After 28 years as a university president, the final 17 at Claremont Graduate University, John D. Maguire became president emeritus in 1998 and senior fellow in the Institute for Democratic Renewal in the University’s School of Politics and Economics. A senior consultant to Oakland-based Project Change—with which the Institute formed a joint partnership in 2002—he is engaged fulltime in a range of anti-racism, democratic community building projects and activities while serving on the boards of Union Theological Seminary, the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, the Tomás Rivera Policy Institute, Eureka Communities, and as senior consultant in poetry to California’s Idyllwild School of the Arts.

John Maguire has written and spoken widely on issues of human rights and social justice, on the arts and politics, and on issues confronting education at all levels. In more than 50 articles and contributions to books, he has focused particularly upon the college presidency, higher education, the arts, and race relations.

A colleague of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., he is a life director of the King Center and served in its initial year (1968-69) as chair of the board. He has been formally associated with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund since the 1980s and a board director for more than 15 years. He was one of the founders of the Tomás Rivera Policy Institute and a charter member of the Pacific Council on International Policy. Maguire serves on the advisory councils of the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies at Georgia State University, Pacific Oaks College and the Advancement Project. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Shirley Strong has been involved in education, philanthropy and social action for nearly 30 years, ten of which she has spent with the Levi Strauss Foundation and the Tides Center.  She is a dean at California Institute for Integral Studies in San Francisco as well as the executive director for Project Change, a Levi Strauss Foundation-originated national initiative that develops and supports multi-racial community coalitions, partnerships and alliances in operating locally based anti-racist community building programs. She holds a master’s degree in educational psychology/counseling, and had done doctoral work in organization and leadership. Experienced as a teacher, academic counselor, and administrative leader in student affairs at a variety of colleges and universities, she has focused particularly on work with underrepresented and “at-risk” students.  In 1993, Shirley Strong undertook the direction of the Project Change Anti-Racism Initiative, which flourished and is now a partner in the national joint anti-racism venture with Claremont Graduate University’s Institute for Democratic Renewal, where she is a senior fellow.    

CAROLE FERRELL-COLEY, Director of Operations

Institute for Democratic Renewal / Project Change

Carole Ferrell-Coley has been with the Institute for Democratic Renewal practically since its inception and manages its administrative activities. Educated at West Virginia State University, Carole Ferrell-Coley served as administrative officer for the West Virginia Human Rights Commission for two decades, managing its human resource and budgetary functions and serving as the Commission’s legislative liaison. Under two terms of Governor John D. Rockefeller IV, she received appointments to various state boards, commissions and legislative task forces relating to civil rights, state employee workers' rights, mental health and women's issues. In these capacities, she diligently worked to achieve passage of several critical amendments to the state’s human rights law.

Carole Ferrell-Coley remains active in civic affairs and contributes numerous volunteer hours in her community of Redlands, California.

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