Leslie T. Annexstein
Director, AAUW Legal Advocacy Fund
Leslie T. Annexstein is the Director of the AAUW Legal Advocacy Fund. Previously, she served as Senior Counsel at the National Women’s Law Center where she participated in administrative and legislative advocacy, public education and litigation to enhance legal rights for women and girls in education. While there, she worked as counsel in Davis v. Monroe County Board of Education, the landmark case in which the Supreme Court established that schools have an obligation under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 to address student-to-student sexual harassment. Before joining the Center, Annexstein was an Attorney-Advisor to the Acting Chairman of the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, a staff attorney at the Center for Law and Education, and a trial attorney in the Civil Rights Division at the United States Department of Justice, where she litigated employment discrimination cases under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. She serves as a Vice Chair of the American Bar Association’s Committee on the Rights of Women, and on the Advisory Board of the University of Maryland Office of Human Relations Programs. Annexstein is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley, Boalt Hall School of Law, and Swarthmore College.

Dr. Rona M. Fields
Former Plaintiff Featured in Tenure Denied
Dr. Rona M. Fields is a psychologist with expertise in violence and terrorism and is currently the Senior Research Fellow/Cognitive Studies at The Center for Cyber Security Research and Policy Planning in the School of Engineering and Applied Science at George Washington University. She graduated with honors in psychology from Lake Forest College in Lake Forest, Illinois, and did graduate work at the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana and Loyola University of Chicago where she achieved a master’s in psychology. She holds a doctorate from the University of Southern California. Fields did extensive research on torture in Northern Ireland and Portugal and Portuguese Africa during the 1974-76 period of the Revolutionary Government, and was appointed to the Amnesty International Medical Commission in the Campaign to Abolish Torture in 1973, as well as held a visiting fellowship at the Peace Research Institute in Oslo and the International Peace Research Association. She worked on human rights issues at the Transnational Institute and later was a co-founder of the Socialwissenschaftliche Insstitut fur Katastrophen und Umfallforschung in Kiel. Fields authored Northern Ireland: Society Under Siege, The Future of Women, Society on the Run, and The Armed Forces Movement and the Portuguese Revolution. Her most recent book, Martyrdom: The Psychology, Theology and Politics of Self Sacrifice was published by Greenwood/Praeger this year.

Dr. Ricky Hirschhorn
Former Plaintiff Featured in Tenure Denied
Ricky Hirschhorn is an assistant professor in the biology department of Hood College and is director of the college’s Graduate Biomedical Science Program. Currently, Hirschhorn also serves as an adjunct assistant professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins Medical School. An active member of the biochemical and biomedical fields, Hirschhorn has been a member of the Recombinant Advisory Committee of the United States Army Medical Research Institute in Infectious Diseases Institutional Biosafety Committee since 1992. Hirschhorn received her bachelor’s degree in chemistry of the University of Rochester and completed her doctorate with the University of Pittsburgh. Her career has been marked with a number of collaborative and independent research and publishing efforts focusing on gene and cell behavior, and in the past decade Hirschhorn has served as a faculty participant in focus groups exploring science and mathematics curriculum and learning. She is an active member of the American Association of University Professors and the American Association of University Women, recently completing a three-year position on the reviewing panel for AAUW’s International Fellowships.

Elena Silva
Director of Research, AAUW Educational Foundation
Elena Silva is Director of Research for the AAUW Educational Foundation. For the past 10 years, Silva has researched, taught, and developed educational programs and curriculum for universities, community colleges, and national and community-based nonprofits. Previously, she directed a national youth leadership program for the ASPIRA Association in Washington, D.C., for which she served as a board member for the National and Community Service Coalition and as a representative for the U.S. Senate Task Force on Hispanic Education. Silva has authored and presented research papers for numerous national and local forums, including the Coalition for Essential Schools and the American Educational Research Association. She is editor of the 2003 book Critical Voices in School Reform: Students Living Through Change and contributing author to a forthcoming book on educational politics and reform. Silva holds a bachelor’s degree in sociology from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a master’s degree and doctorate in education from University of California, Berkeley, where she specialized in socio-cultural studies and school policy reform.

Mary Ellen Smyth
President, AAUW Educational Foundation
Mary Ellen Smyth has had a distinguished career as an educator, serving on the faculties of the University of Wyoming and Pennsylvania State University, as well as teaching in secondary schools in Colorado and Illinois. Smyth has also been a professional actress, host of a weekly television interview show, and chief administrator of a medical corporation. Currently, she is owner of the Smyth Organization, a medical practice management services company with consulting services in communication, staff, and leadership development for both health care professionals and organizations. Smyth has been active in AAUW for nearly three decades, serving as a branch president and in a number of positions on the Illinois state board, including state president in 1991-93. Her community activities include service as a member of the Governing Boards of both the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Chicago Zoological Society and as a member of the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations and the Phi Beta Kappa Society of Chicago. She holds a bachelor's degree in English and speech/theater and a master's degree in theater from the University of Wyoming. 

Michele Warholic Wetherald
President, AAUW Legal Advocacy Fund
With a broad background in administration, law, and human resources, Wetherald recently served as executive dean for policy and human resources at Eastern West Virginia Community and Technical College. Her professional experience includes both corporate business management and private practice law, including 10 years as an attorney focusing on business and employment issues and 10 years in human resources and labor relations at General Motors. Previous to her position as President of the AAUW Legal Advoacy Fund, Wetherald served on the Board of Directors and held AAUW state and branch positions, including Ohio LAF liaison and branch president. In addition to AAUW, Wetherald has long been involved with a number of civic and community organizations, including the Y.W.C.A., in both leadership and membership roles. A native of northeastern Ohio, Wetherald graduated from the University of Akron School of Law. She holds business degrees from Hiram College and Lorain County Community College. She belongs to both the Moorefield (WV) and Warren-Trumbull County (OH) AAUW branches.