Marian Miner Cook
Athenaeum

Vali Nasr is the Majid Khadduri Professor of International Affairs and Middle East Studies Johns Hopkins School of Advanced and International Studies, and Non-Resident Senior Fellow at Atlantic Council’s South Asia Center. 

Between 2012 and 2019 he served as the Dean of the School, and between 2009 and 2011 as Senior Advisor to U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Ambassador Richard Holbrooke. 

Nasr has advised world leaders and major corporations, and is the author of several books including, Iran’s Grand Strategy: A Political History; How Sanctions Work, Iran and the Impact of Economic Warfare; The Dispensable Nation: American Foreign Policy in Retreat; The Shia Revival: How Conflicts within Islam will Shape the Future; and Democracy in Iran; as well as articles in scholarly journals, and commentary in The New York Times, Foreign Affairs, Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post. 

He is the recipient of Carnegie Scholar Award, and the Frank Guggenheim, and MacArthur Foundation research fellowships. He was selected as Henry Alfred Kissinger Resident Scholar at Library of Congress for 2024-25.

Professor Nasr’s Athenaeum presentation is part of the “Middle East: What Now?” series, co-sponsored by the President’s Leadership Fund.

Isidro González joins the CMC history department post-doctoral fellow and visiting professor of history. Born in Tijuana, González moved at a young age to the San Diego area. He attended University of San Diego and then continued with his master’s and PhD at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He completed his dissertation in 2024 while teaching a course on the History of Latinx Migrations. The question of his dissertation was “how were/are disabled people made?” In support of his dissertation, he received the Andrew Vincent White and Florence Wales White Scholarship in the Medical Humanities from the University of California Humanities Research Institute (UCHRI) for a project that showed how intimate dialogue between observer and observed demonstrated ways in which bedside manner, cultural insensitivity, and an ideology that some minds are worth more than others led to long lives of confinement, surveillance, and sexual sterilization for patients/inmates or, for eugenic professionals, to successful, generative, and long careers in the sciences. González’s work has appeared in Southern California Quarterly and Sage Research Methods: Diversifying and Decolonizing Research.

The thread that has connected González’s experiences throughout his academic career has been his deep personal understanding of individual stories of migration, disability, and Mexican Identity. “I am a borderlander, if you will” González shares, “I've always just kind of been interested in that aspect… like where we have two cultures sort of meshing, for better or for worse, good and bad,”.  What this concept borderlander means for González changed during his studies of Mexican history and nation building in combination with the history of eugenics in California. His concept of history combines science, medicine, politics, culture, and society on the understanding of disability. “I ended up writing a history of what the eugenic movement really meant in the US West and how concepts of race, ethnicity, religion, and political affiliations played into the pathologization of marginalized people.”

Professor Gonzalez’s lecture is co-sponsored by the Mgrublian Center for Human Rights and the History Department at CMC.

A native of the San Francisco Bay Area, Nathan Cheung is known for his versatility as a solo pianist, collaborator, composer, and improviser. He has won top prizes in over 15 international and national competitions. His performances have taken him across the country and around the world.

In addition to his active performing schedule, Cheung serves as an instructor of collaboration at Vanderbilt University Blair School of Music and was previously a visiting assistant professor of Collaborative Piano at Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. A sought-after educator, he has designed compositions and online practice intensives for piano students of all levels.

Cheung received his doctorate and two master’s degrees from the Eastman School of Music, as well as a bachelor's degree from Stanford University. In his free time, he enjoys learning languages, reading, and self-teaching himself the guitar.

Curated by Sheena Hui '19, this Athenaeum performance is part of a four-part 2024-25 Athenaeum Concert Series, In Freundschaft — In Friendship.

