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Ellen McLaughlin

Ellen McLaughlin poster final webPlaywright and Actress

Readings by Ellen McLaughlin

Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Stern Center, Great Room, 7:00 p.m.

McLaughlin will read excerpts from several of her plays, including Infinity’s House, Iphigenia and Other Daughters, Tongue of a Bird, Helen, The Persians, Oedipus and Ajax in Iraq. She is most well known for having originated and developed the part of the Angel in Tony Kushner’s Angels in America, having appeared in every U.S. production from its earliest workshops through its Broadway run.

The event is co-sponsored by the Departments of Classics, Theatre & Dance and English.

color book jacketBiography (provided by the speaker)
Ellen McLaughlin’s plays have received numerous national and international productions. They include Days and Nights Within, A Narrow Bed, Infinity’s House, Iphigenia and Other Daughters, Tongue of a Bird, The Trojan Women, Helen, The Persians, Oedipus, Penelope, Kissing the Floor and Ajax in Iraq.
Producers include: Actors’ Theater of Louisville, The Actors’ Gang L.A., Classic Stage Co., N.Y., The Intiman Theater, Seattle, Almeida Theater, London, The Mark Taper Forum, L.A., the Public Theater in NYC, The Oregon Shakespeare Festival, The National Actors’ Theater, N.Y., Read more

Feeding Dickinson

feeding dickinson poster webPanel Discussion

Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Stern Center, Great Room, 7:00 p.m.

Panelists

Jennifer Halpin, director of the college’s organic farm
Jay Myers of the food distributor, Feesers, Inc.
Keith Martin, director of dining services
Ben Riggs ’86, Four Seasons Produce Distributors
Scott Wagner, John Gross & Co.
Moderated by Andy Skelton, professor of psychology, Dickinson College

Each day, Dickinson College provides thousands of meals for students and employees. How does an institution feed so many people, with such a variety of tastes and needs? Where does all this food come from and how is its quality assured? Our panel will address these and related questions, offering a glimpse behind the scenes of how a residential college feeds its population.

Biographies (provided by the panelists)

HalpinJennifer Halpin
Halpin manages the production and educational aspects of the Dickinson College Farm, in addition to working cooperatively with students and faculty to create meaningful educational experiences on the farm. She serves on the Board of Directors for the Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture (PASA), is an active member of the South-central Buy Fresh, Buy Local Campaign and is the board president of Farmers on the Square, a producer-only Read more

Heidi Skolnik

Eating you way to athletic success webSports Nutrition Consultant to the New York Giants, New York Knicks, The Juilliard School and The School of American Ballet

Eating Your Way to Athletic Success

Thursday, March 3, 2011
Stern Center, Great Room, 7:00 p.m.

Nutrient Timing for Peak Performance is a strategic approach in what, when, and how much to eat of selected foods to maximize athletic conditioning, training and performance. Learn some of the tools that athletes can use to reduce risk of injury, maximize muscle repair, maintain a healthy immune system and increase endurance.

This is event is co-sponsored by the Department of Athletics.

Biography (provided by the speaker)Skolnik
Considered a thought leader in the nutrition, Heidi is the Sports Nutrition Consultant to the The NY Knicks Basketball Team, The Juilliard School, School of American Ballet and Fordham University Athletics. She was the team nutritionist for the past 18 years for The Football Giants and continues to see clients one-to-one one day a week at The Women’s Sports Medicine Center at Hospital of Special Surgery. Heidi is a contributing advisor to Men’s Health magazine and is co-author of Nutrient Timing for Peak Performance; the right food, the right time, the right results (Human Kinetics, 2010) and Read more

Elaine Pagels – “Mary Ellen Borges Memorial Lecturer”

Pagels poste colorHarrington Spear Paine Foundation Professor of Religion, Princeton University

The Cultural Impact of the Book of Revelation

Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 6:00 p.m.

Pagels will address who wrote the Book of Revelation, why it was written, how it became a part of the Bible, and how it became influential in politics, art and culture over the last 2,000 years.

pagels pictureBiography (from Princeton.edu)
Elaine Pagels joined the Princeton faculty in 1982, shortly after receiving a MacArthur Fellowship. Perhaps best known as the author of The Gnostic Gospels, The Origin of Satan, and Adam, Eve and the Serpent, she has published widely on Gnosticism and early Christianity, and continues to pursue research interests in late antiquity. Her most recent books include Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas (was on the New York Times best-seller list) and Reading Judas: The Gospel of Judas and the Shaping of Christianity, co-authored with Karen King of Harvard.  Her current project is working on a book entitled Revelations which will explore the New Testament Book of Revelation and other Jewish, Christian, and Pagan books of Revelation written around the same time.  She will be on leave for the 2010-11 Read more

L. Randall Wray

Minskian bannerProfessor of Economics, University of Missouri–Kansas City

A Minskian Explanation of the Economic Crisis

Thursday, February 24, 2011
Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 7:00 p.m.

