Past Programs

Monday, November 8, 2021

Galasso Poster scaledVirtual Presentation in Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 7 p.m.

Translation (in) Visible

Regina Galasso, associate professor in the Spanish & Portuguese Studies Program and director of the Translation Center, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Galasso discusses language and translation in our lives with a focus on examples from intersections of English and Spanish in the United States. She proposes that an increased presence of translation not only offers language access to certain audiences but also give access to language to others.

This event is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the departments of Spanish & Portuguese studies, Italian & Italian studies, French & Francophone studies, East Asian studies and German.

Biography (provided by the speaker)

ReginaGalasso scaledRegina Galasso (B.A. Rutgers University; M.A. Middlebury College; Ph.D. Johns Hopkins University) is currently associate professor in the Spanish and Portuguese Studies Program and director of the Translation Center of the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Her research and teaching interests include 20th- and 21st-century Iberian literatures, literature of the city, and translation. She is the author of Translating New York: The City’s Languages in Iberian Literatures (Liverpool UP, 2018) and recipient of the 2017 Northeast Modern Language Association Book Award. She Read more

Tuesday, October 26, 2021

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

Rule Final Poster scaledSeeking Justice for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women

Elizabeth Rule, assistant professor of critical race, gender, and culture studies, American University

As we near Native American History Month, join Rule (Chickasaw Nation) for a discussion about contemporary Native American politics and pressing issues. In this talk, Rule will discuss the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women issue, legislation to empower and protect Native women, and what you can do to be an ally in the fight against gender-based violence.

A healing Jingle Dance will follow the presentation.

This program is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the Women’s & Gender Resource Center and the Community Studies Center.

Topic overview written by Xenia Makosky ’24

Biography

Copy of headshotDr. Elizabeth Rule (Chickasaw Nation) is assistant professor of critical race, gender, and culture studies at American University. Rule’s research on Indigenous issues has been featured in the Washington Post, Matter of Fact with Soledad O’Brien, The Atlantic, Newsy, and NPR. She is also a published author, releasing articles in American Quarterly and the American Indian Culture and Research Journal. Rule has two forthcoming monographs. The first, Reproducing Resistance: Gendered Read more

Thursday, October 21, 2021

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

Bigham poster scaledRadically 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

headshot scaledMarie 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 informed her Read more

Wednesday, October 13, 2021

Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 7 p.m.

hauskerposter scaledGetting to Net-Zero: Climate Challenges and Solutions

Karl Hausker P’22, senior fellow in World Resource Institute (WRI)’s Climate Program

While leaders all over the world have embraced the goal of “net-zero emissions” by 2050, the path to success is complicated by uncertainty and ongoing debate on several of the challenges involved: the potential contributions of renewables, the role of nuclear power, the economic risks inherit in the transition, as well as the roles of the public and private sectors. Hausker will discuss how analysis and modeling of pathways to net-zero can help answer these questions.

This program is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the Center for Sustainability Education and the departments of environmental studies & environmental science, and earth sciences.

Topic overview written by Bao Tran ’23

Biography

karl hausker wriDr. Karl Hausker is a senior fellow in World Resource Institute (WRI)’s Climate Program. He leads analysis and modeling of climate mitigation and net-zero pathways;  electricity market design; and the social cost of carbon. He led the Risky Business study of clean energy pathways for the U.S., and lectures widely on all these topics . He has worked for Read more

Tuesday, October 12, 2021

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

McCallum Poster scaledNo Ruined Stone: A Reading & Conversation with Shara McCallum

Shara McCallum, award-winning poet

McCallum will read from her new book of poems, No Ruined Stone. The reading will be followed by a conversation with Professor Adrienne Su about the relationship between McCallum’s poetry and history.

The  program is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the Department of English, the  Latin American, Latinx & Caribbean Studies Program, the Creative Writing Program, and the Women’s & Gender Resource Center.

Topic overview written by Rebecca Fox ’22

Biographies

SharaMcCallumHeadshot scaledFrom Jamaica, and born to a Jamaican father and Venezuelan mother, Shara McCallum is the author of six books published in the US & UK, including No Ruined Stone. McCallum’s poems and essays have appeared in journals, anthologies, and textbooks throughout the US, Caribbean, Latin America, Europe, and Israel. La historia es un cuarto/History is a Room, an anthology of poems selected from across her six books and translated into Spanish by Adalber Salas Hernández, will be published in 2021 by Mantis Editores in Mexico. In addition to Spanish, her poems have been translated into Italian, French, Romanian, Turkish, Read more

Wednesday, October 6, 2021

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

Final Poster Saralegui scaledWhat a Long Strange Trip:  How I Awoke to Learn My Cultural Identity in the Kitchen

Chef, Consultant and Author Fernando Saralegui

Cuban born with Basque, Asturian and Galician roots, Saralegui will discuss how curiosity about Cuban and Basque cuisines led to the discovery of and journey towards his cultural self. He will also reflect on how this journey has afforded him a heightened sensitivity towards questions related to identity in both social and culinary contexts.