Program Notes:
Liszt, Les jeux d'eaux à la villa d'Este
Ravel, Jeux d'eau
Busoni, Sonatina No. 6, Fantasia da camera super Carmen
Suesse, Jazz Nocturne
Cheung, Rapid Fire
Improvisation on notes selected by the audience
Gershwin-Wild, Virtuoso Etudes

Yasmin Z. Vafa is co-founder and Executive Director of Rights4Girls, a national human rights organization dedicated to ending gender-based violence against young women and girls in the U.S. An award-winning human rights lawyer and advocate, Vafa's work focuses on the intersections of race, gender, violence, and the law. She has successfully advocated for several laws at the federal and state levels, testified before the U.S. Senate, state legislatures, and international human rights bodies, and co-authored multiple reports detailing the over-criminalization of girls and young women of color, particularly, survivors of sexual violence.  Vafa and her work have been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, National Public Radio, ABC News, and more. She currently serves on the U.S. Advisory Committee on the Sex Trafficking of Children and Youth, serves as adjunct faculty for the National Judicial Institute on Child Sex Trafficking— an intensive judicial training she co-designed and leads with the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, and previously served on both the Department of Justice National Girls' Initiative Advisory Committee as well as the DOJ National Task Force on the Use of Restraints on Pregnant Women and Girls Under Correctional Custody. She has received numerous awards for her work including the Lois Haight Award for Excellence and Innovation for her legislative advocacy from Congress. 

Melanie Thompson is an expert speaker, activist, and leader in the global fight to end prostitution and commercial sexual exploitation. Trafficked and sold into prostitution at the age of 12, Thompson was later arrested, served time in detention, and then placed into the foster care system. She became an activist at age 14. She  is both a national and international subject matter expert consultant and speaks to the intersectionality of race, child welfare, juvenile justice, LGBTQ+ rights, and other systems of oppression. Thompson has testified before numerous legislatures and entities, including the United Nations and various parliaments, about the need to pass strong anti-trafficking laws and end the arrests of sex trafficked and prostituted people. She has an extensive media presence, including Netflix, PBS, the NYTimes, CNN and more.  She  sits on several Survivor Advisory Boards working to implement inclusivity and create more effective strategies for survivor leaders everywhere. By day, she serves as the Chief Advocacy & Outreach Officer at CATW. 

This event is co-sponsored by the Mgrublian Center for Human Rights at CMC.

Funie Hsu/Chhî (she/they) is a transdisciplinary scholar whose work melds American studies, Asian American studies, Buddhist studies, education, and other fields. Hsu/Chhî is currently associate professor of American studies at San José State University. She received a Ph.D. in education with a Designated Emphasis in Women, Gender, and Sexuality from the University of California, Berkeley. Prior to her academic career, she was an elementary school teacher in the Los Angeles Unified School District. She is currently working on a book project that examines race, religion, and the popular secularization of Buddhist mindfulness in the context of American public schools. Her scholarship and essays have appeared in American Quarterly; Journal of Global Buddhism; Review of Education, Pedagogy, and Cultural Studies; Educational Studies; CATESOL; L2 Journal; The Immanent Frame; Lion's Roar;  Buddhadharma; The Progressive, and elsewhere. Hsu/Chhî is a co-organizer of May We Gather, a national Buddhist memorial ceremony for Asian American ancestors.

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

Panelists include:

Steve Eggert '82 P'15: Leader of Anton DevCo, he transitioned from real estate law to become a successful multifamily community developer. Eggert also serves on CMC's Board of Trustees.

Riley Lewis'11: Investment Performance Manager at Lewis Group of Companies, he oversees financial analysis and investment strategies.

Sue O'Bannon'84: Chief Financial Officer at Trammell Crow Residential since 2004, she oversees debt and equity financing for new developments in the Western U.S.

Ken Valach'82: Chief Executive Officer of Crow Holdings Development, he leads multifamily, industrial, and office projects across the United States. He also serves as Chair of the Board of Trustees at CMC.

This special event is hosted and organized by CMC's Financial Economics Institute (FEI) and the Real Estate Finance Association (REFA), a CMC club. 

