Megan Rye is a visual artist and teacher. She was born in Seoul, South Korea in 1975. Through paintings, drawings, photography, and artists books, Rye uses visual storytelling to explore themes of migration, citizenship, remembrance, war, and democracy.

Photo by Rik Sferra

Deepinder Singh Mayell is the Executive Director of the James H. Binger Center for New Americans and Director of the Center’s Education and Outreach Program. Mayell works closely with Center faculty, staff, and law firm, and non-profit partners to develop, implement and resource the Center’s programs including four immigration law clinics and community outreach activities. Before coming to the Law School, Mayell was the director of the Refugee & Immigrant Program at The Advocates for Human Rights in Minneapolis. In that role, he directed the organization’s legal services program and provided representation to asylum seekers at all levels of litigation. Mayell spent several years as a staff attorney with Merrimack Valley Legal Services in Massachusetts, where he represented victims of domestic violence in family, immigration, and housing proceedings.

Kim Park Nelson is an educator and researcher whose work uses adoption as a lens to understand race and culture. Her work has contributed to building the field of Adoption Studies and Korean Adoption Studies in the U.S. and internationally. Dr. Park Nelson’s book, Invisible Asians: Korean American Adoptees, Asian American Experiences and Racial Exceptionalism was published by Rutgers University Press in Spring 2016. The book is based on her ethnographic research exploring the many identities of adult Korean adoptees, as well as the cultural, social, historical, and political significance of sixty years of Korean adoption to the United States. Dr. Park Nelson is also the Equity Inclusion Coordinator for the St. Paul-based InterFaculty Organization (IFO), the labor union for the 4000 faculty in the seven campus Minnesota State University system. She directs and leads equity initiatives within the IFO, consults and advises union and administrative leadership on equity issues, and organizes for empowerment among marginalized faculty within the system. Starting in August of 2021, she will be an Associate Professor of Ethnic Studies at Winona State University, where she will teach comparative race and ethnic studies and Asian American studies. She holds a Ph.D. in American Studies from the University of Minnesota.

Elizabeth (Liz) Raleigh is Associate Professor of Sociology at Carleton College. She finds meaning through connecting with students and teaching them about family formation and racial inequality. Teaching classes on the sociology of assisted reproduction and adoption and social research methods, Liz leverages her love of mixed-methods research to introduce students to the latest scholarship in these areas. When not in the classroom, she strives to bring the same curiosity and conscientious work ethic to her role as department chair. As a teacher, scholar, and administrator, Liz looks for opportunities to deepen her own and others’ understanding of social inequality and believes that sociology has a role to play in seeking social change. Liz holds a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Pennsylvania and is the author of the open-access book: Selling Transracial Adoption: Families, Markets, and the Color Line.