Leadership in an Age of Uncertainty

The Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues is establishing a series of programmatic events dedicated to the theme of leadership in an age of uncertainty. This initiative is grounded on the reality that today’s generation of Dickinson students confronts a large number of intractable political, economic, and social problems: terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, environmental pollution, global warming, a sustainable energy policy, the ongoing financial crisis, the federal deficit, the amount of public and private debt, the health care crisis, along with issues regarding race, ethnicity, gender, and sexual orientation, as well as technology and privacy. These issues and problems directly or indirectly pose challenges to the College and the local community that may in time require fundamental changes in institutions, values, and practices across the public, private, and non-profit sectors of American society. How Dickinsonians respond to these challenges presents us with an opportunity for reflection on the meaning of leadership in the contemporary world. This series is partially supported by a fund created by Betty R. ’58 and Dan Churchill.

Wednesday, November 17, 2021

Anita Tuvin Schlecther Auditorium (ATS), 7 p.m.

Livestream Link

Presidential Dialogues: Lessons in Leadership

John E. Jones III ’77 P’11, interim president, Dickinson College

William G. Durden ’71,  president emeritus, Dickinson College

Dickinson produces leaders who impact their communities and effect positive change. Each one of those leaders has a story to tell and valuable lessons to share. This semester, interim President John E. Jones III ’77, P’11, is kicking off Presidential Dialogues, a discussion series that will highlight and share these distinctive stories and lessons from Dickinsonians at various stages in their career journeys. During each dialogue, President Jones will interview  an alumni leader to learn about their journey, their experiences, and how Dickinson has shaped their lives.

During this dialogue, Interim President Jones will converse with President Emeritus William G. Durden ’71, focusing on the power of leadership to transform organizations and shape the future.

This program is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the Office of the President. It is also part of the Clarke Forum’s Leadership in an Age of Uncertainty Series.

Biographies

John E. Jones III ’77 P’11 became interim president of Dickinson on July 1. He is Read more

Thursday, October 21, 2021

Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium (ATS), 7 p.m.

Livestream Link

Radically Reimagining Admissions for Racial Equity

Marie Bigham, founder and executive director of ACCEPT (Admissions Community Cultivating
Equity & Peace Today)

Bigham, founder of ACCEPT & co-host of Hack the Gates (a research-to-practice partnership), will discuss grassroots efforts to rethink and redesign the path to postsecondary education. Bigham will also explore how the pandemic changed (or didn’t change) college admissions.

This program is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the Office of Admissions. It is part of the Clarke Forum’s Leadership in an Age of Uncertainty Series.

Topic overview written by Amanda Sowah ’22

Biography

Marie Bigham is the founder and executive director of ACCEPT (Admissions Community Cultivating Equity & Peace Today), an advocacy group and community that centers racial justice in the college admissions process and profession. Recently named a “Global Game Changer” by Facebook, Bigham is a national leader in college admission redesign and reform. In 2018, ACCEPT received the Excellence in Education Award from the National Association for College Admissions Counseling, awarded to “those who use their prominence to advance equity and access in education.”  Bigham’s lifelong commitment to racial justice has Read more

Tuesday, September 21, 2021

Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 7 p.m.

Livestream Link

Presidential Dialogues: Lessons in Leadership

John E. Jones III ’77 P’11, interim president, Dickinson College

Joanne Adebayo ’21, partnership marketing coordinator, L.L.Bean

Dickinson produces leaders who impact their communities and effect positive change. Each one of those leaders has a story to tell and valuable lessons to share. This semester, interim President John E. Jones III ’77, P’11, is kicking off Presidential Dialogues, a discussion series that will highlight and share these distinctive stories and lessons from Dickinsonians at various stages in their career journeys.

During this dialogue, President Jones will sit down with Joanne Adebayo ’21, partnership marketing coordinator at L.L.Bean, to discuss her preparation and how Dickinson continues to shape her future and leadership goals.

This program is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the Office of the President. It is also part of the Clarke Forum’s Leadership in an Age of Uncertainty Series.

Topic Overview Written by Bao Tran ’23

Biographies

John E. Jones III ’77 P’11 became interim president of Dickinson on July 1. He is slated to serve a two-year term. Jones previously served as chair of Dickinson’s board of Read more

Tuesday, April 6, 2021

Virtual program on YouTube live, 7 p.m.