Please note a SPECIAL SCHEDULE for this program:
4:30-5:10 PM | Student/Alumni Networking Reception
5:10-5:30 PM | Introduction
5:30-6:15 PM | Panel Discussion (Sue O’Bannon ’84, Riley Lewis ’11, and Steve Eggert ’82 P’15), moderated by Braden Crockett ’15
6:15-6:30 PM | Panel Q&A
6:30-7:00 PM | Dinner
7:00-7:30 PM | Fireside Chat with Ken Valach ’82, moderated by Harry Brenner ’20
7:30-8:00 PM | Q&A 

Matt Garcia is Ralph and Richard Lazarus Professor of History, Latin American, Latino, and Caribbean Studies, and Human Relations at Dartmouth College. He is the author of Eli and the Octopus: The CEO Who Tried to Reform One of the World’s Most Notorious Corporations, published by Harvard University Press in 2023.  He is also the author of A World of Its Own: Race, Labor and Citrus in the Making of Greater Los Angeles, 1900-1970 published by the University of North Carolina in 2002, and From the Jaws of Victory: The Triumph and Tragedy of Cesar Chavez and the Farm Worker Movement, published by the University of California Press in 2012. He is the co-editor of Food Across Borders with Melanie DuPuis and Don Mitchell published by Rutgers University Press in 2017. His archive of his research resides at Claremont Honnold Library, Special Collections.
 

This discussion will feature Todd Sax, Assistant Division Chief of the Mobile Source Laboratory Division at the California Air Resources Board; Sara Guiltinan, Pacific Regional Tribal Liaison at the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement; and Patrick Atwater, Innovation Program Manager at the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. Together, they will provide insights into the role of government agencies in shaping environmental policy, advancing sustainable technologies, and fostering collaboration between public institutions and communities.

Speakers will address key challenges and opportunities in areas such as clean energy, emissions reduction, water conservation, and environmental stewardship, offering students a valuable perspective on careers in the public sector. By engaging with experts who are driving change in government and regulatory agencies, students will gain a deeper understanding of how policy and innovation intersect to create a more sustainable future and explore potential career paths in environmental leadership.

David Autor is the Daniel (1972) and Gail Rubinfeld Professor in the MIT Department of Economics, co-director of the NBER Labor Studies Program and the MIT Shaping the Future of Work Initiative. His scholarship explores the labor-market impacts of technological change and globalization on job polarization, skill demands, earnings levels and inequality, and electoral outcomes.

The Economist magazine labeled Autor in 2019 as “The academic voice of the American worker.” Later that same year, and with equal justification, he was christened “Twerpy MIT Economist” by John Oliver of Last Week Tonight in a segment on automation and employment.

Autor has received numerous awards for both his scholarship—the National Science Foundation CAREER Award, an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellowship, the Sherwin Rosen Prize for outstanding contributions to the field of Labor Economics, the Andrew Carnegie Fellowship in 2019, the Society for Progress Medal in 2021—and for his teaching, including the MIT MacVicar Faculty Fellowship. In 2020, Autor received the Heinz 25th Special Recognition Award from the Heinz Family Foundation for his work “transforming our understanding of how globalization and technological change are impacting jobs and earning prospects for American workers.” In 2023, Autor was selected as one of two researchers across all scientific fields a NOMIS Distinguished Scientist.

Professor Autor will deliver the 2025 McKenna Lecture on International Trade and Economics.

Kelly Greenhill, Ph.D., is a professor of Political Science and International Relations at Tufts University, with a secondary appointment at the Tisch College for Civic Life, and a Visiting Professor and Resident Senior Fellow at MIT. She is a leading expert on mass migration and forced displacement, best known for her award-winning book Weapons of Mass Migration: Forced Displacement, Coercion, and Foreign Policy, which explores how states use forced migration as a tool of foreign policy. Her research has shaped academic and policy debates, with her work cited in U.S. Supreme Court cases, international policy briefs, and major media outlets like The New York Times and Foreign Affairs. In addition to her roles at Tufts University and MIT, she has advised organizations including the United Nations, NATO, and the World Bank, and continues to advance scholarship on the geopolitics of migration through projects like the Diplomacy of Forced Migration Dataset.

