Marian Miner Cook
Athenaeum

Judith V. Grabiner, the Flora Sanborn Pitzer Professor Emerita of Mathematics at Pitzer College, is a mathematician and historian of mathematics. Her main interest is of mathematics in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

Grabiner majored in mathematics at the University of Chicago and received her M.A. and Ph.D. in the history of science from Harvard. She taught at Harvard, U. C. Santa Barbara, Cal State L. A., Cal State Dominguez Hills, UCLA, the University of Leeds in England, before settling in at Pitzer College in 1985 where she taught for 31 years.

A Fellow of the American Mathematical Society, Grabiner has won many awards including the Mathematical Association of America's Haimo Award for College or University teaching, the Beckenbach prize for the best book published by the MAA, Allendoerfer Award on three occasions for the best article in the Mathematics Magazine, Lester Ford Award on four occasions for best article in the American Mathematical Monthly, among others.

Grabiner is most proud of being able to teach mathematics to students who start out actually disliking the subject and, though retired, she continues to serve as a math resource tutor for the Claremont After-School Programs

Neil M. Maher is a professor of history at the New Jersey Institute of Technology and Rutgers University at Newark, where he teaches American environmental and political history. He has published articles in many academic journals including Social History, Environmental History, the Western Historical Quarterly, and most recently, Modern American History. His first book, “Nature’s New Deal: The Civilian Conservation Corps and the Roots of the American Environmental Movement” (Oxford University Press, 2008), received the Charles A. Weyerhaeuser Book Award for the best monograph in conservation history.

Maher’s most recent book, “Apollo in the Age of Aquarius” (Harvard University Press, 2017), examines the interrelationship between the space race and the grassroots political struggles of the 1960s era, including the civil rights, anti-Vietnam war, environmental, feminist, counterculture, and conservative movements. The book was named a Choice Outstanding Academic Title (2017) and a Bloomberg View Must Read Book (2017), and recently received the Eugene M. Emme best book award from the American Astronautical Society (2017).

Professor Maher will deliver the Gould Center for Humanistic Studies' 2019 Lerner Lecture in the 1960s in our Time.

Susan Rubin Suleiman was born in Budapest and emigrated to the U.S. as a child with her parents. She has been a professor of French literature and comparative literature at Harvard University since 1981. Her books include “Authoritarian Fictions: The Ideological Novel as a Literary Genre” (1983); “Subversive Intent: Gender, Politics, and the Avant-Garde” (1990); “Crises of Memory and the Second World War” (2006); and the mémoire “Budapest Diary: In Search of the Motherbook” (1996). Her latest book is “The Némirovsky Question: The Life, Death, and Legacy of a Jewish Writer in 20th Century France” (2016).

Suleiman has won many honors, including fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Radcliffe Institute, and the Central European University. In 1990, she received the Radcliffe Medal for Distinguished Achievement, and in 1992 she was decorated by the French Government as an Officer of the Order of Academic Palms (Palmes Académiques). In April 2018 she was awarded France’s highest honor, the Légion d’Honneur.

Professor Suleiman’s talk is co-sponsored by the Mgrublian Center for Human Rights at Claremont McKenna College and the French Studies Department at Scripps College.
 

View Video: YouTube with Susan Rubin Suleiman

Rabia Chaudry is an attorney, podcaster, and recent Jennings Randolph Senior Fellow at the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) where she researched the intersection of religion and violent extremism. She is the co-host and co-producer of the hit criminal justice podcast “Undisclosed,” with nearly 250 million downloads, and the author of the New York Times bestselling book, “Adnan’s Story.”  She is also the co-producer and co-host of the weekly podcast “The 45th,” which examines the politics and policies of the Trump administration.

Prior to her work with USIP, Chaudry served as an International Security Fellow at the New America Foundation (NAF), where she led a countering violent extremism (CVE) community project in partnership with Google, Facebook, and Twitter. Her work at NAF focused on the empowerment of American Muslim communities in social media advocacy. Chaudry also is the founder of the Safe Nation Collaborative, a CVE training firm. Safe Nation Collaborative worked on two fronts: providing CVE and cultural competency training to law enforcement, correctional, and homeland security officials, and providing national security and CVE training to Muslim communities and institutions.

Chaudry is a fellow of the Truman National Security Project, a fellow of the American Muslim Civic Leadership Institute, a fellow of the Shalom Hartman Institute, a member of the national Muslim-Jewish Advisory Committee, and a member of the Vanguard Board of the Aspen Institute’s Society of Fellows. She is a frequent writer and public speaker on issues of social and criminal justice, faith and gender, and national security.

She is the recipient of the Truman National Security Project’s 2015 Harry S. Truman Award for Communications & Media Influence, a 2015 Carnegie Corporation Great Immigrant, and the recipient of the 2015 Healing & Hope award by the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth.

