John J. Macionis received his bachelor’s degree from Cornell University and his doctorate in sociology from the University of Pennsylvania.  His publications are wide-ranging, focusing on community life in the United States, interpersonal intimacy in families, effective teaching, humour, and the importance of global education.  He is a Professor and Distinguished Scholar of Sociology at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio. In 2003, he received the Philander Chase Medal for completing twenty-five years of teaching at Kenyon. During that time, he has chaired the Sociology Department, directed the college’s multidisciplinary program in human studies, presided over the campus senate and the college’s faculty, and, most importantly, taught sociology to thousands of students.

Linda M. Gerber was born in Toronto.  She completed a degree in nursing at the University of Toronto—before switching to sociology at the MA and PhD levels.  As a graduate student, she was a consultant in highway planning doing socio-economic impact assessment for a range of highway-building projects in southern Ontario. She also taught Canadian Native Peoples at York University’s Glendon Campus. On completion of her PhD, Dr. Gerber spent three years as a research associate at Harvard’s Center for Population Studies before accepting a position in the Sociology and Anthropology Department at the University of Guelph. Over 26 years at Guelph, she has taught a wide range of courses at the undergraduate and graduate levels.