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

Coleman Hughes’ writing has been featured in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, National Review, Quillette, City Journal, The Spectator, and the Washington Examiner. Hughes was a fellow at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research and a fellow and contributing editor at their City Journal, and he is the host of the podcast Conversations with Coleman. 

Hughes appeared on Forbes 30 Under 30 list in 2021. In 2019, Hughes testified before the U.S. House Judiciary subcommittee at a hearing on reparations for slavery. He has appeared on TV shows and podcasts including The View, Real Time with Bill Maher, the Joe Rogan Experience, and Making Sense with Sam Harris. He is also a columnist at the Free Press and a contributor at CNN.

Mr. Hughes’ Athenaeum event is co-sponsored by the Valach Speaker Series and the Open Academy at CMC.

Photo credit: Evan Mann

Peter Langland-Hassan is a professor of philosophy at the University of Cincinnati and author of the book Explaining Imagination. He has published many articles in the philosophy of mind and cognitive science on topics ranging from creativity, to inner speech, to consciousness, and episodic memory. 

Though a philosopher at heart, his research involves designing and carrying out psychological experiments and exploring questions such as, among others: What is imagination? How does imagination help us do things like pretend, reason hypothetically, enjoy fiction, and be creative? How do we know our own minds?

His recent work explores the relevance of contemporary AI to theories of human cognition.

Professor Langland-Hassan’s Athenaeum talk is co-sponsored by the Gould Center for Humanistic Studies at CMC and is part of the Center’s AI and the Humanities series. 

Nathan Thrall is an American writer living in Jerusalem. In 2024, he received the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction for A Day in the Life of Abed Salama. An international bestseller, it was translated into more than two dozen languages, selected as a New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice, and named a best book of the year by over twenty publications, including The New Yorker, The Economist, and Time. 

He is also the author of The Only Language They Understand. His reporting, essays, and criticism have appeared in the London Review of Books, The Guardian, The New York Times Magazine, and The New York Review of Books. 

He spent a decade at the International Crisis Group, where he was director of the Arab-Israeli Project, and has taught at Bard College.

Mr. Thrall's Athenaeum presentation is part of the series "Personal Narratives from Israel and Palestine."

Photo credit: Judy Heiblum

Kin Cheung is a distinguished finance leader with over 30 years of experience in global markets. He began his career as a quantitative analyst at Salomon Brothers in New York, soon transitioning into a derivatives trader. His success in trading propelled him to senior management positions at Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns, and the Royal Bank of Scotland. 

Cheung has been a key driver of business growth and revenue generation throughout his career. He has held critical leadership roles across Asia and Japan including Head of Derivatives, Head of Trading, Head of Equities, and Head of Markets. He later founded a multi-strategy hedge fund and served as the Chief Investment Officer of a family office he co-founded. With extensive experience spanning both the sell-side and the buy-side, he is one of the rare finance professionals who has an expertise in both fixed income and equities. 

Cheung earned a B.S. in nuclear engineering from the University of Michigan and began pursuing a Ph.D. in nuclear science and engineering at MIT at the age of 19. His numerous accolades include the NSF Graduate Fellowship, the DOE Graduate Fellowship, the ANS Graduate Fellowship, the ANS Lamarsh Memorial Award, and the TMS Outstanding Ph.D. Thesis Award. 

Beyond finance, Cheung actively conducts molecular simulation research, focusing on the development of advanced materials for nuclear fusion reactors.

Mr. Cheung is the keynote speaker for CMC's FEI 2024-25 Claremont Finance Conference.