Summit Speakers

Willie Dwayne Francois III serves as Senior Pastor of Fountain Baptist Church, Summit, NJ and Chair of Building One America of and as the President of the Black Church Center for Justice and Equality. Francois' pastoral activism and literary witness take shape around racial equity, economic justice, and criminal justice reform. Francois co-authored the book Christian Minister’s Manual: For the Pulpit and the Public Square for All Denominations—the most progressive and comprehensive clergy service resource for congregational and justice ministries. He is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Morehouse College with a Bachelor of Arts in History and Religion, holds a Master of Divinity from Harvard Divinity School, and is currently pursuing a Doctor of Ministry from Emory University.

Khalil Gibran Muhammad is the inaugural Professor of African American Studies and Public Affairs at Princeton University, where he directs the Institutional Antiracism and Accountability Project. He is Board Chair of the Vera Institute of Justice, and a WGBH contributor to Boston Public Radio. He is the former Ford Foundation Professor of History, Race and Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School and the former Director of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, a division of the New York Public Library and the world’s leading library and archive of global Black history. He co-hosted the Pushkin Industries podcast Some of My Best Friends Are.

Khalil’s scholarship examines the broad intersections of systemic racism, structural inequality, and democracy in U.S. History. He is the award-winning author of The Condemnation of Blackness: Race, Crime, and the Making of Modern Urban America and recently co-chaired a National Academies of Science study, Reducing Racial Inequality in Crime and Justice.  His writing and scholarship have been featured in national print and broadcast media outlets, such as the New Yorker, Washington Post, The Nation, National Public Radio, PBS Newshour, Moyers and Company, MSNBC, and the New York Times, which includes his sugar essay for The 1619 Project.  He has appeared in several feature-length documentaries, including Amend: The Fight for America, the Oscar-nominated 13th, and Slavery by Another Name (2012). 

Khalil serves on the boards of The Museum of Modern Art, Cure Violence Global, The New York Historical Society, and The Nation magazine, as well as the advisory boards of Common Justice, The HistoryMakers, and the Lapidus Center for the Study of Transatlantic Slavery. He holds honorary doctorates from The New School and Bloomfield College and a Distinguished Service Medal from Columbia University’s Teachers College. He is an award-winning teacher and has received several awards for his commitment to public engagement, including Ebony Power 100, The Root 100 of Black Influencers, ERASE Racism’s Abraham Krasnoff Courage and Commitment Award, BPI Chicago’s Champion of the Public Interest Award, The Fortune Society’s Game Changer Award, Crain’s New York Business magazine 40 under 40.

A native of Chicago’s South Side, Khalil graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a B.A. in Economics and then joined Deloitte as a staff accountant until entering graduate school. He earned his Ph.D. in U.S. History from Rutgers University and started his academic career at Indiana University.

Rev. Timothy Levi Adkins-Jones is the Pastor of the historic Bethany Baptist Church in Newark, New Jersey.  A son of the church, Rev. Adkins-Jones was led to faith in Christ at the early by his grandfather the Rev. Leroy Jones at Pilgrim Journey Baptist Church in his hometown of Richmond, Virginia. Before being called to Bethany, Rev. Adkins-Jones faithfully led congregations in Massachusetts and Connecticut, building a young legacy of community activism and Christian service. He gladly serves as part of the leadership team for the New Jersey Black Multi-Faith Alliance and the Clergy Caucus for Faith in New Jersey, a non-partisan, multi-faith organization seeking social and economic change through policy and relationships.  

Embodying the best of the Black preacher-scholar tradition, Rev. Adkins-Jones has a PhD in Practical Theology with a Homiletics concentration at Boston University. He also holds a BA in Psychology from Amherst College, and an MDiv from the Boston University School of Theology. A sought-out lecturer and speaker across the nation, Rev. Adkins-Jones previously taught courses in homiletics and polity at Yale Divinity School. He was featured on the “For Your Soul Sunday” Broadcast on SiriusXM UrbanView, and continues to serve his alma mater Amherst College as the Graduate Fellow for the Hermenia T. Gardner Christian Worship Series, a bi-semester worship celebration of the Black Church tradition. 