This program is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the Department of Spanish & Portuguese Studies; the Center for Sustainability Education;  the College Farm; the Food Studies Program; and Latin American, Latinx & Caribbean Studies.

Topic Overview Written by Natalia Fedorczak ’24

Biography

Saralegui photoFernando Saralegui was born in Havana, Cuba and has been in the restaurant game his entire career. Saralegui received his B.A. in theatre set design from UC Berkeley where he also worked at Chez Panisse restaurant, his true alma mater. Since then, he’s opened restaurants from Los Angeles to New York to Austin, including his own two New York Times’s one-star restaurants, Alva and L-Ray.

Gastronomic endeavors extend outside Read more

Tuesday, October 5, 2021

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

 

MaAP poster final scaledMyths about American Poverty

Lawrence Eppard, Shippensburg University
Mark R. Rank, Washington University in St. Louis

Few topics have as many myths, stereotypes, and misperceptions surrounding them as that of poverty in America. Co-authors of Poorly Understood: What America Gets Wrong About Poverty, in conversation with Professor Dan Schubert, will discuss their research and how it addresses and confronts many of the most widespread myths about American poverty.

This program is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the departments of American studies, history, sociology and the Center for Civic Learning & Action.

Biographies

Lawrence EppardLawrence Eppard’s expertise centers around issues related to poverty, economic and racial inequalities, and our post-truth age. He is a sociology faculty member at Shippensburg University, co-host of the Utterly Moderate Podcast, and author of a number of academic articles and books, including Poorly Understood: What America Gets Wrong About Poverty, which he co-authored with Mark R. Rank and Heather Bullock.

Mark R. Rank is widely recognized as one of the foremost experts in the country on issues of poverty, inequality, and social justice.  His research on the life course risk of Read more

Wednesday, September 29, 2021

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

carlsonposter scaledPolicing the Second Amendment: Guns, Law Enforcement and the Politics of Race

Jennifer Carlson, associate professor of sociology and government & public policy, University of Arizona

Carlson presents the troubling paradox of color-blind gun law and racialized gun criminalization. Based on interviews with close to eighty police chiefs she identifies two racialized frameworks—gun populism and gun militarism—that inform and justify how police understand and pursue public safety across different domains of gun violence.

This program is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the departments of political science and sociology and the Women’s & Gender Resource Center.

Topic Overview Written by Bao Tran ’23

Biography

Author Photo scaledJennifer Carlson is associate professor of sociology and government & public policy at the University of Arizona, where she teaches courses on guns, rights, trauma, justice, and law. Her award-winning research examines how guns shape American life, including those who survive gun violence’s harrowing aftermath, police who enforce the country’s complex gun laws, gun sellers and retailers who are on the front lines of surges in gun purchasing, and the people who choose to own and carry guns.

Her book, Policing the Second Read more

Tuesday, September 28, 2021

Carlisle Theatre, 7 p.m.

Abacus Poster scaledAbacus: Small Enough to Jail

Film Screening followed by Q & A with the co-producer and members of the Sung family

The 2008 financial crisis, with subprime mortgages at its heart, brought the global financial system to its knees and initiated the worst economic recession in decades. This documentary investigates why Abacus, a small bank serving Manhattan’s Chinatown community, was the only commercial bank in the United States to be prosecuted in the aftermath of this financial crisis. A Q&A with the film’s protagonists and one of its producers will follow the film screening.

“What happened to the Sungs seems horribly unfair, but this film is a silver lining. Everyone needs to see it.” Matt Zoller Seit (rogerebert.com)

This program is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the departments of East Asian studies, film & media studies, and American studies.

Topic Overview by Logan Cort ’24

Biographies

Vera Sung PicVera Sung serves on the board of directors for Abacus Federal Savings Bank and is its closing attorney. She worked for the Brooklyn DA’s office for two-and-a-half years after graduating from law school at Boston College. She has a B.A. from Wellesley College.

Heather Read more

Thursday, September 23, 2021

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

Banks Poster scaledSadie Alexander and the Use of Federal Job Guarantees to Address Racial Discrimination in Employment

Nina Banks, president of the National Economic Association (NEA) and associate professor of economics, Bucknell University

Sadie T.M. Alexander, the first African American economist, believed that a government job guarantees to achieve full employment was the only solution to persistent discrimination against African American workers. This lecture focuses on Alexander’s arguments for a federal job guarantee with relevance to current labor markets.

