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Monday, September 29, 2025

Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 7 p.m.

Music Math and Mind

David Sulzer, Columbia University | Dave Soldier, Musician 

David Sulzer/Dave Soldier will discuss how music is heard and understood in the nervous system by humans and other animals with a cortex. We’ll explore other animals who can play music, especially the Thai Elephant Orchestra. 

This program is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the Departments of Biology, Psychology, and Theater & Dance and the Health Professions Program. The Clarke Forum’s student project managers initiated this program.

Biography (provided by the speaker)

A photo of Dr. David Sulzer in his lab. Dave Soldier leads a double life as a musician and a neuroscientist. As composer, he cofounded (with conservationist Richard Lair) the Thai Elephant Orchestra, 14 elephants for whom he built giant instruments and who released 3 CDs, and projects with children, including rural Guatemala (Yol Ku: Mayan Mountain Music) and New York’s East Harlem (Da HipHop Raskalz). His Soldier String Quartet helped usher the use of hip-hop, R&B, and punk rock into classical music in the 1980s, and his long-running Memphis/New York Delta punk band, the Kropotkins, is a cult favorite. His composed The People’s Choice Read more

Wednesday, September 10, 2025

Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 7 p.m.

Never Enough: What the Neuroscience of Addiction Can Teach Us About Living Our Best Lives

Judith Grisel, Bucknell University

Most chemicals that people use to medicate or enhance reality have both risks and benefits, at different times and for different people. Nonetheless, regular use of any mind-altering substance causes the exact opposite states to a drug’s original effects. Chronic stimulants result in lethargy, sedatives lead to anxiety and insomnia, and euphoriants guarantee misery.  Dr. Grisel will explain how the brain adapts to addictive drugs by creating the states of craving, tolerance, and dependence that characterize addiction. She’ll address the synergistic influences of genetic predispositions, childhood trauma, and drug exposure during periods of brain development that make some people more vulnerable than others. These general principles will be applied to illustrate specific risk factors and neural changes associated with cannabis use, and conclude by illustrating how advances in neuroscience can help to reduce suffering from addiction.

This program is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues.

Biography (provided by the speaker)

Dr. Judy Grisel’s research on the use and abuse of recreational drugs began during adolescence. After hitting bottom and getting clean and sober Read more

Wednesday, November 5, 2025 – The Morgan Lecture

Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 7 p.m.

The Morgan Lecture

This program will not be livestreamed nor will it be recorded for future viewing.  

Love, Joy, Creativity & the Brain: The Heart of Culturally Responsive Education

Bettina L. Love, Columbia University

In this inspiring keynote, Dr. Love will explore the transformative power of love in education—within the classroom and beyond. Rooted in the belief that love and joy are the foundations of meaningful learning and human connection, she blends compelling storytelling, evidence-based research, and practical strategies to show how emotionally grounded teaching can radically reshape educational spaces.

Drawing from the groundbreaking neuroscience of Zaretta Hammond and the liberatory teachings of bell hooks, Dr. Love centers love not as sentimentality, but as an ethic—one rooted in care, accountability, and justice. She highlights how culturally responsive teaching, when combined with joy and emotional attunement, aligns both with how the brain learns best and how communities heal and thrive.

Creativity is presented as a vital force—a tool to honor cultural diversity, affirm identities, and spark curiosity—inviting students into deeper engagement and a stronger sense of belonging. This keynote offers educators an inspiring and actionable vision for designing classrooms where every child feels seen, valued, Read more

Tuesday, March 4, 2025 – One Nation Under God: Christianity and its Effects on American Government

Time: 4:30-5:30 p.m.
RSVP: By Wednesday, September 18 to clarkeforum@dickinson.edu. Space is limited. More information will be sent once we receive your RSVP.

The question of whether the United States is a Christian nation has long been contested. The First Amendment guarantees that Congress cannot establish a religion, nor restrict religious practices, positing the U.S. as a secular nation. However, foundational documents of America’s government contain multiple references to God and Christian beliefs. 

Proponents of the idea that America is a Christian nation often point to phrases such as “one nation under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance or the national motto of “In God we trust” as proof that the U.S. was established as a Christian nation. They also point to the Declaration of Independence, where “the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God” and a “Creator” are mentioned. 

