Marian Miner Cook
Athenaeum

Lerone A. Martin is the Martin Luther King, Jr., Centennial Professor in Religious Studies, African & African American Studies, and The Nina C. Crocker Faculty Scholar. He also serves as the Director of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute at Stanford University.

Martin is an award-winning author. His most recent book, "The Gospel of J. Edgar Hoover: How the FBI Aided and Abetted the Rise of White Christian Nationalism," was published in February 2023 by Princeton University Press. 

In 2014 he published, "Preaching on Wax: The Phonograph and the Making of Modern African American Religion," which received the 2015 first book award by the American Society of Church History.

In support of his research, Martin has received a number of nationally recognized fellowships, including the National Endowment for the Humanities, The American Council of Learned Societies, The Institute for Citizens and Scholars (formerly The Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation), The Teagle Foundation, Templeton Religion Trust, the Louisville Institute for the Study of American Religion, and the Forum for Theological Exploration.

Most recently, Martin became co-director of a $1 million grant from the Henry Luce Foundation to fund “The Crossroads Project,” a four-year, multi-institution project to advance public understanding of the history, politics, and cultures of African American religions.

Recognized widely for his teaching, writing, and commentary, Lerone is currently working on a nonfiction book and an adapted graphic novel about the adolescence and calling of Martin Luther King, Jr., both to be published by HarperCollins.

Martin holds a Ph.D. from Emory University, a M.Div. from the Princeton Theological Seminary, and a B.A. from Anderson University.

Professor Martin’s Athenaeum presentation is co-sponsored by the President’s Leadership Fund.

Adapted from: Stanford University's King Institute

Photo credit: Andrew Brodhead

Amir Tibon is an award-winning diplomatic correspondent for Haaretz and the author of The Gates of Gaza: A Story of Betrayal, Survival, and Hope in Israel's Borderlands (Little, Brown, Sept 2024), which tells the gripping true story of how he, along with his wife and their two young children, were rescued from Kibbutz Nahal Oz on October 7, 2023 by Tibon’s own father—an incredible tale of survival that also reveals the deep tensions and systemic failures that led to Hamas’s attacks that day. The story was featured on 60 Minutes and the film rights been optioned by Leviathan Productions, with Avi Issacharoff and Lior Raz (Fauda) set to write the script.

Tibon has previously served as the Haaretz’s correspondent in Washington, D.C., and as a senior editor for its English edition. He is the author of The Last Palestinian: The Rise and Reign of Mahmoud Abbas (co-authored with Grant Rumley), the first-ever biography of the leader of the Palestinian Authority. He, his wife, and their two young daughters were evacuated from their home in Kibbutz Nahal Oz after the October 7 attack and are currently living in temporary housing in north-central Israel.

Mr. Tibon’s Athenaeum presentation is co-sponsored by Jewish Studies Fund at CMC and is part of the series "Personal Narratives from Israel and Palestine."

Attendance at this event is limited to CMC students, faculty, and staff. 

The Appel Fellowship provides first-year students funding to support purposeful, independent experiences that culminate in a meaningful and substantial writing project. 

This fellowship is meant to enhance the first-year experience by encouraging students to engage in independent writing projects that have the potential to be life-transforming. The ultimate goals of the Appel fellowship are to give students an opportunity to experience writing in a way that may shape the course of their lives in new and exciting ways and to encourage students to share these experiences with others by crafting a thoughtful written project.

The 2024 Appel Writing Scholars:
Miguel-Angel Barrios
Asia Best
Kevin Chen
Ana Federico
Henry Garcia
Magdalena Gavahan
Abboskhon Ilyasov
Kahani Malhotra
Srey On Peuy
Nico Riley
Myla Soliz
Phoebe Wolfe Lyons

For Cristina Mancini, storytelling is not just an art form but a powerful agent of change. Born to an Italian father and Jamaican mother, she grew up navigating languages and cultures, a journey that taught her the value of diverse perspectives. From her early days as an Art Director at Warner Brothers to her pivotal role at 20th Century Fox, Ms. Mancini pioneered ways to keep audiences engaged by blending media and technology long before the industry fully embraced it. Her ability to craft compelling narratives earned her a reputation as a creative visionary who could translate complex ideas into powerful consumer experiences.

At Salesforce, she expanded her storytelling into the tech world, launching Salesforce Studios and leading a global rebrand at Salesforce.org. But it’s in her current role as CEO of Black Girls Code where her vision truly takes flight. She is focused on preparing Black girls and gender-expansive youth of color to lead the future of tech, ensuring they see themselves not just as participants but as innovators. For Ms. Mancini, the story she’s telling now is about building a future where everyone has a voice, and no one is left behind. 

