Pediatrician and Expert on Vaccines, Immunology and Virology

The Vaccine-Autism Controversy

Thursday, November 2, 2017
Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 7 p.m.

How have scientists, the media, and the public dealt with the question of whether vaccines cause autism? 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 Biology, Chemistry, Physics & Astronomy and the Health Studies Program.

Biography (provided by the speaker)

Paul A. Offit, MD is the director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia as well as the Maurice R. Hilleman Professor of Vaccinology and a professor of pediatrics at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. He is a recipient of many awards including the J. Edmund Bradley Prize for Excellence in Pediatrics from the University of Maryland Medical School, the Young Investigator Award in Vaccine Development from the Infectious Disease Society of America, and a Research Career Development Award from the National Institutes of Health. Offit has published more than 160 papers in medical and scientific journals in the areas of rotavirus-specific immune responses and vaccine safety. He is also the co-inventor Read more

Pastor, Activist and Author

Wesley Lecture

An Indictment of the United Methodist Anti-Gay Doctrine

Thursday, October 26, 2017
Stern Center, Great Room, 7 p.m.

Does the United Methodist anti-gay doctrine violate John Wesley’s “do-no-harm” rule? Testimonies of queer church members and an analysis of a study by the American Psychology Association strongly suggest that it does.

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 the Department of Religion, the Division of Student Life and the Office of LGBTQ Services. It is also co-sponsored by the Churchill Fund and part of the Clarke Forum’s Leadership in an Age of Uncertainty Series.

Biography (provided by the speaker)

Rev. Franklyn Schaefer is a United Methodist pastor, chaplain and author (Defrocked, 2014). He and his wife immigrated from Germany in 1990. After obtaining a master’s of divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary (1996) and following ordination as an elder (1998), he served two church appointments in Pennsylvania. In between appointments, he obtained a clinical pastoral education degree from Penn State University while working as a resident chaplain Read more

Cuban Filmmaker

Imagining Cuba: Emerging Documentary Filmmaking within Social Change

Thursday, October 19, 2017
Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 7 p.m.

Sainz explores the struggles of the emerging generation of documentary filmmakers in contemporary Cuba.

The event is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the Departments of Spanish & Portuguese; Women’s, Gender & Sexuality Studies; Latin American, Latino & Caribbean Studies; Film Studies; the Women’s & Gender Resource Center; and First Year Seminars.

Biography (provided by the speaker)

Damián Sainz  graduated from the University of Arts, Havana, Cuba with a degree in media arts and from the EICTV (International Film and Television School of San Antonio de los Baños) with a degree in documentary direction. Sainz also studied at the Mel Oppenheim Film School in Montreal, Canada and at the Cinema Department at HEAD Genève, Switzerland. Sainz has worked as director, editor and producer in documentary films in Cuba, Canada, Switzerland and Spain and has collaborated with visual arts projects like Galeria Continua, Inventario at the Ludwig Foundation and online project Docuselfie. His short documentary films, focused on LGBTQ culture in the island and Cuban youth, have been selected and awarded in several international film festivals Read more

Thursday, October 5, 2017
Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 7 p.m.

Watch Live

Panelists

Reneé Amoore, Republican Party of Pennsylvania
Robert Borden ’91, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
Brandon Ferrance, Pennsylvania Federation of College Republicans
Jim Gerlach ’77, Business-Industry Political Action Committee (BIPAC)
David O’Connell (moderator), Dickinson College

Drawing from state and national politics, this panel will explore who identifies as and what it means to be a Republican today. Particular attention will be paid to the definitions of conservatism and the challenges Republicans face in Pennsylvania as a swing state, adding context to political debates on Dickinson’s campus.

This program is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the Division of Student Life, the Departments of American Studies and Psychology and the Program in Policy Studies.  This program was also initiated by the Clarke Forum Student Project Managers.

Biographies (provided by the panelists)

Reneé Amoore is a longtime advocate of clinically-appropriate and cost effective alternatives to expensive healthcare, and began her foray into the medical field as a registered nurse with training at Harlem Hospital School of Nursing. Earning her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Antioch University, Amoore catapulted Read more

Journalist, Critic, Filmmaker, and Autobiographer

Remixing the American Dream

Wednesday, October 4, 2017
Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 7 p.m.

The American Dream, Cepeda argues, is a pipedream for some and a birthright for others. Challenging the absurdity of the black-white national conversation about the American dream, Cepeda offers a working and accessible revision to suit generations of Americans, like her, who have been pushed to the margins.

