Events

Chris Crass

Crass PosterCommunity Organizer and Author

Towards Collective Liberation

Wednesday, April 2, 2014
Stern Center, Great Room, 7 p.m.

Crass will draw lessons from American social movements and his own experiences working within them over the past 25 years to help us see how divisions of race, class and gender can become bridges to help expand democracy and create healthier communities for all.

This event is sponsored by the Division of Student Development, the Churchill Fund and the Departments of American Studies, Sociology and Political Science.  It is also part of the Clarke Forum’s Leadership in an Age of Uncertainty Series.

HeadshotBiography (provided by the speaker)

Chris Crass is a longtime organizer working to build powerful working class-based, feminist, multiracial movements for collective liberation.  Throughout the 1990s he was an organizer with Food Not Bombs, an economic justice anti-poverty group, strengthening the direct action-based anti-capitalist Left.  In the 2000s, he was an organizer with the Catalyst Project, which combines political education and organizing to develop and support anti-racist politics, leadership, and organization in white communities and builds dynamic multiracial alliances locally and nationally.

He has written and spoken widely about anti-racist organizing, lessons from women of color feminism, strategies to build visionary Read more

Tamara Lawson

Lawson PosterProfessor, Saint Thomas University School of Law

Stand Your Ground: Discretion, Race, and Culture

Tuesday, April 1, 2014
Allison Great Hall – 7 p.m.

An engaging conversation about how discretion, which is exercised at all levels of the criminal justice system, can affect the outcomes of criminal cases, including claims of self-defense and the right to stand-your-ground.  The dynamics of the discretionary decisions made by legislatures, prosecutors, judges, and juries, in controversial homicide cases like the Trayvon Martin / George Zimmerman case, the Marissa Alexander case, and the Michael Dunn case, as well as other high profile criminal cases, will be discussed.

This event is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the Division of Student Development and the Women’s and Gender Resource Center.

Lawson TBiography (provided by the speaker)
Tamara F. Lawson is a tenured professor of law at Saint Thomas University School of Law. She joined the Saint Thomas Law faculty in 2004 where she teaches criminal law,criminal procedure, evidence, and a seminar on race and the law. Professor Lawson has twice been awarded Professor of the Year at St. Thomas. Prior to joining the law faculty, Professor Lawson served as a deputy district attorney Read more

Snowden Reflections

Snowden Panel Final PosterTuesday, March 25, 2014
Stern Center, Great Room – 7 p.m.

The Snowden leaks of classified information over the last several months have highlighted a number of important issues, including the lawfulness of certain surveillance programs of the National Security Agency, the proper balance between national security and privacy/civil liberties, and the impact the leaks have had on U.S. foreign relations and the intelligence community.  This panel discussion will address these issues with a general focus on the impact that the Snowden disclosures have had on the United States and its constitutional framework.

Panelists

Amy Gaudion, assistant dean for Academic Affairs, Penn State Dickinson School of Law
Bert Tussing, director of the Homeland Defense and Security Issues Group, Center for Strategic Leadership and Development, U.S. Army War College
Anthony Williams, visiting professor of security studies, Dickinson College
Harry Pohlman (moderator), A. Lee Fritschler Chair in Public Policy and executive director of the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues, Dickinson College

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

Biographies (provided by the panelists)

Amy C. Gaudion is the assistant dean for Academic Affairs, Penn State Dickinson School of Law.  Professor Gaudion’s scholarly and teaching Read more

Ukraine?

Ukraine Final Poster Resch**  Breaking Issue **

Thursday, March 6, 2014
Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium – 7 p.m.

As the Sochi Olympics were drawing to a close, the long simmering tug-of-war between the EU and Russia over the future of Ukraine boiled over into street violence and political chaos in Kiev, the Ukrainian capital. This panel will examine the origins of this crisis, the interests at stake for Russia, the EU, and the US, and the possible outcomes and consequences for international relations and for Ukraine itself.

