Past Programs

Javier Corrales

corrales PosterProfessor, Amherst College

Venezuela: The Politics of Barricades

Wednesday, November 5, 2014
Stern Center, Great Room, 7 p.m.

This lecture seeks to explain why Venezuela, the country that has experienced the most spectacular economic windfall in Latin America from 2003 to 2011, is today in one of the worst political crises in the region and one of the worst economic crises in the world. It confronts the question of how “new” is the “new Venezuela” after Hugo Chavez.

This event is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the Constance and Rose Ganoe Memorial Fund for Inspirational Teaching, courtesy of Professor J. Mark Ruhl and by the Department of Latin American Studies.

Biography (provided by the speaker)

Javier Corrales is professor of political science at Amherst College in Amherst, Massachusetts. He is currently working on the fbc c croppedsecond edition of his co-authored book with Michael Penfold, Dragon in the Tropics: Hugo Chávez and the Political Economy of Revolution in Venezuela (Brookings Institution Press, 2011).  In addition, he is working on a book project on constitutional assemblies and presidential powers in Latin America.   Corrales is also the co-author with Daniel Altschuler of The Promise of Participation: Experiments Read more

Dorit Bar-On

Bar On PosterProfessor, University of Connecticut

Communicative Intentions and Origins of Meaning

Thursday, October 30, 2014
Stern Center, Great Room, 7 p.m.

What separates human linguistic communication from all forms of nonhuman animal communication and how could it have evolved? I argue that focusing on the role of communicative intention renders the evolutionary emergence of language more puzzling than it needs to be.

This event is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the Departments of Biology, Philosophy, and Spanish and Portuguese.  This program is also part of the Clarke Forum’s semester theme, Language.

Biography (provided by the speaker)

Born in Israel, Dorit Bar-On received her B.A. from Tel Aviv University in philosophy and linguistics (summa cum laude), while also working as a radio producer and translator of fiction, poetry, aDorit Bar On Photo from her Websitend philosophy.  She continued to study philosophy at UCLA and wrote her dissertation on the Indeterminacy of Translation.  Bar-On has published extensively on topics in philosophy of language and mind, epistemology, and metaethics.  In 2004, she published a book titled Speaking My Mind: Expression and Self-Knowledge (Oxford Clarendon Press).  Work on that book led to her interest in studying continuities between human and non-human communication. Read more

In a Republic Does a Citizen Have a Duty to Vote?

Duty to Vote PosterTuesday, October 28, 2014
Stern Center, Great Room, 7 p.m.

Participants:

Dickinson Faculty:
Sarah Niebler, assistant professor of political science
David O’Connell, assistant professor of political science
Thomas Kozdron, class of 2018
Samantha Lodge, class of 2015
Angeline Apostolou (moderator), class of 2015

The 2014 elections will be held on November 4. Do American citizens have a duty to participate in this election? This debate will focus on whether there is such a duty from multiple perspectives.

This event is part of a new series titled Dickinson Debates sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and the Student Senate Public Affairs Committee.

Biographies (provided by the participants)

nieblersSarah Niebler is an assistant professor of political science at Dickinson College. She studies campaigns and elections, political participation, and political communication and her work is published or forthcoming in the American Journal of Political Science, Political Communication, Legislative Studies Quarterly, and American Politics Research. Prior to coming to Dickinson, Sarah was a postdoctoral fellow in the Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions at Vanderbilt University. She earned her Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, but is a Pennsylvania native having grown up in Read more

Pennsylvania’s 199th District Debate

th Debate PosterJill Bartoli (D) vs. Stephen Bloom (R)

Wednesday, October 22, 2014 – 7 p.m.
NEW LOCATION:  Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium

The Republican and Democratic candidates running in the general November election for the 199th seat in the Pennsylvania state legislature will debate the central issues confronting local voters and answer questions from the audience. The event will be moderated by Michelle Crowley, president and CEO of the Greater Carlisle Area Chamber of Commerce.

This event is sponsored by The Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues, the Greater Carlisle Area Chamber of Commerce, American Association of University Women (AAUW), the League of Women Voters,  YWCA Carlisle and The Sentinel.

Biographies

Jill ProfileJill Bartoli (provided by Bartoli)

I have lived in Cumberland County for my entire life, growing up in a rural area near Cumberland Valley High School, which was built when I was in third grade.  So my first three years of school were in a one room country school house, with a pot-bellied stove and an outhouse, that had grades one to eight.

Growing up, I was a member of the 4-H Baby Lamb Club and 4-H Horse and Pony Club, and I took ballet lessons from Marcia Dale Weary when she Read more

Regionalism in Pennsylvania: Is Bigger Always Better?

