Marian Miner Cook
Athenaeum

Ralph Lee currently leads projects on Orthodox Christianity at the Oxford Centre for Mission Studies. He supervises doctoral students at OCMS and at the Institute for Orthodox Christian Studies in Cambridge, and leads a research project on spiritual formation in the Ethiopian Church in partnership with Sankt Ignatios College, Södertälje, Sweden.

John J. Pitney, Jr. is Roy P. Crocker Professor of American History and Politics at Claremont McKenna College where he teaches courses on Congress, interest groups, political parties, and mass media. A leading expert on the structure and practice of American politics, Pitney is a widely published author or co-author of six books on American politics, including The Art of Political Warfare (2000), The Politics of Autism (2015) and Un-American: The Fake Patriotism of Donald J. Trump (2020). In addition to his books, Pitney has published numerous scholarly articles and short essays, and is a regular contributor to newspapers and magazines. He is routinely featured on NPR and other television and radio programs.

Dr. Levi Allen is an assistant professor in the Department of Political Science at Indiana State University. His research focuses primarily on the confluence of religion and politics and how voters make decisions when their identities cross-pressure one another. His current book project, entitled Political Heretics?: Why Voters Defect from their Social Identities, focuses on how white born-again Christians who identify as Democrats balance their competing identities. His work has been published in such outlets such as Political Research Quarterly, American Politics Research, and Advances in Political Psychology.

Gastón Espinosa (chair) is the Arthur V. Stoughton professor of religious studies at Claremont McKenna College and the co-editor of the Columbia University Press Series in Religion & Politics. He has directed seven Latino national surveys and is the author or editor of Latino Religions & Politics in American Public Life (in progress), Race, Religion, Gender & the American Presidency (Spring 2025), Religion, Race & Barack Obama's New Democratic Pluralism, Religion & American Presidency: Washington to Bush, and Latino Religions & Civic Activism in the United States.

Dalia Fahmy is associate professor of political science at Long Island University and is a senior fellow at The Center for Global Policy in Washington DC. She is the author or editor of The Rise and Fall of the Muslim Brotherhood and the Future of Political Islam (forthcoming), Arab Spring: Modernity, Identity and Change, and Illiberal Intelligentsia and the Future of Egyptian Democracy. She has published widely in scholarly journals and written editorials in media outlets including ABC, CNN, and the Washington Post.

Andra Gillespie is associate professor of political science at Emory University. She specializes in African American politics, post-Civil Rights leadership, and political participation and is the author of Race and the Obama Administration: Substance, Symbols and Hope and the New Black Politician: Cory Booker, Newark, and Post-Racial America. Dr. Gillespie writes broadly for both scholarly and public venues, including Journal of Race and Policy, American Politics Review, Phylon, and the National Political Science Review.

Jerry Z. Park is associate professor of sociology and an affiliate fellow of the Baylor Institute for Studies of Religion. His research explores religion, race, identity, politics, and civic participation and his work has appeared in numerous scholarly journals, including Sociological Perspectives, Religions, Social Problems, The Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, Social Psychology Quarterly, Review of Religious Research, and the American Journal of Sociology.

Imam Hadi Qazwani is the Muslim Chaplain at the Claremont Colleges Chaplaincy Center. After growing up in Iraq, he pursued Islamic studies at the pre-eminent seminary in Iran for six years before returning to the U.S. to graduate from UC Irvine. He earned his Ph.D from U.S.C. in Religious Studies, with aa focus on Islamic Studies. He has spoken on key issues affecting the U.S. Muslim community, including the intersection of religion, politics, and social change.

Rabbi Danny Lutz is the Jewish Chaplain at the Claremont Colleges Chaplaincy Center. He received his Master of Arts in Rabbinic Studies from American Jewish University and has spoken on many topics critical to the Jewish experience and identity, including in interfaith dialogue, Israel/Palestine, and politics and social change.

This conference is co-sponsored by the Gould Center for Humanistic Studies, the Salvatori Center for the Study of Individual Freedom in the Modern World, the Rose Institute of State and Local Government, the Kravis Lab for Civic Leadership, and the Department of Religious Studies, all at CMC.

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Raised in segregated Mineola, Texas, Willie L. Brown, Jr., first became interested in government while attending San Francisco State College, where he participated in campus politics and in the San Francisco chapter of the NAACP. After earning a degree in political science, he went to Hastings law school, where he was elected president of his class. Few African American attorneys practiced in San Francisco at the time, and Brown made a name for himself by taking on cases others dismissed as hopeless.