Rev. Adkins-Jones is a member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. He is also the proud husband of Dr. Amey Victoria Adkins-Jones and the father of four loving and amusing souls, Sofia, Ezekiel, Isabella, and Judah Nwà who keep him young and busy.

Michael A. Walrond Jr. is the Senior Pastor of First Corinthian Baptist Church (FCBC) in Harlem, New York. Walrond—affectionately known as Pastor Mike—is quickly rising as one of the most prolific and sought-after teachers and preachers in the country. Considered a visionary, cultural architect, and game-changer by his peers, Pastor Mike has not only catalytically changed the traditional perspective of the black church, but he is also shifting the paradigm of Christian understanding and culture. Within two years of his leadership at FCBC, the church experienced exponential growth, tripling its membership. Over the past thirteen years, membership at FCBC has grown from 300 to over 10,000 members.

Pastor Mike’s community and social justice initiatives include the Micah Clergy Roundtable of NYC, A.C.T. Social Justice Ministry, anti-“stop and frisk” campaign and helping to get the “New York City Living Wage” legislation passed by the City Council. He is a board member of the National Action Network (NAN) and was appointed the first National Director of the Ministers Division. He serves as a Trustee and adjunct faculty member of Chicago Theological Seminary and currently serves as the Chair of The Board of Visitors at Duke University Divinity School. For over two years served as a weekly columnist for the New York Amsterdam News. Pastor Mike’s work has been recognized by The Harlem Torch, Positive Community Magazine, The Amsterdam News, and he was named “One of the Lord’s Foot Soldiers” by Newsweek Magazine. Pastor Mike has received numerous honors, accolades, and recognitions include induction into Morehouse College Martin Luther King, Jr. Board of Preachers as a “Distinguished Preacher.” In 2014 Pastor Mike was a recipient of The Root 100 Award, a list of the top 100 most influential African Americans under the age of 45. In July of 2015 New York City Mayor, Bill de Blasio, named Pastor Mike as the first chair of the NYC Clergy Advisory Council.

In 2012, Pastor Mike’s foresight and passion for the Harlem community shaped the vision for the FCBC community development corporation (CDC). The most ambitious project to date of the FCBC CDC is The Dream Center: a transformative space designed to awaken dreams of the community. Focused on creative arts, leadership development, and economic empowerment, The Dream Center offers over twenty-five completely free programs to the Harlem community for all ages, races, and backgrounds. With a desire to deeply engage the issues of the community, in December of 2016 Pastor Mike opened the H.O.P.E. (Healing On Purpose and Evolving) Center; the first faith-based mental health facility in Harlem. The H.O.P.E. Center is a manifestation of Pastor Mike’s vision to effectively support the vast mental health needs of the community. The center seeks to minimize the stigma that exists in many communities of color when seeking mental health services.

Pastor Mike is a graduate of Morehouse College, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy. He continued his studies at Duke University School of Divinity as a Martin Luther King, Jr. Scholar and earned a Master of Divinity degree with a focus in Theology. He served Duke University as the University Minister and Director of the African American Campus Ministry for eight years. Pastor Mike served as the Senior Pastor of Zion Temple United Church of Christ in Durham, North Carolina for eight years. He is a proud member of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. and the Morehouse College Alumni Association.

Pastor Mike is a native of Roosevelt, New York. He is married to the Rev. Dr. LaKeesha N. Walrond, who serves as the Executive Pastor of FCBC. They are the proud parents of two beautiful children, Michael III and Jasmyn Dominique.

Professor Myron Orfield is the Director of the Institute on Metropolitan Opportunity. He has written three books and dozens of articles and book chapters on local government law, spatial inequality, fair housing, school desegregation, charter schools, state and local taxation and finance, and land use law. The syndicated columnist Neal Peirce called him “the most influential demographer in America’s burgeoning regional movement.” Orfield’s research has led to legislative and judicial reforms at the federal level and state level reform in Minnesota, Illinois, Michigan, California, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Washington, Oregon, and Maryland.

