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Kwame Anthony Appiah – “Morgan Lecturer”

New York University

Morgan Lecture

Identity at Home and in the Wider World

Thursday, September 19, 2019
Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 7 p.m.

Appiah will first explore the idea of identity philosophically, then focus on the psychology of identity and the challenges of managing identities in a humane way. He will examine how one particular identity—social class—works in our own society today, and end by discussing the role of identities across the world, defending the continuing relevance of a cosmopolitanism that is very much under attack. A book sale and signing will follow the presentation.

This program is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and the Morgan Lecture Fund and co-sponsored by the Robert Lecture Fund in the Department of Classical Studies, and the Churchill Fund. It is also part of the Clarke Forum’s Leadership in an Age of Uncertainty Series.

Biography (provided by the speaker)

Exciting and erudite, Kwame Anthony Appiah challenges us to look beyond the boundaries—real and imagined—that divide us, and to celebrate our common humanity. Named one of Foreign Policy’s Top 100 public intellectuals, one of the Carnegie Corporation’s “Great Immigrants,” and awarded a National Humanities Medal by The White House, Appiah currently

Wisconsin Institute for Discovery at the University of Wisconsin-Madison

Joseph Priestley Award Celebration Lecture

Microbial Communities—The Original Internet of Everything

Wednesday, September 18, 2019
Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 7 p.m.

Microbial communities run the world. Although they are too small to see with the naked eye, microorganisms determine the health of humans, our food supply, and the environment. They accomplish their amazing feats working in concert in communities, but there is little knowledge about what makes these communities robust and stable. A book sale and signing will follow the presentation.

The Joseph Priestley Award recipient is chosen by a different science department each year. The Department of Biology has selected this year’s recipient. The event is supported by the College’s Priestley Fund and is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the departments of biology, chemistry, earth sciences, environmental studies, mathematics & computer science, psychology, and physics & astronomy and the Churchill Fund. It is part of the Clarke Forum’s Leadership in an Age of Uncertainty Series.

Biography (provided by speaker)

Jo Handelsman is the director of the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, a Vilas Research Professor, and Howard Hughes Medical Read more

Constitution Day Program

Tuesday, September 17, 2019
Apfelbaum Auditorium
Penn State Dickinson School of Law

In celebration of Constitution Day on September 17, 2019, the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania will be hold a court session at Penn State Dickinson Law (Apfelbaum Auditorium). The court will hear oral arguments in seven cases. This special court session offers an opportunity for students to learn about appellate practice, administrative law and constitutional law. Following the court session there will be a special CLE/CJE program.

This program is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and Penn State Dickinson Law.

SCHEDULE

9:00 – 11:30 a.m.
Apfelbaum Auditorium

Constitution Day Program: Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania Opening Ceremony and Oral Argument Session
Observers may come and go during the court session, please enter and exit quietly. Please note that no backpacks or bags will be permitted in the Auditorium (absent health or other accommodation needs) and hats must be removed.

12:00 – 1:00 p.m.
Apfelbaum Auditorium

CLE/CJE Constitution Day Program: The Role of the State Judiciary in Our Constitutional System
A panel discussion featuring judges of the Commonwealth Court and moderated by Professor Amy Gaudion.

** These events are open to the Dickinson Law and Dickinson College Read more

Robyn Spencer

Lehman College, CUNY

Black Power, Gender and the Black Panther Party

Thursday, September 12, 2019
Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 7 p.m.

In the long 1960s, African Americans sought to redefine black manhood and womanhood in the face of feminist social movements, radical political change and anti-colonial global upheavals. The Black Panther Party’s gender politics provides an evocative case study to analyze the potential and limitations of challenging sexism and misogyny in the Black Power movement. A book sale and signing will follow the presentation.

This program is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and a Civic Learning and Engagement Initiative Grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and co-sponsored by the Women’s & Gender Resource Center, the Popel Shaw Center for Race & Ethnicity, and the departments of American studies and women’s, gender & sexuality studies. It is part of the Clarke Forum’s semester theme, Masculinities.

Biography (provided by the speaker)

Robyn C. Spencer is a historian that focuses on Black social protest after World War II, urban and working-class radicalism, and gender. She teaches survey and seminar courses on Black history at Lehman College, City University of New York and graduate level courses at the CUNY Read more

Mark Blashford

Lanky Yankee Puppet Co.

Jack & Jill

Thursday, April 18, 2019
The Cubiculo, 7 p.m.