Relying upon the theories and assumptions of Hyman Minsky, Wray will explore and expound upon the factors that contributed to the current economic and financial crisis.

This event is co-sponsored by the Department of Economics.

Biography (provided by the speaker)
L. Randall Wray is a professor of economics at the University of Missouri-Kansas City as well as research director, the Center for Full Employment and Price Stability, and senior scholar at the Levy Economics Institute of Bard College, NY. A student of Hyman P. Minsky while at Washington University in St. Louis, Wray has focused on monetary theory and policy, macroeconomics, financial instability, and employment policy. He has published widely in journals and is the author of Understanding Modern Money: The Key to Full Employment and Price Stability (Elgar, 1998) and Money and Credit in Capitalist Economies (Elgar 1990). He is the editor of Credit and State Theories of Money (Edward Elgar 2004) and the co-editor of Contemporary Post Keynesian Analysis (Edward Elgar 2005), Money, Financial Instability and Stabilization Policy (Edward Elgar 2006), and Keynes for Read more

Stuart Rothenberg

ObamaTheWayForward WebEditor and Publisher of The Rothenberg Political Report

Obama: The Way Forward

Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Stern Center, Great Room, 7:00 p.m.

What’s next for Obama, Democrats and the GOP? Rothenberg will look back to the midterm elections and ahead to the 112th Congress and the 2012 presidential race.

Biography (provided by the speaker)Stu Photo
Stuart Rothenberg is editor and publisher of The Rothenberg Political Report, a non-partisan political newsletter covering U.S. House, Senate and gubernatorial campaigns, Presidential politics and political developments. He is also a twice-a-week columnist for Roll Call, Capitol Hill’s premier newspaper.

He holds a B.A. from Colby College (Waterville, Maine) and a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Connecticut. He has taught at Bucknell University (Lewisburg, Pennsylvania) and at the Catholic University of America (Washington, D.C.).

A frequent soundbite, Mr. Rothenberg has appeared on Meet the Press, This Week, Face the Nation, The NewsHour, Nightline and many other television programs. He is often quoted in the nation’s major media, and his op-eds have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal and other newspapers.

Mr. Rothenberg served as an election night analyst for the Newshour on PBS in 2008 Read more

David T. Johnson

johnson poster NEW eFormer Assistant Secretary for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs

Mexico, Drugs and Crime

Thursday, February 17, 2011
Stern Center, Great Room, 7:00 p.m.

For the last decade, Mexico, and especially its border regions, has suffered skyrocketing murder rates and a breakdown in public safety driven by a surge in drug-fueled organized crime. The “Merida Initiative,” first crafted in 2008, was an attempt by the United States to help its neighbor, but the violence today continues unabated. Johnson, the senior U.S. government official responsible for this “initiative” from its inception until January 2011, will address how it was crafted, what it has delivered, and the prospects for bringing down Mexico’s high rates of murder and violence.

Bio DTJBiography (provided by the speaker)
David T. Johnson served as Assistant Secretary for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs from October 2007 to January 2011. Prior to his appointment, Mr. Johnson served as Deputy Chief of Mission for the US Embassy in London from August 2003 until August 2007.

Mr. Johnson, of Georgia, entered the United States Foreign Service in 1977. He served as the Afghan Coordinator for the United States from May 2002 to July 2003. He served as United States Ambassador to Read more

Jaclyn Friedman

Friedman poster webWriter, Performer, and Activist

Sexual Empowerment: A World Without Rape

Wednesday, February 16, 2011
The Depot, 7:00 p.m.
A book signing will follow.

Based on her hit book Yes Means Yes: Visions of Female Sexual Power and a World without Rape, Friedman explains how the culture shames women for expressing their sexuality, how the media uses empty images of female sexuality to fuel sales, and how rape is allowed to function in society.

The event was organized by The Clarke Forum Student Project Managers and is co-sponsored by Student Senate and the Women’s Center.