John C. Brittain joined the faculty of the University of the District of Columbia David A. Clarke School of Law, in 2009, as a tenured professor of law, and served as Acting Dean from 2018 to 2019. Prior to joining UDC Law, he served as Dean of the Thurgood Marshall School of law at Texas Southern University in Houston, as a tenured law professor at the University of Connecticut School of Law for twenty-two years, and as Chief Counsel and Senior Deputy Director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law in Washington, D.C., a public interest law organization founded by President John F. Kennedy to enlist private lawyers in taking pro bono cases in civil rights.

Professor Brittain writes and litigates on issues in civil and human rights, especially in education law. In 2015, the Mississippi Center for Justice honored him as a "pioneering civil rights leader and esteemed law professor who has inspired a generation of young attorneys." In 2013, he was named to the Charles Hamilton Houston Chair at North Carolina Central University School of Law, established to bring prominent civil rights law professors and litigators to the law school to teach constitutional and civil rights law for a year. Professor Brittain was one of the original counsel team in Sheff v. O’Neill, the landmark school desegregation case decided by the Connecticut Supreme Court in 1996, chronicled in Susan Eaton’s book, The Children in Room E4: American Education on Trial, in which he is frequently mentioned. He was a part of a legal team representing private plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit against the State of Maryland for denying Maryland’s historically black institutions of higher learning – Morgan, Coppin, Bowie and Maryland Eastern Shore Universities – comparable and competitive opportunities with traditional white universities

B.A., Howard University 1966; J.D., Howard University 1969

Josh Gottheimer represents New Jersey’s Fifth Congressional District in the northern part of the state, which includes parts of Bergen, Passaic, and Sussex counties. In Congress, Josh serves on two Committees, including the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, where he is the Ranking Member of the National Security Agency and Cyber Subcommittee and is a member of the Defense Intelligence and Overhead Architecture Subcommittee. Josh also serves on the House Financial Services Committee, where he is a member of the Subcommittee on National Security, Illicit Finance, and International Financial Institutions, the Subcommittee on Digital Assets, Financial Technology, and Artificial Intelligence, the Subcommittee on Capital Markets, and the Task Force on Monetary Policy, Treasury Market Resilience, and Economic Prosperity. 

Josh helped launch the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus in 2017 and served as Co-Chair during the 115th, 116th, 117th, and 118th Congress. He currently serves as Vice-Chair, where he continues to promote commonsense over extremism and works across party lines on key issues, including lowering taxes, protecting our environment, making healthcare more affordable, protecting America’s national security, and improving infrastructure to help the American people.

Josh also serves as Co-Chair of the bipartisan SALT Caucus and the Law Enforcement Caucus, and is a member of the House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee, the Blue Dog Coalition, and the New Democrat Coalition.

Dr. Semaj Y. Vanzant, Sr. is a trained theologian, community builder, and change agent who brings to his work an intimate commitment to his calling that is reasonably demonstrated through forward-thinking leadership, and organizational and motivational skills.

He graduated Magna Cum Laude, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and Minor in Psychology from Gannon University, his Master of Divinity degree from Princeton Theological Seminary, and his Doctor of Ministry from St. Paul’s School of Theology, Oklahoma City, OK where he completed a dissertation entitled, “Loved Not Judged: Developing Communities of Faith with Cultures of Love and Grace.” His Ordination for Ministry was received at Church of the Redeemer Baptist in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania via the American Baptist Churches, USA, under the leadership of Rev. Dr. Wayne E. Croft, Sr.

Pastor Semaj has had a breadth of ministry and pastoral experiences including a “Transition Into Ministry” program at The Concord Baptist Church of Christ in Brooklyn, New York, the Oklahoma Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church to pastor its first church re-start, and faithfully serving as the pastor-teacher at Second Baptist Church of Asbury Park, NJ for an ordained season. Each church under his leadership resulted in significant growth as a relevant and vital ministry.

On October 29, 2022 God birth a dynamic faith-based community called Encounter Christ Global Fellowship with a profound commitment to addressing both spiritual and practical needs. The overarching mission is encapsulated by the phrase, "Transforming Lives, Empowering Communities, and Impacting the World." Pastor Semaj serves as the Pastor-Founder.