Regionalism Final PosterWednesday, October 15, 2014
Stern Center, Great Room, 7 p.m.

Panelists:

Ronald Bailey, executive director, Chester County Planning Commission
Elam Herr, assistant executive director, Penn State Assoc. of Twp. Supervisors
Steve Kusheloff, manager, public information, SEDA-COG
Kirk Stoner (moderator), director of planning, Cumberland County

This program will provide an overview of how Pennsylvania developed its system of local government. Local officials will present stories of achievement and lessons learned from specific examples of regional cooperation to identify the principles that will be the foundation for future success.

The event is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and the Greater Carlisle Area Chamber of Commerce.

Biographies (provided by the panelists)

Ronald BaileyRonald T. Bailey, AICP is the executive director of the Chester County Planning Commission. Mr. Bailey also serves as a member of the Pennsylvania State Planning Board and is a senior research fellow with the Floyd Institute for Public Policy at Franklin and Marshall College. Previously, Mr. Bailey was the executive director of the Lancaster County Planning Commission. Prior to coming to Pennsylvania, he worked in state and local government the Pacific Northwest. He holds a bachelor of science from the California State University at Read more

Susan Carey

Carey PosterProfessor, Harvard University

Do Non-Linguistic Creatures Have a Language of Thought?

Thursday, October 9, 2014
Stern Center, Great Room, 7 p.m.

This lecture considers whether the minds of babies and nonhuman animals, on the one hand, and human adults, on the other, are fundamentally alike or radically different from each other.

This event is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the Departments of Psychology, Education and Philosophy.  This program is also part of the Clarke Forum’s semester theme, Language.

susan careyBiography (provided by the speaker)

Susan Carey is a professor at Harvard University, where she joined the psychology department in 2001, after having taught at MIT (24 years) and NYU (5 years).  She did her graduate work at Harvard, working with Jerome Bruner and Roger Brown.  She studies conceptual development. Over her whole career, she has worked on explaining how human beings, unique among animals, create the huge conceptual repertoire that characterizes adult thought.  Only humans can think about cancer, global warming, infinity, wisdom, moral obligations…   Her work on this broad problem combines historical case studies, animal cognition studies, but mainly studies with human infants, children and adults.  Her case studies include mathematical concepts, scientific concepts, Read more

Mark Price

Price PosterLabor Economist, Keystone Research Center

Fighting Runaway Inequality: The Minimum Wage Controversy

Tuesday, October 7, 2014
Stern Center, Great Room, 7 p.m.

Through the lens of the debate over the minimum wage, Price will explore the connections between public policy, the social sciences and one of the most pressing social issues of our time, the rise of income inequality.

This event is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the Departments of Sociology,  Political Science, Economics, and American Studies.

PriceBiography (provided by the speaker)

Mark Price has been the Keystone Research Center’s (KRC) labor economist for over a decade. He received a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Utah in 2005. The KRC is a non-partisan research and policy development institute based in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. His areas of research include income inequality, trends in employment and compensation, the construction industry, and low-wage labor markets. Mark’s work involves policy analysis and advocacy on a wide range of issues including, prevailing wage law, unemployment insurance, payday lending, economic and workforce development and tax and budget policy.  His advocacy involves fielding questions from reporters, testifying before the state legislature and making public presentations on current policy issues and Read more

Kimberly Dozier – “General Omar N. Bradley Chair Lecture”

Bradley Lecture Dozier Poster2014-15 General Omar N. Bradley Chair in Strategic Leadership

How to Survive a Car Bomb and Anything Else: Turning Healing Anger into Portable Wisdom

Monday, October 6, 2014
Penn State Dickinson School of Law
Apfelbaum Family Courtroom
Lewis Katz Hall Auditorium, 6 p.m.

Dozier’s presentation will draw on her experience covering the war in Iraq for CBS News from 2003 until May 29, 2006, when she was critically wounded in a car bombing that killed the U.S. Army officer that her team was filming, Capt. James Alex Funkhouser, his Iraqi translator “Sam,” and her CBS colleagues, cameraman Paul Douglas and soundman James Brolan. Dozier recounted the attack in Iraq, her injuries, and the long road to recovery, in her memoir, Breathing the Fire: Fighting to Report and Get Back to the Fight.