Ryan Patel is a globally recognized futurist and go-to authority on global business, political economy, and corporate governance. Currently the William F. Podlich Distinguished Fellow at CMC, Patel is an expert in scaling businesses, he's served startups and publicly traded firms. Listed as one of the “Creators to Follow” by LinkedIn Editor in Chief Daniel Roth and recognized as a “Top Voice” on Linkedin, Patel is a sought-after TV news commentator and board director. Patel also hosts "The Moment with Ryan Patel," featuring conversations with top innovators and executives filmed at the iconic HP Garage, the birthplace of Silicon Valley. He complements his literary talents with domestic and international keynote appearances, leading campaigns with corporations and universities such as the World Economic Forum, Davos, Mastercard, HP, Adobe, The Economist, Reuters, and more. 

This Athenaeum presentation is co-sponsored by the Financial Economics Institute at CMC.

On February 14, 2018, David Hogg’s life changed forever.

As a senior at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, he lost friends, classmates and teachers. A total of 17 people were killed when a lone teen gunman sprayed bullets from a high-powered military assault rifle. Hogg’s eloquent responses to America’s largest school shooting immediately placed him in the national and international media spotlight.

Committed to becoming an agent for change, he resolved that no other young person should have to experience the tragic impact of gun violence. He joined with friends from high school to co-found March for Our Lives, now one of the world’s largest youth-led movements. Five weeks after the shooting, March for Our Lives mobilized one of the biggest demonstrations in the nation’s history. Speaking before an estimated 800,000 protestors in Washington, D.C., he declared, “The sun shines on a new day—and it is ours!” Since then, his activism has taken him around the country, meeting with impacted families and diverse communities to deepen his knowledge of gun safety and the politics of ending gun violence. With his younger sister, Lauren, also a student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, he co-wrote #NeverAgain, a New York Times bestseller. The two siblings also contributed to the best-selling book, "Glimmer of Hope: How Tragedy Sparked a Movement," a compilation of writing from the founders of March for Our Lives.

A 2023 graduate of Harvard University, Hogg recently co-founded Leaders We Deserve, a grassroots political organization dedicated to electing young progressives to Congress and State Legislatures across the country. A prolific voice on social media with more than a million followers, he uses his platform to promote civic engagement, activism and voting. As a speaker, he informs, challenges and energizes, empowering his generation to resist apathy and become catalysts for positive social change. “People call us snowflakes,” he once tweeted. “What happens when snowflakes vote? That’s called an avalanche.” 

Mr. Hogg’s presentation is co-sponsored by the Mgrublian Center for Human Rights at CMC.

Marco Gonzalez is the Director of Yahad - In Unum (“Together in One”), a non-governmental organization dedicated to discovering genocide wherever it is found around the world, providing documented proof of crimes against humanity, and serving as a voice of protest on behalf of all past and present victims of systemic hate crimes and mass murder.  Working closely with its well-recognized founder, Father Patrick Desbois, Gonzalez has scoured Eastern Europe for witnesses and corroborating evidence of Nazi war crimes by the Einsatzgruppen (Nazi Death Squads). These soldiers hunted Jewish and Roma citizens across Eastern Europe, village by village. They gathered their victims in groups, shot them and buried them in unmarked mass graves. This dark episode of history has been termed as “The Holocaust by Bullets.” 

Although Yahad - In Unum is based in Paris, Gonzalez himself is Guatemalan-born and his work with Yahad-In Unum has a deep personal resonance for him. Growing up in Guatemala, he was always keenly aware of the abysmal human rights record in that region, especially the systematic mass killings of an estimated 200,000 ethnic Mayans, perpetrated by the country’s military dictatorships, mostly during the early 1980s. His current work allows him to raise awareness of the Holocaust to the Guatemalan people and also of its parallel to the tragedy his home country endured in the recent past. In January of 2016, Yahad-In Unum founded The Museum of the Holocaust in Guatemala, the first museum of its kind in Central America. 

Gonzalez has also been a leading force in evolving Yahad-In Unum’s mission into that of a modern global humanitarian initiative. The organization has expanded its scope of historical forensic research to also focus on modern day genocide as

well as systemic hate crimes and anti-Semitism that could potentially lead to genocide. Since 2015, they have been investigating the Yazidi massacres in Northern Iraq at the hands of ISIS.  

