Michael Anderson graduated from Saint John’s University in 2007 with a degree in Elementary Education.  He volunteered in 2007 and 2008 with the Saint John’s Benedictine Volunteer Corps in Esquipulas, Guatemala.  While serving the community he and his co-volunteer, Liam Sperl, designed a recycling program and built a library using recycled plastic bottles and trash, employing 4,000 bottles and 2,500 pounds of garbage.  He currently works implementing service-learning programming as an AmeriCorps volunteer in Denver, Colorado with the Nobel Peace Prize nominated PeaceJam Foundation.

Richard Bresnahan is a master potter, and artist in residence at Saint John’s University and at the College of Saint Benedict.  A 1972 alum of Saint John’s, he apprenticed in Japan with Nakazato Takashi, a National Living Treasure.  He is the designer and builder of the Johanna kiln, a combination of ancient Pacific Rim and modern technology, and the largest wood-fired kiln in North America.  His work has been exhibited around the country.

John Carroll is Professor of Environmental Conservation at the University of New Hampshire.  He holds a Ph.D. in Resource Development from Michigan State University. He is the co-author of Sustainability and Spirituality (State University of New York Press, 2004) and Embracing Earth: Catholic Approaches to Ecology (Orbis Books, 1994), and co-editor of Ecology and Religion: Scientists Speak (Franciscan Press, 1998) and The Greening of Faith (University Press of New England, 1996).  He is currently working on a volume dealing with future food sufficiency and security in New England.

Carmen Fernholz graduated from St. John's University in 1965.  He bought a small farm in 1972 and began transitioning to organic farming the next year. Today he farms over 400 acres, all certified organic.  He also holds a half-time appointment at the University of Minnesota as statewide Organic Research Coordinator with offices at both his home and at the Lamberton Research and Outreach Center.  He served as the Endowed Chair in Sustainable Systems at Saint John’s University in 1997-98.  Carmen and his wife Sally were the 2005 MOSES Organic Farmers of the Year.

Mary Forman, OSB, Ph.D., is a Benedictine sister from the Monastery of Saint Gertrude, Cottonwood, Idaho. She is Associate Professor of Theology, teaching monastic studies and theology at the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University, and at the School of Theology·Seminary.  She is the author of Praying with the Desert Mothers (Collegeville: The Liturgical Press, 2005).

Ephrem Hollermann, OSB, Ph.D., has been a scholar and observer of Benedictine monasticism for nearly three decades.  She is a Benedictine Sister of Saint Benedict’s Monastery, St. Joseph, Minnesota, where she served as prioress for ten years. She is currently Associate Professor of Theology and Koch Chair in Catholic Thought and Culture at the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University.

Mary Ellenbecker Johnson holds a bachelor’s degree in biology and another in special education, and will soon complete her master’s degree in ecology.  Her research on wetland restoration is being conducted in the wetlands of Saint John’s University.  Along with her interest in restoration science she has been expanding her knowledge in sustainability issues making this a cornerstone of her Environmental Science class which she teaches at Saint John’s Preparatory School.

Tom Kroll is the director of the Saint John's Arboretum.

S. Phyllis Plantenberg, OSB, is a Benedictine sister from Saint Benedict’s Monastery in St. Joseph, Minnesota.  A retired professor of biology at the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University, she holds a degree in ecology from Marquette University.   She is co-founder of the St. Joseph Farmers’ Market and founder of the Common Ground Garden on the campus of St. Benedict’s Monastery.  She has also served as land manager for the monastic community.

S. Patricia Ruether, OSB, a native of South Dakota, is a Benedictine sister from Saint Benedict’s monatery in St. Joseph, Minnesota.  An alumna of the College of Saint Benedict, she holds a degree in education and home economics. She has taught high school home economics and was the inaugural food service director for the Saint Scholastica Convent, her monastery's retirement community in St. Cloud. She is a registered dietitian, and currently serves as Coordinator of Monastery Food Services. 

Liam Sperl graduated from Saint John’s University in 2007 with a degree in Peace Studies.  He volunteered in 2007 and 2008 with the Saint John’s Benedictine Volunteer Corps in Esquipulas, Guatemala.  While serving the community he and his co-volunteer, Michael Anderson, designed a recycling program and built a library using recycled plastic bottles and trash, employing 4,000 bottles and 2,500 pounds of garbage.  He currently serves in Denver, Colorado with Salud Family Health Centers and the Community HealthCorps addressing the healthcare needs of the underprivileged.

S. Elizabeth Wagner is a Diocesan Hermit and a founding member of Transfiguration Hermitage, a semi-eremitical community in the Benedictine tradition, in Windsor, Maine. She has lived in solitude since 1981 and was professed as a Diocesan hermit in 1988, one of the first in the US. She taught as an Adjunct Professor at Bangor Theological Seminary from 1997 to 2002, and she is currently finishing an M.A. in Theology with a concentration in Monastic Studies at the SOT.  She has published articles and reviews previously in Spiritual Life and Church World, and has written for local Maine papers. She is currently at work on a collection of essays on contemplative life.