Marian Miner Cook
Athenaeum

For three decades, William Kristol has been a leading participant in American political debates and a widely respected analyst of American political developments. Having served in senior positions in the Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush Administrations, Kristol understands government from the inside and as a professor at the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard University, he has studied American politics and society from the outside. 

After serving in the Reagan and George H. W. Bush administrations, Kristol founded the Weekly Standard in 1995 and edited the influential magazine for over two decades. Now, as founding director of Defending Democracy Together, an organization dedicated to defending America’s liberal democratic norms, principles, and institutions, Kristol is in the midst of the national debate on issues ranging from American foreign policy to the future of the Republican Party and the meaning of American conservatism.

Kristol frequently appears on all the major television talk shows, and also is the host of the highly regarded video series and podcast, Conversations with Bill Kristol. 

Kristol received his undergraduate degree and his Ph. D. from Harvard University.

Mr. Kristol's Athenaeum presentation is co-sponsored by the Salvatori Center and the Open Academy, both at CMC.

(Text adapted by the Washington Speakers Bureau profile.)

Jodie P. Filkins served on the first California Citizens Redistricting Commission from 2010 until July 2020. Following certification of the district maps in 2011, Filkins traveled throughout the United States to speak and advocate for independent redistricting. She has participated as signatory to three Amicus Curiae briefs submitted to the U.S. Supreme court in favor of independent redistricting.

Filkins has been a licensed California attorney for the last 30 years practicing in areas of complex civil litigation defense, and currently owns her own practice defending private employers and public entities in the defense of Worker’s Compensation litigated matters. She secured application and preservation of the attorney-client privilege in Workers’ Compensation in a published Court of Appeal decision in 2014.

Filkins has served her local community of Norco, California as a volunteer for various organizations as well as the City of Norco on Ad Hoc Committees regarding Sales Tax initiatives and City Districts.  She has served for the last 10 years on the Lake Norconian Club Foundation, a nonprofit foundation charged with the preservation of the Lake Norconian Club Supreme and other historic buildings in the City of Norco.

Diana Williams is a professor of neuroscience in the Kravis Department of Integrated Science (“KDIS”).  Her research examines the neural and endocrine control of motivated behaviors, with a focus on eating behavior. Many of her studies explore how the gut communicates with the brain about nutrients coming into the gastrointestinal tract during meals, and how the brain integrates this information with the taste of food, desire and pleasure, cues in the environment, and learned habits that can affect eating. This work helps reveal the biological underpinnings of our everyday eating experiences and sheds light on pathological states including eating disorders.

Williams received her B.A. in Psychology from Brooklyn College, City University of New York. She earned her M.A. and subsequently her Ph.D. in psychology with a concentration in behavioral neuroscience from the University of Pennsylvania.

Shaun Lee is an associate professor of molecular biology and microbiology at the Kravis Department of Integrated Science (“KDIS”). His research broadly involves the study of host-microbe (human to bacteria) and microbe-microbe (bacteria to bacteria) interactions that govern human health, wellness, and disease states. Modern antibiotics have served as powerful weapons in the fight against pathogenic bacteria which have plagued humans for centuries. A little-known fact however is that that bacteria have been fighting each other well before humans even evolved. Studying the processes of how bacteria fight and compete might lead researchers to uncover new strategies to fight harmful bacteria and to help overcome the surge of antibiotics resistant bacteria.

Lee received his B.A. from U.C. Berkeley where he majored in both architecture and molecular cell biology, with an emphasis in neurobiology. His earned his Ph.D. from Oregon Health and Science University in molecular microbiology and immunology.

Rui Cheng is an assistant professor of the physics of climate, energy, and the environment at the Kravis Department of Integrated Science (“KDIS”). She will elaborate upon her research which aims to see the unseeable changes in the surrounding environment and in evaluating the global ecosystem-climate feedback, such as carbon, water, and energy fluxes between land and atmosphere targeted specifically in regions with limited direct measurements, including the Arctic, tropics, and mountainous regions.

Cheng received her B.S. from Sun Yat-Sen University in China where she studied atmospheric science. She has a M.S. in earth and environmental science from Lehigh University and a Ph.D. from Cal Tech in Environmental Science and Engineering.

Theresa Delgadillo is the Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor of English and Chicanx/e and Latinx/e Studies at UW-Madison. Delgadillo is a noted authority on U.S. Latinx spirituality and religion, the African diaspora, Latinidad, and Latinxs in the Midwest. Her book publications include Geographies of Relation: Diasporas and Borderlands in the Americas (2024), Latina Lives in Milwaukee (2015), Spiritual Mestizaje: Religion, Gender, Race, and Nation in Contemporary Chicana Narrative (2011), and she is co-editor and contributor of Building Sustainable Worlds: Latinx Placemaking in the Midwest (2022). She is the founder of Mujeres Talk (2010-2017) and co-founder and current board member of Latinx Talk (2017 to present), an interdisciplinary academic open access publication specializing in short-form research.

Professor Delgadillo is the keynote conference speaker for The Futures of Comparative Racialization Conference.