Panelists

R. Craig Nation – Visiting Professor of Political Science & Security Studies, Dickinson College;  and Professor of Eurasian Studies at the U.S. Army War College
Karl Qualls – Associate Professor of History, Dickinson College
Marybeth Ulrich – Professor of Government, Department of National Security and Strategy, U.S. Army War College
Russell Bova (moderator) – Professor of Political Science, Dickinson College

Biographies (provided by the panelists)Nation

R. Craig Nation has been professor of strategy and director of Eurasian studies at the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania since 1996. He also serves as a visiting professor of security studies at Dickinson College. Professor Nation specializes in the foreign policy and security affairs of the Europan Read more

Kay Redfield Jamison – “Morgan Lecturer”

Jamison Poster FinalProfessor, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

Mood Disorders and Creativity

Thursday, February 27, 2014
Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 7 p.m.

A possible link between madness and genius is one of the oldest and most persistent of cultural notions; it is also one of the most controversial.  The lecture will present evidence for significantly increased rates of depression and bipolar illness in writers and artists, discuss possible reasons for these elevated rates, and open up for discussion areas of potential clinical and ethical concern.

The event is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the Student Senate Public Affairs Committee, the Office of Student Development, the Wellness Center and the Departments of American Studies, Psychology, Art and Art History, Sociology, and Health Studies.

Kay PICTBiography (provided by the speaker)

Kay Redfield Jamison is the Dalio Family Professor in Mood Disorders, Professor of Psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and co-director of the Johns Hopkins Mood Disorders Center. She is also honorary professor of English at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland.  She is the co–author of the standard medical text on manic-depressive (bipolar) illness, which was chosen as the most outstanding book in Read more

Central America on the Precipice

Central America Final FinalWednesday, February 26, 2014
Stern Center, Great Room, 7 p.m.

Participants

Michael Allison, professor, University of Scranton
Christine Wade, professor, Washington College

The two panelists will discuss current developments in Guatemala, Nicaragua, Honduras, and El Salvador as well as the general impact of Central America’s role as the key transshipment point for cocaine headed to the United States.

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 also the Department of Latin American, Latino and Caribbean Studies.

Biographies (provided by the speakers)

Mike AllisonMichael Allison is an associate professor of political science at the University of Scranton. He also directs the University’s Education for Justice program and is a faculty member in the Latin American Studies program. He graduated with a BA (1996) in politics and minors in Latin American and Caribbean studies and peace justice studies from Fairfield University in Connecticut. He received his master’s (2001) and Ph.D. (2006) in political science from Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida.

His teaching and research interests concern the comparative study of civil war and civil war resolution, particularly Read more

Bart Ehrman – “Mary Ellen Borges Memorial Lecturer”

Professor, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Jesus and the HistorianEhrman poster

Tuesday, February 25, 2014
Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 7 p.m.

Biblical scholars have long recognized the discrepancies between the four New Testament Gospels and the difficulties that result in determining who Jesus really was.  Can these four Gospels be relied upon to give us an accurate account of Jesus’s words and deeds?

This event is sponsored by St. John’s Episcopal Church on the Square and the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues.

ehrman bartBiography (provided by the speaker)

Bart D. Ehrman is the James A. Gray Distinguished Professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He came to UNC in 1988, after four years of teaching at Rutgers University. He served as chair of the UNC Department of Religious Studies from 2000-2006.

Professor Ehrman completed his M.Div. and Ph.D. degrees at Princeton Seminary, where his 1985 doctoral dissertation was awarded magna cum laude.   An expert on the New Testament and the history of Early Christianity, he has written or edited 29 books, numerous scholarly articles, and dozens of book reviews.  In addition to works of scholarship, Professor Ehrman has written several textbooks for undergraduate students and trade books Read more

Scott Sumner

Sumner PosterProfessor, Bentley University

Market Monetarism and the Crash of 2008

Thursday, February 20, 2014
Stern Center, Great Room, 7 p.m.

By focusing on nominal GDP as an indicator of both economic conditions and a target of policy, the real problem with the financial crisis of 2008 was that policymakers misdiagnosed what was occurring.  Market monetarism can help us better understand the underlying nature of the 2008 crisis, along with current issues in monetary policy.

This event is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the Department of International Business & Management.

scott sumnerBiography (provided by the speaker)

Scott Sumner is a professor of economics at Bentley University and has taught there for the past 31 years. He earned a B.A. in economics at the University of Wisconsin and a Ph.D. in economics at the University of Chicago. Sumner’s research has been in the field of monetary economics, particularly the role of the gold standard in the Great Depression.  His other research includes liquidity traps, and how monetary policy can be effective at the zero interest rate bound.  Sumner’s policy work has focused on the importance of expectations, particularly policies aimed at targeting expectations in futures markets.  In Read more

Freedom of Religion: A Debate

Freedom of Religion PosterWednesday, February 5, 2014
Stern Center, Great Room, 7 p.m.