Link to Penn State Dickinson’s Web site

Biography
Kimberly Dozier is a CNN and Daily Beast contributor and former correspondent for The Associated Press and CBS News. She has received many Edward R. Murrow Awards; a Peabody Award; and three American Women in Radio and Television (AWRT) Gracie Awards. She is the first woman journalist to receive the National Medal of Honor Society’s Tex  Read more

Trevor Aaronson

Aaronson Final PosterAward-Winning Investigative Journalist

Inside the FBI’s Terror Factory

Wednesday, October 1, 2014
Stern Center, Great Room

Aaronson, author of The Terror Factory: Inside the FBI’s Manufactured War on Terrorism, will explore how the FBI has built up a network of more than 15,000 informants whose primary purpose is to infiltrate Muslim communities to create and facilitate phony terrorist plots so that the government can then claim victory in the War on Terror.  A book sale and signing will follow the presentation.

The event is sponsored by The Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the departments of Middle East studies and religion.

Trevor AaronsonBiography (provided by the speaker)

Trevor Aaronson is an accomplished investigative journalist and author of The Terror Factory: Inside the FBI’s Manufactured War on Terrorism.  Aaronson reported and produced a one-hour documentary for Al Jazeera Media Network, “Informants,” about the FBI’s counterterrorism program. He co-founded the nonprofit Florida Center for Investigative Reporting, which won national and regional journalism awards under his leadership, and has written for Mother Jones magazine. A two-time finalist for the Livingston Awards, Aaronson has won more than two dozen national and regional awards, including the Molly National Journalism Prize, Read more

Bob Weick

Weick PosterActor and Monologist, Featured as Karl Marx

Marx in Soho by Howard Zinn

Tuesday, September 30, 2014
Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 7 p.m.

Karl Marx launches into a passionate, funny and moving defense of his life and political ideas in Howard Zinn’s brilliant and timely play, Marx in Soho.

The presentation is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the Departments of Economics and Sociology.

Marx Photo with ManifestoBiography (provided by the actor)

Bob Weick, is the national touring actor of Howard Zinn’s, Marx in Soho. The celebrated actor and Barrymore Award nominee has presented over 250 performances of Zinn’s play from Maine to California. A farrier by trade, Bob began his acting career in 1995 and in the aftermath of the 2000 election, 9/11, and the 2003 invasion of Iraq, chose to use his talent to contribute to the education and engagement of students and citizens.

Related Links
www.ironagetheatre.org

Click here for campus-only video Read more

Karen Thornber

Thornber PosterProfessor, Harvard University

Ecoambiguity: Asia and the Environmental Humanities

Thursday, September 18, 2014
Stern Center, Great Room, 7 p.m.

This talk examines East Asian writing on environmental degradation, introducing the concept of ecoambiguity (environmental ambiguity) to highlight the contradictions in human behaviors vis-a-vis the nonhuman.

This event is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the Department East Asian Studies.

Thornber photoBiography (provided by the speaker)

Karen Thornber is professor and chair of comparative literature, Harvard University; she is also chair of Harvard’s Regional Studies East Asia Program and holds an additional faculty appointment in Harvard’s Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations.  Thornber’s research and teaching focus on world literature, East Asian literatures, the literatures of the Indian Ocean Rim, postcolonialism, diaspora, environmental humanities, and medical humanities.

A 2006 Harvard Ph.D., her books include Empire of Texts in Motion: Chinese, Korean, and Taiwanese Transculturations of Japanese Literature (Harvard, 2009) and Ecoambiguity: Environmental Crises and East Asian Literatures (Michigan, 2012), both of which were awarded multiple international prizes.  She is the author of over 50 articles/chapters as well as of an award-winning translation of Japanese poetry; Thornber is additionally guest editor of a special issue of the Read more

Kate Martin – Constitution Day Address Lecturer

Director, Center for National Security Studies

Government SurveillMartin Final Posterance and the Bill of Rights

Wednesday, September 17, 2014
Stern Center, Great Room, 7 p.m.

A former senior counter-terrorism official has said that existing surveillance capabilities are creating “the potential for a police state.” This lecture will address whether and how such capabilities can be reconciled with the Constitution’s prohibition against unreasonable searches and seizures, its protections for freedom of speech and religion, as well as the demands of an open government in a democracy.

This event is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and Penn State Dickinson School of Law, and co-sponsored by the Churchill Fund and with the generous support of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Project on Civilian-Military Educational Cooperation. It is also part of the Clarke Forum’s Leadership in an Age of Uncertainty Series.

kate martinBiography (provided by the speaker)

Kate Martin serves as director of the Center for National Security Studies, in Washington, D.C., the only think tank and advocacy organization devoted exclusively to preserving civil liberties in the national security context. Martin has served as director since 1992, having joined the Center as director of its Litigation Project in 1988 after 10 years as Read more

Joseph R. Núñez

Nunez Poster FinalColonel, U.S. Army (ret.)