Mr. Gonzalez’s talk is co-sponsored by the Mgrublian Center for Human Rights at Claremont McKenna College. 

The Series: The October 7, 2023, attacks in Israel precipitated devastation and desperation in Gaza and Israel, with profound and consequential effects in the region and beyond. To evaluate the dynamic developments in the Middle East, all within the complex context of the region, the Athenaeum’s 5-part spring 2025 series “The Middle East: What Now?” will focus on perspectives from each of the following: Iran (March 11), Israel (February 6), Lebanon (February 5), Palestine (March 24), and Syria (April 7).

Hicham Bou Nassif, the Weinberg Associate Professor of International Relations and the Middle East at Claremont McKenna College, is a distinguished scholar with a Ph.D. in political science from Indiana University, a research doctorate from Holy Spirit University of Kaslik, an MA in political science and government from Saint Joseph University of Beirut, and a master’s degree in public law, all after obtaining his bachelor’s degree in law from Lebanese University.

His expertise spans various fields, including authoritarianism, civil-military relations, and Middle East politics. With a rich academic background, he has contributed significantly to the field, publishing the book "Endgames: Military Response to Protest in Arab Autocracies" (Cambridge University Press) and numerous peer-reviewed articles. He is currently writing a second book on America's policy in the Middle East under Reagan. 

Nassif's teaching experience encompasses a range of courses, from international relations to comparative politics. Proficient in Arabic, English, and French, he brings a multicultural perspective to his work. Beyond academia, he has undertaken extensive fieldwork in various countries in the Middle East, showcasing a hands-on approach to research, specifically focused on military politics in authoritarian contexts. Even before coming to the US to pursue his graduate studies, Hicham worked as a journalist in his home country of Lebanon. His career is marked by grants and fellowships obtained from Carleton College and Claremont McKenna College.

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

The Series: The October 7, 2023, attacks in Israel precipitated devastation and desperation in Gaza and Israel, with profound and consequential effects in the region and beyond. To evaluate the dynamic developments in the Middle East, all within the complex context of the region, the Athenaeum’s 5-part spring 2025 series “The Middle East: What Now?” will focus on perspectives from each of the following: Iran (March 11), Israel (February 6), Lebanon (February 5), Palestine (March 24), and Syria (April 7).

Professor Amos N. Guiora is a professor of law at the University of Utah. In addition, Guiora is a Distinguished Fellow at the Consortium for the Research and Study of Holocaust and the Law (CRSHL) at Chicago-Kent College of Law and Distinguished Fellow and Counselor, International Center for Conflict Resolution, Katz School of Business, University of Pittsburgh. Guiora is also the Inaugural Chair of the University of Utah Independent Review Committee.

Guiora has published extensively both in the U.S. and Europe and is the author of several books and book chapters. His most recent book is "Armies of Enablers: Survivor Stories of Complicity and Betrayal in Sexual Assaults."

Guiora has been an expert witness in civil and criminal cases both in the U.S. and the Netherlands. He has also been involved over a number of years in negotiation efforts regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He has testified before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Homeland Security, the Committee on Foreign Affairs in the Dutch House of Representatives, and the Judiciary Committee of the Utah House of Representatives.

He splits his time between the US and Israel.

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

A graduate of Indiana University Bloomington and the MFA program at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, award-winning poet Adrian Matejka was born in Germany as part of a military family and grew up in Indianapolis, Indiana.

He is the author of The Devil’s Garden (Alice James Books, 2003) which won the New York / New England Award and Mixology (Penguin, 2009), a winner of the 2008 National Poetry Series. His third collection, The Big Smoke (Penguin, 2013), was awarded the 2014 Anisfield-Wolf Book Award. The Big Smoke was also a finalist for the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award, the National Book Award, and the Pulitzer Prize in poetry. His subsequent collection, Map to the Stars, was published by Penguin in 2017. 

His mixed media collaboration with Nicholas Galanin and Kevin Neireiter inspired by Funkadelic, Standing on the Verge & Maggot Brain (Third Man Books), was published in 2021. His most recent collection of poems, Somebody Else Sold the World (Penguin, 2021), was a finalist for the UNT 2022 Rilke Prize and the 2022 Indiana Authors Award. 

His first graphic novel Last on His Feet: Jack Johnson and the Battle of the Century was published in February 2023 by Liveright. 

Among Matejka’s other honors are the Eugene and Marilyn Glick Indiana Authors Award, the Julia Peterkin Award, and fellowships from the Academy of American Poets, the Guggenheim Foundation, the Lannan Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Rockefeller Foundation, and a Simon Fellowship from United States Artists. He served as Poet Laureate of the state of Indiana in 2018-19. He currently lives in Chicago and is Editor of Poetry magazine.