Elected to the Assembly in 1964, Brown played an important role in the California Democratic Party throughout the 1960s and into the ’70s. He made his first impact on the national stage in 1972, when he electrified delegates to the Democratic National Convention with a fiery speech delivered during a credentials fight.

From civil rights to education reform, tax policy, economic development, health care, international trade, domestic partnerships and affirmative action, Brown left his mark on virtually every aspect of politics and public policy in California. From 1980 to 1995 he exercised unprecedented power in the legislature as the longest-serving speaker of the Assembly in state history. Then, as Mayor of San Francisco, he refurbished and rebuilt one of the nation’s busiest transit systems, pioneered the use of bond measures to build affordable housing, created a model juvenile justice system and paved the way for a second campus of the University of California, San Francisco, to anchor the city’s position as a center for the burgeoning field of biotechnology.

After leaving office in 2004, Brown wrote a regular newspaper column for the San Francisco Chronicle, hosted a daily radio program and became a frequent commentator on the national cable news network MSNBC. He shared the lessons of his life—in and out of politics—in his 2008 autobiography “Basic Brown.” Today, Brown heads the Willie L. Brown, Jr., Institute on Politics and Public Service, where this acknowledged master of the art of politics shares his knowledge and skills with a new generation of California leaders.

Mayor Brown's visit to the Athenaeum is co-sponsored by the Kravis Lab for Civic Leadership.

POSTPONED - This event has been postponed -- more information will be released as it is available.

Andrew P. Miller is a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress (CAP), working on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and other Middle East issues. He previously served as deputy assistant secretary of state for Israeli-Palestinian Affairs from 2022 to 2024 and worked at the National Security Council on Egypt, Israel, and the Palestinians during the Obama Administration.

Prior to this, he served as a Senior Policy Advisor to U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield, covering the Middle East and North Africa, counterterrorism, political-military affairs, and intelligence. From 2017 to 2020, Miller was the Deputy Director for Policy at the Project on Middle East Democracy (POMED) and a Nonresident Scholar in the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace’s Middle East Program.

Miller’s previous government assignments included serving as the Director for Egypt and Israel Military Issues on President Obama’s National Security Council from 2014 to 2017, where he was involved in deliberations regarding U.S. security assistance to Egypt and Israel and Middle East Peace, among other issues. He also worked at the U.S. Department of State in a variety of intelligence and policy roles, including in the Bureau of Intelligence and Research, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s Policy Planning Staff, and at the U.S. Embassies in Cairo and Doha. Miller earned a B.A. in Political Science from Dickinson College and an M.A. in Foreign Affairs from the University of Virginia.

Mr. Miller's Athenaeum presentation is co-sponsored by the Keck Center for International and Strategic Studies at CMC.

Steph Cha is the author of Your House Will Pay, winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and the California Book Award, and the Juniper Song crime trilogy. She’s a critic whose work has appeared in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, USA Today, and the Los Angeles Review of Books, where she served as noir editor, and is the current series editor of the Best American Mystery & Suspense anthology. A native of the San Fernando Valley, she lives in Los Angeles with her family.

Ms. Cha will deliver the 2024-2025 Golo Mann Lecture, sponsored by the Gould Center for Humanistic Studies at CMC.

Jared Polis, the 43rd Governor of Colorado, is an entrepreneur, education leader, and public servant. After launching several successful companies, including one out of his college dorm room, Polis committed himself to making sure other Coloradans had the opportunity to pursue their dreams. Polis founded schools for at-risk students and new immigrants and started nonprofits to help veterans and entrepreneurs.

Prior to serving as Governor, Polis served on the State Board of Education where he worked to raise pay for teachers and reduce class size for students, and represented Colorado's 2nd Congressional district, where he was rated the most effective member of the Colorado delegation.

As Governor, Polis has focused on saving Coloradans money, keeping our economy strong, and preserving our Colorado way of life. Polis delivered universal free full-day kindergarten, signed a number of bills to save families money on health care, and made significant progress towards the goal of 100% renewable energy by 2040, all while cutting taxes for small businesses and investing in affordable housing and transportation. His efforts to expand health care access to medically underserved communities and to ensure that equity and justice remain central to building a Colorado for All have produced impactful legislation and made progress toward his administration’s bold vision. 