This event is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the Women’s & Gender Resource Center, the Popel Shaw Center for Ethnicity & Race, the Division of Student Life, and the Departments of Spanish & Portuguese, English, and Women’s, Gender & Sexuality Studies.

Biography (provided by the speaker)

Born in Harlem to Dominican parents, award-winning journalist, cultural activist, podcaster, and documentary filmmaker Raquel Cepeda is the author of Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina. Equal parts memoir about Cepeda’s coming of age in New York City and Santo Domingo, and detective story chronicling her year-long journey to discover the truth about her ancestry, the book also looks at what it means to be Latinx today. Cepeda’s latest documentary Some Girls, produced by Henry Chalfant and Sam Pollard, Read more

Thursday, September 7, 2017
Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 7 p.m.

Panelists:

Jina Kim, Dickinson College
Richard Lacquement,  U.S. Army War College
Jeff McCausland, Dickinson College
Douglas Stuart (moderator), Dickinson College

This panel of experts will share their ideas regarding the current North Korean political situation, including such perspectives as the relationship between North Korea and South Korea, tactics to control the nuclear threat, and U.S. policy.

This event is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the Departments of Political Science, International Studies and East Asian Studies.

Biographies (provided by the panelists)

Jina E. Kim is visiting assistant professor of East Asian Studies with a focus on modern Korean history, literature, and media. Her research and teaching areas include Korea under Japanese colonial rule, transnational Asian studies, Korean diaspora, and Korean War, all of which pay close attention to the history of North Korea and North Korean relations with its East Asian neighbors. Her writings on these topics have appeared in Journal of Korean Studies, Review of Korean Studies, and Harvard Asia Quarterly, among others.

Richard A. Lacquement Jr. is the dean of the School of Strategic Landpower at Read more

Columbia University

The End of the Ghetto? Gentrification in Black Neighborhoods 1980-2015

Tuesday, April 25, 2017
Stern Center, Great Room, 7 p.m.

In the first decades of the 21st century gentrification has accelerated in black neighborhoods across a number of cities. This talk examines the prevalence of this trend, some possible causes and the implications for the Black Ghetto.

This event is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the Black Student Union, the Departments of Political Science, Economics, and Sociology and the Program in Policy Studies. This is a Clarke Forum student project manager initiated  event.

Biography (provided by the speaker)

Lance Freeman is a professor in the Urban Planning Program at Columbia University in New York City. His research focuses on affordable housing, gentrification, ethnic and racial stratification in housing markets, and the relationship between the built environment and well being. Freeman teaches courses on community development, housing policy and research methods.  He has also taught in the School of Urban Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Delaware.  Prior to this, Freeman worked as a researcher at Mathematica Policy Research, a leading social policy research firm in Washington D.C.  Freeman holds a Read more

Duke University

Joseph Priestley Award Celebration Lecture

Harnessing Academic Work to Make a Difference: Food Policy as an Example

Tuesday, March 28, 2017
Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 7 p.m.

With the goal of more tightly connecting work in academic settings with the real world of social and policy change, a model of strategic scholarship will be described. Examples will be drawn from work on food policy (e.g., menu labeling, food marketing, soda taxes).

The Joseph Priestley Award recipient is chosen by a different science department each year.  The Department of Psychology has selected this year’s recipient, Kelly Brownell. 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, math & computer science, psychology, and physics & astronomy.

Biography (provided by the speaker)

Kelly Brownell is dean of the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University, where he is also Robert L. Flowers Professor of Public Policy and professor of psychology and neuroscience.

In 2006 Time magazine listed Kelly Brownell among “The World’s 100 Most Influential People” in its special Time 100 issue featuring those “.. whose power, talent Read more

Wednesday, March 1, 2017
Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 7 p.m.

Panelists:

Olivia Bernauer, graduate student, University of Maryland
Carolyn Fluehr-Lobban, beekeeper and professor, Rhode Island College
Rodney Morgan, beekeeper
Samuel Ramsey, doctoral student, University of Maryland
Marcus Welker, (moderator), projects coordinator, Center for Sustainability Education, Dickinson College

This panel explores the significance of bees and beekeeping from a variety of perspectives, including the recent entomological research, the growth of beekeeping, and the work we are doing here at Dickinson.

This event is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the Center for Sustainability Education, the Department of Biology and the Food Studies Certificate Program.