Livestream Link

“Las Madres de Berks”- Using Public Art and Filmmaking to Fight Family Detention

Michelle Angela Ortiz, visual artist, skilled muralist, community arts educator and filmmaker

“Las Madres de Berks” documentary shares the testimonials of four mothers that were detained for two years with their children at The Berks County Residential Center, a family prison in Pennsylvania. Berks is the oldest of the three permanent family prisons for immigrant families in the country. Despite being held up as a “model” by proponents of immigrant detention, the center has amassed a record of human rights violations.

Award-winning visual artist, Michelle Angela Ortiz created the “Las Madres de Berks” documentary, as part of her “Familias Separadas” public art project which amplifies the stories of families affected by detention and deportation in the United States. Ortiz’s main community partner, the Shut Down Berks Coalition has been fighting to close down the Berks family prison for years.

This event is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and cosponsored by the Center for Civic Learning & Action, the Women’s & Gender Resource Center and the departments of Spanish & Portuguese and women’s, gender & Read more

Wednesday, March 31, 2021

Virtual program on YouTube live, 7 p.m.

Livestream Link

Joseph Priestley Award Celebration Lecture

How to Use the Planet Without Using It Up

Jane Lubchenco,  Oregon State University

Environmental science provides valuable insights into timely solutions to urgent, global challenges.  It is possible to address climate change, loss of biodiversity, food provisioning, and inequities, but only with integrated, holistic approaches.  Knowledge, coupled with engagement of civil society and leaders from business, faith, youth, and governments, provides hope for the future.

The Joseph Priestley Award recipient is chosen by a different science department each year. The Department of Environmental Studies has selected this year’s recipient. 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, mathematics & computer science, psychology, and physics & astronomy and the Churchill Fund.  It is part of the Clarke Forum’s Leadership in an Age of Uncertainty Series.

Topic overview written by Logan Cort ’22.

Biography

The Honorable Jane Lubchenco, Ph.D., University Distinguished Professor at Oregon State University, is a marine ecologist with expertise in the ocean, climate change, and interactions between the environment Read more

Wednesday, March 3, 2021

Virtual program on YouTube live, 7 p.m.

Livestream Link

From McDonald’s to Google

Kelsey Hightower, Google

As a self taught engineer, Hightower honed his tech skills at the peak of the open source movement, which led to the democratization of software, and created pathways into tech for a new generation of aspiring computer professionals. In this session Hightower will explore his journey into tech and how he became one of the most respected people in cloud computing. Attendees will walk away from this session inspired by their own uniqueness and understand how to leverage technology to help shape the world they want to live in.

The program is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and cosponsored by the departments of mathematics and computer science, and biology, the Popel Shaw Center for Race & Ethnicity, the Inclusivity in STEM Planning Committee, and the Churchill Fund. This program is also part of the Clarke Forum’s Leadership in an Age of Uncertainty Series.

Topic overview by Rebecca Fox ’22

Biography

Kelsey Hightower is a principal engineer at Google working on Google’s Cloud Platform. He has helped develop and refine many Google Cloud Products including Google’s Kubernetes Engine, Cloud Functions, Read more

Tuesday, February 23, 2021

Virtual program on YouTube live, 7 p.m.

Livestream Link

@10queues and 10 Questions in Virology

Paul Duprex – Center for Vaccine Research, University of Pittsburgh

In early January 2020, a group of people in Wuhan, China who were suffering from pneumonia, were found to be infected with a novel coronavirus – what soon after would be termed SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes the disease COVID-19. By the end of 2020, the United States had approved two novel vaccines for use against this virus. Additional vaccines likely will be approved soon. The astonishing speed in developing effective vaccines was noted as the 2020 Breakthrough of the Year by Science magazine. During this conversation-led presentation with David Kushner, associate professor of biology, information about the vaccines, how they work, why it is important to be vaccinated, and whether or not we need to be concerned about new viral variants are among the topics that will be discussed.

This event is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the departments of mathematics & computer science, biology, the Program in Policy Studies, and the Health Studies Program. This program is also part of the Clarke Forum’s Leadership in an Age Read more

Tuesday, February 2, 2021

Virtual program on YouTube live, 7 p.m.

