IDA invites you to read this column on our Sustainable Activism Blog by guest blogger Denise Papas, a freelance television producer/writer who specializes in biographies. Denise is featuring members of our Council of Sustainable Activism to introduce them to our supporters.

Paul Gorski is an associate professor of Integrative Studies at George Mason University, where he teaches classes such as Poverty, Wealth, and Inequality; Social Justice Education; Animal Rights and Humane Education; and Environmental Justice. He helped create the Social Justice and Human Rights undergraduate program at GMU, which is grounded in intersections of human, animal, and environmental justice. He joined IDA’s Council of Sustainable Activism in 2014.

Paul is a Research Fellow for the Center for the Advancement of Well-Being and is serving his second term on the board of the International Association for Intercultural Education. He has been an active consultant, presenter, and trainer for nearly twenty years, conducting workshops and providing guidance for schools and community organizations committed to equity and diversity.

In 1998 he founded EdChange, a team of passionate, experienced educators dedicated to forging progressive change in schools and society to promote equity, diversity, multiculturalism, and social justice.

Paul is the author of numerous articles and several books including “Reaching and Teaching Students in Poverty: Strategies for Erasing the Opportunity Gap”, “The Big Lies of School Reform: Finding Better Solutions for the Future of Public Education” (with Kristien Zenkov), and “The Poverty and Education Reader: A Call for Equity in Many Voices” (with Julie Landsman).

His goal is to build bridges across social justice movements, including movements for racial justice, economic justice, animal liberation, and environmental justice. In his own words, Paul believes, “I can never be spiritually healthy if I’m choosing not to address the suffering that other beings experience.”

In 2011, Paul was awarded the annual Faculty Vision Award by the Office of Diversity Programs and Services at George Mason University and received Mason’s Teaching Excellence Award in 2013.

Denise Papas Meechan is a producer and writer for film and television shows such as “Fashion Police”, “Full Frontal Fashion” and “Behind the Label.” She is also a script moderator for the NYC Screenwriters Collective. She uses her production talents to volunteer as a humanitarian producer focusing a camera on people whose stories capture an altruistic perspective on life. Denise was awarded an Emmy in 2006 for her work on the cult television comedy game show “Subway Q&A” hosted by Rich Collier. She is a member of the Producer’s Guild of America (PGA).