2009-10 Chautauqua Lectures Speaker Biographies
Fall 2009
Sylvia Earle
With her beautiful, poetic style, Earle mesmerizes audiences with stories from her more than thirty-year career beneath the sea—sharing her joy of discovery, and expressing how that joy can help save the world. Educating audiences on the influence we have and can have on the environment, she emphasizes that the human race is uniquely equipped to not only survive in the natural world, but also to influence its future existence.
Oceanographer Dr. Sylvia Earle has been christened “Her Deepness” by the New Yorker and the New York Times, and her stunning achievements explain why: Earle has led more than 50 expeditions worldwide involving more than 6,000 hours underwater, and has also set the record for the deepest solo untethered dive—3,000 feet into the Pacific Ocean. She has served as the chief scientist of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and is currently an explorer-in-residence at the National Geographic Society. Now, in partnership with Google, Earle is the face behind Google Oceans, a downloadable, comprehensive simulated ocean guide, with which users can view the deepest depths and explore the evolving history of the sea.
A passionate environmentalist, Sylvia Earle’s love of the oceans, combined with her intellectual awareness of the fragile sustainability of the seas, has compelled her to become a conscience for an often-shortsighted global business community. Few listeners are unmoved by Dr. Sylvia Earle’s reasoned arguments that the seas must be nurtured if we are to sustain life as we now know it on the planet.
...eloquent, powerful, and passionate speaking skills captivated Northland students, staff, and faculty! We could not have been happier with the success of this event! ” - Northland College
Kwame Anthony Appiah
In his acerbic lectures, Appiah explores some of the central ethical questions of our time. How is it possible to consider the world a moral community, for instance, when there is so much disagreement about the nature of morality? He offers answers that are grounded in a new ethics (Cosmopolitanism) which celebrates our common humanity, while at the same time offering a practical way to manage our differences. With wit, reason and humanity, he offers a new approach to living a moral life in the modern age -- where the competing claims of "a Clash of Civilizations" on one hand, and a groundless moral relativism on the other, can make such a project seem impossible.
Called a post-modern Socrates, Kwame Anthony Appiah asks profound questions about identity and ethics in a world where the sands of race, ethnicity, religion and nationalism continue to realign and reform before our eyes. His seminal book Cosmopolitanism is a moral manifesto for a world where identity has become a weapon and where difference has become a cause of pain and suffering. In intellectually stimulating language, Appiah challenges you to look beyond the boundaries -- real and imagined -- that divide us, and to see our common humanity.
Appiah is the Laurance S. Rockefeller University Professor of Philosophy at Princeton University. He was born in London, to a Ghanaian father and a white mother; raised in Ghana; and educated in England, at Cambridge University, where he received a Ph.D. in philosophy. As a scholar of African and African-American studies, he established himself as an intellectual with a broad reach. His classic book In My Father's House and his collaborations with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. -- including The Dictionary of Global Culture and Africana -- are major works of African struggles for self-determination. In 2007, Cosmopolitanism won the Arthur Ross Book Award, the most significant prize given to a book on international affairs. In 2009, he was featured in the documentary Examined Life, and was named one of Foreign Policy's Top 100 public intellectuals.
Nadine Strossen
Former president of the ACLU Nadine Strossen addresses the controversies of the moment. This speech is never the same twice, and is constantly updated to take account of both current developments and concerns about civil liberties, and the particular interests of any sponsor.
Nadine Strossen was the first woman and the youngest person to ever serve as the president of the American Civil Liberties Union (1991-2008). A professor of law at New York Law School, she has written, lectured, and practiced extensively in the areas of constitutional law, civil liberties, and international human rights. Strossen is the author of two books, Defending Pornography and Speaking of Race, Speaking of Sex: Hate Speech, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties.
Nadine Strossen discusses the challenges to American civil liberties today and elaborates on issues that are particularly relevant: the War on Terror and government’s efforts to enact potentially intrusive legislation, growing demographic diversity, rapidly advancing technological advances, and a conservative political climate.Strossen did an excellent job at our event. She made the audience laugh and hang on her every word. She’s an excellent and proficient speaker. ” - Cornell University
Jennifer Michael Hecht
Jennifer Michael Hecht is the author of award-winning books of philosophy, history, and poetry. Her Doubt: A History (HarperOne, 2003) demonstrates a long, strong history of religious doubt from the origins of written history to the present day, all over the world. Hecht's The End of the Soul: Scientific Modernity, Atheism and Anthropology (Columbia University, 2003), won the Phi Beta Kappa Society's 2004 prestigious Ralph Waldo Emerson Award “for scholarly studies that contribute significantly to interpretations of the intellectual and cultural condition of humanity.”
Hecht's first poetry book, The Next Ancient World won the Poetry Society of America's 2002 Norma Farber First Book Award. Her most recent poetry book, Funny, won the University of Wisconsin's 2005 Felix Pollak Poetry Prize, and Publisher's Weekly called it “one of the most original and entertaining books of the year.” Her book reviews appear in The New York Times and The Washington Post. Her newest book, The Happiness Myth, was published by HarperOne in 2007. Hecht earned her Ph.D. in the History of Science and European Cultural History from Columbia University in 1995 and now teaches at The New School University. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband John, and their two children.
