Mark Overmyer-Velázquez is Associate Professor of History and the founding Director of El Instituto: Institute of Latina/o, Caribbean & Latin American Studies at the University of Connecticut. Trained at Yale University as a historian of Latin America and U.S. Latinos, Professor Overmyer-Velázquez has dedicated his research and teaching to these intersecting fields. He completed his latest book, Beyond la Frontera: The History of Mexico-U.S. Migration (Oxford, 2011), while on fellowship as the Peggy Rockefeller Visiting Scholar at Harvard University. His new book project analyzes the historical experiences of people from Latin America and the Caribbean in their hemispheric and global diasporas. Global Latin(o) Americanos: Transoceanic Diasporas and Regional Migrations emerges from his work as a Fulbright Scholar examining the history of Peruvian migrants in Chile. Winner of the New England Council on Latin American Studies Best Book Award, his first work, Visions of the Emerald City: Modernity, Tradition and the Formation of Porfirian Oaxaca, Mexico (Duke, 2006; Spanish translation 2010), analyzes how elites (city officials and Church leaders) and commoners (city artisans and female sex workers) mobilized visual cultures to construct and experience the mutually defining processes of modernity and tradition during late 19th and early 20th century Mexico. Former co-chair of the Latina/o Studies Section of the Latin American Studies Association, he also edited the two volume, Latino America: State by State (Greenwood, 2008), which addresses the historical significance of the growing Latin(o) American population throughout the United States.

John Andrew Morrow received his Honors BA, MA, and PhD from the University of Toronto. He also completed over forty years of traditional Islamic seminary studies. Dr. Morrow has taught at numerous universities and rose to the rank of Full Professor of Foreign Languages. Recognized as a Master Teacher and a Distinguished Faculty Member, he received a Student Impact Award, an Interfaith Service Award, and a Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition. An academic, author, educator, and administrator, Professor Morrow is also an activist, political analyst, advisor, and international speaker. He is considered one of the most notable American Muslims, along with Malcolm X, Warith Deen Mohammed, Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Sherman Jackson, and others. Dr. Morrow's works include "Hijab: Word of God or Word of Man?, "Islam & Slavery," "Finding W.D. Fard," "The Covenants of the Prophet Muhammad with the Christians of the World," and "The Encyclopedia of Islamic Herbal Medicine," among many others.