Prominent speakers, topical issues on tap this week

Skidmore will host guest lectures by prominent visitors on a range of topical subjects in early April.

Guest speakers are journalist Michelle Goldberg, author of Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism; Carter Roberts, president and CEO of the WWF-U.S.; Faqir S. Asif Hussain, consul general for the Consulate of Pakistan; Princeton University Professor Cornel West; and writer Virginia Scharff, author of The Women Jefferson Loved.

Each lecture is free and open to the public. Details follow.

- Michelle Goldberg will discuss "American Freak Out: Christian Nationalism and the Tea Party," at 8 p.m. Wednesday, April 6, in Emerson Auditorium of Palamountain Hall. 

The Brooklyn-based author's first book, New York Times bestseller Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism, explored the ascendant politico-religious fundamentalism dominating the Republican Party and, at the time, the Bush administration. Goldberg also wrote The Means of Reproduction: Sex, Power and the Future of the World, about the globalization of battles over women's rights. It won the 2008 J. Anthony Lukas Work-In-Progress Award and the Ernesta Drinker Ballard Book Prize.

Goldberg is a columnist for "The Daily Beast" and for "Tablet," and her work has appeared in The Nation, The New Republic, Glamour, Newsweek, The Guardian (UK) and many other publications. Skidmore'sReligious Studies Senior Seminar, Department of Philosophy and Religion, and Office of Religious and Spiritual Life are sponsoring the talk.

- Carter Roberts will present Skidmore's inaugural Carr Residency Lecture, titled "The Business of Conservation: A Conversation with Carter Roberts, president and CEO of WWF-US" at 8 p.m. Wednesday, April 6, in Gannett Auditorium of Palamountain Hall. 

Since 2005 Roberts has been president and chief executive officer of the Washington-based WWF-US (World Wildlife Fund), responsible for the conception, development, and execution of cutting-edge, science-based conservation solutions. Under his leadership, WWF has pioneered numerous transformational global partnerships with major corporations, international organizations, and governmental bodies to help set new industry standards for resource efficiency, raise public awareness of corporate sustainability, design and implement innovative land-use programs, and improve livelihoods in critical landscapes around the world.

Prior to joining WWF, Roberts spent 15 years at The Nature Conservancy, running the Massachusetts chapter, leading overall strategy development and overseeing science programs, and opening programs in Central America. He also has extensive experience working with major international companies to bring new products to market.

Roberts received an M.B.A. from Harvard University and a B.A. from Princeton University.

Skidmore's Carr Distinguished Interdisciplinary Lecture Seriesbrings to campus policymakers and other leaders in civic, nonprofit, and public-service endeavors.

- Faqir S. Asif Hussain, consul general of Pakistan, will present "The View from Pakistan," a discussion and question and answer session, at 4 p.m. Thursday, April 7, in Davis Auditorium of Palamountain Hall. Sumita Pahwa of Skidmore's Government Department will moderate the discussion. 

Asif is a career diplomat with both multilateral and bilateral diplomatic experience. He has worked as director in the Afghanistan and Economic Coordination (Afgh & ECO) Division, in the South Asia Division, and as desk officer in Middle East Division in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Islamabad. Prior to his present assignment he served in the Permanent Mission of Pakistan to the United Nations, New York; Pakistan High Commission in Bangladesh; and the embassies of Pakistan in Egypt, Bahrain, and Washington D.C.

Asif is a graduate of the Government College, Lahore (University) and the Punjab University Law College, Lahore.

-Cornel West willlend his voice to an ongoing yearlong campus-wide discussion of race, gender, class, religion, and nation, when he speaks about "Race and Democracy in the Age of Obama!" at 6 p.m. Thursday, April 7, in the Zankel Music Center, Helen Filene Ladd Hall. 

West has been a champion for racial justice since childhood. His writing, speaking, and teaching weave together the traditions of the black Baptist church, progressive politics, and jazz. The New York Times has praised his "ferocious moral vision."

Winston Grady-Willis, director of intercultural studies who has led the year-long "Intersections" Series, said, "Cornel West is the perfect individual to provide the capstone lecture for the Intersections Series because his work as an activist public intellectual has consistently sought to draw connections among race, class, gender and other social variables in ways that speak truth to power and confront various sites of privilege. As we draw toward the conclusion of what has been an incredibly challenging semester, I can think of no one better suited to call for principled dialogue around tough questions than Dr. West." 

Currently the Class of 1943 Professor at Princeton University, West burst onto the national scene in 1993 with his best-selling book, Race Matters, a searing analysis of racism in American democracy. Race Matters has become a contemporary classic, selling more than half a million copies to date. West's memoir, BROTHER WEST: Living and Loving Out Loud (2009), explores the themes of faith, family, philosophy, love and service. West has published 19 other books and has edited 13 texts.

West graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University and has a Ph.D. from Princeton. His Skidmore visit is sponsored by theOffice of the President, Office of the Dean of Faculty, and Intercultural Studies.

-Virginia Scharff will present Skidmore's annual Kuroda Lecture at 7 p.m. Friday, April 8, in Davis Auditorium of Palamountain Hall. Her lecture will draw on her new book, The Women Jefferson Loved (HarperCollins, 2010). Copies of the book will be available for sale at the lecture and Scharff will participate in a book signing following her talk. 

Scharffhas always been fascinated by the history of American women, which she has covered in scholarly publications and textbooks. She was president of the Western History Association for 2008, and is considered one of the foremost historians of women in the American West writing today.

The Women Jefferson Lovedis the first major study of Thomas Jefferson's female kin and intimate companions. In this book, Scharff puts Jefferson's free and slave families into the same story, and reveals how Jefferson's love for women shaped his ideas, achievements, and legacies. Writing in The New York Times Book Review (Dec. 17, 2010), Andrea Wulf noted, "Scharff's approach to Jefferson allows her to paint a portrait of a man who was passionate, vulnerable and charming but also hypocritical, difficult and demanding. The Women Jefferson Loved adds to our understanding of one of the most fascinating personalities of the American Revolution...."

A native of St. Louis, Scharff was among the first female graduates of Yale. She has graduate degrees from U.C. Berkeley, the University of Wyoming, and the University of Arizona. Currently a resident of Albuquerque, N.M., Scharff is professor of history and director of the Center for the Southwest at the University of New Mexico.

Skidmore's Kuroda Lecture is part of a weekend symposium that honors the late Tad Kuroda, a beloved history professor who taught at Skidmore from 1969 to 2005. He died last year.