Media

Ajuan Mance

Mills College

The 1001 Black Men Online Sketchbook and the Art of Social Justice

Wednesday, March 7, 2018
Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 7 p.m.

Mance created 1001 Black Men: An Online Sketchbook as a reaction against the controlling images that have limited and defined media representations of Black men. Mance will use a slideshow of images from her series as the basis of a wide ranging discussion of art, Black maleness and gender performance, and representation.

This program is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the Women’s & Gender Resource Center; the Popel Shaw Center for Race & Ethnicity; and the Departments of Africana Studies; American Studies; English; French; and Women’s, Gender & Sexuality Studies.

Biography (provided by the speaker)

Ajuan Mance is a professor of English at Mills College in Oakland, California. She holds degrees from Brown University and the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. A lifelong artist, she works in acrylic on paper and canvas, ink on paper and, for the 1001 Black Men project, ink on paper and digital collage. Ajuan has participated in solo and group exhibitions throughout the San Francisco Bay Area as well as at the University of Read more

Michael Snyder

Stanford University

Using Your Genome and Big Data to Manage Your Health

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

New technologies that determine DNA sequencing means we can now profile people over time to better predict and diagnose disease. Snyder will share his work in these new technologies and the power they hold to transform how we manage human health. A book sale and signing will follow the presentation.

This event is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the Department of Biology and the Health Studies Program. It is also part of the Clarke Forum’s semester theme, Big Data.

Biography (provided by the speaker)

Michael Snyder is the Stanford Ascherman Professor and chair of genetics and the director of the Center of Genomics and Personalized Medicine at Stanford University. Snyder received his Ph.D. training at the California Institute of Technology and carried out postdoctoral training at Stanford University. He is a leader in the field of functional genomics and proteomics, and one of the major participants of the ENCODE project. His laboratory study was the first to perform a large-scale functional genomics project in any organism, and has developed many technologies Read more

Mitch Abrams

Founder and President, Learned Excellence for Athletes

The Myth of the Violent Athlete

Wednesday, April 20, 2016
Stern Center, Great Room, 7 p.m.

Few things get more attention in the media than when an athlete transgresses. Psychologist Abrams will discuss the realities of violence in sports, the dynamics that may contribute to angry outbursts and athlete entitlement, and what to do to prevent and treat these dangerous behaviors.

This program is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by Student Senate, Psychology Club, Psi Chi, and the Wellness Center. This program was also initiated by the Clarke Forum’s student project managers.

Biography (provided by the speaker)

Dr. Mitch Abrams earned his bachelor’s of science from Brooklyn College (Pre-Med & Psychology) and earned his master’s of science in applied psychology and his doctorate of psychology (Psy.D.) in clinical psychology from C.W. Post/Long Island University. He received specialized training in family violence, the treatment of trauma and anger management. His dissertation demonstrated the effectiveness of an anger management program for male athletes and he has been working with anger and violence (including dating/sexual violence prevention) with athletes since. His private practice has clinical, forensic and sport psychology services where Read more

Karen Nakamura

Haas Distinguished Chair of Disability Studies and professor of anthropology, University of California Berkeley

Disability Rights in Global Perspective

Wednesday, April 13, 2016
Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 7 p.m.

Grassroots disability movements such as mad pride and crip pride have pushed themselves to the forefront of conversations across the world about diversity and inclusion, but there has also been considerable setbacks in recent years. Nakamura discusses disability rights social movements and how they have fundamentally changed the social contract and fabric in various countries.

This event is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the Office of Global Study and Engagement and the departments of East Asian studies and women’s, gender and sexuality studies. It is also part of the Clarke Forum’s semester theme, Disability.

Biography (provided by the speaker)

Karen Nakamura is the Haas Distinguished Chair of Disability Studies and professor of anthropology at the University of California Berkeley. Her first monograph was titled Deaf in Japan: Signing and the Politics of Identity (2006). Her next project resulted in two ethnographic films and a monograph titled, A Disability of the Soul: An Ethnography of Schizophrenia and Mental Illness in Contemporary Japan (2014). She is Read more

David Paternotte

Lecturer in Sociology at the Université libre de Bruxelles

From the Vatican to Madrid, Paris and Warsaw: “Gender Ideology” in Motion

Tuesday, April 12, 2016
Stern Center, Great Room, 7 p.m.

