Wednesday, 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)

Michael 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

Professor, 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.

Biography (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

Wednesday, 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)

Kim 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

Thursday, 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 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

Former 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.

Biography

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

Professor, 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.

Biography (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

Professor, 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 Distinguished 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

Entrepreneur 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.

Biography (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

Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Stern Center, Great Room, 7:00 p.m.

Participants:

State Representative Stephen Bloom (R), serving the 199^th Legislative District in Cumberland County

State Senator Larry Farnese (D), serving the 1^st Senatorial District in Philadelphia

The participants will discuss the merits of gun control provisions currently being considered by the Pennsylvania legislature.

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

Biographies

Representative Stephen Bloom, of Cumberland County, was first elected to represent the citizens of the 199th Legislative District in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in November 2010. A practicing lawyer for more than 20 years, now of counsel with the Carlisle firm of Irwin & McKnight, P.C., Bloom focused on business and transactional matters. He was also an adjunct instructor of management and business at Messiah College, where he taught economics and business law.

His mission as a lawmaker is to cut the size and scope of government, reduce the burden of taxes and unnecessary regulation, protect and defend constitutional freedoms, and by doing those things, unleash the power of individuals and businesses to create and grow jobs and economic prosperity.
Full Biography

Senator Larry Farnese Read more