A one-man puppet show performed by actor, puppeteer and musician Mark Blashford, featuring hand-carved, folk-toy-inspired puppets and live music. The story addresses water conservation and water rights presented in the style of an Appalachian Jack Tale. Appropriate for children. After the show, Blashford will host a Q&A including a discussion of using children’s art to address serious environmental problems.

This program is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the Center of Sustainability Education, Alliance for Aquatic Resources Monitoring (ALLARM), and the department of theatre & dance. It is part of the Clarke Forum’s semester theme, Sustainability.

Biography (provided by the speaker)

Mark Blashford is a Chicago-based actor, puppeteer, and musician. He specializes in traditional puppet performance, including: marionette, shadow, rod, and hand puppetry. As a trained puppet builder, Blashford has studied in Germany, Iceland, the Czech Republic, and the University of Connecticut’s Puppet Arts Program. Blashford is a recipient of The American-Scandinavian Fellowship Award and The Jim and Jane Henson Scholarship Award. In 2018 he was an artist in residence at the University of Central Arkansas for a multidisciplinary Read more

Monica White – Event to be Rescheduled for Fall 2019 or Spring 2020

University of Wisconsin-Madison

Freedom Farmers: Agricultural Cooperatives and Building Community Wellness

Monday, April 15, 2019
Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 7 p.m.

This talk will document the history of Black agricultural cooperatives and the use of food as strategy for freedom, particularly in Detroit, Michigan.

This program is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the departments of Africana studies, American studies, the Center for Sustainability Education, and the Food Studies Program. It is part of the Clarke Forum’s semester theme, Sustainability.

Biography (provided by the speaker)

Monica M. White is an assistant professor of environmental justice at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and past president of the board of directors of the Detroit Black Community Food Security Network. She is the first African American woman to earn tenure in both the College of Agricultural Life Sciences and the Gaylord Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies and teaches courses in urban agriculture and community food systems. Her research investigates communities of color and grassroots organizations engaged in the development of sustainable, community food systems as a strategy to respond to issues of hunger and food inaccessibility. She has presented widely on these subjects, from University of Western Cape in Read more

José-Damian Ruiz-Sinoga

University of Málaga

Soil Degradation as an Indicator of Global Change

Tuesday, April 2, 2019
Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 7 p.m.

This talk will analyze the role of soil and its degradation processes as an indicator of Global Climate Change, as crucial for understanding a new framework of sustainability, and as key to establishing mechanisms for adapting to Climate Change.

This program is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and a Civic Learning and Engagement Initiative Grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and co-sponsored by the departments of environmental studies; Spanish & Portuguese; earth sciences; the Center for Global Study & Engagement; and the Center for Sustainability Education. It is part of the Clarke Forum’s semester theme, Sustainability.

Biography

José-Damian Ruiz-Sinoga is professor of physical geography at the University of Málaga. He is also head researcher of the Physical Geography and Landscape research group. His areas of research include soil-water-plant relationships at different scales, processes of desertification and soil degradation in Mediterranean environments, Incidence of the EU directive of abandonment of crops on soil degradation processes, the role of human and socio-economic aspects in the integral management of watersheds, Global Change indicators in Mediterranean landscapes. and Read more

Mixed Race Saviors?: Learning from Latin American Racial Politics – Panel Discussion

Wednesday, March 27, 2019
Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 7 p.m.

Panelists:

Santiago Anria (moderator), Dickinson College
Tanya Hernández, Fordham University
Stacey Moultry, Dickinson College
Eric Vázquez, Dickinson College

There is a myth that as the U.S. becomes more mixed race, racial harmony will follow. But as we have seen in Latin America and the Caribbean the presence of mixed race majorities does not preclude racism. This talk will address how the U.S. can learn from the existing racial inequalities of Latin American and Caribbean societies in order to chart a better path forward.

This event is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the departments of English; American studies; Latin American, Latino & Caribbean studies; and political science; and the Office of Institutional Effectiveness & Inclusivity. It was initiated by the Clarke Forum’s student project managers

Biographies (provided by the speakers)

Santiago Anria is assistant professor of political science and Latin American studies at Dickinson College. His research focuses on social movements, political parties, and democracy in Latin America and has appeared in journals including Comparative Politics, Comparative Political Studies, the Journal of Democracy, Studies in Comparative Political Studies, Read more

Gender, Religion, and Violence

Tuesday, March 26, 2019
Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 7 p.m.