After decades of steady progress in terms of gender and sexual rights, several parts of Europe are facing new waves of resistance. These oppose the so-called ‘gender ideology,’ and unveil a crucial role of the Roman Catholic Church. This talk will give an overview of anti-gender movements in Europe.

The program is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the Women’s and Gender Resource Center and the Departments of Sociology and Italian Studies.

Biography (provided by the speaker)

David Paternotte is a lecturer in sociology at the Université libre de Bruxelles. After many years of research on same-sex marriage, his work concentrates the processes of Europeanisation, globalisation and NGOisation of LGBTQI activism. He has recently started a project on new forms of opposition to gender, feminist claims and LGBTQI rights, with a focus on the Catholic Church. In addition to articles in journals like the Canadian Journal of political science, social politics, sexualities, or social movement studies, he is the author of Revendiquer le “mariage Read more

More than a Game: Soccer and Social Justice in the Twenty-First Century

Wednesday, April 6, 2016
Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 7 p.m.

Panelists:

Amy Bass, professor of history, The College of New Rochelle
Joshua Nadel, associate professor of history, North Carolina Central University and author of Fútbol!: Why Soccer Matters in Latin America
Stephanie Yang, co-manager of Stars and Stripes FC on SB Nation
Shawn Stein (moderator), associate professor, Spanish and Portuguese, Dickinson College

This panel brings together experts in the culture and politics of soccer to discuss the state of the sport in the US and around the world. In what ways is the game plagued by racism, sexism, homophobia, economic injustice, or other inequalities? How might soccer be a tool for social, political, and cultural change? Join the conversation with these panelists as they share their work and take questions from the audience.

This event is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and the Critical Perspectives on Soccer and Social Justice Symposium.

This event is also the kick-off for the Central Pennsylvania Consortium Symposium “Critical Perspectives on Soccer and Social Justice Symposium” which will be held on Friday, April 8. For more on the symposium contact Professors Schweighofer (schweigk@dickinson.edu) or Stein (steins@dickinson.edu Read more

Breaking Issue – iPhone vs. the FBI: Government Surveillance in the Post-Snowden Era

Tuesday, April 5, 2016
Allison Great Hall, 7 p.m.

Panelists:

Amy Gaudion, Penn State Dickinson School of Law
John MacCormick, (panelist and moderator) Dickinson College
Tony Williams, Dickinson College

Should Apple help the FBI unlock the iPhone used by the shooter in the recent San Bernardino attack? These panelists will address this question and the significant security, legal, and technological issues it raises, particularly those connected to privacy and security.

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

Biographies (provided by the panelists)

Amy C. Gaudion is the director of Graduate & International Education and a visiting assistant professor of law at Penn State’s Dickinson Law. Her scholarly and teaching interests focus on national security law, homeland security law and civilian-military relations. Her recent works have appeared in the Penn State Journal for Law & International Affairs, The New York Times, The Daily Beast, and the Western State Law Review. Recent presentations have included The Constitutionality and Consequences of America’s Use of Drones and the NSA Spying Program (2014, Western State College of Law), Beyond Print: New Models for Scholarly Publishing in Law (2014, Annual Conference of the American Association Read more

Yair Teller

Chief Scientist and Founder, HomeBiogas

The Business of Peace through Green Energy: The HomeBiogas Story

Thursday, March 31, 2016
Stern Center, Great Room, 7 p.m.

Teller will discuss how he is using his company, HomeBiogas, as a mechanism for peace building, sustainable development, women’s empowerment, and improvement of the quality of health and life for citizens of developing countries.

Yair Teller is chief scientist and co-founder of the HomeBiogas Company based in Netanya, Israel. HomeBiogas produces a household renewable energy appliance that recycles kitchen waste into cooking gas and organic fertilizer. Profits from sales to suburban customers and a successful crowd-funding campaign are used to support donation of HomeBiogas units to economically disadvantaged Bedouin, Palestinian, and Ugandan families for alleviation of poverty. The work of HomeBiogas has been recognized by the UN and the Peres Center for Peace.