** Breaking Issue **

ISIS in IRAQ: What are our Options?

Thursday, September 11, 2014
Stern Center, Great Room, 7 p.m.

The brutal beheading of American journalist James Foley has dramatically raised the stakes regarding what policy the United States should pursue in reaction to the rise of ISIS in Iraq. Núñez, who served over five years in Iraq, will offer his assessment of the situation and discuss what he thinks is the best way forward.

The event is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored with the generous support of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Project on Civilian-Military Educational Cooperation.

Biography (provided by the speaker)

Nunez R and Sheikh Abu ChaffatDr. Joseph R. Núñez spent 30 years in the army and retired as a colonel in 2007.  He had the privilege and opportunity to command at the company and battalion level, leading as many as 750 soldiers.  His primary specialty was logistics, which was well tested with a major deployment to Haiti in 1994 for Operations Restore and Uphold Democracy, as he was responsible for planning and executing all logistical support to the 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry) under very austere and challenging conditions.

Dr. Núñez two Read more

Stephanie Kaza

Kaza PosterProfessor, University of Vermont

Buddhist Contributions to Climate Ethics

Tuesday, September 16, 2014
Stern Center, Great Room, 7 p.m.

This lecture will draw on Buddhist environmental thought to explore climate change and consumerism looking at human behavior and ethical choice.

The event is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the Departments of East Asian Studies, Religion, the Center for Sustainability Education, and the Luce Foundation’s Initiative on Asian Studies and the Environment.

Biography (provided by the speaker)

stephanieDr. Stephanie Kaza is professor of environmental studies at the University of Vermont and director of the Environmental Program. Her courses include Unlearning Consumerism; Religion and Ecology; Women, Health, and Environment; and other values-based courses. She co-founded the Environmental Council at University of Vermont, a campus-wide consortium on sustainability, and is the faculty director for the UVM Office of Sustainability and Sustainability Faculty Fellows program. Her current scholarship focuses on Buddhist perspectives on climate ethics and bicycle commuting quality of life benefits.

Dr. Kaza is the 2011 winner of the UVM George V. Kidder Outstanding Faculty Award for excellence in teaching. Her books include Mindfully Green (2008), Hooked! Buddhist Writings on Greed, Desire, and the Read more

World War I: The Consequences

WWI Poster FinalTuesday, September 9, 2014
Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 7 p.m.

Panelists:

Wendy Moffat, professor, Dickinson College
Dominique Laurent, professor, Dickinson College
David Commins, professor, Dickinson College
Crystal Moten, professor, Dickinson College
Douglas Mastriano, professor, U.S. Army War College

In commemoration of the centennial anniversary of the start of World War I, this panel discussion will explore the consequences of this world-shattering event from multiple and diverse perspectives in an effort to better understand the impact that international conflicts can have on the social, economic, cultural, ethnic, and political dimensions of human life.

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

Biographies (provided by the participants)moffat

Wendy Moffat, professor of English at Dickinson College, is the author of the award-winning biography A Great Unrecorded History: A New Life of E. M. Forster ( 2010.) A scholar of 20th century British and American culture, she is writing a dual biography of the psychiatrist Dr. Thomas Salmon and the war correspondent Elizabeth Shepley Sergeant in World War I.

 

Dominique Laurent began teaching at Dickinson in the falllaurent of 1995. He has taught all classes in the French program, including senior seminars such as “America Read more

World War I: The Causes

WWI Poster FinalMonday, September 8, 2014
Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 7 p.m.

Panelists:

Kamaal Haque, professor, Dickinson College
Craig Nation, professor, U.S. Army War College
Michael Neiberg, professor, U.S. Army War College
Karl Qualls, professor, Dickinson College

In recognition of the centennial anniversary of the beginning of World War I, this panel discussion will address the causes of this world-changing event from multiple and diverse perspectives in an effort to better understand the origins of international conflicts.

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

Biographies (provided by the participants)

haquekKamaal Haque is an assistant professor of German at Dickinson College. His research interests include German film, the literature and culture of the German-speaking Alps, and the influence of the Middle East in German culture. He has published on such diverse topics as the German mountain film, the poetry of Goethe, and Muslim minorities in Germany today. In addition to courses at all levels of German language and culture, he has taught recent courses such as Mountains in the German Cultural Imagination, Minority Cultures in the German Context and Modern German Film. This semester he is teaching German Literature and Culture of the First World Read more

Ukraine Update – NEW DATE – MAY 1

Ukraine UpdateNew Date:
Thursday, May 1, 2014
Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium
Noon – 1 p.m.