Biographies (provided by the panelists)

Olivia Bernauer is currently a second-year Masters student at the University of Maryland, College Park working in the vanEngelsdorp bee lab. Her ongoing research combines citizen science with a specimen collection to determine the most valuable pollinator plants for the native pollinators in the state of Maryland. Previously, at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, she worked to understand the response of bumble bee colonies to fungicide both in the field and in a controlled cage experiment.

Carolyn Fluehr-Lobban is a professor emerita of Read more

Tuesday, February 21, 2017
HUB, Dance Studio, Noon – 1 p.m.

Our spectacular, local yoga instructor Michele Landis, owner of Simply Well Yoga, will conduct a yoga class for everyone–all levels, all bodies, all ages.  Mats are provided or bring your own!

The event is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and is part of Love Your Body Week.

Biography of Michele Landis

Michele Landis is the owner of Yoga at Simply Well. Michele teaches yoga and works as a one-on-one holistic health coach in Carlisle, PA. She graduated with honors from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition in New York, NY. The Institute for Integrative Nutrition is the only nutrition school integrating all of the different dietary theories, combining the knowledge of traditional philosophies with modern concepts such as the USDA food guidelines, the glycemic index, the Zone and raw foods. Michele’s passion is helping her clients cook more and buy and eat local, seasonal foods. She earned her teacher certification in Kripalu Yoga from the Karma Yoga Lifestyle Program of the renowned Kripalu Institute in the Berkshire Mountains of Massachusetts. At the Kripalu Institute, where she studied and served on staff for almost two years, Read more

Monday, February 13, 2017
Stern Center, Great Room, 7 p.m.

Panelists:

Joyce Davis (moderator), founder and president, World Affairs Council
Samia Malik, director of education, Council on American-Islamic Relations Harrisburg chapter
Ikram Rabbani ’17, student, Dickinson College
Ann M. Van Dyke, Community Responders Network

Since 2015, attacks on Muslims have spiked in the United States, including Central Pennsylvania. This evening’s panel will discuss community responses designed to combat anti-Muslim hatred by promoting pluralism and interfaith dialogue.

The event is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the Middle East Studies Program.

Biographies
Joyce M. Davis is director of communications for the City of Harrisburg and supervisor of WHBG Channel 20, the region’s government and public affairs television station.  She also is founder and president of The World Affairs Council of Harrisburg. A former foreign correspondent and foreign editor for National Public Radio and Knight Ridder Newspapers, Davis is author of many articles, broadcasts and two books: Between Jihad and Salaam: Profiles in Islam and Martyrs: Innocence, Vengeance and Despair in the Middle East. Davis is a member of several boards, including the World Affairs Councils of America, United Way of the Capital Read more

Wednesday, February 8, 2017
Stern Center, Great Room, 7 p.m.

Hugo Castro, Border Angels
José Luis Hernandez Cruz, AMIREDIS

Two members of the organizations Border Angels and AMIREDIS will share their work with organizing disabled and undocumented immigrants within Central and North America.

This event is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the Departments of Spanish and Portuguese, American Studies, and Latin American, Latino and Caribbean Studies.

Biographies

Hugo Castro is the son and grandson of Bracero Workers, Roberto Castro and Martin Velazquez. His childhood spanned both sides of the U.S. / Mexico Border. He was born in Salinas, Mexico, later his family migrated to Mexicali a town that borders Calexico, California, and after moving to the United States he graduated from Calexico High School in 1989.

Castro began organizing for immigrant rights in 2002, particularly around the Taft Correctional Institute where detained migrants suffered for 6 to 60 months in prison without contact from loved ones. Castro was mobilized by his incarceration in a federal, privately run, correctional institute. He served a two years sentence from 2001 to 2003 and was able to continue his education in prison. There he obtained an Read more

Monday, January 30, 2017
Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 7 p.m.

Panelists:

Kathryn Ellis, Unitarian Universalist minister
David O’Connell, assistant professor of political science, Dickinson College
Katie Oliviero (also moderator), assistant professor of women’s, gender and sexuality studies, Dickinson College

This panel will explore contemporary religious, ethical and legal debates and realities concerning reproductive rights in the United States.

This event is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the Wellness Center and the Departments of Philosophy, Political Science, Religion, Women’s, Gender & Sexuality Studies and the Health Studies Certificate Program.  This event was organized by the Clarke Forum’s student project managers.