This event is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and Student Senate, and co-sponsored by the departments of Judaic studies, Middle East studies and earth sciences, the Center for Sustainable Education, the Treehouse, J Street U, and the Geology Club.

Biography (provided by the speaker)

Yair Teller is a visionary and entrepreneur committed to the cause of sustainability, and driven Read more

George Lipsitz

Professor of Black Studies and Sociology, University of California, Santa Barbara

The Ferguson Conjuncture: Why the Humanities Matter Now

Tuesday, March 29, 2016
Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 7 p.m.

Live Stream Link

The killing of Michael Brown and the callous and cruel responses to it by legally constituted authorities have rightly been perceived as evidence of failures of the criminal justice system and the political system. In addition, the events, actions and ideas emerging from the crucible of conflict in Ferguson also reveal a betrayal of the promise of the humanities to teach discernment, judgment and empathy as tools for envisioning a common and creative human existence.

This program is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the Division of Student Life, the Churchill Fund and the departments of American studies, sociology and history. It is part of the Clarke Forum’s Leadership in an Age of Uncertainty Series.

Biography (provided by the speaker)

George Lipsitz is professor of black studies and sociology at the University of California, Santa Barbara. His publications include How Racism Takes Place, The Possessive Investment in Whiteness, A Life in the Struggle, Time Passages and The Fierce Urgency of Now Read more

Lance Wahlert

Assistant Professor of Medical Ethics & Health Policy, University of Pennsylvania

Disability Studies and Contemporary Bioethics for HIV-Positive Persons

Wednesday, March 23, 2016
Stern Center, Great Room, 7 p.m.

In this talk, Wahlert will discuss the prominence of HIV-positive persons in the history of medicine, paying special attention to their impact by the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.

This event is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the departments of women’s and gender studies, American studies, biology and the health studies certificate program. It is also part of the Clarke Forum’s semester theme, Disability.

Biography (provided by the speaker)

An historian of medicine and literary/cinema/queer studies scholar by training, Dr. Lance Wahlert is assistant professor of medical ethics & health policy and director of the Master of Bioethics (MBE) program in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. He also holds affiliated standing-faculty appointments in Penn’s departments of: Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies; English; Cinema Studies; and, the History and Sociology of Science.

Dr. Wahlert’s scholarly interests include narrative medicine, clinical ethics, the history of LGBTQ medicine, disability theory, cinema studies, and Irish and Norwegian literature. Accordingly, he has held residential Read more

Dancing in Jaffa – Film Showing Followed by Comments and Dance Class by Pierre Dulaine

This film showing is part of the Movement Matters Film Series. It includes three documentaries that explore dance as a vehicle for social change and personal transformation.

Tuesday, March 22, 2016
Mathers Theatre, 7 p.m.

Pierre Dulaine, an internationally renowned ballroom dancer, takes his program, Dancing Classrooms, back to his city of birth, Jaffa. Pierre teaches Palestinian-Israeli and Jewish-Israeli children to dance and compete together. The film explores how the future might unfold if the art of movement and dance could triumph over the politics of history and geography. Comments by Dulaine. A dance class with Dulaine will follow.

This film showing is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issue and co-sponsored by the Department of Theatre & Dance and the Milton B. Asbell Center for Jewish Life.

Dancing in Jaffa Trailer

Biography (provided by the speaker)

Pierre Dulaine was born in Jaffa, Palestine. His Irish Protestant father married his Palestinian Catholic mother while serving with the British army. Being Palestinian meant being uprooted and fleeing with his family in 1948 at the creation of the State of Israel when he was four – with nowhere else to go his family landed in Amman, Jordan and as a teenager Read more

Bassem Eid

Palestinian Human Rights Advocate and Political Commentator

Palestinians’ Internal Politics and Conflicts

Tuesday, March 8, 2016
Stern Center, Great Room, 7 p.m.

Since 2007, Palestinians have become so divided that reconciliation is in the interest of neither Hamas nor Abbas. Eid will discuss the internal politics and significance of this divide.

This event is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the Department of Judaic Studies, Middle East Studies and the Milton B. Asbell Center for Jewish Life.