Biography (provided by the speaker)JFheadshotDSC
Jaclyn Friedman is a writer, performer, and activist, and the editor of the hit book Yes Means Yes: Visions of Female Sexual Power and a World Without Rape (one of Publishers’ Weekly’s Top 100 Books of 2009).

As an undergraduate, Jaclyn thought she was too smart to become a victim of sexual assault – until another student proved her wrong. That experience eventually led her to become a student and instructor of IMPACT safety training. At IMPACT, she helped bring safety skills to the communities which most need them, including gang-involved high school students and women transitioning out of abusive Read more

Tamara Metz

Metz webAssistant Professor of Political Science and Humanities, Reed College

Untying the Knot

Thursday, February 10, 2011
Stern Center, Great Room, 7:00 p.m.

As the issue of same-sex marriage wends its way to the Supreme Court, Metz claims that state control of marriage conflicts with basic liberal principles and threatens families. Drawing a parallel to religion, Metz argues that marriage should be disestablished and that the state should use other means for supporting intimate caregiving.

The event is co-sponsored by The Women’s Center and the Office of Institutional and Diversity Initiatives.

Biography (provided by the speaker)Tamara Metz
Tamara Metz is a political theorist at Reed College, Portland, OR. Her interests include history of political thought, classical and contemporary liberalism; feminist and critical theory; care; policy, law and ethics. She is the author of Untying the Knot: Marriage, the State and the Case for their Divorce (Princeton University Press, 2010), in which she explores the history of the relationship between marriage and the state in liberal theory and practices, and concludes that marriage should be disestablished. Related material appears in Just Marriage (Oxford, 2004), Contemporary Political Theory (2007), Marriage and Family (Columbia, 2009), and Politics & Gender (2010). At Reed, in addition to Read more

It Takes More than the “Veg”

by veg posterPanel Discussion

Thursday, February 10, 2011
Stern Center, Great Room, 12:00 p.m.

Panelists

Chad M. Kimmel, associate professor of sociology, Department of Sociology/Anthropology, Shippensburg University
David Sarcone, associate professor, Department of International Business and Management, Dickinson College

Carlisle, Pennsylvania has a rich history of farmers markets. From the “Market House(s)” located on the square for more than a century, to the more modern market buildings that followed, farmers have continually engaged in commercial activities in Carlisle since the middle of the 18th century. Honoring this tradition, the Carlisle Central Farmers Market (CCFM) established itself as a year round, hybrid public/farmers market. CCFM espoused both social and economic goals as stated in its mission statement – “…to promote sustainable agriculture practices, to encourage healthy eating, and to provide entrepreneurial opportunities for those who produce and sell local products.” But what began in September 2007 as a well intentioned venture, ended in February 2009.

This presentation will explore the life history of CCFM, and will pay particular attention to the timeline of events and decisions that opened, maintained and finally closed the market. Other models/timelines of farmers market development in other parts of the nation will be used for purposes Read more

Sandra Steingraber – “Morgan Lecturer”

World Renowned Ecologist, Author and Cancer Survivor

“Fracking” Our Food: A New Threat to Sustainable Farming

Steingraber Final

RESCHEDULED DUE TO INCLEMENT WEATHER
(originally scheduled for February 2)
New Date:

Thursday, February 3, 2011
Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 7:00 p.m.
A reception and book signing will follow.

We are standing at a historic confluence, a place where two rivers meet: a stream of emerging knowledge about what the combustion of fossil fuels is doing to our planet is joining a stream of emerging knowledge about what synthetic chemicals derived from fossil fuels–such as pesticides and fertilizers–are doing to our bodies.” So writes biologist and author Sandra Steingraber in the second edition of her classic book, Living Downstream: An Ecologist’s Personal Investigation of Cancer and the Environment. In this lecture, Steingraber will explore the tangled relationship between petrochemicals and farming, with a special focus on natural gas, the feedstock for many agricultural products and whose extraction from shale bedrock of our nation is threatening the ecological conditions that support our food system.

The event is co-sponsored by the Women’s Center, the Office of Institutional and Diversity Initiatives, and the Departments of Biology, American Studies and Environmental Studies.

Biography (provided by the speaker) Read more

Afghanistan: What Next?

Afghan Poster web

Panel Discussion

Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Stern Center, Great Room – 7:00 p.m.

