Marc von der Ruhr is an associate professor of economics at St. Norbert College in De Pere, Wis. He is interested in the economics of religion, and megachurches are the focus of several of his research projects.

Joseph P. Daniels is an economics professor at Marquette University in Milwaukee. He co-authored a paper that presented an economic model of “religious investment” to explain how seeker-oriented megachurches attract and keep members.

Robert Haveman is professor emeritus of economics at the University of Wisconsin at Madison and co-author of Understanding Poverty.

The Rev. Thomas Hughson is an associate professor of theology at Marquette University in Milwaukee. He is a member of the American Academy of Religion’s group on animals and religion and author of a paper titled “Wolves and Religion: Can Christianity Assimilate ‘Religious Experience’ of Animals?”

Calvin DeWitt is a professor at the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is concerned with the ethics of farming and uses of the natural environment, including animals. He is co-founder of the International Evangelical Environmental Network.

The Institute for Research on Poverty is at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Lawrence Berger, chair of the social work doctoral program, is director. He is a co-author of Poor Kids in a Rich Country: America’s Children in Comparative Perspective and co-editor of The Oxford Handbook of Economic Inequality (2009).

Julie Tallard Johnson is the author of Spiritual Journaling: Writing Your Way to Independence, published in 2006, and conducts spiritual journaling workshops in Wisconsin.

Constance Flanagan is a professor of interdisciplinary at the University of Wisconsin. Her research concerns youth civic development, the transition to adulthood and opportunities for civic participation. She can discuss the role family and personal values play in the development of young people’s political views.