Chaudry received her Juris Doctorate from the George Mason School of Law and practiced immigration and civil rights law for over a decade before moving into the CVE policy sphere.

Ms. Chaudry’s Athenaeum presentation is co-sponsored by the Center for Public Writing and Discourse and the Gould Center for Humanistic Studies, both at CMC.


View Video: YouTube with Rabia Chaudry


Food for Thought: Podcast with Rabia Chaudry

Mark Juergensmeyer is distinguished professor of sociology and global studies, and affiliate professor of religious studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he was the founding director of global studies and the Orfalea Center for Global and International Studies.

He is a pioneer in the global studies field, focusing on global religion, religious violence, conflict resolution and South Asian religion and politics. He has published more than three hundred articles and twenty books, including the revised and expanded fourth edition of the award-winning “Terror in the Mind of God” (University of California Press, 2017), and his co-edited “Oxford Handbook of Global Studies” (Oxford University Press, 2018).

Professor Juergensmeyer's Athenaeum presentation is co-sponsored by the Kutten Lectureship in Religious Studies at CMC.


View Video: YouTube with Mark Juergensmeyer

Noted a one of the most influential conservatives in America, Erick Erickson is the editor of The Resurgent, a Fox News contributor, and host of his own radio program on the nation's most listened to news/talk station, WSB Radio out of Atlanta. Erickson is also working on his Master of Divinity Degree at Reformed Theology Seminary. He is frequently read and cited by leaders of both political parties.

In his latest book, “Before You Wake”, Erickson leaves politics behind and addresses his near-death experience during the height of the 2016 campaign season. Writing letters to his children, he focuses on what they and others should know about faith, family, and friendship, in addition to all his family's favorite recipes. Erickson regularly travels the world speaking on American politics, faith issues, and the intersection of faith and politics in America today. In addition to speaking, Erickson occasionally preaches drawing on his seminary education. Erickson is also the author of “You Will Be Made to Care,” a book about "rising Christian persecution" in America.

For six years, Erickson practiced law focused on corporate transactions and estates, with side focuses in both election law and indigent criminal defense. For three years Erickson was a political commentator for CNN and was editor of RedState.com for more than a decade prior to starting The Resurgent.


View Video: YouTube with Erick Erickson


Food for Thought: Podcast with Erick Erickson

Carolyn Campbell ’11 is a member of Facebook's Global Energy Team. In this role, she is responsible for sourcing renewable energy to power the company's U.S. data centers. Prior to joining Facebook, Campbell specialized in power purchase agreements (PPAs), most recently in advising companies on clean energy purchases as part of 3Degrees' Energy & Climate Practice and previously in marketing power for Recurrent Energy, a utility-scale solar project developer. She started her in career as a market research analyst for Greentech Media's solar research division. 

Campbell received a Bachelor of Arts in Environment, Economics, & Politics from Claremont McKenna College in 2011. She also served as student manager at the Robert's Environmental Center.

Ms. Campbell’s Athenaeum presentation is the keynote address for the 2019 Green Careers Conference sponsored by the Roberts Environmental Center. 

Wendy R. Sherman is senior counselor at Albright Stonebridge Group and former under-secretary of State for political affairs. She teaches at the Harvard Kennedy School as a professor of the Practice in Public Leadership and director of the School’s Center for Public Leadership. Sherman serves on the boards of the International Crisis Group and the Atlantic Council and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Aspen Strategy Group. Sherman led the U.S. negotiating team that reached agreement on a Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action between the P5+1, the European Union, and Iran for which, among other diplomatic accomplishments, she was awarded the National Security Medal by President Barack Obama.  

Prior to her service at the Department of State, she was vice chair and founding partner of the Albright Stonebridge Group, counselor to Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, special advisor to President Bill Clinton, policy coordinator on North Korea, and assistant secretary for legislative affairs under Secretary of State Warren Christopher. Early in her career, she managed Senator Barbara Mikulski’s successful campaign for the U.S Senate and served as director of EMILY’S list. She served on the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board, was chair of the board of directors of Oxfam America and served on the U.S. Department of Defense’s Defense Policy Board and Congressional Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction, Proliferation and Terrorism. 

Sherman is the author of “Not for the Faint of Heart: Lessons in Courage, Power and Persistence” published by Public Affairs, September 2018.

Ambassador Sherman will deliver the Spring 2019 Lecture for the Res Publica Society Speaker Series.

Food for Thought: Podcast with Wendy Sherman

Michael Javen Fortner is assistant professor of political science at the City University of New York’s Graduate Center. He received a B.A. in political science and African American studies from Emory University, and a M.A. in government and a Ph.D. in government and social policy from Harvard University.

