The panel--Democracy Now--is an opportunity to hear from humanists whose daily work considers and shapes the state of our local and global democracies. Questions the conversation may explore include: What does active citizenship in a democracy look like? How do we prepare ourselves for the challenges that our democracy will face? How do we reform our democracy so that it serves all of its constituents?
Our goal is for our panelists to help the audience interpret the current political moment and discover new pathways to citizen leadership.
Moderated by Simón Rios, WBUR reporter.
DAYNA CUNNINGHAM is the Pierre and Pamela Omidyar Dean of Tufts University’s Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life. Dean Cunningham has devoted her career to promoting civic participation, building community partnerships, and advocating for underrepresented communities. At Tisch College, she has articulated a bold vision for building robust, inclusive democracy for an increasingly multiracial society.
REBECA G. FIGUEROA is an Associate Justice of the Boston Municipal Court. She was appointed to the bench by Governor Maura Healey in 2024. As an associate justice, Judge Figueroa presides at the Dorchester Division of the Boston Municipal Court and is the presiding justice of the Dorchester Recovery Court.
CHAWKY FRENN was born in Zahlé, Lebanon. Before emigrating to the United States in 1981, he witnessed six years of civil war. Its devastating consequences have powerfully influenced his life and artwork. Frenn received a BFA from Mass College of Art and Design in Boston, MA in 1985, and an MFA from Tyler School of Art of Temple University in Philadelphia, PA in 1988. He is currently an Associate Professor at George Mason University in Fairfax, VA. Frenn has exhibited his work throughout the United States, and around the globe, and has received critical acclaim from publications including the New York Times, NY ARTS, Art New England, Boston Globe, Connecticut Post, Atlanta Magazine, and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in the United States, as well as An-Nahar,
Noorya Hayat joined CIRCLE as a researcher in January 2016. She works on projects that help promote civic learning and engagement in the K-12 education system and beyond, and she is interested in the intersection of education, both in formal and informal settings, and civic learning and awareness in youth, particularly from marginalized and diverse ethnic backgrounds. Noorya has experience working in the U.S. and abroad in teaching and educational research.
ELIZABETH HANSEN SHAPIRO is the CEO and co-founder of the National Trust for Local News, a nonprofit newspaper company dedicated to protecting and sustaining local news, by publishing sustainable community newspapers that safeguard the public trust, elevate facts, empower communities with solutions, and foster a strong sense of place.
Born in Boston’s Jamaica Plain neighborhood, Simón Rios is an award-winning bilingual reporter in WBUR's newsroom. He graduated from Emerson College in 2005 with a bachelor's degree in writing, literature and journalism. At WBUR he covers the ways Greater Boston is changing, with an eye on demographics, immigration and inequality.