Kim Colby, senior counsel, Christian Legal Society
Heather Weaver ’99, senior staff attorney, American Civil Liberties Union
David O’Connell, moderator, professor, Dickinson College

Colby and Weaver will debate the issues of two freedom-of-religion cases that are currently before the Supreme Court: Greece v. Galloway, which concerns the constitutionality of starting a town council meeting with a prayer; and Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby, which addresses whether the Affordable Care Act can require a family-owned business to provide insurance coverage for contraceptives despite the religious objections of the owners.

This event is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the Departments of Religion and Political Science. This is a Clarke Forum Student Project Manager initiated event.

Biographies (provided by the speakers)

Colby bioKim Colby has worked for Christian Legal Society’s Center for Law and Religious Freedom since graduating from Harvard Law School in 1981. She has represented religious groups in several appellate cases, including two cases heard by the United States Supreme Court. She assisted in congressional passage of the Equal Access Act, 20 U.S.C. § 4071, et seq., which protects the right of Read more

Carlisle’s Future: Balancing Environmental and Economic Concerns – Panel Discussion

Carlisle Future Final PosterThursday, January 30, 2014
Stern Center, Great Room, 7 p.m.

Panelists

George Pomeroy, professor, Shippensburg University
Kirk Stoner, director of planning, Cumberland County
Nathan Wolf, attorney, Wolf & Wolf
John Henson, moderator, professor, Dickinson College

A panel of experts will discuss the complex array of environmental and economic-development issues surrounding the evolution of the Carlisle area as a major logistics center with the associated construction of mega-warehouses and the concentration of truck traffic.  The panel will be composed of representatives of academia, non-profit environmental groups, developers, the public sector, and the local community.

This event is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the Carlisle Area Chamber of Commerce, League of Women Voters and the Carlisle YWCA.

Biographies (provided by the speakers)

George Pomeroy photoGeorge Pomeroy is a professor of geography – earth science and director of the Center for Land Use at Shippensburg University.  His teaching and research interests speak to community, land use, and environmental planning.  His degrees are in geography (B.A. Ed., M.S., Western Washington University) and in urban studies and public administration (Ph.D., The University of Akron).  For his research, Dr. Pomeroy has received the Distinguished Scholar Award of the Regional Development Read more

David Pryor

washington gridlock finalFormer U.S. Senator, Arkansas (D)

Washington Gridlock

Tuesday, December 3, 2013
Stern Center, Great Room, 7:30 p.m.

Many public commentators are of the opinion that the election of President Obama in 2008 ushered in a new era of extreme partisanship. Senator Pryor will discuss and evaluate the state of politics in our nation’s capital.

The Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues sponsored and planned this event in partnership with the Student Senate Public Affairs Committee.

David Pryor PictureBiography

David H. Pryor was born in Camden, Arkansas.  He received his B.A. from the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville and his LL.B. from the University of Arkansas School of Law.
In 1960 he was elected to the Arkansas State House of Representatives where he served three terms.  In November of 1966 he was elected to fill the unexpired term of Congressman Oren Harris and served three full terms in the U.S. House of Representatives.  In 1974 he was elected Governor of Arkansas, a position he held for four years.  In 1979 Governor Pryor was elected to the United States Senate and served until he retired from the Senate in 1996.

Since retiring from the Senate, he became a Fulbright Distinguished Fellow of Law and Public Read more

Patrick McGovern

McGovern PosterScientific Director, University of Pennsylvania Museum

Uncorking the Past: The Quest for Fermented Beverages

Tuesday, November 12, 2013
Stern Center, Great Room, 7 p.m.

McGovern will describe how enterprising our ancestors were in concocting a host of fermented beverages from a vast array of natural products (honey, grape, barley, rice, sorghum, chocolate, etc.) and explain the profound effects these beverages have had on our cultural and biological development.

This event was initiated by the Clarke Forum’s Student Project Managers.  It is sponsored in partnership with The Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and the Student Senate Public Affairs Committee and co-sponsored by the Departments of Archaeology, Anthropology, History and Classics.

