Marian Miner Cook
Athenaeum

A distinctive
feature of social and
cultural life at CMC

 

Students, Faculty, and Staff: 
Please sign up using the “Register for this event” button. This will register you for the reception and meal. 

Alumni and Parents:
Please visit the alumni and parent engagement website to register. 

 

Tue, February 24, 2026
Dinner Program
Glenn Loury, in conversation with Michael Fortner

In recent years, American public life has entered a period of reassessment and backlash. The post-2020 surge in anti-racist politics has been met by the rollback of affirmative action, growing skepticism toward DEI initiatives, and the reemergence of white identity politics. These developments raise a deeper and more unsettling question: have we entered a new phase in American political culture—one that signals a broader rejection of the moral premises of the Black freedom movement itself? In this moderated conversation, Glenn Loury, professor emeritus of social sciences, economics, international and public affairs at Brown University, will explore what these shifts mean for American citizenship, democratic legitimacy, and public discourse. Drawing on his recent work on race, inequality, and civic belonging—as well as his book Self-Censorship—Loury will examine not only the politics of backlash, but the quieter, often overlooked phenomenon that accompanies it: the growing tendency of citizens, scholars, and institutions to withhold dissenting views out of fear of social sanction. 

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Glenn C. Loury, Merton P. Stoltz Professor Emeritus of Social Sciences, Professor Emeritus of Economics, and Professor Emeritus of International and Public Affairs, joined Brown University in 2005. He is an academic economist who has made scholarly contributions to the fields of welfare economics, income distribution, game theory, industrial organization, and natural resource economics. He is also a prominent social critic and public intellectual, having published over 200 articles in journals of public affairs in the U.S. and abroad on the issues of racial inequality and social policy.

Loury is a Fellow of the Econometric Society, a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a past Vice President of the American Economics Association. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and was for many years a contributing editor at The New Republic magazine.

Among the issues Loury studies are racial affirmative action; dysfunctional social identity; status transmission across generations; and cognitive theories of racial stigma. He also writes popular essays on social and political themes as a public intellectual.

Michael J. Fortner, Pamela B. Gann Associate Professor of Government and George R. Roberts Fellow at Claremont McKenna College, will moderate the conversation.
 

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Wed, February 25, 2026
Dinner Program
Terry Tang, in conversation with Terril Jones

Journalism is increasingly under assault worldwide. Reporters in many countries are routinely detained, threatened, and even killed. In the United States, pressure on the press has also intensified, with the government suing broadcasters and print publications, forcing the suspension and dismissal of television hosts, arresting reporters for covering protests, and attempting to suppress news reporting. At the same time, economic strain and pressure mounts: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution ended its print edition in January, and earlier this month The Washington Post dismissed 300 reporters, editors, podcasters, and photographers. In this program, Los Angeles Times Executive Editor Terry Tang will discuss the challenges and risks facing journalism in the U.S., particularly newspapers, as well as the vital work that newsrooms continue to do well.

Photo credit: Ricardo DeAratanha/Los Angeles Times

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Terry Tang is the executive editor of the Los Angeles Times, overseeing the newsroom and the Opinion section. She was appointed to her role in 2024, becoming the first female editor in the paper’s 142-year history.

Tang joined The Times in July 2019 as a deputy Op-Ed editor after two years at the American Civil Liberties Union, where she served as director of publications and editorial. She was named editorial page editor in 2022.

Before that, she worked at the New York Times for 20 years in many positions: as deputy editorial page editor; op-ed editor; assistant editorial page editor; editorial writer; deputy technology editor; metro desk major beats editor; and co-founder and editor of Room for Debate, an online platform for rapid-response commentary. Prior to that, she was an editorial writer and columnist at the Seattle Times and a reporter at the Seattle Weekly.

Tang graduated from Yale with a bachelor’s degree in economics and received a J.D. from New York University School of Law. She was a Nieman fellow at Harvard in 1992-93. Her family immigrated to Los Angeles from Taiwan, and she grew up in Gardena. (Source: LA Times)

Terril Jones is a visiting lecturer in the Government Department at Claremont McKenna College, specializing in international journalism. He has more than 40 years of experience in journalism, including as a business and foreign correspondent and editor for Reuters, the Los Angeles Times, Forbes and The Associated Press. Jones was based in Beijing, Paris, and Tokyo for 18 years covering politics, business, international relations, sports, crime and many other topics. He was also a technology correspondent in Silicon Valley and an automotive correspondent in Detroit. He is fluent in Japanese, Mandarin and French, and holds a B.A. from Pomona College.

