has also served as a consultant to numerous community, church, and organizations on the treatment of veterans and the training of staff for such work.

Dr. Tick’s extraordinary work takes him on healing journeys, spiritual tours, lectures, educational classes, and workshops around the globe. He is cofounder of the Sanctuary International Friendship Foundation, a nonprofit agency that directs and raises funds for projects to help heal war-torn Viet Nam. He resides in Albany, New York, where he and his wife Kate Dahlstedt are directors of Sanctuary: A Center for Mentoring the Soul and Soldier’s Heart, a non-profit program designed to create veterans’ safe-return programs in communities across the country.

The author of three other books, Dr. Tick recently released War and the Soul: Healing Our Nation’s Veterans from Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (Quest Books, Nov. 2005), which has gained much international attention and acclaim. The title is now being used as the guidebook for Soldier’s Heart®, giving new hope to the devastation of war and showing us how to welcome home our soldiers with compassion and understanding. War and the Soul is the winner of the 2006 Award of Distinction from the International Communicator Awards program and ForeWord Magazine’s 2005 Book of the Year Award (BOTYA) in psychology. For more information on Dr. Tick and his work, visit his Web site at www.mentorthesoul.com.

• Founder and Executive Director, Interreligious Engagement Project (2002—>); working with global religious communities to address the world’s critical problems through cooperative partnerships with government, business, education, media, intergovernmental organizations, and civil society. IEP21 is currently direction the Global Dialogue of Civilizations Project: “Muslim Cultures and Western Cultures in the Quest for Justice and Peace”.
• Co-founder (1975) and Executive Director (1988–present), Common Ground, an adult educational organization and study center which offers a wide range of programs focusing on the great cultural, religious, philosophical, and spiritual traditions and their implications for every dimension of human experience. The Common Ground Center is located at 815 Rosemary Terrace, Deerfield, Illinois, 60045. (847) 940-7870.
• Co-Editor, Interreligious Insight: a Journal of Dialogue and Engagement, published four times each year in the US and the UK by the World Congress of Faiths, the Interreligious Engagement Project, and Common Ground.
• Former Global Director, Council for a Parliament of the World’s Religions (1995—2002); creating new structures and contexts for interreligious dialogue and cooperation. The Parliament process is dedicated to the facilitation of international interreligious encounter, dialogue, and commitment to cooperative common action, bringing the leaders and the faithful of the great religious and spiritual traditions together to make a better world.
• Commissioner and Co-Convenor, World Commission for Global Consciousness and Spirituality (2001—). The purpose of the Commission is to convene eminent global leaders and teachers from diverse disciplines and from diverse cultural, religious, philosophical and spiritual traditions in sustained dialogue between worlds to cultivate higher global wisdom, ethics, and spirituality. The Chair of the Commission is Dr. Ervin Laszlo. Co-Chairs are Dr. Robert Müller and Dr. Karan Singh. Members include H.H. the Dalai Lama, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Dr. Du Weiming, Sir Sigmund Sternberg, Professor Cornel West, Steven Rockefeller, Jane Goodall, and the Very Reverend James Parks Morton.
• Founding Trustee, International Committee for the Peace Council (1995–present); bringing together some of the world’s most revered and influential religious and spiritual leaders in service to world peace. The Peace Council had its inaugural meeting at Windsor Castle, London, in November, 1995; members include His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, Swami Chidananda Saraswati, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and Imam Wallace Deen Mohammed. The Peace Council is today pursuing initiatives in relation to the International Campaign to Ban Landmines; the Mayan people of Chiapas, Mexico; peace in Cambodia; the China-Tibet situation; peace in the Middle East; and relations between North and South Korea. The year 2000 meeting of the Peace Council was held in Jerusalem.
• past Trustee, International Interfaith Centre, Oxford, UK (1995–2005); the Centre is devoted to facilitating cooperation of people and groups actively engaged in interreligious work, to providing information about interfaith activities worldwide, and to promoting research into ways of developing interreligious understanding, cooperation, and respect for religious freedom. The Centre is actively involved in developing structures and modes of cooperation among the world’s major international interreligious organizations.
• Vice Chair, Council for a Parliament of the World's Religions, Chicago (1988 – 993); Program Chair, organization and planning for the Parliament of the World's Religions, held in Chicago, August 28 – September 4, 1993. Founding Member, Board of Trustees (1988 – 1995) and International Advisory Committee (1994 – 1995), Council for a Parliament of the World’s Religions.
• Director, 1996 Conference, Society for Christian–Buddhist Studies, held in Chicago, Summer, 1996; Conference theme: “Socially Engaged Buddhism and Christianity.
• Former Consulting Editor and regular contributor, Conscious Choice magazine, published monthly, Chicago, IL.
• Former Chair, Department of Religions, Barat College, Lake Forest, IL. Former faculty member, Department of Religion, Lake Forest College, and Mundelein College, Chicago, IL.
• Doctoral work in comparative religions, Northwestern University (1974-1977) Dissertation Title: "The Eye of the Triangle: A Comparative Study of Buddhism, Christianity, and Modern Physics". Dissertation received second place in the international Bross Competition for papers linking religion and other disciplines.
• Co-editor (with Ron Miller),Fireball and the Lotus: Emerging Spirituality from Ancient Roots (Bear and Co., 1987).
• Lecturer on a wide range of topics in cultural history, religion, philosophy, spirituality, and current affairs.