Panelists:

Margee Ensign, Dickinson College
Jean-Pierre Karegeye, (moderator), Dickinson College
Christina Li, U.S. Department of State, Office of Religion and Global Affairs
Stephanie Ogorzalek, U.S. Department of State, Secretary’s Office of Global Women’s Issues
Celestino Perez, U.S. Army War College

In several current world conflicts, multiple sides claim religious belief as a motivation for violent actions, including gender-based violence. In fact, the U.N. “Plan of Action for Religious Leaders and Actors to Prevent Incitement to Violence That Could Lead to Atrocity Crimes” lists gender-based violence as one of the key elements related to atrocity crimes. Panelists will discuss prevention strategies, military actions, education, government policies, and constructions of gender.

This event is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and the Churchill Fund. It is part of the Clarke Forum’s Leadership in an Age of Uncertainty Series.

Biographies (provided by the speakers)

Margee Ensign became Dickinson’s 29th president on July 1, 2017. Prior to Dickinson she served for seven years as the president of the American University of Nigeria (AUN), a young, private university based on the U.S model of university education. There she Read more

Lilliana Mason

University of Maryland, College Park

Uncivil Agreement: How Politics Became Our Identity

Wednesday, March 20, 2019
Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 7 p.m.

In her book, Uncivil Agreement, Mason looks at the growing social gulf across racial, religious, and cultural lines, which have recently come to divide neatly between the two major political parties. She argues that group identifications have changed the way we think and feel about ourselves and our opponents.

This event is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the Churchill Fund and the departments of philosophy; political science; and sociology; and the program in policy studies. It was initiated by the Clarke Forum’s student project managers and is part of the Clarke Forum’s Leadership in an Age of Uncertainty Series.

Biography (provided by the speaker)

Lilliana Mason is assistant professor of government and politics at the University of Maryland, College Park, and author of Uncivil Agreement: How Politics Became Our Identity (University of Chicago Press). She received her Ph.D. in political psychology from Stony Brook University and her B.A. in politics from Princeton University. Her research on partisan identity, partisan bias, social sorting, and American social polarization has been published in journals Read more

Linda Hogan

Poet and Novelist

An Evening with Writer Linda Hogan

Wednesday, March 6, 2019
Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 7 p.m.

Poet and novelist Linda Hogan will read from a selection of her works, many of which connect to themes related to gender, Indigeneity and the environment.

This program is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the Women’s & Gender Resource Center and the departments of creative writing, English, American studies and women’s, gender & sexuality studies. It is part of the Clarke Forum’s semester theme, Sustainability .

Biography (provided by the speaker)

Linda Hogan (Chickasaw), former faculty at Indian Arts Institute, writer-in-residence for The Chickasaw Nation, and professor emerita from the University of Colorado, is an internationally recognized public reader, speaker, and writer of poetry, fiction, and essays. In July, 2014, DARK. SWEET. New and Selected Poems, was published from Coffee House Press. Her other books include INDIOS (Wings Press, 2012), a long poem and also a one-woman performance piece; ROUNDING THE HUMAN CORNERS (Coffee House Press, April 2008, Pulitzer nominee) and the well-regarded novel PEOPLE OF THE WHALE (Norton, August 2008). Works include novels MEAN SPIRIT, a winner of the Oklahoma Book Award, Read more

Sarah McBride

Activist

Love, Loss, and the Fight for Trans Equality

Tuesday, March 5, 2019
Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 7 p.m.

Sarah McBride is the national press secretary for the Human Rights Campaign and one of America’s leading public voices in the fight for LGBTQ equality. Her moving memoir, Tomorrow Will Be Different, chronicles her journey as a transgender woman, from coming out to her family and school community, to fighting for equality in her home state and nationally, to her heartbreaking romance with her late husband. A book sale and signing will follow the program.

This event is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the Office of LGBTQ Services, the Women’s & Gender Resource Center, the department of women’s, gender & sexuality studies, the Churchill Fund, the Office of Institutional Effectiveness and Inclusivity and Outlaw at PSU -Dickinson School of Law. It is part of the Clarke Forum’s Leadership in an Age of Uncertainty Series.

Biography (provided by the speaker)

Sarah McBride is a progressive activist and currently the national press secretary at the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest LGBTQ civil rights organization. In 2016, Sarah made history when she became the first openly transgender Read more

Unveiling America: Addressing Issues of Contemporary Homelessness

Thursday, February 28, 2019
Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 7 p.m.