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David Dreier '75 was first elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1980, where he served until January 2013. In Congress, he became the youngest — and the first Californian — chairman of the Rules Committee, playing a pivotal role in shaping all legislation for House debate. Dreier, a former chair of Tribune Publishing and a passionate advocate for press freedom, founded the Fallen Journalists Memorial Foundation to build the first public memorial on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., celebrating press freedom and honoring slain journalists. Dreier received his B.A. from Claremont McKenna College and his M.A. in American government from Claremont Graduate University the following year. He serves as a trustee at CMC.

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John J. Pitney, Jr. is Roy P. Crocker Professor of American History and Politics at Claremont McKenna College where he teaches courses on Congress, interest groups, political parties, and mass media. A leading expert on the structure and practice of American politics, Pitney is a widely published author or co-author of six books on American politics, including The Art of Political Warfare (2000), The Politics of Autism (2015) and Un-American: The Fake Patriotism of Donald J. Trump (2020). In addition to his books, Pitney has published numerous scholarly articles and short essays, and is a regular contributor to newspapers and magazines. He is routinely featured on NPR and other television and radio programs.

This Civility Award and subsequent discussion is sponsored by the Dreier Roundtable at CMC.

Rajiv Vinnakota is the seventh president of the Institute for Citizens & Scholars (formerly the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation). Prior to joining C&S in July 2019, Vinnakota served as the EVP of the Youth & Engagement division at the Aspen Institute. For 18 years, Vinnakota was the co-founder and CEO of The SEED Foundation, the nation’s first network of public, college-preparatory boarding schools for underserved children. In addition to being a former trustee and executive committee member for Princeton University, Vinnakota is the former national chair of its annual giving committee. He majored in molecular biology and also earned a certificate of studies from the Woodrow Wilson School of International Affairs & Public Policy.

A renowned scholar and innovator in higher education and global justice reform and graduate of Wesleyan University and Yale Law, Hiram Chodosh is president of Claremont McKenna College, a recognized leader in freedom of expression, viewpoint diversity, and constructive dialogue through CMC’s nationally recognized Open Academy. Chodosh has also worked closely with Vinnakota and the Institute for Citizens and Scholars on a large national collaboration of college and university presidents to raise levels of civic preparedness and leadership.

A lawyer by training, Vernon C. Grigg III, Executive Director of the Kravis Lab for Civic Leadership, holds degrees from Yale Law School (J.D.), the London School of Economics (G.SC.), and the University of Michigan (BA). Grigg comes to the Kravis Lab from his role as CEO & President of Up with People, a fifty-five-year-old international nonprofit education and arts organization where he managed a global team of 50 employees across three continents and led the nonprofit to sustainability and health despite the challenges of the worldwide pandemic.

This discussion on civic leadership is co-sponsored by the President's Leaders Forum and the Kravis Lab for Civic Leadership.

Michael Chambers co-founded Aldevron while studying chemistry, microbiology, and biotechnology at North Dakota State University. Aldevron evolved from a small NDSU lab into a cornerstone of the global genetic medicine industry. Today, Aldevron manufactures nucleic acids, recombinant enzymes, and products used in molecular diagnostics, cell and gene therapies, gene editing, and vaccines.

Michael served as Aldevron's CEO until 2020 when he transitioned to Executive Chairman. In 2021, Danaher Corporation (DHR) acquired Aldevron for $9.6 billion. Michael continues to work at Aldevron, his family office, Hive & Colony, and the Centurion Foundation. He is a board member of the Whitehead Institute at MIT and Sarepta Therapeutics (SRPT). Michael's wife and five daughters split time between Fargo and Boston.

Mr. Chambers' Athenaeum visit is co-sponsored by the President's Leaders Forum.

Memo Akten is a multi-disciplinary artist, musician, and researcher creating Speculative Simulations and Data Dramatizations investigating the intricacies of human-machine entanglements. His work explores perception and states of consciousness; the tensions between ecology, technology, science and spirituality; and for more than a decade he’s been working with Artificial Intelligence, Big Data and our Collective Consciousness as scraped by the Internet, to reflect on the human condition. He writes code and uses algorithmic / data-driven design and aesthetics to create moving images, sounds, large-scale responsive installations and performances. He holds a PhD from Goldsmiths University of London, specializing in artistic and creative applications of Artificial Intelligence, and he is currently Assistant Professor of Computational Art at University of California San Diego (UCSD). Akten has received numerous awards including the Prix Ars Electronica Golden Nica, his work has been widely exhibited and performed internationally and featured in major publications.

