Culture Shock: Soapbox: Panel Speaker Bios

Soapbox Panel Speaker Bios

Photo of Jill Janows
Panel host Jill Janows is an executive producer for cultural programming at WGBH, where she launched Culture Shock, a four-part historical documentary series on controversial art and freedom of expression. For Culture Shock, she produced the film on Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in addition to executive producing the series. She also executive produced the American broadcast of Sister Wendy's Story of Painting and produced Bill Moyers in Conversation with Sister Wendy, a one-hour PBS special.
Ms. Janows' other documentary film projects include The Story of Anna Akhmatova and films on William Carlos Williams, Wallace Stevens, Emily Dickinson, and Elizabeth Bishop for Voices & Visions, a thirteen-hour series on modern American poetry broadcast on PBS in 1988.

Photo of Margaret Miles
Margaret R. Miles is Dean and Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dillenberger Professor of Historical Theology at Graduate Theological Union, an interdenominational consortium in Berkeley, CA.
Her recent publications include Carnal Knowing: Female Nakedness and Religious Meaning in the Christian West and Seeing and Believing: Religion and Values in the Movies. Professor Miles has also published and lectured widely on topics ranging from St. Augustine to spirituality in the world of Disney.

Photo of Chris Leighton
Christopher M. Leighton is Executive Director of the Institute for Christian-Jewish Studies in Baltimore, MD. He has taught at Johns Hopkins University and St. Mary's Seminary, and published and led seminars on such topics as religious pluralism and church-state relations.

Peter Gay is Director of the New York Public Library's Center for Scholars and Writers. An internationally renowned cultural historian, Professor Gay is the author of more than 20 books on topics ranging from the Enlightenment to Mozart. His five-part study of 19th century life, Bourgeois Experience: Victoria to Freud, explores, among other themes, the role of art in middle-class society.

Professor Gay received his B.A. from the University of Denver in Colorado in 1946, and his M.A. and Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1947 and 1951, respectively. From 1962 to 1969 he was Professor of History at Columbia University. Appointed to Yale University's history faculty in 1969, he became Sterling Professor of History in 1984. He retired from Yale in 1993.

Photo of Robert Peters
Robert Peters was named President of Morality in Media in September 1992. Born in LaSalle, Illinois, in 1949, Mr. Peters graduated from LaSalle-Peru Township High School in 1967 and from Dartmouth College in 1971. Mr. Peters graduated from New York University School of Law in 1975 and was admitted to practice law in New York in 1976. Following law school, Mr. Peters served as a VISTA attorney and then spent several years working with various interfaith organizations in New York City involved with moral and family issues. For his work with one such organization, he received a special Effective Citizenship Award from John Cardinal O'Connor for translating "concern for the welfare of children into effective action on their behalf." He joined the staff of Morality in Media's National Obscenity Law Center in 1985 and became Assistant Director of the NOLC in 1987. The NOLC serves as a national clearinghouse of legal materials on obscenity law. Mr. Peters has drafted proposed legislation, testified, and authored studies on topics ranging from TV program rating systems to the effects of violent media on youth.

Photo of David Ross
David Ross was appointed director of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art effective June 1, 1998. Prior to this he had served as director of the Whitney Museum of American Art since 1991. Widely known as a strong champion ofcontemporary art, Mr. Ross has been an art museum professional since 1971 when he was named the world's first Curator of Video Art at the Everson Museum ofArt in Syracuse, New York. He has organized over one hundred exhibitions of 20th century art, is widely published, and has lectured at museums and universities around the world. Mr. Ross has been involved in the organization and jurying process of major international exhibitions including Documenta, the Venice Biennale, and The Carnegie International.


	Panel host Jill Janows is an executive producer for cultural programming at WGBH, where she launched Culture Shock, a four-part historical documentary series on controversial art and freedom of expression. For Culture Shock, she produced the film on Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in addition to executive producing the series. She also executive produced the American broadcast of Sister Wendy's Story of Painting and produced Bill Moyers in Conversation with Sister Wendy, a one-hour PBS special. Ms. Janows' other documentary film projects include The Story of Anna Akhmatova and films on William Carlos Williams, Wallace Stevens, Emily Dickinson, and Elizabeth Bishop for Voices & Visions, a thirteen-hour series on modern American poetry broadcast on PBS in 1988.
	Margaret R. Miles is Dean and Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dillenberger Professor of Historical Theology at Graduate Theological Union, an interdenominational consortium in Berkeley, CA. Her recent publications include Carnal Knowing: Female Nakedness and Religious Meaning in the Christian West and Seeing and Believing: Religion and Values in the Movies. Professor Miles has also published and lectured widely on topics ranging from St. Augustine to spirituality in the world of Disney.
	Christopher M. Leighton is Executive Director of the Institute for Christian-Jewish Studies in Baltimore, MD. He has taught at Johns Hopkins University and St. Mary's Seminary, and published and led seminars on such topics as religious pluralism and church-state relations.
	Peter Gay is Director of the New York Public Library's Center for Scholars and Writers. An internationally renowned cultural historian, Professor Gay is the author of more than 20 books on topics ranging from the Enlightenment to Mozart. His five-part study of 19th century life, Bourgeois Experience: Victoria to Freud, explores, among other themes, the role of art in middle-class society. Professor Gay received his B.A. from the University of Denver in Colorado in 1946, and his M.A. and Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1947 and 1951, respectively. From 1962 to 1969 he was Professor of History at Columbia University. Appointed to Yale University's history faculty in 1969, he became Sterling Professor of History in 1984. He retired from Yale in 1993.
	Robert Peters was named President of Morality in Media in September 1992. Born in LaSalle, Illinois, in 1949, Mr. Peters graduated from LaSalle-Peru Township High School in 1967 and from Dartmouth College in 1971. Mr. Peters graduated from New York University School of Law in 1975 and was admitted to practice law in New York in 1976. Following law school, Mr. Peters served as a VISTA attorney and then spent several years working with various interfaith organizations in New York City involved with moral and family issues. For his work with one such organization, he received a special Effective Citizenship Award from John Cardinal O'Connor for translating "concern for the welfare of children into effective action on their behalf." He joined the staff of Morality in Media's National Obscenity Law Center in 1985 and became Assistant Director of the NOLC in 1987. The NOLC serves as a national clearinghouse of legal materials on obscenity law. Mr. Peters has drafted proposed legislation, testified, and authored studies on topics ranging from TV program rating systems to the effects of violent media on youth.
	David Ross was appointed director of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art effective June 1, 1998. Prior to this he had served as director of the Whitney Museum of American Art since 1991. Widely known as a strong champion ofcontemporary art, Mr. Ross has been an art museum professional since 1971 when he was named the world's first Curator of Video Art at the Everson Museum ofArt in Syracuse, New York. He has organized over one hundred exhibitions of 20th century art, is widely published, and has lectured at museums and universities around the world. Mr. Ross has been involved in the organization and jurying process of major international exhibitions including Documenta, the Venice Biennale, and The Carnegie International.