In modern times, Christian ideologies continue to influence American politics. Many Christian nationalists argue for laws based on the scripture of the Bible, particularly in contentious topics such as homosexuality and abortion. Critics argue that these positions lack a legal basis, as they violate the idea of separation of church and state, and risk infringing on the rights of Read more

Tuesday, April 22, 2025 – POSTPONED until next year

Postponed until next year

Muslim France and the Contradictions of Laïcité: A History of the Present

Mayanthi Fernando, University of California Santa Cruz

In 1989 three Muslim schoolgirls from a Paris suburb refused to remove their Islamic headscarves in class, igniting a debate – still raging more than 30 years later – about the place of Muslims in the French Republic and within its governing framework of laïcité (secularism). The dominant narrative about laïcité, both in France and in the US media, is that in 1905, France separated church and state, and religion was restricted to the private sphere. Public Muslimness is therefore seen as contravening this longstanding arrangement of what it means to be French.

Mayanthi Fernando will complicate that narrative to offer a different history of the present. First, she will show how laïcité has entailed not the separation of religion from politics and the public sphere but rather the French state’s intervention into religious life, including defining what counts as religion, belief, practice, symbol, and so on, using a Christian framework to make those distinctions. Fernando will then delve more deeply into the headscarf drama. The language of the 2004 law banning “conspicuous religious signs” classifies the Read more

Tuesday, April 15, 2025

Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 7 p.m.

Livestream Link

What Does It Mean to Be a Human Translator in the Age of AI?

Amélie Josselin-Leray, University of Toulouse

The advent of generative AI in the last two years has been considered as a matter of considerable concern in the field of language-related trades, and in particular in the field of translation and interpreting: will AI take over the jobs of translators and interpreters? In this presentation, Josselin-Leray will argue in favor of an even more pressing need to train future translators and show how the way to train translators has evolved in the last two decades, based on her 17-year-long experience as a trainer in a programme belonging to the EMT (European Master’s programmes in Translation) network, under the umbrella of the Directorate General for Translation at the European Commission. Over the last few decades, translators have been successively faced with new technologies such as Computer-Assisted Tools (also called translation memories) or Neural Machine Translation. Now they have to face Large Language Models (LLMs). To be able to integrate successfully the labour market which is more and more highly technologized, young language professionals thus need to acquire specific skills (post-editing, writing Read more

Thursday, April 10, 2025

Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 7 p.m.

Livestream Link

Program is Part of the Dialogues Across Differences Project 

Open Inquiry and the Collegiate Mission

Jacqueline Pfeffer Merrill, Director of the Campus Free Expression Project, Council of Independent Colleges

Free expression, open inquiry, and civil discourse are threatened values in our country. Higher education institutions have an essential role in addressing this crisis and raising the bar for public discourse—but many colleges have themselves struggled to uphold these values at this time of polarization and disagreement over national and international events. A national expert on college speech and academic freedom, Dr. Jacqueline Pfeffer Merrill will share her observations from campuses across the country—and how these concerns relate to Dickinson College founder Benjamin Rush’s vision for higher education in uniting a divided democracy.

This program is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and is part of the Dialogues Across Differences Project, which is funded by a grant from the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations. This program is part of the Clarke Forum’s Leadership in an Age of Uncertainty Series.

Topic overview written by Supasinee Siripun ’27

Biography (provided by the speaker)

Headshot of Jacqueline Pfeffer MerrillJacqueline Pfeffer Merrill is director of the Campus Free Expression Read more

Monday, April 7, 2025

Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 7 p.m.

Livestream Link

The Revitalization of the American Indian Food System

Michael Kotutwa Johnson, Assistant Professor of Indigenous Resilience at the University of Arizona’s School of Natural Resources and the Environment

Since time immemorial, Indigenous people, like those in the United States, gathered and hunted their own food unimpeded. The crops they grew and wild plants they collected were vital to their survival in the many places where they resided. However, through various federal policies, most American Indian tribes no longer have access to traditional foods and have become almost entirely dependent on federal food programs. As a result, you have higher than usual rates of diabetes, heart disease, and even cancer. For example, a tribe in Arizona has been documented to have the highest rate of diabetes in the Globe. My talk will focus on my research to help develop solutions to the lack of traditional foods by calling for the Revitalization of the American Indian Food System. I will also lay out the cultural aspects demonstrating that these foods are not just viewed as commodities for Indigenous people but an integral part of who they are and the places where they are Read more

Thursday, April 3, 2025 – Joseph Priestley Award Celebration Lecture

Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 7 p.m.

