Laurence O'Connell, MBA, MS, and MA; 30 years' experience in the corporate, government, and nonprofit sectors; 20 years' experience teaching; involved in passage of living wage law in NYS; teaches financial literacy to incarcerated women and other groups.

Anna Elise Odom, PhD, The New School for Social Research; instructor in psychology in psychiatry, Weill Cornell Medical College, NY Presbyterian Hospital; research interests include clinical implications and treatment of schizophrenia and substance abuse disorders and understanding and treatment of borderline pathologies, especially in adolescents.

Sidney Offit, BA, Johns Hopkins U.; author of novels (He Had It Made and Only a Girl Like You), children's books (The Adventures of Homer Fink and Topsy Turvy), a short story collection (Not All Girls Have Million Dollar Smiles), and Memoir of the Bookie's Son; former senior editor, Intellectual Digest; curator, George Polk Awards.

Jean Oliver-Cretara, MA, The New School; freelance violist who has recorded and performed with SiSe, David Byrne, Imani Uzuri, and DJ Nicodemus; areas of interest include popular music and communication studies; presented “I Am This Riddim,” a paper about the use of music by Jamaicans in MySpace profiles, at the 2008 U. of the West Indies Global Reggae Conference; teaching artist in the strings program at the Noel Pointer Foundation.

Melanie Beth Oliviero, PhD, Georgetown U.; 30-year career devoted to social justice and human development; currently a member of the DAI (Development Alternatives, Inc.), a consulting firm serving as strategic advisor to the Office on Global Development Alliances of USAID.

Kathleen Ossip, MFA, The New School; author of The Search Engine, winner of American Poetry Review/Honickman First Book Prize; poems have appeared in Best American Poetry 2001, Paris Review, Kenyon Review, and American Poetry Review.