A book sale and signing will follow the presentation.

This program is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the departments of economics, history, women’s gender & sexuality studies, and law & policy, the Popel Shaw Center for Race & Ethnicity, and the Women’s & Gender Resource Center.

Topic Overview Written by Amanda Sowah ’22

Biography

Banks picNina Banks is associate professor of economics and an affiliate of women’s and gender studies and Africana studies, the faculty director of Bucknell in Ghana, and Bucknell’s academic director of the Shepherd Higher Education Consortium on Poverty. She is president of the National Economic Association (NEA) and serves on the board of directors of the Read more

Tuesday, September 21, 2021

Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 7 p.m.

FINAL Pres Dialogues Poster scaledPresidential 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 Jones headshotJohn 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 trustees and Read more

Tuesday, September 14, 2021

Morcom Poster scaledVirtual Presentation in Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium (ATS), 7 p.m.
(No recording of this live-stream will be available after the program)

Our Languages Belong Here: Indigenous Language Revitalization in Urban Contexts

Lindsay Morcom, associate professor and Canada Research Chair in Language Revitalization and Decolonizing Education, Queen’s University (Canada)

This talk will give an overview of the Indigenous languages of Turtle Island, and about the need for language revitalization. Morcom will then examine how language revitalization can be done in urban contexts, and why urban language revitalization is so important.

This program is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the departments of English; American studies; Middle East studies; anthropology & archaeology; and Latin American, Latinx & Caribbean studies. This program was initiated by the Clarke Forum’s student project managers.

Topic Overview by Rebecca Fox ’22

Biography

Lindsay MorcomDr. Lindsay Morcom is an interdisciplinary researcher with experience in education, Aboriginal languages, language revitalization, and linguistics. She earned her master’s degree in linguistics at First Nations University through the University of Regina in 2006. She then completed her doctorate in general linguistics and comparative philology as a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University in 2010.

From 2014-2019 she coordinated the Read more

Thursday, September 9, 2021

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

poster scaledReflections on 9/11 Twenty Years Later

Panelists

Samia Malik, Islamic Center of PA
David O’Connell, political science professor, Dickinson College
Christopher Patrick ’13, presenting a veteran’s perspective
Harry Pohlman, political science professor, Dickinson College
David Commins (moderator), history professor, Dickinson College

The panelists will offer perspectives on how 9/11 changed politics, law, and everyday life in the United States.

This program is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the departments of political science and military science, and the Middle East studies program.

Biographies

Samia Malik, was born in Chennai, South India. She and her husband have resided in Mechanicsburg for over 40 years.

She is co-founder of Community Responders Network and serves on the board of the Governor’s Commission on Asian Pacific Affairs and the board of the Islamic Center of PA. She has also volunteered for many other organizations including women’s and homeless shelters, soup kitchens, YWCA, among others.

She is the recipient of many awards for her Peace-making work from several Mosques, Market Square Presbyterian and the World Affairs Council. She is also the recipient of the 2016 SAGE award Read more

Tuesday, April 13, 2021

Castro PosterVirtual program on YouTube live, 7 p.m.

 

Life in the ACE (Arts, Community and Economics)

Joanna Castro ’98 – West Harlem Development Corporation

From an internship at the Picasso Foundation in Málaga to heading an arts service organization in NYC, Joanna will share how she found her passion and life’s purpose. In this session, she will explore how her personal and professional trajectory led her on a journey into community advocacy connecting the arts, community and economic development. Attendees will take away the importance of the arts in community revitalization in a post-pandemic world.

This program is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the Department of Spanish & Portuguese. This event is part of the Clarke Forum’s The Good Life Series.

Topic overview by Rebecca Fox ’22

Biography

Joanna E. Castro was born in NYC to a Venezuelan dad and an Irish-American mom, grew-up fully bilingual in Caracas (Venezuela) and Washington, D.C. She has a B.A. in Spanish (Málaga Study Abroad Program) & international studies cum laude from Dickinson College. She lived and worked in Spain for seven years receiving her M.A. in arts and cultural management from the Universidad Carlos III (Madrid). Read more

Monday, April 12, 2021

Copy of The Model Minority Myth Anti Asian Racism Anti Black Racism and COVIDVirtual program on YouTube live, 7 p.m.