Livestream Link

Joseph Priestley Award Celebration Lecture

Misinformation in the Age of AI

Marcia McNutt, President of the National Academy of Sciences

The intentional (disinformation) or unintentional (misinformation) spread of false information is not new, but with the advent of social media and the growth of narrowly-directed communication channels the problem has reached epidemic proportions. Prominent examples of disinformation include the intentional efforts of the tobacco industry to discount the impact of smoking on lung cancer and the campaign of the fossil fuel industry to question whether climate change is even happening and its role in warming the climate. Even misinformation can be deadly, as seen in resistance to childhood vaccines and the excess death toll during the COVID-19 pandemic caused by false rumors about the RNA vaccine. Coupled with the erosion in public trust in the efforts of our government and prominent institutions, including colleges and universities, it is difficult to craft simple solutions for the benefit of public health and safety. AI raises the stakes by making it easier to create and spread false information and more difficult to detect truth from fiction. Fortunately, there are promising approaches, but success will depend Read more

Tuesday, April 1, 2025

Poster to advertise Nic Weststrate EventAnita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 7 p.m.

This program will not be livestreamed. It will, however, be recorded for future viewing via Dickinson login on our website.

Rainbows and Mud: Pathways to Queer Thriving in a Marginalizing Society

Nic Weststrate, Associate Professor in the Department of Educational Psychology, University of Illinois Chicago

The over 500 anti-LGBTQ+ bills introduced to state legislatures in 2024 are a painful reminder that circumstances framing LGBTQ+ lives haven’t gotten much better despite promises of progress and no shortage of hope. A subset of these bills concern LGBTQ+ curriculum censorship and book bans—bans that threaten LGBTQ+ people’s access to knowledge necessary for surviving and thriving in a marginalizing and increasingly hostile society. Such limitations around access to knowledge are conceptualized here as an epistemic injustice. Drawing from six years of research, this lecture will explore the ways that LGBTQ+ communities counter epistemic injustice by coming together across generations for social connection, storytelling, and wisdom-sharing. The studies leverage multiple methods, including an innovative letter-writing paradigm, close observations of intergenerational dyadic storytelling exchanges, and a multi-year community-engaged ethnographic experiment. By shining a light on the joys and challenges of LGBTQ+ intergenerational engagement, glimmers of a better future for LGBTQ+ Read more

Wednesday, March 26, 2025

Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 7 p.m.

This event is in-person only. It will not be livestreamed or recorded.

Breaking Issue

A World Transformed? Foreign Policy in the Current Moment

Dickinson Faculty Participants

Russell Bova, Professor of Political Science and International Studies
Magda Siekert, Senior Lecturer in Middle East Studies
Fatou Thioune, Assistant Professor of International Studies
Andrew T. Wolff, Associate Professor of Political Science and International Studies

The current administration’s approach to world politics appears to represent a radical departure from eighty years of US foreign policy consensus on a range of issues. In just two months, crucial US relationships to the outside world, including to Russia, NATO, the Middle East, Greenland, Canada, and many more, has been transformed dramatically. This panel will attempt to help us understand the causes, consequences, and durability of these dizzying changes in the US global role.

This program is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues.

Biographies (provided by the participants)

Russ Bova headshotRuss Bova is professor of political science and the J. William Stuart & Helen Stuart Chair in International Studies. Professor Bova is the editor of Russia and Western Civilization: Cultural and Historical Encounters and the author of the international relations textbook How Read more

Sunday, March 23 and Monday, March 24, 2025

Sunday, March 23, 2025

Althouse 106, 4 p.m.

Film Screening of Call Me by Your Name

The Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and the Italian and Italian Studies department are hosting a film screening of the movie Call Me by Your Name. There will be a Q&A session following the film screening with André Aciman, the author of the book (of the same title) which inspired the screenplay.

 

Monday,  March 24, 2025

Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 7 p.m.

On Being from Elsewhere

André Aciman, author of Call Me by Your Name

I have been a foreigner in many countries but never a local. As a writer of memoirs, I have given the matter much thought. Although all memoirs tell the story of what happened, what a memoir is not always able to do is narrate what was desired to happen but never did happen. To write what happened is one thing—that’s what autobiographies are supposed to do—but to probe the psychological intricacies of desire, fear, heartache, disappointment, etc., is usually the domain of novels, not even of memoirs. But then here is the paradox: a memoir can borrow the conventions of fiction, even wants to sound novelistic, but without Read more

Thursday, March 20, 2025

Poster to advertise film screening of Counted OutCarlisle Theatre, 7 p.m.