** Bring your Lunch **

Panel Discussion

Participants:

Kristine Mitchell, assistant professor political science and international studies
Anthony Williams, visiting professor of security studies, Dickinson College
Andrew Wolff, professor of political science, Dickinson College
Karl Qualls (moderator), associate professor of history, Dickinson College

Following Russia’s annexation of the former Ukrainian province of Crimea, the United States and its European allies have imposed sanctions on Russia, but pro-Russian Ukrainian separatists have responded by occupying government buildings in eastern Ukrainian cities and Russia has demanded that the Ukraine adopt a federal constitutional structure that would grant considerable autonomy to Russian-speaking areas of the country.  The panel will consider the implications of these ongoing developments from the perspective of the Ukrainian government in Kiev, NATO, the European Union, Russia, and United States.

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

Biographies of the Panelists

Kristine Mitchell is assistant professor of political science and international studies at Dickinson College. Her teaching and research interests include European and EU politics, labor politics, and Left parties. She has conducted field research across Western Europe and has held visiting Read more

Should Pennsylvania Legalize Marijuana?

Marijuana posterWednesday, April 23, 2014
Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 7 p.m.

Participants:

Marc Mastrangelo, professor of classical languages, Dickinson College
Crispin Sartwell, associate professor of philosophy, Dickinson College
William Nelligan, class of 2014
Willa Hut, class of 2017
Alex Toole ’14 (moderator), class of 2014

Crispin Sartwell, associate professor of philosophy, and Willa Hut ’17, will argue in favor of the motion, while Marc Mastrangelo, professor of classical studies, and Will Nelligan ’14 will argue in opposition.  The debate will focus in part on the consequences of legalizing marijuana, both positive and negative, as well as how the question relates to the rights and duties of a human being.

This event is the first in a new series titled Dickinson Debates sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and the Student Senate Public Affairs Committee.

Biographies (provided by the participants)

Marc Mastrangelo is a professor of classical studies and has taught  at Dickinson for 17 years. He has published books and articles on the literature of the later Roman Empire, Greek tragedy, and ancient intellectual history. He is cofounder of the Humanities Collective and faculty advisor to the Quads Neighborhood.

Crispin Sartwell is an associate professor of Read more

Revisiting the Cold War: CIA Analysis and Collection

Coldwar PosterinddPanel I:

Resolving the Missile Gap

Monday, April 21, 2014
Althouse Hall, Room 106, 7 p.m.
Dickinson College

Panelists:

John Bird, Central Intelligence Agency (Ret.)
Richard Immerman, U.S. Army War College
Fred Kaplan, Slate Magazine
Gene Poteat, Central Intelligence Agency (Ret.)
Moderator: Major General William Burns, U.S. Army (Ret.)

In the 1950s, our nation faced one of the gravest military threats in its history. The Soviet Union had nuclear weapons and boasted they had the means to deliver them. Was the U.S. truly vulnerable to a first strike? Intelligence analysts had few answers and assertions of “Bomber Gaps” and “Missile “Gaps” abounded.  President Eisenhower recognized that aerial reconnaissance of the Soviet Union was the answer. The story of the U-2 and Corona satellites is now history, but the success of those programs and their follow-on versions is the stuff of today’s high-tech intelligence and warfare.

Link to more information on the U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center Site

Panel II:

CIA Analysis of the Warsaw Pact: The Importance of Clandestine Reporting

Tuesday, April 22, 2014
Army Heritage and Education Center, 9:30 – 11:30 a.m.
(950 Soldiers Drive, Carlisle PA)

Panelists:

John and Joan Bird Read more

The Rule of the Clan – Panel Discussion

Rule of the Clan Final PosterWednesday, April 16, 2014
Stern Center, Great Room, 7 p.m.

Panelists:

Carol Horning, professor, U.S. Army War College
Mark Weiner, professor, Rutgers School of Law
Andrew Wolff, professor, Dickinson College
Erik Love (moderator), professor, Dickinson College

This panel discussion will focus on the special challenges of democratic political development faced by nations whose social organization is rooted in the traditional extended family. In these social-economic conditions that are based on the clan, what are the realistic prospects and most promising paths for liberalizing reform?

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

Biography (provided by the speaker)

Carol HorningCarol Horning is the professor of international development at the Peacekeeping and Stability Operations Institute, U.S. Army War College.  A career member of the Senior Foreign Service, with the rank of counselor, Ms. Horning has served for 28 years with the U.S. Agency for International Development, promoting sustainable economic development, participatory governance, health and education, primarily in conflict-affected or post-conflict countries.

Most recently, Ms. Horning served as director of the Office of Social Sector Development Read more