Panelists

Larry Goodson, professor of Middle East studies, U.S. Army War College
Thomas Barfield, professor of anthropology at Boston University and president of the American Institute for Afghanistan Studies.
Marvin Weinbaum, Scholar-in-Residence, Middle East Institute in Washington, DC
Moderated by David Commins, professor of history, Dickinson College

In the context of the Obama Administration’s upcoming review of its policies in Afghanistan, a panel of experts will address the following questions: What are the intensity and depth of U.S. interests in Afghanistan? Are these interests vital to U.S. national security? If the interests are vital, can the U.S. achieve these interests with the existing policy/strategy or is some other policy/strategy required? If the interests are not vital to U.S. national security, why is the U.S. spending so much blood and treasure in Afghanistan?

Biographies (provided by the panelists)
Larry P. Goodson is professor of Middle East Studies at the U.S. Army War College. He is regularly consulted by senior government officials about Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the Middle East. In 2008-2009 he served on a four-month temporary assignment with the U.S. Central Command Assessment Team, Read more

Michael Ableman

Edited Ableman poster final web

Author, Educator, and Urban Agriculturalist

Feeding the Future

Wednesday, November 17, 2010 *
Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium – 7:00 p.m.

Michael_Ableman_11_17_2010 video

A reception will immediately follow the presentation in the lobby of ATS. Book signing by the author and the opportunity to purchase Fields of Plenty will be offered at the reception.

Food may be the dominant issue of our time. The industrial system that brings it to us is unraveling, and the cost of that system, ecologically, socially, and personally is enormous.

But there is hope, individuals and communities are gathering together to rethink our food system, bringing honor and respect and craftsmanship back into farming, and recreating our farms as places that nourish and nurture and teach and inspire.

Join Michael Ableman for an evening of inspiring stories and photographic imagery from around the world as he provides us with a sense of how we can participate in the solutions; on our farms and in our gardens, in our kitchens and at the dining room table, and in the communities where we live.

* This event is part of The Clarke Forum’s series on Leadership in an Age of Uncertainty.

This event is co-sponsored by The Clarke Forum Read more

Jennifer Brier

Brier Poster for Web

Associate Professor of Gender and Women’s Studies/History, University of Illinois-Chicago

Censoring Infectious Ideas: Queer Sexuality and the AIDS Crisis

Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Stern Center, Great Room – 7:00 p.m.

Beginning with her own experiences as an author whose work has been censored, Brier will discuss how the response to AIDS has been affected by attempts to remove discussions of sex and sexuality from its center and question the extent to which we have become a more sexually liberated culture since the 1980s.

This event is co-sponsored by the Departments of Sociology, American Studies and Women’s and Gender Studies.

Background Information (provided by speaker)
In the last stages of preparing her book for publication, including securing the permissions to publish several reproductions of early AIDS prevention posters from San Francisco, Brier’s press informed her that she would not be able to include any images that displayed full-frontal male nudity. Told that the images were not central to her argument and that they would be distracting, Brier had no choice but to exchange the images for less-explicit ones, a decision that uncannily mirrored what happened when the San Francisco AIDS Foundation first created and tried to distribute the posters using federal Read more

Growth in the Garden: Food and Sustainability

poster web

Sally McMurry, professor of history, Penn State University
Brian Snyder, executive director, Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture

Thursday, November 4, 2010
Stern Center, Great Room
6:00 – Reception
7:00 – Program

One of the South Mountain Environmental History Lectures, this event features a keynote address by Professor McMurry titled “Pennsylvania’s Historic Farming Legacy and Sustainable Agriculture’s Future” and an additional presentation by Mr. Snyder who will discuss opportunities to capitalize on the fact that sustainably raised Pennsylvania products are centrally located to some of the largest population centers in the nation.

Biographies (provided by the speakers)
Sally McMurry is professor of history at Penn State University – University Park. She is a cultural and social historian of nineteenth-century America, with a special interest in the history of agriculture, landscape, architecture, and gender as they develop in rural contexts. She has published books and articles on these topics. Currently she is principal investigator for a multi-year collaborative project, ‘The Pennsylvania Agricultural History Project,’ which will create a resource that can be used by preservation professionals to evaluate Pennsylvania’s historic farm buildings and landscapes.

Brian Snyder is executive director of the Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture (PASA), a position he has held Read more

Donald Graham – Benjamin Rush Award Lecturer

LiberalArts Web

Chairman of The Graham Group

The Liberal Arts in Today’s World

Wednesday, November 3, 2010 – Rush Award *
Stern Center, Great Room – 7:00 p.m.