Biography (provided by the speaker)McGovernLowerEgypt

Dr. Patrick E. McGovern directs the Biomolecular Archaeology Project at the University of Pennsylvania Museum in Philadelphia, where he is also an adjunct professor of anthropology and consulting scholar in the Near East Section.  Over the past two decades, he has pioneered the exciting interdisciplinary field of Biomolecular Archaeology which is yielding whole new chapters concerning our human ancestry, medical practice, and ancient cuisines and beverages.  Popularly, Dr. Pat is known as the “Indiana Jones of Ancient Ales, Wines, and Extreme Beverages.” He is the author Read more

Mark Frazier

Frazier PosterProfessor, New School for Social Research

China-India Future Relations

Tuesday, October 29, 2013
Stern Center, Great Room, 7 p.m.

Will India and China cooperate or compete?  Officials and experts have asked this question for over a century, and more often than not were wrong in their predictions.  This lecture explores why the predictions were wrong and suggests new ways of thinking about Sino-Indian relations.

This event is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the Donald W. Flaherty Fund, and the Departments of International Studies and Political Science.

frazier photoBiography (provided by the speaker)

Mark W. Frazier is a professor of politics, and co-academic director of the India China Institute at The New School, a university in New York City. His research engages comparisons of China and India in terms of how each has coped with development challenges related to inequality and urbanization, historically and in the present. He is the author of Socialist Insecurity: Pensions and the Politics of Uneven Development in China (Cornell University Press 2010) and The Making of the Chinese Industrial Workplace (Cambridge University Press 2002). He has contributed op-eds to The New York Times and The Diplomat. Before assuming his current Read more

Amy Nauiokas ’94

Mister and Pete PosterFounder of Archer Gray Productions 

The Inevitable Defeat of Mister and Pete

(Film Screening and Q&A with Amy Nauiokas ’94, an executive producer of the film)

Friday, October 25, 2013
Althouse Hall, Room 106, 4 p.m.

The Inevitable Defeat of Mister and Pete follows 14-year-old Mister (Skylan Brooks) and nine-year-old Pete (Ethan Dizion) during a sweltering New York City summer, after the arrest and detention of Mister’s mother (Jennifer Hudson) forces the unlikely duo to forage for food while dodging child protective services and the destructive scenarios of the Brooklyn projects. Jeffrey Wright (Casino Royale, The Manchurian Candidate), Jordin Sparks (American Idol), and Anthony Mackie (The Hurt Locker, Million Dollar Baby) also star. The film premiered at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, where Manohla Dargis, film critic for The New York Times, called the film a “beautiful…touching melodrama.” Amy Nauiokas ’94 is one of the film’s executive producers, along with Alicia Keys, who also wrote the film’s score. Nauiokas, whose career has taken her from the boardroom at Barclays Bank to a lucrative career as a producer and venture capitalist, will take questions from the audience after the screening.

Amy Nauiokas PhotoBiography of Amy Nauiokas

Amy Read more

James Oakes

Oakes posterProfessor, City University of New York, The Graduate Center

Emancipation Proclamation: Myths and Realities

Wednesday, October 23, 2013
Stern Center, Great Room, 7 p.m.

The Emancipation Proclamation is so shrouded in mythology that even today, 150 years later, we are unable to answer the simplest but most important question:  What did the proclamation actually do?

This event is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the House Divided Project.

Biography (provided by the speaker)

Currently a DJames Oakes eistinguished Professor at the City University of New York Graduate Center, James Oakes has been teaching and writing about slavery, antislavery, and the origins of the Civil War for nearly thirty years. Most recently, he is the author of The Radical and the Republican: Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln, and the Triumph of Antislavery Politics (2007) and Freedom National: The Destruction of Slavery in the United States, 1861–1865 (2012), winner of the Lincoln Prize.

Video of the Lecture

  Read more

Kevin Kruse

Kevin Kruse PosterEntrepreneur and Bestselling Author

Wholehearted Leadership

Thursday, October 17, 2013
Stern Center, Great Room, 7 p.m.

Job satisfaction around the globe is at a record low, which both reduces companies’ profits and negatively impacts the quality of human life. Based on an analysis of surveys of 10 million workers in 150 countries, Kruse shows how growth, recognition and trust are the three primary drivers of emotional commitment and satisfaction.