Livestream Link

Combating American Racism In The Era of Trump: Towards a Pedagogy of Justice

Chad Dion Lassiter, MSW, National Expert on Race Relations & Executive Director of Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission

This conversation will explore ways that students, teachers and social change agents can work towards dismantling American Racism.  Additionally, dialogue will also consist of how white racism, white violence and whiteness are threatening the fabric of the democracy. In the tradition of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Dr. W.E.B. Dubois, Lassiter will aim to highlight how all humanity can work towards themes of justice. This discussion-led presentation will be moderated by Amer Ahmed, interim executive director for the Office of Equity & Inclusivity and chief diversity officer.

This program is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the Churchill Fund . It is part of the Clarke Forum’s Leadership in a an Age of Uncertainty Series.

Topic overview written by Logan Cort ’22

Biography

Chad Dion Lassiter is a national expert in the field of American race relations. Lassiter has worked on race, peace, and poverty-related issues in The United States of America, Africa, Canada, Haiti, Read more

Thursday, September 17, 2020

Virtual Program on YouTube Live, 7 p.m.

** Members of the Dickinson community will be able to view the recording of this program on our website here:  Audio/Video tab, Lectures for Campus-Only

Winfield C. Cook Constitution Day Address

How to Be an Antiracist

Ibram X. Kendi

National Book Award-winning Historian and Author of How to Be an Antiracist

When the first Black president headed into the White House, Americans were imagining their nation as colorblind and went so far as to call it post-racial. According to Kendi, since the 2016 election, people are awakening and seeing racial reality for the first time. With opened minds, people are actively trying to understand racism. In this lecture, Kendi will shift the discussion from how not to be racist, to how to be an antiracist. He will share his own racist ideas and how he overcame them. He will provide direction to people and institutions who want more than just band-aid programs, but actual antiracist action that will build an antiracist America. This discussion-led presentation will be moderated by Vincent Stephens, director of Dickinson’s Popel Shaw Center for Race & Ethnicity.

The program is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and Read more

David McCormick

Bridgewater Associates

* We are conducting this event virtually. It was previously postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

How Mentors Can Shape Your Future: A Conversation with a Global Leader

Wednesday, April 29, 2020 – 7 p.m.
Live Stream Event

Dickinson College President Margee Ensign and U.S. District Judge John E. Jones will converse with Bridgewater Associates CEO David McCormick (Bridgewater Associates manages approximately $160 billion in global investments). They will discuss the importance of mentorship and the role mentors can play in developing leadership skills.

This event is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and the Office of the President.  It is part of the Clarke Forum’s Leadership in an Age of Uncertainty Series.

Biographies

David McCormick is the CEO of the global investment firm Bridgewater Associates, responsible for overseeing the firm’s strategy, governance, and business operations. McCormick joined Bridgewater in 2009 and previously served as the firm’s president, before becoming Co-CEO in 2017 and the CEO in 2020.

Before joining Bridgewater, McCormick was the U.S. Treasury Under Secretary for International Affairs in the George W. Bush Administration during the global financial crisis. Prior to that, he served in senior posts on the National Security Read more

Rick Doblin ‘P21

Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies

Psychedelics: Science, Medicine and Politics

Monday, February 24, 2020
Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 7 p.m.

This lecture will discuss the politics of psychedelic research from the 1960s to today. Doblin will explore the history of MDMA, mechanisms of actions of psychedelics, and efforts to medicalize psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy for PTSD, depression and other indications.

This program is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the departments of philosophy and psychology, the anthropology club, the neuroscience club, the Health Studies Program and the Program in Policy Studies.  This program was initiated by the Clarke Forum student project managers and is also part of the Clarke Forum’s Leadership in an Age of Uncertainty Series.

Biography (provided by the speakers)

Rick Doblin, Ph.D., is the founder and executive director of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS). He received his doctorate in public policy from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, where he wrote his dissertation on the regulation of the medical uses of psychedelics and marijuana and his master’s thesis on a survey of oncologists about smoked marijuana vs. the oral THC pill in nausea control for cancer patients. His undergraduate thesis Read more

Bill Durden ’71

International University Alliance (IUA)

An Anticipatory Memoir: Aging on the Diagonal

Tuesday, February 18, 2020
Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 7 p.m.