Biography (provided by the speaker)

Bassem Eid is former director of the Jerusalem-based Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group (PHRMG). Born in Jerusalem, he spent the first 33 years of his life in the Shuafat Refugee Camp on the outskirts of the city. He became a prominent figure during the first Intifada, the Palestinian uprising, as senior field researcher for B’Tselem, the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories. He publicly condemned the widespread killing of Palestinian collaborators, often for reasons unrelated to the Intifada. In 1995, following his report about the Palestinian Preventative Security Service, he came under attack by some Palestinian leaders for revealing human rights violations committed by the Palestinian Authority. He continued Read more

Manju Banerjee

Vice President and Director of Landmark College Institute for Research and Training (LCIRT) and Associate Professor at Landmark College

Universal Design and Diverse Learners

Thursday, March 3, 2016
Holland Union Building, Social Hall West, 7 p.m.

This presentation will address issues, experiences, challenges and alternatives in pedagogical practice for today’s diverse population of college students. Starting with an overview of neurodiversity and learner differences, the presenter will share practical hand-on techniques, eTools, and strategies as guided by the Universal Design mindset.

This program is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the Department of Women’s and Gender Studies, American Studies, Kappa Delta Pi, the Wellness Center and the Office of Disability Services (ODS). It is also part of the Clarke Forum’s semester theme, Disability.

Biography (provided by the speaker)

Manju Banerjee, Ph.D., is vice president and director of Landmark College Institute for Research and Training (LCIRT) and associate professor at Landmark College. Dr. Banerjee has over 29 years of experience in the field of learning disabilities and postsecondary education, and is a certified diagnostician and teacher-consultant on learning disabilities. She has published and presented extensively, both nationally and internationally, on topics including Universal Design Read more

Steven Pifer

Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution and Former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine

The Ukraine-Russia Crisis and U.S. Policy

Wednesday, March 2, 2016
Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 7 p.m.

Pifer will address how the crisis between Ukraine and Russia has developed, what it means for the West and the U.S. policy response.

This event is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the departments of international studies, political science, history, Russian and the security studies certificate program.

Biography (provided by the speaker)

Steven Pifer is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, where he focuses on arms control, Ukraine and Russia. A retired Foreign Service officer, his more than 25 years with the State Department included assignments as deputy assistant secretary of state with responsibilities for Russia and Ukraine, U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, and special assistant to the president and senior director for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia on the National Security Council.

Video of the Lecture

Interview with Steven Pifer and Rehoboth Gesese’ 17, Clarke Forum Student Project Manager

Oceanographer

Melting Ice, Rising Seas, Shifting Shorelines…The New Reality

Tuesday, February 16, 2016
Stern Center, Great Room, 7 p.m.

Sea level rise is now unstoppable. Englander will explain the latest science, put sea level rise into historic perspective, and explain what we can expect and how we should plan for the future.

A book sale and signing will follow the presentation.

This event is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the Churchill Fund, the Center for Sustainability Education and the departments of earth sciences, biology, international business and management, international studies and policy studies. It is also part of the Clarke Forum’s Leadership in an Age of Uncertainty Series.

Biography (provided by the speaker)

John Englander is an oceanographer, consultant and leading expert on sea level rise. He brings the diverse points of view of an industry scientist, entrepreneur and CEO to this critical issue. For over 30 years, he has been a leader in both the private sector and the non-profit arena, serving as CEO for such noteworthy organizations as The Cousteau Society and The International SeaKeepers Society.

Englander graduated Dickinson College with a double major in geology and economics. His bestselling book, Read more

Lennard Davis – “Morgan Lecturer”

Distinguished Professor of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Professor of English, Disability and Human Development, and Medical Education at the University of Illinois at Chicago

Morgan Lecture

The Americans with Disabilities Act: Civil Rights Then, Now, and in the Future

Wednesday, February 10, 2016
Stern Center, Great Room, 7 p.m.

Live Stream Link

The Americans with Disabilities Act recently reached its 25th year anniversary. This lecture looks at the history of how the most encompassing civil rights act of the 20th century, affecting the largest US minority, came to be passed; what its effects were and are; and what more work remains to be done. A book sale and signing will follow.

