2013 Social Justice Symposium

Room A116 “Exposing Environmental Injustice”

Room A127/129 “Access for Vulnerable Populations”

Room A123/125 “Resilience, Politics and Health Inequities”

Room A119 “Local Approaches to Global Injustice”

Moderator

Elva de la Torre

Elva De La Torre has worked in the field of training and development for the past 15 years, and is dedicated to integrating social justice and activism in her work. Her passion sparked when she served in the Peace Corps as a Health Education Volunteer and Coordinator in Paraguay. Her work with Peace Corps subsequently carried through the next eight years, where she worked as the Training Director in Belize and Suriname for new Peace Corps Volunteers.

She currently works as a Training Specialist with the Community Partnership of Southern Arizona (CPSA), where she oversees training requirements for new staff and facilitates trainings about the behavioral health system in Pima County, cultural competence and working with LGBTQ communities. In her work at CPSA, she has been a leader in developing new curriculum for behavioral health professionals in partnership with Pima Community College and UA Health. Elva has worked with the Primavera Foundation as their Women’s Services Manager and with the Pima County Juvenile Court’s CASA Advocate Program.

She holds a BA in Media Communications from California State University, Fullerton. Elva serves on the Board of Directors of Tucson Meet Yourself. She volunteers with The Loft Theater and has a weekly music show on 91.3 KXCI called The Wire Service.

Panelists and Discussants

Diane Austin, PhD

Dr. Diane Austin is an associate research professor in the University of Arizona’s Bureau of Applied Research in Anthropology in the School of Anthropology. As an environmental anthropologist, she studies community dynamics amid large-scale industrial activity, alternative technologies to address environmental and social problems, impact assessment, and community-based, collaborative research and outreach programs. She has developed and maintained long-term, multisectoral partnerships in Native American communities, U.S. and Mexican border communities, and coastal communities along the U.S. Gulf of Mexico.

John Fife

John Fife has a B.A. from Washington and Jefferson College, a Master of Divinity from Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, and Honorary Doctorates from Macalester College and Washington and Jefferson College. He is the Pastor Emeritus of Southside Presbyterian Church, Tucson, Arizona where he has served for 35 years. He is also the Moderator of the 204th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), co-founder of the Sanctuary Movement in North America (1982), the Chair of Mission Responsibility Through Investment Committee of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), and a founding member of Samaritans and No More Deaths, providing humanitarian aid to migrants in the Sonoran Desert borderlands. He has been recognized by the Southern Arizona ACLU, University of Arizona Minority Law Students Award, Tucson Human Rights Council, and Dorothy Day Award. John has been married to Marianne for 47 years, and they have 2 sons and 6 grandchildren. He currently volunteers with No More Deaths, Samaritans, and the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum.

Jane Mohler, NP-C, MPH, PhD

Dr. Jane Mohler is a tenured professor of medicine in the UA College of Medicine, and Associate Director of the AZ Center on Aging. As a chronic disease epidemiologist and nurse practitioner, she is interested in interprofessional geriatric education and training, models of care, and aging-related research. She is PI on an NIA funded project on frailty and activity monitoring.

Brian Flagg

Brian Flagg has lived and worked at the Casa Maria Catholic Worker House for the last 30 years. He is a lector at Santa Cruz Catholic Church as well and a well known organizer and activist.