James McLurkin
The End of the World and Other Misconceptions: The Truth about RoboticsIn this lecture, James McLurkin takes a lighthearted look at society's views of robots, Hollywood's portrayal of them, the current state of the art, and the future of technology.
As a child, James McLurkin was constantly building with LEGO™ bricks, cardboard boxes, or any other materials he could access. Today, McLurkin continues this tradition. Using Mother Nature as a model, his core research is developing algorithms and techniques for constructing and programming large swarms of autonomous robots. Inspired by the behavior of ants and bees, the SwarmBots perform individual tasks that collectively contribute to the goals of the group. They were originally created during his five-year post as Lead Research Scientist at iRobot, one of the world's leading robotics companies. His highly-advanced research and innovations make McLurkin a captivating and engaging technology speaker.
Spring 2010
Frank Warren
The Most Trusted Stranger in America: Frank Warren’s Post SecretAuthor Frank Warren is the creator of the blog phenomenon PostSecret Project, a collection of highly personal and artfully decorated postcards mailed anonymously from around the world, displaying the soulful secrets we never voice. The website for PostSecret is one of the most popular on the web, and has been featured prominently in the media in USA Today, on the Today Show, 20/20, CNN, MSNBC, CBC, NPR, and FOX News. In 2009, Forbes listed Frank Warren as the 4th most influential person on the internet. Recently the PostSecret website received its 250,000,000 hit and was named Weblog of the Year at the Seventh Annual Weblog Awards. PostSecret originated from a community art project based on a simple concept: asking people to anonymously send a secret on a decorated postcard. Since November 2004, Warren has received more than 400,000 postcards, with secrets spanning from sexual taboos and criminal activity to confessions of secret beliefs, hidden acts of kindness, shocking habits and fears. Frank Warren thinks of PostSecret as a safe and anonymous “place” where people can hear unheard voices and share untold stories.
Frank Warren has released several books based on the project, including The New York Times best-seller, PostSecret: Extraordinary Confessions from Ordinary Lives. In October 2009, he will release the fifth PostSecret book, PostSecret: Confessions on Life, Death, and God. Today, Warren travels throughout the country as part of PostSecret, and continually adds to the project exploring the hidden secrets inside us all.
American Spiritual Ensemble
Keeping the American Negro Spiritual AliveThe American Spiritual Ensemble is composed of some of the finest singers in the United States. The vocalists have thrilled audiences around the world with their dynamic renditions of classic spirituals and Broadway numbers.
Tenor Dr. Everett McCorvey founded the group in 1995, and many of its members have performed in such venues as the Metropolitan Opera, New York City Opera, Houston Grand Opera, San Francisco Opera, Boston Opera and the Atlanta Civic Opera. They have also performed abroad in England, Germany, Italy, Japan, Scotland, and Spain. The ensemble is currently booking for performances during Black History Month.
Gary Potter
War, Work, and Sex: Human Trafficking and GlobalizationGary Potter earned his Bachelor of Science in Community Development, the Pennsylvania State University. Dr. Potter earned in May 1988 a Doctor of Philosophy in Community Systems Planning and Development with emphasis in criminal justice at the Pennsylvania State University. His dissertation is entitled “A Case Study of Organized Crime in a Declining Industrial City.” Dr. Potter is currently doing research on transnational organized crime and illicit services offered in the environment of legal casino gambling such as, prostitution, extramural betting, loan sharking and drugs. He has also been widely published in journals such as, The Advocate: A Journal of Criminal Justice Education and Research; Criminal Organizations; Crime, Law & Social Change; Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice; Ethics and Fairness in Criminal Justice; and Corruption and Reform. He has authored or co-authored at least eight books on issues relating to Criminal Justice.
Rushda Majeed
Change from Within: Highlighting young Muslim LeadersRushda has a Masters from the School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA), Columbia University where she specialized in Economic and Political Development with a regional focus on the Middle East. Her professional interest continues to be conflict resolution and peace-building. Prior to pursuing her graduate studies at Columbia University, Rushda was a computer analyst at a multinational computer consultancy. She has a bachelor's degree in Computer Science from Eastern Kentucky University. Besides the United States, Rushda has lived and worked in India, Syria, Kenya, and Austria. Rushda Majeed is currently Program Director at ASMA Society, a non-profit organization dedicated to building bridges between the public and the Muslim community through dialogue, culture, arts, academia and current affairs. As Program Director, she is in charge of overall programming at ASMA while focusing on the Muslim Leaders of Tomorrow (MLT) program. Additionally, Rushda is working with Daisy Khan in scaling up and expanding the global reach of the MLT program.
Derrick Jensen
Civilization and ResistanceMr. Jensen earned his B.Sc. in Mineral Engineering Physics from the Colorado School of Mines and in May 1983 he was awarded a M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Eastern Washington University in June 1991. He wrote, “We are members of the most destructive culture ever to exist. Our assault on the natural world, on indigenous and other cultures, on women, on children, on all of us through the possibility of nuclear suicide and other means--all these are unprecedented in their magnitude and ferocity. So began my first book, Listening to the Land. Why do we act as we do? What are sane and effective responses to outrageously destructive behavior? What will it take for us to stop the horrors that characterize our way of being? My work and life revolve around these questions. ” He has now written or co-written six books.