Fortner is the author of “Black Silent Majority: The Rockefeller Drug Laws and the Politics of Punishment” (Harvard University Press, 2015), a New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice and winner of the New York Academy of History’s 2016 Herbert H. Lehman Prize for Distinguished Scholarship in New York History. With Amy Bridges, he co-edited Urban Citizenship and American Democracy (SUNY Press, 2016).

He has also been published in The New York Times, Newsweek, and Dissent magazine, and his research has been covered in major media outlets, such as the New Yorker, New York Magazine, the Daily Beast, Time, WNYC and NPR.

Fortner is a member of the editorial boards of the Journal of Urban History and Urban Affairs Review.

Food for Thought: Podcast with Michael Fortner

Mark Lilla was born in Detroit, Michigan in 1956, and was educated at the University of Michigan and Harvard University. After holding professorships at New York University and the Committee on Social Thought at the University of Chicago, he joined Columbia University in 2007 as professor of the humanities. He has been awarded fellowships by the Russell Sage Foundation, the Institut d’Etudes Avancées (Paris), the Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center, the Guggenheim Foundation, the Institute for Advanced Study (Princeton), and the American Academy in Rome. In 1995 he was inducted into the French Order of Academic Palms.

Lilla is a frequent contributor to the New York Review of Books, the New York Times, and publications worldwide. His books have been translated into more than a dozen languages. He lectures widely and has delivered the Weizmann Memorial Lecture in Israel and the Carlyle Lectures at Oxford University. In 2015, Overseas Press Club of America awarded him its prize for Best Commentary on International News in Any Medium.

Professor Lilla’s Athenaeum presentation is co-sponsored by the Salvatori Center at CMC.

Photo credit: Christophe Dellory

Food for Thought: Podcast with Mark Lilla

Timothy W. Wright III '77 was born and raised in Compton and attended Compton High School. As student body president, Wright served as student representative to the Compton Unified School Board of Trustees. A varsity football player, he served as "Helm's Hall of Fame" scholar-athlete in his senior year before attending Claremont Men’s College.

As the first in his family to attend college, Wright points to the inspiration of Dr. King Jr. as his greatest and seminal inspiration for attending college and law school. Wright strove to become an asset to the campaign for human rights and justice that Dr. King would come to symbolize.

At Claremont Mens’ College, Wright researched and wrote his senior thesis entitled, "Indicators of Underdevelopment: A Case Study of the Angolan Economy." During law school, as a student activist in the anti-apartheid movement, Wright worked with the United Nations on legal matters pertaining to the independence of several African countries. As a lawyer, Wright participated in the constitutional negotiations in Cape Town, South Africa, that led to the release of Nelson Mandela. Wright also served as a legal participant with the U.N. Council for Namibia and as an international election monitor for South Africa's first free elections where he was assigned to monitor the elections in the Western Cape teaming with Nigerian President Obasanjo of Nigeria and New York Mayor David Dinkins.

Wright served as special counsel and director of intergovernmental affairs for former Chicago Mayor Harold Washington and was commissioner of the department of economic development for the City of Chicago under two administrations. Wright has also served as President Bill Clinton’s first director of domestic policy and in various capacities in the administrations of Presidents Clinton, George H.W. Bush, and George W. Bush. He also served as chief of staff for Congressman Bobby L. Rush.

Wright was a director for the Southern African Economic Development Fund along with Ambassador Andrew Young and was a director of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago. He has also served as chairman of the Sub-Saharan African Advisory Committee of the Export-Import Bank of the United States.

In January 2010, Wright was one of the winners in Politico magazine’s second annual “Reed Awards,” which are presented to “political and public affairs professionals at the top of their game,” according to the magazine. Wright was an award recipient in the special category, “Best Bare-Knuckled Street Fight Victory,” for his work, as Illinois senator Roland Burris’ lead attorney, in getting the U.S. Senate to allow Burris to obtain his appointed U.S. Senate seat.

Wright received a dual degree both in political science and economics from Claremont Mens’ College in 1977; a Juris Doctor from UCLA School of Law in 1983; a Masters of Divinity degree from the Chicago Theological Seminary in May 2018; he is currently studying for his Doctorate in Ministry Degree. He is a member of the Prophetic Leader Cohort at McCormick Theological Seminary, specializing in Liberation Ecclesiology, faith-based community economic development in urban communities.

Mr. Wright will deliver the 2019 Martin Luther King, Jr., Commemorative Lecture.

Food for Thought: Podcast with Tim Wright

Based on the true story of Mahavir Phogat and his two daughters, Geeta and Babita, Dangal is set in an Indian village bubbling with gender prejudice. Reflecting the equally pernicious corruption of the Indian sports scene, the film depicts how the girls ultimately triumph. The message of gender equality and the success of the ordinary man is loud and clear.