Advanced age – or what is commonly called “The Third Chapter” – arguably remains without operative definition, although so many citizens globally are entering that phase of life. Based upon personal reflection, a definition is proposed for debate – a definition that could lead to a “Good Life.”

The program is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and is part of our The Good Life series. It is also part of the Clarke Forum’s Leadership in an Age of Uncertainty Series.

Biography (provided by the speaker)

William G. Durden is President Emeritus of Dickinson College, where he served for 14 years (1999-2013). During his tenure at Dickinson he was both a professor of German and a professor of Education. He is currently president of the International University Alliance (IUA), a non-profit association of top-tier U.S. research universities committed to international education (sponsored by Shorelight), chief global engagement officer at Shorelight, a courtesy professor (research) in the School of Education, Johns Hopkins University and an operating partner of Sterling Partners, a diversified investment management platform founded Read more

Kathryn Abrams

University of California, Berkeley Law

Storytelling, Emotion Culture, and Performative Citizenship in the Undocumented Immigrants Movement

Thursday, September 26, 2019
Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 7 p.m.

How have a group of immigrants who lack formal legal status, and have been targeted by anti-immigrant enforcement in their state, developed the sense of authorization necessary to become outspoken and effective activists? This lecture, which draws on four years of observation and interviews with undocumented activists in Phoenix, Arizona, will explore three practices that have helped to form this new social movement.

This program is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the Women’s & Gender Resource Center, the departments of philosophy and political science, the Program in Policy Studies and the Churchill Fund.  It is part of the Clarke Forum’s Leadership in an Age of Uncertainty Series.

Biography (provided by the speaker)

Kathryn Abrams is Herma Hill Kay Distinguished Professor of Law at UC-Berkeley School of Law, where she teaches Constitutional Law, Feminist Legal Theory, and Law and Social Movements. Her early scholarship on constitutional and statutory civil rights – including the Voting Rights Act and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act – led to a Read more

Kwame Anthony Appiah – “Morgan Lecturer”

New York University

Morgan Lecture

Identity at Home and in the Wider World

Thursday, September 19, 2019
Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 7 p.m.

Appiah will first explore the idea of identity philosophically, then focus on the psychology of identity and the challenges of managing identities in a humane way. He will examine how one particular identity—social class—works in our own society today, and end by discussing the role of identities across the world, defending the continuing relevance of a cosmopolitanism that is very much under attack. A book sale and signing will follow the presentation.

This program is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and the Morgan Lecture Fund and co-sponsored by the Robert Lecture Fund in the Department of Classical Studies, 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)

Exciting and erudite, Kwame Anthony Appiah challenges us to look beyond the boundaries—real and imagined—that divide us, and to celebrate our common humanity. Named one of Foreign Policy’s Top 100 public intellectuals, one of the Carnegie Corporation’s “Great Immigrants,” and awarded a National Humanities Medal by The White House, Appiah currently

Read more

Jo Handelsman – “Joseph Priestley Award Recipient”

Wisconsin Institute for Discovery at the University of Wisconsin-Madison

Joseph Priestley Award Celebration Lecture

Microbial Communities—The Original Internet of Everything

Wednesday, September 18, 2019
Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 7 p.m.

Microbial communities run the world. Although they are too small to see with the naked eye, microorganisms determine the health of humans, our food supply, and the environment. They accomplish their amazing feats working in concert in communities, but there is little knowledge about what makes these communities robust and stable. A book sale and signing will follow the presentation.

The Joseph Priestley Award recipient is chosen by a different science department each year. The Department of Biology has selected this year’s recipient. 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, mathematics & computer science, psychology, and physics & astronomy and the Churchill Fund.  It is part of the Clarke Forum’s Leadership in an Age of Uncertainty Series.

Biography (provided by speaker)

Jo Handelsman is the director of the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, a Vilas Research Professor, and Howard Hughes Medical Read more

Gender, Religion, and Violence

Tuesday, March 26, 2019
Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 7 p.m.