Mr. Graham will speak about the vital importance of a liberal arts education and the need for broad-based thinking in today’s business and political climate.

* This event is part of The Clarke Forum’s series on Leadership in an Age of Uncertainty.

Biography (provided by the speaker)
Donald C. Graham founded Graham Engineering in 1960 with no capital in the basement of his rented farmhouse in rural Pennsylvania. Today, the Graham Group manages approximately $2.5 billion of internal and third party capital and is the anchor sponsor of four investment management businesses including the family investment office, Graham Capital Company located in York, PA and three private equity firms based in the Philadelphia area, Graham Partners, Inverness Graham and Striker Partners. The Graham Group manages a significant pool of marketable securities along with investments in over 100 private equity, real estate and hedge funds. The Graham Group also maintains a direct co-investment operation in businesses where it believes we have something to offer, other than just capital. The co-investments are in diverse industries and Read more

Fred Greenstein

Poster for Web Greenstein

Professor of Politics Emeritus, Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University

Buchanan vs. Lincoln: A Presidential Comparison

Friday, October 29, 2010
Denny Hall, Room 317, 4:00 p.m.

No two presidents are viewed as having been more unlike than Buchanan and Lincoln. Historians typically rate Buchanan near the bottom of the list of presidents and Lincoln at the top. This lecture addresses whether these two presidents differed that much, whether the historians’ ratings are justified, and whether there is any merit to such ratings?

James Buchanan is an 1809 graduate of Dickinson College.

Biography (provided by the speaker)
Fred I. Greenstein is Professor of Politics Emeritus at Princeton University. His books include Children and Politics (1965), Personality and Politics (1969), The Hidden-Hand Presidency: Eisenhower as Leader (1982), How Presidents Test Reality (1989, with John P. Burke), The Presidential Difference: Leadership Style from FDR to Barack Obama (2009), and Inventing the Job of President: Leadership Style from George Washington to Andrew Jackson (2009). He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and past president of the International Society for Political Psychology. He received a BA from Antioch College in 1953 and a Ph.D. from Yale University in 1960.

Video of Read more

Carole Counihan

Counihan poster - web

Professor of Anthropology, Millersville University

Italian Slow Food: Societal Change and Justice

Thursday, October 14, 2010
Stern Center, Great Room – 7:00 p.m.

  video

This talk uses ethnographic interviews with members of the Italian Slow Food Movement – a coalition of 100,000 members around the world devoted to promoting “good, clean, and fair food” – to explore whether food practices can be the basis for advancing personal growth as well as social and economic justice.

This event is co-sponsored by the 2010: A Food Odyssey Learning Community and the First Year Seminar Program.

Biography (provided by speaker)
Carole M. Counihan is professor of anthropology at Millersville University in Pennsylvania. She has a BA in history cum laude from Stanford University and a Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of Massachusetts. Dr. Counihan’s research centers on food, culture, gender, and identity in the United States and Italy. Supported by a 2005-2006 National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship, she authored A Tortilla Is Like Life: Food and Culture in the San Luis Valley of Colorado (University of Texas Press, 2009), which is based on food-centered life histories collected from Hispanic women in the town of Antonito, Colorado. Counihan is also author of Around Read more

Steven Aftergood

Wiki leaks final.jpg_web

Project on Government Secrecy, Federation of American Scientists

WikiLeaks–A Flood of Secrets: National Security vs. Free Speech

Thursday, October 7, 2010
Stern Center, Great Room, 7:00 p.m.

  video

The recent disclosure of up to 90,000 classified documents relating to the Afghanistan War has underscored the difficult balance between preserving open government and preserving national security. Underlying issues that will be addressed include the problem of over classification, the scope of the Espionage Act, and the challenges of protecting sources and methods in the age of the internet.

Biography (provided by the speaker)aftergood3
Steven Aftergood is a senior research analyst at the Federation of American Scientists. He directs the FAS Project on Government Secrecy, which works to reduce the scope of government secrecy and to promote reform of official secrecy practices.
He writes Secrecy News, an email newsletter (and blog) which reports on new developments in secrecy policy for more than 10,000 subscribers in media, government and among the general public.

In 1997, Mr. Aftergood was the plaintiff in a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the Central Intelligence Agency which led to the declassification and publication of the total intelligence budget ($26.6 billion in 1997) for the first time in Read more