Yet a fundamental problem is summarized in the following quote from Aamir Khan speaking to reporters:

"Nitesh has written a wonderful story. The topic is very important, it's very dramatic. It highlights the discrimination that is meted out to the girl-child in India. The best part is that he has done it in a very entertaining manner. The heart of the story is emotional, but it also has a lot of humor. Each time I listen to the dialogues, I laugh a lot. I cry as well as laugh.”

While bringing important issues to the forefront, is Bollywood nevertheless undermining it’s message in the entertainment?

Movie screening will begin promptly at 5:30 pm.

(Freeberg Dining Room)

Funded by Joel Appel ‘87, the Appel Fellowship provides first-year students with funding to engage in independent writing projects including:

Skyler Addison (‘21): A poetry collection inspired by visits to national parks on the west coast.
Elena Castellanos (‘21): A podcast series that explores ethnic communities in large U.S. cities.
John Church(‘21): Short stories inspired by travels through the French countryside.
Jennifer Collao (‘21): A film documentary of Latinx families in Peru and Argentina who have been separated by economic forces.
Sevion DaCosta (‘21): Interviews with customers at Tim Horton locations in the province of Ontario, Canada, that will reveal undercurrents in Canadian identity.
Emma David (‘21): A memoir that explores the idea of nostalgia via a visit to her hometown in the Bay Area.
Sabrina Hartono (‘21): Interviews with the “Forgotten Voices” of elders in a small Indonesian community.
Nate Huntington(‘21): An examination of World Cup mania in several South American countries. 
Benjamin McAnally(‘21): A novel featuring a character whose travels take him to Switzerland.
Angel Ornelas (‘21): Blog posts documenting “Latinx queerness” in Los Angeles.
Hephzibah Oyibo (‘21): A personal narrative exploring her history and experiences in Nigeria, London, and Virginia.
Nandeeni Patel (‘21): A photojournalism project exploring the teaching system in her family’s hometown in India.
Elton Smole (‘21): A screenplay focusing on a rapidly changing world, set in New York. 
Andria Tattersfield (‘21): A blog documenting the experiences of the LGBTQ+ community in Taiwan.

Featured in photo:
Top Row (from left): Jennifer Collao, Angel Ornelas, John Church, Sevion DaCosta, Nate Huntington, Skyler Addison
Bottom Row (from left): Andria Tattersfield, Elena Castellanos, Emma David, Nandeeni Patel, Sabrina Hartono​
Not pictured: Benjamin McAnally, Hephzibah Oyibo, Elton Smole

Described by NBC as the “prodigy” of drug politics and policy, Kevin A. Sabet, Ph.D., is an author, consultant, former advisor to three U.S. presidential administrations, assistant professor, and serves as the president and CEO of SAM, Smart Approaches to Marijuana, which he founded with former Congressman Patrick Kennedy in 2013. He has studied, researched, written about, and implemented drug policy for almost 20 years. He has worked in the Clinton (2000), Bush (2002-2003) Administrations, and in 2011 he stepped down after serving more than two years as the senior advisor to President Obama’s drug control director, having been the only drug policy staffer to have ever served as a political appointee in both Democrat and Republican administrations. He is the author of the book Reefer Sanity: Seven Great Myths About Marijuana, published by Beaufort.

He received his Doctorate of Philosophy and Masters of Science from Oxford University as a Marshall Scholar in 2007 and 2002, respectively, and his B.A. with high honors in political science from the University of California, Berkeley in 2001.

Dr. Sabet will be the third speaker in a series on the public policy implications of marijuana legalization sponsored by the Rose Institute of State and Local Government.

Benn Steil is senior fellow and director of international economics at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. He is the author, most recently, of The Marshall Plan: Dawn of the Cold War and The Battle of Bretton Woods: John Maynard Keynes, Harry Dexter White, and the Making of a New World Order.

Steil is also the founding editor of International Finance, a scholarly economics journal; lead writer of the Council’s Geo-Graphics economics blog; and creator of four web-based interactives tracking Global Monetary Policy, Global Imbalances, Sovereign Risk, and Central Bank Currency Swaps. Prior to joining the Council in 1999, he was director of the International Economics Programme at the Royal Institute of International Affairs in London. He came to the Institute in 1992 from a Lloyd’s of London Tercentenary Research Fellowship at Nuffield College, Oxford, where he received his MPhil and DPhil (PhD) in economics. He also holds a BSc in economics summa cum laude from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Steil will deliver the 2018-19 Lecture in Diplomacy and International Security in Honor of George F. Kennan.

Food for Thought: Podcast with Benn Steil