Panelists

Jim Hoefler (moderator), Dickinson College
Christina Kapp, Cumberland County Housing & Redevelopment Authorities (Panelists was unable to present due to unforeseen circumstances)
Beth Kempf, Community CARES
Scott Shewell, Safe Harbour
Tim Whelan, Cumberland County Housing & Redevelopment Authorities

A panel of community leaders will discuss their efforts to find sustainable solutions to homelessness in this region.

This program is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the Churchill Fund; the departments of English; American studies; religion; and sociology; and the health studies program. It was initiated by the Clarke Forum’s student project managers and is part of the Clarke Forum’s Leadership in an Age of Uncertainty Series.

Biographies (provided by the panelists)

Jim Hoefler is professor of political science and coordinator of the policy studies program here at Dickinson where he has been teaching courses on politics and policy making since he joined the faculty in 1989.

Hoefler’s primary area of research is end-of-life care and end-of-life decision making. He has published several books and numerous articles in this area and has served on the UPMC Pinnacle Carlisle’s Biomedical Read more

Amandine Gay

Filmmaker

Part of the Tournées Film Festival

Ouvrir la Voix (Speak Up/Make Your Way)

Friday, February 22, 2019
Althouse Hall, Room 106, 5:45 p.m.

Filmmaker Amandine Gay will join us for the showing of Ouvrir la voix (Speak Up/Make Your Way) and for discussion and Q&A. The film is a documentary by and about francophone European black women from the diaspora. Through art, performances, and compelling storytelling, the film focuses on a common experience related to one’s minority status in predominantly white, ex-colonial countries, while highlighting the great diversity of Afropean communities.

Tournées Film Festival is made possible with the support of the Cultural Services of the French Embassy in the U.S., the Centre National du Cinéma et de l’Image Animée (CNC), the French American Cultural Fund, Florence Gould Foundation and Highbrow Entertainment.

The event is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the departments of French & Francophone studies; women’s, gender & sexuality studies; film & media studies; music; history; the Popel Shaw Center for Race & Ethnicity, the Women’s & Gender Resource Center, the Office of LGBTQ Services, and the French Club.

Biography (provided by the speaker)

Amandine Gay is a Saint-Denis-based Read more

Dixa Ramírez

Brown University

Dominican Blackness, Ghosting, and Bad Patriots

Tuesday, February 19, 2019
Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 7 p.m.

This talk explores how Dominican fiction, film, architecture, fiction, and poetry negotiates the miscomprehension, miscategorization, and misperception–or ghosting–of the Dominican Republic from broader Western discourses.

Note: Monday, February 18, 2019, Althouse Hall, Room 106, 7 p.m.
Film Showing: Cocote – This film, shot entirely in the Dominican Republic, is in connection with Dixa Ramírez’s program.

This program is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the departments of Spanish & Portuguese; Latin American, Latino & Caribbean studies; American studies; the Women’s & Gender Resource Center and the Popel Shaw Center for Race & Ethnicity.

Biography (provided by the speaker)

Dixa Ramírez is assistant professor of transnational African American literatures in the American studies and English departments at Brown University. Her first book, Colonial Phantoms: Belonging and Refusal in the Dominican Americas, from the 19th Century to the Present, argues that dominant Western discourses have ghosted the Dominican Republic despite its central place in the architecture of the Americas. Ramírez’s work has been published in Atlantic Studies, Comparative Literature, The Black Scholar, Small Axe Read more

Sharrell Luckett

Scholar & Performance Artist

Program is part of Love Your Body Week

YoungGiftedandFat: From Liberation to Creation

Tuesday, February 12, 2019
Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 7 p.m.

YoungGiftedandFat author, Sharrell Luckett, outlines the journey towards self-love through the sharing of narratives that are at once specific and universal. A book sale and signing will follow the lecture.

This program is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the Churchill Fund. This event is also part of the Clarke Forum’s Leadership in an Age of Uncertainty Series.

Love Your Body Week events are co-sponsored by Clarke Forum; Women’s and Gender Resource Center; Office of LGBTQ Services, Student Life and Campus Engagement; Wellness Center; PALS; Psi Chi; Psych Club; Center for Service, Spirituality and Social Justice; Access and Disability Services; Departments of Theatre & Dance; Psychology; and Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies; Creative Writing and the Waidner-Spahr Library.