Film Screening of Counted Out

In our current information economy, math is everywhere. The people we date, the news we see, the influence of our votes, the candidates who win elections, the education we have access to, the jobs we get—all of it is underwritten by an invisible layer of math that few of us understand, or even notice. But whether we know it or not, our numeric literacy—whether we can speak the language of math—is a critical determinant of social and economic power.

The Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues, the LGBTQ+ Center, the Office of Diversity Equity & Inclusion, the Women’s & Gender Resource Center, and the departments of data analytics, economics, environmental studies & environmental science, and mathematics & computer science together with the Carlisle Theatre are co-hosting this screening.

Please see the film’s website https://www.countedoutfilm.com/ for further information about the film.

  Read more

Wednesday, March 19, 2025

Poster to advertise Juliana Tafur's programAnita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 7 p.m.

Program is Part of the Dialogues Across Differences Initiative

Bridging Differences in Difficult Times: A Science-Based Approach

Juliana Tafur, Director of the Bridging Differences program at UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center 

Over the past two decades, Americans have grown increasingly isolated and divided, fueling a loneliness epidemic and deepening distrust between groups. This social fragmentation threatens our emotional well-being, breeds prejudice, and even undermines the foundations of our democracy. Yet, despite these challenges, a majority of Americans long for unity: 7 in 10 say they feel a responsibility to connect with people who have different backgrounds and viewpoints, and when asked to imagine an ideal future, most envision a more united nation.

In this talk, Juliana Tafur, Bridging Differences Program Director at the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley will introduce science-backed strategies for fostering connection. Rather than focusing solely on direct dialogue, she will highlight practical approaches—such as finding shared goals—that help people build bridges in ways that feel safe, meaningful, and effective. Grounded in research, this interactive session will translate theory into practice, allowing participants to not only understand but also experience the power of these strategies firsthand.

At a Read more

Wednesday, March 5, 2025

Althouse 106, 5 p.m.

PEN America & the Freedom to Learn: In Defense of the Liberal Arts, Gender Studies & Languages

Amy Reid, Senior Manager, Freedom to Learn, at PEN America

The value and values of a liberal arts education are increasingly under attack across the United States, and not just in red states. What can we do about it? How can we make the case for the liberal arts, gender studies and foreign languages when their opponents are setting the terms of the debate?

This program is sponsored by the departments of women’s, gender & sexuality studies, French & Francophone studies, and the Division of Academic Affairs and the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues.

Biography

Headshot of Amy ReidDr. Amy Reid is the senior manager, Freedom to Learn, at PEN America, where she works to support higher education and to push back against legislative censorship on our campuses. Prior to joining PEN in August 2024, she taught for 29 years at New College of Florida where she was a professor of French, director of the Gender Studies Program, and chair of the Faculty. Read more

Thursday, February 20, 2025 – PROGRAM POSTPONED

Poster for advertise Rev. William J. Barber II's talk

Due to a personal situation, the Rev. William J. Barber II had to postpone his visit to Dickinson.  

Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 7 p.m.

Livestream Link

Black History Month Keynote

We Are Called to Be a Movement

Rev. William J. Barber II, President, Repairers of the Breach; Co-Chair, Poor People’s Campaign & New York Times Best-Selling Author

For years the Rev. William J. Barber II of the Poor People’s Campaign has been one of the most gifted moral fusion organizers, strategists and orators in the country. As an indispensable figure in the public policy and public theology landscape, he believes it’s time for everyone who cares about the state of our nation to heed the call and join forces to redeem the soul of America. It’s time to come together and renounce the politics of rejection, division and greed, and to lift up the common good, move up to higher ground and revive the heart of democracy. During this inspiring keynote, the Rev. Barber makes an impassioned argument with a message that could not be clearer: It’s time for change and the time needs you. A book signing will follow the lecture. (A limited number of books will be for Read more

Wednesday, February 12, 2025

Poster to advertise April Herndon's programStern Center, Great Room, 7 p.m.