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

Biography (provided by the speaker)

Lennard J. Davis is a Distinguished Professor of Liberal Arts and Sciences and teaches in the English Department at the University of Illinois at Chicago, where he had also served as the department’s Head. In Read more

Sandra L. Steiner Ball ’84 – “Wesley Lecturer”

Bishop, West Virginia Conference of the United Methodist Church

Tuesday, February 9, 2016
Stern Center, Great Room, 7 p.m.

Wesley Lecture

We Are More Than We Have Become:

John Wesley’s Call to Holiness and Service

In this lecture, the first woman bishop of the United Methodist Church’s West Virginia Conference, Sandra Steiner Ball, will address Wesley’s desire to reform the Church and to move women and men from a passive connection with the Divine, to an active, relational, and accountable life of holiness and service to God. This subject is relevant for today as it was in the 18^th Century.

This lecture is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues, the Center for Service, Spirituality and Social Justice, and the Office of the President, and co-sponsored by the Department of Religion, Women’s and Gender Resource Center, Dickinson Christian Fellowship 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)

Sandra L. Steiner Ball, the daughter of Edward J. and Marjorie W. Steiner, was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts and raised in Milford, Delaware. She is a graduate of Dickinson College, (B.A. in Religion, 1984), Read more

Zach Leverenz ’01

Founder and CEO, EveryoneOn

Wednesday, February 3, 2016
Allison Great Hall, 7 p.m.
(Reception to follow)

Launch for New Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship (SINE) Certificate

Business as Unusual: Shared Strategies for Accelerating Change

Leverenz will apply a practitioner’s lens to examine how social entrepreneurs can design shared-value strategies and build cross-sector partnerships that accelerate social impact with immediate scale and sustained success.

The event is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues, the Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship (SINE) Certificate Program, and the Office of Provost and co-sponsored by the Churchill Fund. This program is also part of the Clarke Forum’s Leadership in an Age of Uncertainty Series.

Biography (provided by the speaker)

Zach Leverenz serves as founder and CEO of EveryoneOn, and has led the growth of the organization into a national force for social impact and inclusion.

With a singular focus on providing access to opportunity for all, the organization has adopted a broad, integrative agenda that harnesses the collective expertise and scale of more than 250 cross-sector partners to accelerate meaningful technology adoption for all segments of the unconnected population, including students, families, adults, and seniors.

Through the work of EveryoneOn, Leverenz has become a Read more

Silvia Pedraza

University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

Cuba and its Exile: Political Generations

Thursday, December 3, 2015
Stern Center, Great Room, 7 p.m.

Using the concept of political generations, Pedraza traces the evolution of the Cuban exile, mostly in Miami, and the Cuban revolution, in the island. Political generations refers to young people that in their transition from adolescence to adulthood experienced dramatic historical events that marked their consciousness. Pedraza identifies several major political generations that developed during the course of the Cuban revolution and its exile.

This event is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the department of Latin American, Latino and Caribbean Studies. It is also part of the Clarke Forum’s Leadership in an Age of Uncertainty Series.

Biography (provided by the speaker)

Silvia Pedraza is professor of sociology and American culture at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She was born and raised in Cuba, from where she immigrated with her family at the age of 12. Her research interests include the sociology of immigration, race, and ethnicity in America, and the sociology of Cuba’s revolution and exodus. She places particular stress on comparative studies, both historical and contemporary. Her work seeks to Read more

Remembering Hiroshima and Nagasaki

Wednesday, December 2, 2015
Stern Center, Great Room, 7 p.m.

Dickinson Panelists:

Alex Bates, associate professor of Japanese language and literature
Shawn Bender, associate professor of East Asian studies
Claire Seiler, assistant professor of English
W. Evan Young, assistant professor of history
Shogo Nishikawa, exchange student from Japan

In this panel of four faculty members and a student will each draw from their own research and experience to respond to the questions of how we remember the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. How do these memories shape our contemporary understanding of the past and of current struggles regarding nuclear energy and war?

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

Biographies (provided by the speakers)

Alex Bates is associate professor of Japanese language and literature at Dickinson College. He is a specialist in modern Japanese literature and film. In addition to survey courses in these areas, he has taught courses in Japanese youth culture, ecocriticism, East Asian film, and World War II in Japanese literature and film. Professor Bates’ book on representations of the 1923 earthquake that destroyed Tokyo will be out later this year from the University of Michigan, Center for Read more