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

Robert Hass is a poet of great eloquence, clarity, and force, whose work is rooted in the landscapes of his native Northern California. In his tenure as United States Poet Laureate, Robert Hass spent two years battling American illiteracy, armed with the mantra, “imagination makes communities.” He crisscrossed the country speaking at Rotary Club meetings, raising money to organize conferences such as “Watershed,” which brought together noted novelists, poets, and storytellers to talk about writing, nature, and community. When he is talking about poetry itself, Hass is both spontaneous and original, offering poetic insights that cannot be found in any textbook.

A prolific poet, Hass’s books of poetry include The Apple Trees at Olema, and Time and Materials, as well as his most recent best selling collection of poetry, Summer Snow: New Poems. Awarded the MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship, twice the National Book Critics’ Circle Award (in 1984 and 1997), the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, the Yale Series of Younger Poets in 1973, and the 2014 Wallace Stevens Award, Robert Hass is a professor of English at UC Berkeley.

(Adapted from The University of Arizona’s Poetry Center’s website.)

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One of contemporary American poetry’s most eclectic and formally innovative writers, Brenda Hillman is known for poems that draw on elements of found texts and document, personal meditation, observation, and literary theory. Often described as “sensuous” and “luminescent,” Hillman’s poetry investigates and pushes at the possibilities of form and voice, while remaining grounded in topics such as geology, the environment, politics, family, and spirituality. In an interview with Sarah Rosenthal, Hillman described her own understanding of form: “It is the artist’s job to make form. Not even to make it, but to allow it. Allow form. And all artists have a different relationship to it, and a different philosophy of it … I think that when you are trying to open up a territory—in this case I was working with a desire to open the lyric—you have to be greedy, in that you want more than you can do. And you’re always bound to fail.” Praising Hillman’s deft handling of form and subject, Marjorie Welish wrote, “Each poem … creates its own experimental configuration, within which the phrase swerves and discombobulates sense, as several registers of subject complicate the sampling of experiences and also as the experimental format throws the lyric into symbolic disarray one moment and naturalist scrutiny the next. And even more: she writes as if the lyric poem had a political calling.”

Born in 1951 in Tucson, Arizona, Hillman earned degrees at Pomona College and the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. The author of over 10 books of poetry, she has received numerous awards for her work including fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Guggenheim Foundation, the Academy of American Poets, the Poetry Society of America, as well as a Pushcart Prize and the Delmore Schwartz Memorial Award. Her collection Bright Existence (1993) was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, and Loose Sugar (1997) a finalist for the National Book Critic’s Circle Award. Her most recent poetry collection, In a Few Minutes Before Later, was published in 2022, and her first prose collection, Three Talks: Metaphor and Metonymy, Meaning and Mystery, Magic and Morality, was just published in September 2024. She co-translated Ashur Etwebi’s Poems from Above the Hill (2011), Jeongrye Choi’s Instances (2011), and Ana Cristina Cesar’s At Your Feet (2018); and edited or coedited several volumes, including The Pocket Emily Dickinson (2009). She is Professor Emerita at Saint Mary's College of California. 

(Adapted from the Poetry Foundation website.)

Robert Hass and Brenda Hillman's reading at the Athenaeum is co-sponsored by the Literature Department, the Gould Center for Humanistic Studies, and the Salvatori Center for the Study of Individual Freedom in the Modern World, all at CMC.

Josef Avesar is an Israeli-born attorney who resides in Southern California. He has written numerous articles and commentaries, including: “The Israeli-Palestinian Confederation”; “Why Would the Israeli and Palestinian Government Accept a Confederation?”; “An Israeli-Palestinian Confederation Creates a Fair and Balanced Mechanism to Resolve the Issues”; “Israeli and Palestinian Governments Too Busy to Make Peace”; “Israeli-Palestinian Confederation Could Have Helped Prisoner Exchange”; “An Israeli-Palestinian Confederation Could Have Saved the Violence in Gaza”; “It’s Time to Take the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict by the Horns”; and “Israeli-Palestinian Confederation 101. He is the author of the book “ Peace, A Case for an Israeli Palestinian Confederation.”