Mr. Matejka’s Athenaeum presentation is co-sponsored by the Center for Writing and Public Discourse at CMC.

Photo credit: Polina Osherov

Reyna Grande is an award-winning Mexican-American author known for her powerful portrayals of the immigrant experience. Her memoirs, The Distance Between Us and A Dream Called Home, chronicle her own journey crossing the US-Mexico border as a child. Grande's novels, including cross a Hundred Mountains, Dancing with Butterflies, and A Ballad of Love and Glory, explore themes of family, identity, and social justice. Her work has earned her critical acclaim and numerous awards, including the American Book Award. Grande is a passionate advocate for immigrants' rights and uses her platform to give voice to their stories.Her books have been adopted as the common read selection by schools, colleges, and cities across the country. 

Grande has received an American Book Award, the El Premio Aztlán Literary Award, and the International Latino Book Award. She was a finalist for the prestigious National Book Critics Circle Awards. She was honored with a Luis Leal Award for Distinction in Chicano/Latino Literature, a Latino Spirit Award, and a Writers for Writers Award from Poets & Writers. The young reader’s version of The Distance Between Us received an International Literacy Association Children’s Book Award.

Ms. Grande will deliver the Gould Center for Humanistic Studies' 2025 Ricardo J. Quinones Lecture. 

Dan Koeppel is the author of three critically acclaimed books, his second, Banana: The Fate of the Fruit that Changed the World, was published in 2008, is now in its seventh printing and has been translated into five languages. Nobel Prize winning economist and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman has three times cited Koeppel’s book in his columns as “essential reading” for understanding today’s global economic crisis. The Boston Globe wrote: “In the hands of a lesser writer, the book's multiple personalities - it is at once a political and economic treatise, a scientific explication, and a cultural history - might have proved unwieldy. Koeppel, though, weaves all of these elements together seamlessly.” 

His most recent book, Every Minute is a Day: A Doctor, an Emergency Room, and a City Under Siege, was published in 2021. It is the story of the first three months of Covid pandemic as experienced by the doctors, nurses, and medical staff of Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, New York. His first book, To See Every Bird on Earth: A Father, A Son, and A Lifelong Obsession, also has received much acclaim.  

Banana was the subject of Dan’s full-length appearance on National Public Radio’s Fresh Air, which was repeated in September 2011 as part of that program’s food week event. He has appeared in over 100 radio and television appearances and is a frequent guest speaker at colleges, universities, libraries, and museums. He was a recent signer of the “Stellenbosch Declaration,” the result of an international effort to develop a concerted strategy to save endangered banana species.  

An avid biker, Koeppel is also the author of The Extreme Sports Almanac, published in 1995, and co-author, with his friend and NBC television personality Bob Roll, of The Tour de France Companion.   

 

Stephanie T. Kleine-Ahlbrandt P'25 is a Nonresident Fellow at the Henry L. Stimson Center. She brings over 25 years of experience in the United Nations, think tanks, international organizations, and government, specializing in national security, policy analysis, conflict prevention and resolution, human rights protection, crisis management, and peacebuilding, with a regional focus on Asia.

From 2014 to 2019, Kleine-Ahlbrandt served as the Finance and Economics Expert on the DPRK (North Korea) Panel of Experts for the United Nations Security Council. Prior to that, she was the Asia-Pacific Director at the U.S. Institute of Peace, where she designed and implemented initiatives to prevent and manage deadly conflicts through engagement with governments, institutions, academics, and civil society representatives.

Between 2008 and 2013, Kleine-Ahlbrandt established and led the Northeast Asia office of the International Crisis Group in Beijing, China, conducting research, analysis, and policy recommendations. She also served as an International Affairs Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. Earlier in her career, she worked with the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights for a decade, serving as Officer-in-Charge for the Asia-Pacific region. She was seconded by the U.S. Department of State to the OSCE Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina (1996), investigated genocide and human rights violations for the United Nations in Rwanda (1994–1995), and worked with the Legal Affairs Directorate of the Council of Europe.

Kleine-Ahlbrandt holds a Master’s degree in International Relations from the Institut de Hautes Études Internationales (HEI) in Geneva, Switzerland, and has earned Certificates from the Institut d’études Politiques (IEP) in France and Tsinghua University in China. She also holds a Bachelor's degree in Political Science and French from Indiana University. Her writings have appeared in Foreign Affairs, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, Le Monde, Die Zeit, and The International Herald Tribune, as well as in various edited volumes and a monograph. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and is fluent in French and Mandarin.