This event is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the Department of International Business and Management.

kruse headshot pic eBiography (provided by the speaker)

Serial entrepreneur and bestselling author, Kevin Kruse, uses a relentless focus on talent and employee engagement to build and sell several, multi-million dollar technology companies, winning both Inc 500 and Best Place to Work awards along the way. Kevin is also the author of several books including the NY Times bestseller, We: How to Increase Performance and Profits Through Full Engagement, which was named one of the top leadership books in 2011 by 800-CEO-Read.

Kevin gives back to communities worldwide through the Kevin Kruse Foundation. Projects have included building libraries throughout China and Vietnam with The Library Project, mentoring social entrepreneurs in Kenya Read more

Carlisle Mayoral Candidates Forum

CarlisleMayorsPosterFinalWednesday, October 16, 2013
Stern Center, Great Room, 7 p.m.

Candidates

Mayor William Kronenberg (R)
Tim Scott (D)
Roger Spitz (I)

The three mayoral candidates will debate the issues confronting Carlisle, Pennsylvania with Michelle Crowley, president and CEO, Greater Carlisle Area Chamber of Commerce, as the moderator.

This event is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues, Carlisle Young Professionals, Carlisle Area Chamber of Commerce, League of Women Voters, AAUW Carlisle Branch, Carlisle YWCA, The Sentinel and WHTM. Read more

Citizenship and Partisanship

Citizenship Poster with Bannerindd FINALFriday, September 27, 2013
Allison Hall (former Allison Church), 3 p.m.

Panelists:

John E. Jones III ’77 filling in for James Gerlach ’77, U.S. Representative, PA 6th District
Lisa Jackson, vice-president of Environmental Initiatives at Apple and the current Rose-Walters Prize winner for Global Environmental Activism
Joseph Sestak, former three-star admiral and congressman, and the 2013-14 recipient of the General Omar N. Bradley Chair in Strategic Leadership

Professor Douglas Edlin, political science, will moderate a panel discussion that will explore how partisanship is related to the rights and responsibilities of citizenship in the contemporary constitutional framework of the United States.  This event is one of several celebrating the inauguration of Nancy A. Roseman as the new president of Dickinson College.

Update: James Gerlach was replaced with John E. Jones III ’77

Biographies (provided by the speakers)

Gerlach PicJames Gerlach ’77  has served the citizens of Southeastern Pennsylvania for more than 20 years. His distinguished career began in 1990 with the first of two terms in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, which was followed by two terms in the Pennsylvania Senate.

Jim is serving his sixth term in the U.S. House of Representatives, representing portions of Berks, Chester, Lebanon and Montgomery Read more

James A. Baker – Constitution Day Address Lecturer

Baker poster finalFormer Counsel for Intelligence Policy and Associate Deputy Attorney General, Justice Department

Surveillance Post-Snowden

Thursday, September 12, 2013
Stern Center, Great Room, 7 p.m.

Baker will reflect on the recent disclosures of government surveillance activities. Formerly in charge of representing the government before the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, Baker will provide his perspective on the challenging security and privacy issues facing us today.

This event is jointly sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues, Penn State Dickinson School of Law and School of International Affairs

Biography

James A. Baker has worked on numerous national security matters during his career. A former federal prosecutor, he worked on all aspects of national security investigations and prosecutions, including in particular the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), during his 17 year career at the U.S. Department of Justice. From 2001-2007, Mr. Baker served as Counsel for Intelligence Policy at the Justice Department, where he was head of the Office of Intelligence Policy and Review. In that position, he was responsible for developing, coordinating, and implementing national security policy with regard to intelligence and counterintelligence matters for the department. Mr. Baker provided the Attorney General, the U.S. Intelligence Community, and the White House with Read more

What Should the United States Do About Syria?

Syria Web Stream poster** Breaking Issue **

Web Stream Viewing of U.S. Army War College Presentation

Wednesday, September 11, 2013
1 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.
Weiss Center, Room 235

Panelists:

Dr. James MacDougall: Moderator
Dr. Larry Goodson: “The Policy Challenge Posed by Syria”
Dr. W. Andrew Terrill:  “Internal Dynamics of Syria”
Dr. Richard Winslow: “Regional Effects of Syrian Civil War”
Dr. Christopher Bolan: “U.S. Strategy toward Syria”

This web stream viewing of the U.S. Army War College presentation is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues.

 Link to Video of Presentation Read more