 

The Model Minority Myth, Anti-Asian Racism, Anti-Black Racism, and COVID-19

Jennifer Ho – University of Colorado Boulder

This talk will look at the ways Asians in America have been objects of racism—from the first entrance of Chinese immigrants to California in the 19th century to the current mass shootings of six Asian women in Atlanta. What both anti-Black and anti-Asian racism share are the roots in white supremacy that position Asians as the “good” model minority, a myth that serves to divide and conquer minority racial groups in the U.S.  Ho will share strategies to combat anti-racism of all kinds for people who want to be anti-racism advocates and allies.

This program is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the Department of English and the Women’s & Gender Resource Center.

Topic overview by Bao Tran ’23

Ho ProfessionalBiography

The daughter of a refugee father from China and an immigrant mother from Jamaica, whose own parents were, themselves, immigrants from Hong Kong, Jennifer Ho is the director of the Center for Humanities & the Arts at the University of Colorado Boulder, where she also holds an appointment as Professor Read more

Wednesday, April 7, 2021

Murray PosterVirtual program on YouTube live, 7 p.m.

Livestream Link

Intersections of Race and Gender in Contemporary Iberian Studies 

N. Michelle Murray – Vanderbilt University

This talk will provide a brief overview of the representation of migrant women by Spanish directors in the films Flores de otro mundoPrincesas, and Amador. The talk connects these works to the writings of Lucía Asué Mbomío Rubio and Quan Zhou Wu, whose novels reflect and nuance the established frameworks for representing race and gender in contemporary Spain.

This program is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the Department of Spanish & Portuguese and the Women’s & Gender Resource Center.

Topic overview by Gabriella Farrell ’21

zoom picBiography

N. Michelle Murray is an assistant professor of Spanish at Vanderbilt University. Her research and teaching focus on contemporary Spanish literature and film. Her first book Home Away from Home: Immigrant Narratives, Domesticity, and Coloniality in Contemporary Spanish Culture (UNC Press for North Carolina Studies in Romance Languages and Literatures, 2018) studies representations of immigrant women as domestic workers in contemporary Spain. She has published articles in Research in African Literatures, Symposium, Letras Femeninas, Studies in Spanish and Latin American Read more

Tuesday, April 6, 2021

Ortiz PosterVirtual program on YouTube live, 7 p.m.

 

“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 & sexuality Read more

Wednesday, March 31, 2021 – Joseph Priestley Lecturer

Lubchenco IGVirtual program on YouTube live, 7 p.m.

 

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 and Read more

Tuesday, March 30, 2021

Caring for Our EldersVirtual program on YouTube live, 7 p.m.

 

Caring for Our Elders: A Conversation on the Present and Future of Claremont Nursing and Rehabilitation Center

Dr. Michael Daniels
Jean Foschi
Sherry Knowlton ’72
Tim Potts ’71
Dave Sarcone (moderator)

The Claremont Nursing and Rehabilitation Center has been a Cumberland County resource since 1829. It is a community-based non-profit with an open admission policy, focused on providing quality skilled nursing services to residents in a caring and dignified environment. However, deficit budgets in recent years have prompted the County Commissioners to decide to sell the Center to a private nursing home facility provider in order to avoid property tax increases. There are currently two potential buyers, and commissioners anticipate that a sale will be finalized by the summer of this year. This event will explore potential costs to our residents of a sale and discuss ways the center might be kept as a county owned resource.

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

Biographies

IMGDr. Michael Daniels, MD, MBA, is a general practitioner based in Mount Holly Springs. He is a residency trained, board certified family physician with additional certification in geriatrics. For 35 years he Read more

Monday, March 29, 2021

Ben Ghiat Poster FBVirtual program on YouTube live, 7 p.m.

 

Strongman Propaganda and Personality Cults from Mussolini to the Present

Ruth Ben-Ghiat – New York University

This talk examines the “authoritarian playbook” strongman rulers used to get to office and stay there: corruption, propaganda, violence, and the myth of national greatness. The talk will focus on how propaganda and personality cults tie everything together – and how to push back against authoritarian disinformation.

This program is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and cosponsored by the department of Italian & Italian studies and history.

Topic overview by Gabriella Farrell ’21.

Biography

thumbnail RBG Headshot lo res crop jpgRuth Ben-Ghiat is a historian, educator, and commentator on fascism, authoritarian leaders, and propaganda — and the threats these present to democracies around the world. Professor of history and Italian studies at New York University, she is author or editor of seven books and many essays and op-eds in media outlets including CNN, The New Yorker, and The Washington Post. Her newest book is Strongmen: From Mussolini to the Present (Norton,2020), which examines the authoritarian playbook (corruption, violence, propaganda, and virility) that such leaders have used for a century.

Video of the Presentation

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