In 2016 Pastor Semaj co-founded with his wife, Inspire Life, a nonprofit organization that lives into its mission to empower youth and families to purpose, professions, and positive choices. Pastor Semaj serves as the Development Manager of Launch Center, an initiative of Interfaith Neighbors, Inc. designed to be a unique and barrier smashing career preparation program.

Pastor Semaj serves on the boards of various religious and community organizations including serving as the 1st Vice President of General Baptist Convention of New Jersey. Through his business Vanzant Consulting, Pastor Semaj partners with churches and organizations to implement strategies for organizational capacity building, operational effectiveness, and transformation of culture designed to position them to actualize their vision and mission.

Pastor Semaj’s repertoire of sermonic presentations is extensive, having preached all across the United States as well as Liberia, Africa, and Jerusalem, Israel. He is a native of New Orleans, Louisiana and member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. He is united in the bonds of Holy Matrimony with Carla Renee and is the proud father of Semaj Jr. and Seth.

Dr. Edward D. Harper is the full-time pastor of the Macedonia Baptist Church in Lakewood, NJ. He is the Mortgage Strategic Chairman  of the General Baptist Convention New Jersey and is also the former Moderator of the Seacoast Missionary Baptist Association. Further, he is presently the President of Permanent Council of the Seacoast Missionary Association.

He is originally from Marion, Alabama. He moved to New Jersey with his wife, Virginia, after spending some years in the Midwest.

He earned a Bachelor of Business Administration Degree with a concentration in Marketing from the University of Detroit. It was also at the University of Detroit where he earned a Master of Arts Degree with a concentration in Guidance Counseling. His Master of Divinity Degree was earned at Princeton Theological Seminary in Princeton, NJ. Further, he earned both the Master of Arts Degree and a Doctorate with a concentration in Adult and Higher Education at Columbia University in New York City.

He is the CEO, founder and executive director of the 501-C-3 nonprofit corporation that is known as Macedonia Family Life Community Complex, Inc. Also, he is a Police Chaplain for the Police Department of the historic City of Lakewood, NJ.

Dr. Harper received the FEMA Building Resilience with Diverse Communities Award at the White House during the Presidency of Barack Obama.

He is the founder of the “Prayer Back in Schools Movement” (PBSM) in Year 2013 to encourage and lead the public into restoring prayer in schools as a solution to decreasing gun violence in the educational arena.  He is the President of a grassroots community organization known as Concerned Citizens in Action (CCA) that was founded in January 2014.

Dr. Harper was inducted into the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. International Board of Preachers at Morehouse College in Atlanta, GA. during the Year 2013. He is an alumnus of the Lott Carey Foreign Mission Convention Pastoral Excellence Program. He is a recipient of the Whitney M. Young, Jr. Service Award.

Steven Michael Fulop is the 49th and current Mayor of Jersey City, New Jersey – named the most diverse city in the nation and the soon-to-be largest city in New Jersey.

Since Mayor Fulop took office in 2013, Jersey City residents have seen ten consecutive years of stable taxes and consistent credit rating upgrades.

Since 2013, we’ve hired 823 police officers and 377 firefighters, and we will continue to make the investment to ensure our public safety personnel have the training and resources they need to stay safe.

$1.4 BILLION was added in new rateables to our tax rolls, the 8,000-unit Bayfront Redevelopment project that will break ground in 2024 is 35% affordable housing; we are reimagining Holland Gardens, turning outdated public housing into mixed-income communities that will be the largest new public housing project in New Jersey. In 2023, we opened the doors to Public Safety Headquarters located on MLK Drive. The fourth and final building completes the vision we initially articulated to establish greater access to critical services and thousands of jobs while driving critical investment into the Bergen-Lafayette neighborhood.

In 2023, we completed one of the largest citywide park improvement plan in decades, with over 25 park updates. We created 12 new plazas and public spaces throughout the city, including the new Bethune Park and the new Fairmount Park; added the new Coles Park where none previously existed; and we have set the way for the new 3-acre Courthouse Park, which will soon be the first large park in Journal Square.

