The Rev. Dr. Iva Carruthers

Iva E. Carruthers is a founding trustee and General Secretary of the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference (SDPC), an interdenominational organization within the African American faith tradition focused on social justice issues. SDPC is both a 501c3 and United Nations Non-Governmental Organization (NGO). Dr. Carruthers has a long history of engagement in community development initiatives and social justice ministry, fostering interdenominational and interfaith dialogue in the United States, Caribbean, South America and Africa. She is also founder of Lois House, an urban retreat center, Chicago, Illinois. She is Professor Emeritus and former Chairperson of the Sociology Department at Northeastern Illinois University; and founding President of Nexus Unlimited, an information and technology firm.

Dr. Carruthers is co-editor of Blow the Trumpet in Zion: Global Vision and Action for the 21st Century Black Church and has authored and edited a number of articles and publications, including fifteen study guides on African American & African history, as co-producer of an educational television program. She was a delegate to the 2001 UN World Conference Against Racism; appointed to the White House Advisory Council on the internet, "National Information Infrastructure," Mega Project; and, the educational software she developed was awarded a ComputerWorld Smithsonian Award. She serves on several boards and commissions.

Recipient of several post-doctoral fellowships, she also holds degrees from the University of Illinois, Northwestern University, Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary and Meadville Lombard Theological School.