Biographies (provided by the panelists)

Kathryn Ellis retired from the active Unitarian Universalist ministry on June 30, 2016.  Before seminary and ordination, she was a mental health counselor, a college counselor, a professor of counseling and a psychotherapist in private practice in Carlisle, PA. She is a trained facilitator for Our Whole Lives, a comprehensive sex education curriculum created by the Unitarian Universalist Association and the United Church of Christ. This is a sex affirmative and spiritual curriculum.

Kathy has been told that one never really stops being a minister. She knows that Read more

Author

Mary Ellen Borges Memorial Lecture

The Good Lord Bird: Faith & American Slavery

Tuesday, November 15, 2016
Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 7 p.m.

In this presentation, which is based on his National Book Award winning novel, The Good Lord Bird, McBride shares the story of John Brown, using gospel and spiritual music of the time to frame his life and how it is presented in the book. He will be accompanied by his band, The Good Lord Bird Band. A book sale will follow.

This event is a joint venture sponsored by St. John’s Episcopal Church on the Square and the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the Churchill Fund, the Division of Student Life and the Department of Religion.

Biography (provided by the speaker)

James McBride is a renaissance man and a born storyteller. He is the author of The Color of Water: A Black Man’s Tribute to His White Mother, a moving narrative about his mother, a white Jewish woman from Poland who married a black man, founded a Baptist church and put 12 children through college.

The Color of Water is an American classic, read in colleges and high schools Read more

Yale University

Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholars Program

Frederick Douglass: On Photography

Thursday, November 10, 2016
Stern Center, Great Room, 7 p.m.

In the 1860s, Frederick Douglass gave several public lectures about the importance of the then-new invention of photography.  In “Pictures and Progress” he shared his vision of the role he hoped photography would play in fostering a more democratic society after the Civil War.  Along with Sojourner Truth, Douglass thus became one of the first major American theorists of the medium.  This lecture engages with his critical thought in the context of his time, and ours.

The event is sponsored by the  Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and Phi Beta Kappa.

Biography (provided by the speaker)

Laura Wexler, co-director of the Yale Public Humanities Program, is professor of American studies, professor of film & media studies, and professor of women’s, gender & sexuality studies at Yale University, and she holds an affiliate position in ethnicity, race & migration.  She is also founder and director of the Photographic Memory Workshop at Yale.  She is former chair of the Women’s, Gender & Sexuality Studies Program, and former co-chair of the Yale Women Faculty Forum.

Professor Wexler has received numerous Read more

Professor Emerita, Temple University

Albion W. Tourgée and the Interracial Campaign Against Lynching

Thursday, November 3, 2016
Stern Center, Great Room, 7 p.m.

This lecture focuses on Tourgée’s campaign against lynching, in which he teamed up with the African American journalist-activists Ida B. Wells and Harry C. Smith to form a united front against anti-Black violence. A book sale and signing will follow.

This event is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the Writing Program, the Women’s and Gender Resource Center and the Department of Africana Studies.

Biography (provided by the speaker)

Carolyn L. Karcher is professor emerita of English, American studies, and women’s studies at Temple University, where she taught for twenty-one years and received the Great Teacher Award and the Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching in 2002.  She is the author of Shadow over the Promised Land: Slavery, Race, and Violence in Melville’s America (1980); The First Woman in the Republic: A Cultural Biography of Lydia Maria Child (1994); and A Refugee from His Race: Albion W. Tourgée and His Fight against White Supremacy (2016).  She has also edited scholarly reprints of works by several 19th-century writers, including Tourgée’s novel about Black Read more

Agoge Group LLC

The Cyber Presidential Campaign of 2016

Wednesday, October 26, 2016
Stern Center, Great Room, 7 p.m.

In this talk, Tomarchio will analyze how cyber breach and cyber security has influenced our national presidential election.

This event is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and is co-sponsored by Library and Information Services as part of their programming during Cyber Security Awareness Month. It is also part of the Clarke Forum’s stream on the 2016 Presidential Election.

Biography (provided by the speaker)

Jack Thomas Tomarchio is a principal with the Agoge Group, LLC, an international strategic advisory firm based in Wayne, Pennsylvania. He is also executive vice president for Cyber Strategy with Xero Day Cyber, a cyber solutions firm based in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.  He concentrates on developing business processes for technology companies, many of them in the defense, homeland security, cyber security and intelligence fields. He is also an active entrepreneur and has been involved in numerous early and mezzanine stage companies as an investor and a principal. In 2005 Tomarchio was appointed by President George W. Bush to be the first principal deputy assistant secretary of Homeland Security for Intelligence and Analysis. In 2007 he Read more