Since expanding the Department of Recreation to include Youth Development, we have successfully established new programs and enhanced existing recreation to be more inclusive of everyone’s abilities and interests. In 2023-2024 our emphasis on expanding services for children with special needs.

The online Recreation portal, which launched in June, has made field scheduling more accessible. As a result, 140 different organizations were issued field permits between June and December, impacting thousands of children.

The arts are flourishing in Journal Square, where we will soon break ground on the Loew’s Theatre restoration project to revive the iconic theater and attract thousands of visitors from all over the region; Journal Sq. will soon have the distinction of being the only North American location of the Centre Pompidou, home to the largest collection of modern and contemporary art in Europe.

Since 2020, nearly 300 Arts and Culture Trust Fund grants have been distributed, totaling $3 million. In April 2024, the third round of grants from the Trust Fund supported 44 program grants, 13 arts education grants, 21 general operating grants and 20 individual artist fellowships - an infusion of $1 million to 78 artists and arts organizations.

Jersey City’s nonprofit arts and culture sector generates $46 million in economic activity annually while supporting over 500 jobs and $28 million in personal income to city residents.

During his time in office, Mayor Fulop has shown what smart, progressive leadership can accomplish – and opened a new chapter for Jersey City.

Under his leadership, Jersey City became the first city in the state – and the 6th city in the country – to ensure paid sick leave. Mayor Fulop has pioneered new ideas for helping prisoners re-enter society; he’s passed legislation to protect small businesses and encouraged more to open shop; made Jersey City one of the greenest cities in the nation. He’s undertaken sweeping public safety reform, with the JCPD now seen as a model for diversity around the nation. And Mayor Fulop has led the city to record economic development that’s benefited families of all income levels.

Mayor Fulop is a first-generation American, a lifelong New Jerseyan, a Marine, and a triathlete. He grew up in a Jewish family in Edison, New Jersey, the son of Romanian immigrants. His mother was the daughter of Holocaust survivors and worked in an immigration services office helping others gain citizenship. His father owned a delicatessen nearby in Newark, where Mayor Fulop worked behind the counter as a teenager.

Mayor Fulop graduated from Binghamton University in 1999 and spent time abroad studying at Oxford University in the UK. After college, he joined Goldman Sachs, the investment banking firm, working in Chicago and later in Manhattan and Jersey City. On the morning of September 11, 2001, Mayor Fulop was working in lower Manhattan when he saw the first plane strike the Twin Towers. A few weeks later, he decided to put his career at Goldman Sachs on hold and join the United States Marine Corps.

Mayor Fulop’s Reserve Unit deployed to Iraq in January 2003. There, he served as part of the 6th Engineer Support Battalion. He traveled into Baghdad during the early weeks of the war. In 2006, Mayor Fulop completed his service to the Marine Corps Reserve with the rank of Corporal.

In 2005, Mayor Fulop was first elected to public office as the councilman representing downtown Jersey City.  He served as a councilman for eight years before becoming Mayor.

Mayor Fulop and his wife, Jaclyn, are parents to three wonderful children, Jaxon, Stasha and Sage Montana. The Mayor is an avid runner and triathlete. He ran the NYC Marathon in 2012, raising money for the Hudson County Child Abuse Prevention Center. He also competed in the Ironman Championship in NYC that year to raise money for veterans.

Reverend Maria Crompton is the first woman to serve as the Senior Pastor of Elmwood United Presbyterian Church in East Orange, NJ. She is a dynamic preacher, teacher, sought after speaker and workshop facilitator.

Reverend Crompton received the Bachelor of Arts degree in Religious Studies and English from Drew University, the Master of Divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary and the Certificate in Executive Leadership from McCormick Theological Seminary. Rev. Crompton is currently pursuing a Doctorate of Ministry degree from Emory University Candler School of Theology. 

