Laure Steenhuisen
Dr. Lauve Steenhuisen has taught in the Theology and Women's Studies departments at Georgetown for 12 years. She specializes in American religion and gender issues. Her published works include studies of fundamentalism and the "separation of church and state" doctrine in Supreme Court decisions. In March 2007, she was invited to present a paper at Oxford University on the topic of whether school voucher programs violate separation of church and state, since much of voucher public funding goes to Catholic parochial schools. Her doctorate is from the University of California at Berkeley and the Graduate Theological Union in the sociology of religion.

Ron Johnson
Ronald Johnson is a Professor in the Department of History. He is a specialist in nineteenth-century (19th) American cultural history with an emphasis in gender, race, and post-Civil War culture.

He is the co-author (with Abby Arthur Johnson) of Propaganda and Aesthetics: the Literary Politics of African American Periodicals in the Twentieth Century (University of Massachusetts Press, rev. ed. 1992) and is currently working (with Abby Arthur Johnson) on a cultural history of Congressional Cemetery, Washington D.C. as the first national cemetery in the United States. Professor Johnson has served on the American Studies Committee since 1975 and as director/chair from 1979-85 and 1989 to the present.

Professor Johnson offers courses on the American cultural experience, focusing on literary developments, such as his course on "Mark Twain's America, 1870-1900," or technological and reform history as in his "Perfecting America: Reform, Technology, and Society, 1830-1900." He also teaches a course on "What Is An American? -- Studies in Cultural Identity in the United States." He has taught graduate courses on "Mark Twain and American Culture" (graduate readings colloquium) and "American Cultural History" (seminar). In addition, he teaches the first half of the United States history survey and in the core curriculum of the American Studies Program. Finally, Professor Johnson serves on the Liberal Studies Graduate Program core faculty and regularly offers courses for the program.

Toby Chieffo-Reidway
Toby Chieffo-Reidway, C'93, B.A. in American Studies, Georgetown University; M.A.'95 and Ph.D. 2005 in American Studies, The College of William & Mary has been an adjunct professor of American Studies at Georgetown since 2000. At GU, she has taught American Civilization III and African American Art and Culture: from Slavery to the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. In 2000-2002 Professor Chieffo-Reidway was the Media Projects Coordinator at the Smithsonian American Art Museum for the PBS television program, George Catlin and His Indian Gallery. She is the recipient of several grants and fellowships including, NEH Younger Scholar's research grant, and a predoctoral fellowship at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History and the National Portrait Gallery. She was awarded the Visions of Excellence award for Outstanding Faculty from the GU Black Student Alliance, for her dedication and work in the field of African American history and culture. Additionally, she received a special letter of commendation from the president of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation for her tenure in the CWF African American Interpretations Department. Her expertise is in the fields of 18th, 19th and early 20th century American Art, and African American history and culture and has a serious interest in 18th and 19th century Native American Studies.

Dr. Veronica Donahue DiConti
Veronica Donahue DiConti is currently an Elections Analyst with the FOX News Channel in NYC and a member of FOX's Decision Desk Team for their 2008 "You Decide" coverage. Dr. DiConti joined the FOX team in 2002. Prior to FOX, DiConti was with Voter News Service, a New York City based national news gathering agency owned and operated by ABC, AP, CBS, CNN, NBC, and FOX News, from 1988-1996. While a consultant at Voter News Service, DiConti was also a graduate student at the Johns Hopkins University and earned both an MA and PhD in political science. Before pursuing graduate work, DiConti worked for NBC News in New York in their Election and Polling Division and also earned an MA in Media Studies from the New School University. A graduate of Syracuse University and the mother of 3 boys, she is presently the Associate Dean at Georgetown University for Summer and Special programs. Her published interests focus on the politics of education reform as well as curriculum issues at the undergraduate level. She has a forthcoming chapter on improving assessment in undergraduate experiential programs in a volume that will be published by the American Political Science Association this fall.