This program is co-sponsored by the Dreier Roundtable at Claremont McKenna College.

Photo credit: Ricardo DeAratanha/Los Angeles Times

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Thu, February 26, 2026
Dinner Program
Ian Faquini and Natalie Cressman

The unlikely duo of Brazilian composer/guitarist Ian Faquini and American trombonist/vocalist Natalie Cressman explores the rituals, relationships, and emotions of human nature through the Brazilian songwriting tradition. Through serenely balanced musical vignettes that touch on Afro-Brazilian deities, indigenous culture, and folkloric figures, their music will take us on a journey through many different regions of Brazil and the myriad of musical dialects found in this culturally rich country. Through original songs and classic repertoire that spans generations of oral tradition, this presentation dives into the enduring quality of human-scaled musical narratives and the many forms of spirituality that can be remarkably empathic even if you don’t understand Portuguese.

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Describing the musical partnership of Natalie Cressman and Ian Faquini as a duo is accurate, but their collaboration contains multitudes. She’s a trombonist, vocalist and songwriter from San Francisco. He’s a composer, guitarist, and singer from Brasilia. Together they’ve honed a singularly expansive creative communion encompassing their love of the Brazilian songbook, jazz, Impressionism and sophisticated pop songcraft. 

Their original material features lyrics in Portuguese, French and English set to music drawing from a vast stylistic spectrum. With sumptuous two-part vocal harmonies hugging Brazilian-accented Portuguese accompanied by trombone and acoustic guitar, Cressman and Faquini’s richly orchestrated sound seems to emanate from a much larger ensemble.

Ian Faquini and Natalie Cressman's Athenaeum performance is part of a 4-part musical series for this academic year: Devotional and Spiritual World Music featuring Ghanian, South Asian, American Gospel, and Brazilian traditions. 

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Fri, February 27, 2026
Lunch Program
Hilary A. Haskell, Robert Owlett, and Philip Trapp

This program aims to energize students around the breadth of environmental career possibilities and to foster discussions on key environmental issues and solutions. Panel presentations by alums in the green industry will highlight the opportunities and challenges facing green jobs today in environmental law, policy, tech, finance, media, and more. The goal of the conference is to give students a broad perspective of the careers available in the environmental field, and foster community in the 5C green space, start conversations that provide guidance for students looking to break into the industry to pursue careers that contribute to positive environmental change.

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Keynote Panel: Watt’s Next? A Roadmap for Energy Evolution

Panelists:

Hilary A. Haskell, Low Carbon Fuels Manager, TRC Companies, Inc

Robert Owlett, Director of Origination, Pathway Power

Philip Trapp, Senior Sales Manager, Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited

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Mon, March 2, 2026
Dinner Program
Jeff Sebo

Jeff Sebo, director of the Center for Mind, Ethics, and Policy at New York University and author of The Moral Circle and Saving Animals, Saving Ourselves, will discuss current debates about the sentience and moral status of nonhumans. Can insects experience happiness and suffering? Can AI systems have desires and preferences? How should we treat them when we feel unsure, and what follows for our practices, policies, and priorities?

 

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Jeff Sebo is Associate Professor of Environmental Studies, Affiliated Professor of Bioethics, Medical Ethics, Philosophy, and Law, Director of the Center for Environmental and Animal Protection, Director of the Center for Mind, Ethics, and Policy, Director of the Food Impact Program, and Co-Director of the Wild Animal Welfare Program at New York University. 

He is the author of The Moral Circle and Saving Animals, Saving Ourselves and co-author of Chimpanzee Rights and Food, Animals, and the Environment. He is also an advisory board member at the Jeremy Coller Centre for Animal Sentience, an advisory board member at the Insect Welfare Research Society, an advisor at Eleos AI, and a senior affiliate at the Institute for Law & AI. 

In 2024 Vox included him on its Future Perfect 50 list of "thinkers, innovators, and changemakers who are working to make the future a better place."

Professor Sebo's Athenaeum presentation is co-sponsored by the Gould Center for Humanistic Studies at CMC.

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Wed, March 4, 2026
Dinner Program
James Stocker

James Stocker, associate professor of global affairs at Trinity Washington University, will discuss how the logics of state, revolution, and foreign intervention have played out in contemporary Lebanese history, from independence through the civil-war and post-civil war period to shed light on debates about the country’s future.