Love Your Body Week Keynote

Out of Time: Fatness, Disability, and Fat Crip Time

April Herndon,  Winona State University

This talk explores the ways fat and/or disabled bodies are often depicted as being part of the past but not of a collective future because they are deemed too expensive, too much a reminder of vulnerability, too much in general. As a result, those of us living in fat and/or disabled bodies are often disciplined and pushed to pursue imagined futures—where many of us do not exist—through “treatments” and “cures,” robbing us of the present. Using my personal experiences as a fat and disabled woman and an intersectional Fat Studies and Disability Studies lens, I’ll explain how fat and/or disabled bodies challenge normative concepts of time. I’ll also suggest that Fat Crip Time, which acknowledges that fatness and disability can mean a person experiences time differently, can help us live in the present, know fat and disabled bodies as potential sites of joy rather than only hardship, and offer a framework for justice and liberation.

The event is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and by the Women’s & Gender Resource Center and Read more

Monday, February 10, 2025

Poster to advertise Phil Klay's programAnita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 7 p.m.

Citizenship in an Age of Perpetual Conflict

Phil Klay, Marine Corps Veteran & Author

Though the war in Afghanistan ended in failure and the war in Iraq wound down to a small troop presence, America remains enmeshed in military conflicts around the world. From Africa to the Middle East, we have troops directly in harm’s way, while in countries like Ukraine and Israel we provide support of various kinds, from munitions to critical intelligence.  How should we think about our role as citizens of a country so deeply involved in warfare, and how might literature help us better understand the stakes of the killing done in our name?  A book signing will follow the presentation. Books are available for purchase at the college bookstore.

The program is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the Mellon Higher Education Grant “Beyond the New Normal” and by the Middle East Studies Program, the departments of women’s, gender & sexuality studies, English, and military science, and the Women’s & Gender Resource Center.  This program is part of the Clarke Forum’s Leadership in an Age of Uncertainty Series and its annual theme, Alternative Models Read more

Monday, November 18, 2024

Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 7 p.m.

 

Reinventing Germany, Again and Again

Janine Ludwig, cultural historian of East Germany
Anne Rabe, playwright and novelist
Matthias Rogg, historian and colonel in the German army
Antje Pfannkuchen (moderator), co-director, Clarke Forum

The history of modern Germany has forced continuous reorientations. On the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the Federal Republic of Germany and the 35th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall the panelists will discuss today’s Germany and its global position.

This Clarke Forum event represents our Germany on Campus program, co-sponsored by the German Embassy Washington DC, the Max Kade Foundation, and the Department of German. In addition, it is part of the Clarke Forum’s Leadership in an Age of Uncertainty Series which is supported by the Churchill Fund and it’s annual theme, Alternative Models.

Topic overview written by Noah Salsich ’25

Biographies (provided by the speakers)

Janine Ludwig photoJanine Ludwig is a literary scholar, also Vice Head of the Institute for Cultural German Studies (ifkud), and Chairwoman of the International Heiner Müller Society. Ludwig studied Contemporary German Literature, Philosophy, and Theater Studies/Cultural Communication. She is an expert on East German and post-war literature, but also an academic all-rounder. Read more

Thursday, November 14, 2024

Stern Center, Great Room, 12:00 p.m.

***Lunch provided, please RSVP to clarkeforum@dickinson.edu by noon on 11/13/24.

International Perspectives on 2024 Election

Panelists

Willibroad Dze-Ngwa, representing Yaoundé, Cameroon
Mario Guerrero, representing Mendoza, Argentina
Hilary Sanders, representing Toulouse, France
Konstantin Sonin, representing Moscow, Russia
Neil van Siclen, representing Bremen, Germany
Sarah Niebler (moderator), Dickinson College

The US presidential election is being watched closely throughout the world. Colleagues from Dickinson’s global programs will discuss the effects the results have for their countries and beyond.

This program is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues.

Topic overview written by Bella Lapp ’26

Biographies (provided by the panelists)

Willibroad Dze-Ngwa Photo

Willibroad Dze-Ngwa is full professor and permanent faculty of political history, global issues and political sciences at the University of Yaoundé I, Cameroon. He studied political history and international relations in Cameroon and moved on to study political sciences at the Donahue Institute of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, USA with a focus on peace and security studies. Professor Dze-Ngwa is senior fellow and consultant on terrorism and violent extremism with the New York-based Global Center on Cooperative Security. He is visiting professor of Universite d’Artois, France; and founding president of the Heritage University Institute Read more