2007-2008 Honors Forum Speakers
"Globalization: Trends of the 21st Century"
 Robin Wright
Sep 19, 2007
Robin Wright has reported from more than 130 countries on six continents for The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, The Sunday Times of London, CBS News and The Christian Science Monitor. She has also written for The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, The New York Times, The Times (London), The Guardian (London), The International Herald Tribune and many others.
"Life Under the Taliban: An Afghan Woman?s Odyssey"
 Farooka Gauhari
Oct 17, 2007
In 1997, Farooka Gauhari published her memoirs, Searching for Saleem: An Afghan Woman?s Odyssey. At the time, no Afghan woman had published an English memoir in book form. Her personal account covers everything from the search for her missing husband, of watching her home country topple, the Afghan woman?s presence in politics shrink, witnessing the government institutionalize repression, to her gradual decision to take her family and leave a country where she had once been flagged as an American agent, to create a new life in a country where she now fears retaliation because of her Afghan and Muslin ties.
"Behind the Scenes in Washington"
 Jeffrey Birnbaum
Nov 14, 2007
Jeff Birnbaum is an award-winning author, television commentator, and a columnist for The Washington Post. Prior to joining the Post, he spent seven years as the chief of Fortune magazine?s Washington bureau and two years as a senior political correspondent for Fortune?s sister publication, Time. Before joining Time in 1995, Birnbaum worked for the Wall Street Journal for 16 years. On television, he is a political analyst for Fox News Channel and is a regular panelist on PBS?s Washington Week. On radio, he serves as a commentator for the national business show, Marketplace, and appears frequently on Fox News Radio as a political analyst.
 Bobbie Seale
Feb 20, 2008
Former Chairman, Surviving-Founder and National Organizer of the Black Panther Party, USA, Bobby was born in Dallas, Texas in 1936. He grew up in Oakland/Berkeley, California and later joined the United States Air Force to become a structural repairman on high performance aircraft. At Merritt College in 1962, Bobby Seale, an engineering-design major, was first introduced to his African and African-American people?s history of struggle. In 1963, Seale began a career as a community organizer through the Revolutionary Action Movement (RAM). Among his accomplishments were the formations of youth job and tutorial programs. With Malcom X?s death, Bobby Seale dedicated his life to a revolutionary humanist cause: ?To help turn this backward racist world around, to make some human sense.?
"Spiritual Perspectives on Globalization: Making Sense of Economic and Global Upheaval"
 Ira Rifkin
Mar 19, 2008
Ira Rifkin is an award-winning journalist who specializes in issues relating to religion and culture with special emphasis on international religious conflicts and emerging trends, the Middle East, the American Jewish and Muslim communities, Eastern religions, new religious movements, religious freedom concerns, and the impact of globalization. He is the author of Spiritual Perspectives on Globalization: Making Sense of Economic and Cultural Upheaval, and the editor of Spiritual Innovators: Seventy-five Extraordinary People Who Changed the World in the Past Century.
 Wilma Mankiller
Apr 16, 2008
In an historic tribal election in July 1987, the members of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma elected their first woman Principal Chief, Wilma Mankiller. She was re-elected in 1991 with nearly 83% of the vote. In 1983, Mankiller was elected Deputy Principal Chief, also the first woman to hold that position. She succeeded the previous Principal Chief upon his resignation in December 1985. Chief Mankiller?s roots are planted deep in the rural community of Rocky Mountain in Adair County, Oklahoma. She was born at the Indian Hospital in Tahlequah, and grew up in a rural setting with few amenities. When she was 11, her family moved to California as part of the Bureau of Indian Affairs Relocation Program.
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2006-2007 Honors Forum Speakers
"Lessons I Learned From My Grandfather"
 Arun Ghandi
Sep 20, 2006
Arun Gandhi carries within himself the same guiding principles as his grandfather, the legendary peacefighter and spiritual leader, Mohandas K. Gandhi, also known as Mahatma Gandhi.
A speaker of international acclaim, Arun has spoken before hundreds of colleges and universities, corporate, and civic organizations. His unique talents and cross-cultural experiences have brought him before governmental, social, and educational audiences in countries all over the world including Croatia, France, Ireland, Holland, Lithuania, and Nicaragua. Arun Gandhi is a cultural treasure, offering first hand insights on one of history's most influential leaders.
"The Future of Islam: Toward the Islamic Reformation"
 Reza Aslan
Oct 18, 2006
In 1978, at age seven, Reza Aslan fled Iran with his family amidst the chaos of a revolution. Today, he is one of the nation's most respected experts on Islam and the Middle East, a scholar and media consultant on issues of religion and politics and author of the internationally acclaimed No god but God: the Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam. Praised by The New York Times as a "grippingly narrated and thoughtfully examined...literate, accessible introduction to Islam," No god but God has established Aslan as the most dynamic voice of liberal Islam in the United States. Aslan is a regular commentator for Marketplace as well as a contributing writer for the LA Times.
"The Economics of Censorship in a Global World"
 Barbara Trent
Nov 15, 2006
Barbara Trent is an Oscar-winning filmmaker, former welfare mother, seasoned activist, and trailblazer for change. Her life continues to intersect with history in profound ways. Whether she's dancing at the inauguration of the president of Panama and dining with Castro, or exposing criminal activities at the highest government levels, sustaining repeated threats to her life, and fending off FBI counter-intelligence operations, her personal story of courage, risk, perseverance, resilience, and achievement, from the 1960's to the present, is an inspiration for many.
"Terror, Torment, and Tyranny: The State of Human Rights Today"
 William Schulz
Feb 21, 2007
Dr. Schulz is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Oberlin College, holds a master's degree in philosophy from the University of Chicago and the Doctor of Ministry degree from Meadville [pronounced \"Meed-vil"]/Lombard Theological School (at the University of Chicago). He was awarded an honorary D. D. from Meadville/Lombard in 1987 and an honorary L. H. D. from Nova Southeastern University in 1995. He is listed in Who's Who in America and Who's Who in the East.
"Economic Human Rights: The Time Has Come"
 Anuradha Mittal
Mar 21, 2007
Anuradha Mittal, a native of India, is an internationally renowned expert on trade, development, human rights, democracy, and agriculture issues. She is the founder and director of a policy think tank, The Oakland Institute, that works to ensure public participation and democratic debate on the most crucial economic and social policy issues that affect peoples' lives through nonpartisan research, analysis, and advocacy. Building on the identification of human rights as the foundation of global democracy, the Oakland Institute uses the rights-based approach to reframe the public debate and build an agenda for common action.
"China & Iraq: America's Two Great Challenges"
 Orville Schell
Apr 18, 2007
Currently the Dean of the Graduate School of Journalism at UC Berkeley, Orville Schell has done just about everything. While best known as one of the country's best informed and most thoughtful observers on China, Schell has also been a ship-hand, a war correspondent in Indochina, a rancher, covered California politics and a contributor to the China coverage for ABC, NBC and CBC, where a 60 Minutes program of his won an Emmy. He has also served as a correspondent for several PBS/Frontline documentaries on China and Tibet. |