(Parents Dining Room)

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James R. Stocker is associate professor of global affairs at Trinity Washington University. He is the author of Spheres of Intervention: US Foreign Policy and the Collapse of Lebanon, 1967–1976, which is being newly reissued in paperback in 2026. He has been a visiting researcher at Georgetown University and the American University of Beirut. He received his Ph.D .from the Graduate Institute of Geneva, where he received support from the Swiss National Science Foundation. He is a RAND Next Generation Faculty Leader.

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Thu, March 5, 2026
Dinner Program
Sandeep Robert Datta P'26

Sandeep Robert Datta P’26, M.D., PhD., professor of neuroscience at Harvard University, will discuss how new technology is revolutionizing our understanding of the brain and how abrupt changes in the compact between universities and the government threaten to derail this progress.

 

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Sandeep Robert Datta P’26 is a professor in department of neurobiology at Harvard Medical School. His lab focuses on understanding how sensory cues — particularly odors — are detected by the nervous system, and how the brain transforms information about the presence of salient sensory cues into patterns of motivated action. This work involves studying genes involved in detecting sensory information, revealing the patterns of neural activity deep in the brain that encode sensory maps of the outside world, and probing the fundamental statistical structure of behavior itself. His lab has developed AI-based technologies that allow researchers to understand how the brain builds body language and revealed why COVID-19 causes patients to lose their sense of smell. 

Datta has published numerous articles on his research in journals including Cell, Science and Nature, is a reviewer and an editor at multiple scientific journals, and is an Associate Member of the Broad Institute. Dr. Datta has received the NIH New Innovator Award, the Burroughs Welcome Career Award in the Medical Sciences, the Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship, the Searle Scholars Award, the Vallee Young Investigator Award, the McKnight Endowment Fund Scholar Award and has been named a fellow of the National Academy of Science/Kavli Scholars program. Datta has also co-founded or advised many neuroscience start-ups, including Neumora, Gilgamesh Therapeutics, Osmo, Tenvie and Axiom Labs.

A graduate of Yale College, Datta earned his M.D./Ph.D. at Harvard University, then worked as a postdoc with the Nobel laureate Richard Axel at Columbia, and joined the Harvard faculty in 2009.

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Fri, March 6, 2026
Lunch Program
Marilou Ryder

Women bring talent, intelligence, and powerful ideas into every room, yet too often their contributions go unseen, undervalued, or overlooked. Confidence alone is not enough. Visibility and influence must be built intentionally. In this high-impact session, Marilou Ryder, author, speaker, and leadership strategist, blends real-world leadership experience, research, and practical tools to help women clarify their strengths, communicate their value, and show up with greater presence and credibility. Participants will explore how everyday behaviors, language choices, and visibility strategies shape professional influence and how to make small, strategic shifts that create meaningful momentum. Attendees will leave with actionable strategies they can immediately apply to strengthen confidence, increase visibility, and move forward with clarity, courage, and purpose—regardless of career stage or industry.

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Marilou Ryder Ed. D., is an author, speaker, and leadership strategist dedicated to advancing women’s confidence, visibility, and influence in work and life. A former superintendent and longtime university professor, she currently serves as Program Chair for the UMass Global doctoral program in organizational leadership, where she designs innovative leadership development experiences and mentors emerging leaders.

Ryder is the author of multiple books for women, including the bestselling titles "Promotion Power: Five Disruptive Career Moves for Modern Women" and "Self-Sabotage: Ten Personal Power Tips to be Your Best Self on a Good Day", which challenge women to rethink how they advocate for themselves, navigate workplace dynamics, and step into bold professional visibility. Through her speaking, writing, and publishing work, she equips women with practical, no-nonsense strategies that translate directly into action and results.

Known for her engaging, direct style and real-world insight, Ryder inspires audiences to move from capable to confident and from potential to powerful impact.

Dr. Ryder is the keynote speaker for the 2026 Women and Leadership Workshop, co-sponsored by the Kravis Leadership Institute, Berger Institute for Individual and Social Development, Berger Institute, Mgrublian Center for Human Rights, and the Women and Leadership Alliance.

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Marian Miner Cook Athenaeum

Claremont McKenna College
385 E. Eighth Street
Claremont, CA 91711

Contact

Phone: (909) 621-8244 
Fax: (909) 621-8579 
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