Ms. Kleine-Ahlbrandt, the featured speaker for Family Weekend 2025, will deliver the Spring 2025 Lecture in Diplomacy and International Security in Honor of George F. Kennan.

 

Christine Emba is a staff writer at The Atlantic and a former opinion columnist and editorial board member at The Washington Post. In 2022, Emba released her book Rethinking Sex: A Provocation, which explores sexual ethics with an emphasis on sexual consent, casual sex, and sexual liberation. She argues that the increased access to casual sex in our modern society has left both women and men feeling unhappy and unsatisfied.

Elizabeth Nolan Brown is a senior editor at Reason and the author of Reason's biweekly Sex & Tech newsletter, which covers issues surrounding sex, technology, bodily autonomy, law, and online culture. She is also co-founder of the libertarian feminist group Feminists for Liberty, and a professional affiliate of the journalism program at the University of Cincinnati.

Dhriti Jagadish '27, a 2024 Open Academy Student Fellow, studies government and history. Elsewhere on campus, she is a research assistant at the Rose Institute for State and Local Government and a member of the 7C Demonstration Policy Revision Committee. 

Jasper Langley-Hawthorne '27, a 2024 Open Academy Student Fellow, is a PPE major. He is passionate about engaging with a constructive flow of ideas and the intersection of philosophy, technology, and society. He has previously worked with the Gould and Keck Centers at CMC. 

This Athenaeum program is co-sponsored by the Open Academy at CMC.

Gina Hyunmin Lee is a Korean-Canadian pianist based in Rochester, NY. Gina is completing the DMA degree in Accompanying and Chamber Music at the Eastman School of Music under the guidance of Dr. Andrew Harley, and currently serves as an adjunct faculty member at the Rochester Institute of Technology. As a recitalist and chamber musician, Gina has appeared in festivals and venues across North America and Europe including Banff Centre for Creativity and Arts, Schoenberg Centre, Zodiac Festival, Aspen Music Festival and School, Songfest, Yarn/Wire Institute, Indian River Music Festival, and Toronto Arts and Letters Club. Most recently, Gina was a prize winner at the Jesse Kneisel Lieder Competition (Eastman School of Music) and has received Canada Council for the Arts’ ‘Explore and Creation Grant’ which allows her to embark on a recording and commissioning project alongside Canadian Soprano Elise Noyes.

Elise Noyes, a Canadian-American soprano, is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music and is heralded for her versatility in operatic, musical theatre, and choral works alike. In the spring of 2023, she competed as a semi-finalist in the Lotte Lenya Competition, in addition to keeping up an active schedule as a recitalist. She was selected as the first prize winner of the Jessie Kneisel German Lieder Competition in 2022, in addition to being chosen as a finalist for the Friends of Eastman Opera Voice Competition in 2021. Her performances include Eastman Opera Theatre’s Into the Woods as Cinderella, La Calisto as the title role, Michaela in Mercury Opera’s Carmen, and Isabel in Pirates of Penzance with Rochester Summer Opera. She has been featured with SUNY Geneseo Symphony Orchestra as the soprano soloist in Mozart’s Requiem, as well as in Ravel’s Shéhérazade with the Edmonton Youth Orchestra. Ms. Noyes works for Seattle Voice Lab, providing gender affirming voice instruction for students all across the world and has served as a lecturer at Ithaca College.

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

Elise Noyes, a Canadian-American soprano, is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music and is heralded for her versatility in operatic, musical theatre, and choral works alike. In the spring of 2023, she competed as a semi-finalist in the Lotte Lenya Competition, in addition to keeping up an active schedule as a recitalist. She was selected as the first prize winner of the Jessie Kneisel German Lieder Competition in 2022, in addition to being chosen as a finalist for the Friends of Eastman Opera Voice Competition in 2021. Her performances include Eastman Opera Theatre’s Into the Woods as Cinderella, La Calisto as the title role, Michaela in Mercury Opera’s Carmen, and Isabel in Pirates of Penzance with Rochester Summer Opera. She has been featured with SUNY Geneseo Symphony Orchestra as the soprano soloist in Mozart’s Requiem, as well as in Ravel’s Shéhérazade with the Edmonton Youth Orchestra. Noyes works for Seattle Voice Lab, providing gender affirming voice instruction for students all across the world and has served as a lecturer at Ithaca College.