Reverend Crompton is called to empower the people of God through prophetic leadership. She currently serves as the President of the East Orange Clergy Association, where she partners with church and community leaders. Rev. Crompton is a board member for Circle of Sacred Fire, a preaching intensive for women of color in ministry, and the President of the New Jersey Chapter of the National Black Presbyterian Caucus. 
 
Reverend Crompton has been afforded the opportunity to serve in a variety of ministry contexts including, Bethel Baptist Church in Orange, NJ where she was the first woman and youngest minister licensed, First Congregational Christian Church in Irvington, NJ and Middle Collegiate Church in New York City. 

Reverend Crompton holds dual ministerial standing in the United Church of Christ and the Presbyterian Church (USA). When it comes to ministry, Reverend Crompton believes that like Esther, God has placed her in position for such a time as this.

Reverend Crompton is married to Andre Crompton and they have three children, Nilah Marie, Andre Joshua and Noah Alexander.

Rev. Jerry M. Carter, Jr. is a native of Columbus, Ohio. He was called to the Calvary Baptist Church of Morristown, New Jersey in 1990 and during his tenure as the 14th Pastor, he has impacted Ministry that has consequences that extend well beyond Calvary and the Morristown Community. He is a highly sought-after revivalist, keynote speaker and lecturer who has been invited to share the Gospel on various platforms throughout the Country.

Those who regularly “sit” under Pastor Carter’s preaching, teaching and tutelage have greatly benefitted from his anointed divining and proclamation of the Word of God and its profound ability to change lives. With a prescience of its eventual ramifications, Dr. Carter would found the “How Shall They Hear” Preaching Conference to further encourage, prepare and strengthen those with “…beautiful.. feet..” who would bring “Good News” to the world.

He has inspired a greater connection to a more spiritual lifestyle through two published works: The Empowered Life: Living Well In The Spirit and; The Journey To Purpose: Navigating Your Spiritual Path. Rev. Carter has also contributed to the New Interpreters Handbook of Preaching, Oxfords Sermons Volume III, Evangelizing the Black Male in the 21st Century and the African American Pulpit.

Adding to his influence as a voice of renown are adjunct assignments at Princeton Theological Seminary, Princeton, New Jersey; Drew Theological School, Madison, New Jersey; New Brunswick Theological Seminary, New Brunswick, New Jersey; and The Samuel Dewitt Proctor School of Theology – Virginia Union University, Richmond, Virginia.

Dr. Carter received his own training at Dennison University in Granville, Ohio (BA); Princeton Theological Seminary (MDiv.); and Drew Theological School (Ph.D.). His specialty of Expository Preaching won him the Prize of the same name at Princeton in 1990.

Rev. Carter currently serves as the President of the African-American Clergy Association of Morris County in New Jersey. He is also the proud father of three children, Jerry M. III, Zachary Daniel and Camille Ashley.

Rev. Eric W. Wallace, Sr., is an anointed preacher and Pastor Elect of the Mount Olive Baptist Church of Plainfield, NJ. He is known for his instructive and yet profound exposition of God's word. Pastor Wallace was born in Camden, NJ, to Pastor Edward Wallace and the late Lauretta Wallace. He accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior at the tender age of 8 and was licensed to preach at the age of 11 by the Gethsemane Primitive Baptist Church in Newark, NJ. Pastor Eric preached his first sermon entitled "Trust In God and He Will Take Care of You" (Exodus 14:13-14. Pastor Eric Wallace was Ordained September 29th, 1984, by the National Primitive Baptist Church Association.

Pastor Wallace began his pastoral career at the age of 25, serving first as Assistant Pastor to Rev. A.C Durant of Washington, D.C. and then planting a church named Victory Primitive Baptist Church in Alexandria, VA. He was elected as the first and youngest moderator in the county for the Primitive Baptist Movement. After serving faithfully in the Washington, D.C area, Pastor Wallace returned home to assist his father in planting a new church, New Life Baptist Church in Burlington, NJ. He was elected in 1998 as the second pastor of New Life Baptist Church after the retirement of his father.