Panelists:

Margee Ensign, Dickinson College
Jean-Pierre Karegeye, (moderator), Dickinson College
Christina Li, U.S. Department of State, Office of Religion and Global Affairs
Stephanie Ogorzalek, U.S. Department of State, Secretary’s Office of Global Women’s Issues
Celestino Perez, U.S. Army War College

In several current world conflicts, multiple sides claim religious belief as a motivation for violent actions, including gender-based violence. In fact, the U.N. “Plan of Action for Religious Leaders and Actors to Prevent Incitement to Violence That Could Lead to Atrocity Crimes” lists gender-based violence as one of the key elements related to atrocity crimes. Panelists will discuss prevention strategies, military actions, education, government policies, and constructions of gender.

This event is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and the Churchill Fund. It is part of the Clarke Forum’s Leadership in an Age of Uncertainty Series.

Biographies (provided by the speakers)

Margee Ensign became Dickinson’s 29th president on July 1, 2017. Prior to Dickinson she served for seven years as the president of the American University of Nigeria (AUN), a young, private university based on the U.S model of university education. There she Read more

Lilliana Mason

University of Maryland, College Park

Uncivil Agreement: How Politics Became Our Identity

Wednesday, March 20, 2019
Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 7 p.m.

Live Stream Link

In her book, Uncivil Agreement, Mason looks at the growing social gulf across racial, religious, and cultural lines, which have recently come to divide neatly between the two major political parties. She argues that group identifications have changed the way we think and feel about ourselves and our opponents.

This event is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the Churchill Fund and the departments of philosophy; political science; and sociology; and the program in policy studies. It was initiated by the Clarke Forum’s student project managers and is part of the Clarke Forum’s Leadership in an Age of Uncertainty Series.

Biography (provided by the speaker)

Lilliana Mason is assistant professor of government and politics at the University of Maryland, College Park, and author of Uncivil Agreement: How Politics Became Our Identity (University of Chicago Press). She received her Ph.D. in political psychology from Stony Brook University and her B.A. in politics from Princeton University. Her research on partisan identity, partisan bias, social sorting, and American social polarization has been Read more

Sarah McBride

Activist

Love, Loss, and the Fight for Trans Equality

Tuesday, March 5, 2019
Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 7 p.m.

Sarah McBride is the national press secretary for the Human Rights Campaign and one of America’s leading public voices in the fight for LGBTQ equality. Her moving memoir, Tomorrow Will Be Different, chronicles her journey as a transgender woman, from coming out to her family and school community, to fighting for equality in her home state and nationally, to her heartbreaking romance with her late husband. A book sale and signing will follow the program.

This event is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the Office of LGBTQ Services, the Women’s & Gender Resource Center, the department of women’s, gender & sexuality studies, the Churchill Fund, the Office of Institutional Effectiveness and Inclusivity and Outlaw at PSU -Dickinson School of Law. It is part of the Clarke Forum’s Leadership in an Age of Uncertainty Series.

Biography (provided by the speaker)

Sarah McBride is a progressive activist and currently the national press secretary at the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest LGBTQ civil rights organization. In 2016, Sarah made history when she became the first openly transgender Read more

Unveiling America: Addressing Issues of Contemporary Homelessness

Thursday, February 28, 2019
Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 7 p.m.

Panelists

Jim Hoefler (moderator),  Dickinson College
Christina Kapp, Cumberland County Housing & Redevelopment Authorities (Panelists was unable to present due to unforeseen circumstances)
Beth Kempf, Community CARES
Scott Shewell, Safe Harbour
Tim Whelan, Cumberland County Housing & Redevelopment Authorities

A panel of community leaders will discuss their efforts to find sustainable solutions to homelessness in this region.

This program is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the Churchill Fund; the departments of English; American studies; religion; and sociology; and the health studies program. It was initiated by the Clarke Forum’s student project managers and is part of the Clarke Forum’s Leadership in an Age of Uncertainty Series.

Biographies (provided by the panelists)

Jim Hoefler is professor of political science and coordinator of the policy studies program here at Dickinson where he has been teaching courses on politics and policy making since he joined the faculty in 1989.

Hoefler’s primary area of research is end-of-life care and end-of-life decision making. He has published several books and numerous articles in this area and has served on the UPMC Pinnacle Carlisle’s Biomedical Read more