Biography (provided by the speaker)

Sharrell D. Luckett, Ph.D. is director of the Helen Weinberger Center for Drama and Playwriting and assistant professor of drama and performance studies in the Department of English and Comparative Literature at the University of Cincinnati. She is also affiliate faculty in the Read more

Barbara Brown Wilson

University of Virginia

Resilience for All: Striving for Equity Through Community-Driven Design

Wednesday, February 6, 2019
Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 7 p.m.

This talk will focus on the author’s research on community-driven efforts to make change in underserved communities and the lessons these efforts illuminate for resilience theory and practice. A book sale and signing will follow.

This program is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and a Civic Learning and Engagement Initiative Grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and co-sponsored by the Center for Sustainability Education and the departments of art & art history and environmental studies. It is part of the Clarke Forum’s semester theme, Sustainability.

Biography (provided by the speaker)

Barbara Brown Wilson is an assistant professor of urban and environmental planning and the director of inclusion and equity at the University of Virginia School of Architecture. Her research and teaching focus on the history, theory, ethics, and practice of sustainable development, and on the role of urban social movements in the built world. Her work investigates the role of codes (e.g. building, land use, and societal) and coalitions working in the service of more resilient communities. Wilson is particularly interested in the Read more

Nikole Hannah-Jones

Award-winning Investigative Reporter for The New York Times Magazine

Morgan Lecture & KDP Spring Forum & MLK Jr. Symposium

Understanding the Impact of Modern Day Segregation

Tuesday, February 5, 2019
Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 7 p.m.

Award-winning The New York Times Magazine investigative reporter, Nikole Hannah-Jones, will explore the important roles schools play in their communities, how they’re affected by their surrounding neighborhoods, and how seeing race from the lens of education tells a whole new story of inequality in America.

This program is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and the Morgan Lecture Fund and co-sponsored by Dickinson’s Chapter of Kappa Delta Pi, the International Education Honor Society; the Popel Shaw Center for Race & Ethnicity; the Churchill Fund, the Department of English; the Women’s & Gender Resource Center; and the Office of Institutional Effectiveness & Inclusivity.

Biography (provided by the speaker)

Nikole Hannah-Jones covers racial injustice for The New York Times Magazine, and has spent years chronicling the way official policy has created—and maintains—racial segregation in housing and schools. Her deeply personal reports on the black experience in America offer a compelling case for greater equity. She has written extensively on the history of

University of Delaware

The Bruce R. Andrews Lecture

Why People Believe Conspiracy Theories

Monday, February 4, 2019
Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 7 p.m.

Live Stream Link

Miller will discuss her research on the roots of conspiracy theory beliefs, including the motivating forces of self-concept preservation, uncertainty, and powerlessness.

The event is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and the Bruce R. Andrews Fund.

Biography (provided by the speaker)

Joanne M. Miller is associate professor of political science and associate professor of psychology and brain sciences at the University of Delaware. Her work, which has been funded by the National Science Foundation and the Pew Charitable Trusts, centers on the psychological underpinnings of political attitudes and mass behavior. She is the recipient of three best paper awards from the American Political Science Association, including the Paul Lazarsfeld Award for the best paper delivered on a Political Communication panel (for her co-authored paper (with Kyle L. Saunders and Christina E. Farhart) titled “Conspiracy Endorsement as Motivated Reasoning: The Moderating Roles of Political Knowledge and Trust”). She has published articles in journals such as the American Journal of Political Science, Journal of Politics, Political Psychology, and Public Opinion Read more

Beth Norcross – “Wesley Lecturer”

The Center for Spirituality in Nature

Wesley Lecture

Church of the Wild: A New and Old Way of Experiencing Spirituality

Wednesday, January 30, 2019
Stern Center, Great Room, 7 p.m.

Norcross will share information about her organization’s new Church of the Wild, that gathers people in nature to celebrate the mutual indwelling of the Divine and the earth. She will discuss how the gathering is attracting both regular church-goers as well as those for whom traditional church is not appealing.

This lecture is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and the Center for Service, Spirituality and Social Justice with special thanks to the Baltimore-Washington Conference of the United Methodist Church and co-sponsored by Division of Student Life; the College Farm; the Center for Sustainability Education; the Women’s & Gender Resource Center; and the departments of religion and environmental studies. It is part of the Clarke Forum’s semester theme, Sustainability.

Biography (provided by the speaker)

Founder and executive director Beth Norcross brings her training and experience in both theology and ecology in founding and leading the Center for Spirituality in Nature. An enthusiastic and popular teacher, speaker and preacher, she loves to share her passion and Read more