​Pastor Wallace holds a Bachelors Degree in Pastoral Ministry from Masters Divinity School in Evansville, IN, and is currently a student at New Brunswick Theological Seminary in the Master of Divinity Program. Pastor Wallace has over 30 years in ministry and over 18 years as a Pastor and still has a compassion for God's people. Pastor Wallace can be found on social media spreading the gospel. He can often be heard saying, "true change can only come when you have concerned clergy and compassionate congregants."

Paul A. Jargowsky’s principal research interests are inequality, the geographic concentration of poverty, and residential segregation by race and class.  His book, Poverty and Place: Ghettos, Barrios, and the American City (New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1997), is a comprehensive examination of poverty at the neighborhood level in U.S. metropolitan areas between 1970 and 1990. The Urban Affairs Association named Poverty and Place the “Best Book in Urban Affairs Published in 1997 or 1998.”  In August 2015, The Century Foundation published Dr. Jargowsky’s report, The Architecture of Segregation: Civil Unrest, the Concentration of Poverty, and Public Policy.  The report received much attention in the media an social media, summarized here.

Reginald Oh brings to the law school nine years of teaching experience and a lengthy roster of publications and presentations in this country and abroad.  Professor Oh is a prolific scholar whose work is most often a careful examination of distributive justice, including the ways in which justice succeeds or fails when gender and race are involved.

History, politics, linguistic analysis, and race and gender studies inform articles such as "Interracial Marriage in the Shadows of Jim Crow: Racial Segregation as Racial and Gender Subordination" in the University of California Davis Law Review (2006) and "Discrimination and Distrust: A Critical Linguistic Analysis of the Discrimination Concept" in the University of Pennsylvania Journal of Constitutional Law (2005). "Regulating White Desire," which examines the gendered nature of racial segregation, was published in the Wisconsin Law Review in 2007. "Fear of a Multiracial Planet: Loving’s Children and the Genocide of the White Race" was published in the Fordham Law Review in 2018.

At Cleveland-Marshall, Professor Oh teaches Civil Procedure, a Constitutional Law Seminar on the Fourteenth Amendment, and a seminar on Legal Issues in Education. Professor Oh is also a widely sought and widely traveled lecturer; in a two-year span he spoke at more than 30 national and international conferences. In July 2007, he presented "Race, Racism and Belonging" at the International Congress for Law and Mental Health in Padua, Italy; in March 2007 he lectured on "Reading Brown through Loving: Racial Segregation and the Promotion of White Supremacy" at the University of Iowa College of Law, and "Racial Segregation and the Thirteenth Amendment" at the Tenth Annual Conference for the Association of the Study of Law, Culture, and the Humanities at Georgetown University.

Leslie Wilson is a Professor of History and the Associate Dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at Montclair State University.  Leslie Wilson received a PhD from the Graduate School of the City University of New York. His research interests are popular culture, urban history, history of science, and environmental history. He teaches courses including History of Black Americans and The Study of History.

Jon Bramnick is an experienced lawyer, professor and dedicated public servant. While serving in the State Assembly Bramnick was elected by his colleagues to serve five terms as the Republican Leader, making him the highest-ranking member of the Republican Caucus in the Assembly. He has served in the State Senate representing the 21st legislative district since 2022 and was re-elected in 2023 by 7% in a district that voted for President Joe Biden by 17 points.

As a member of the legislature he has fought to lower the cost of living, make our communities safer, and to end the construction of thousands of court mandated housing units in communities around the state.

Jon’s public service began over 30 years ago when he was elected to the Plainfield City Council. He was an assistant professor of business law at Rider University and an adjunct professor of business law at Rutgers University.

Jon Bramnick speaking to a person
Senator Bramnick also founded the law firm of Bramnick, Rodriguez, Grabas & Woodruff, based in Scotch Plains which started as a one man firm and has grown to more than 20 attorneys and over 30 support staff.

Senator Bramnick holds a B.A. in political science from Syracuse University, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He also holds a J.D. from Hofstra University’s School of Law. He resides in Westfield with his wife Patricia and has two grown children, Brent and Abigail.

As Governor, Jon will end the one party rule that has taken over Trenton, leading to an unending stream of mandates, tax hikes and extreme policy, restoring balance in New Jersey.