Virtual program on YouTube live, 7 p.m.

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, and Read more

Virtual program on YouTube live, 7 p.m.

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, Israel, and Read more

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

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

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)

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

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

University of Maryland, College Park

Uncivil Agreement: How Politics Became Our Identity

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

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 published in journals Read more

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

Award-winning Investigative Reporter for The New York Times Magazine

Morgan Lecture & KDP Spring Forum & MLK Jr. Symposium

Understanding the Impact of Modern Day Segregation

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

Award-winning The New York Times Magazine investigative reporter, Nikole Hannah-Jones, will explore the important roles schools play in their communities, how they’re affected by their surrounding neighborhoods, and how seeing race from the lens of education tells a whole new story of inequality in America.

This program is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and the Morgan Lecture Fund and co-sponsored by Dickinson’s Chapter of Kappa Delta Pi, the International Education Honor Society; the Popel Shaw Center for Race & Ethnicity; the Churchill Fund, the Department of English; the Women’s & Gender Resource Center; and the Office of Institutional Effectiveness & Inclusivity.

Biography (provided by the speaker)