Dickinson Announces September Clarke Forum Events
Photo by Stephen Munchel.
Free public events include two named lectures
Every year, Dickinson’s Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues presents free, public lectures that deepen our understanding of the issues shaping our world. The theme for the 2026-27 season is Revolutions.
September's lecturers, from left: Cynthia Miller-Idriss, Jean E. Calvert, Jeffrey Rosen, Rhacel Salazar Parreñas and John MacCormick.
Endowed lectures
Sept. 14: Constitution Day discussion and music
Jean E. Calvert, John Dickinson Writings Project
Jeffrey Rosen, National Constitution Center
Jennifer Blyth, Dickinson College
Mid-September marks the anniversary of the signing of the U.S. Constitution. Every year, Dickinson recalls its own ties to that founding document with the annual Winfield C. Cook Constitution Day program.
The Clarke Forum and the Department of Music will present Freedom Is Made Safe … Through Character and Learning on Monday, Sept. 14, at 7 p.m. in Rubendall Recital Hall. Part conversation, part concert, the evening will mark Constitution Day with a Dickinson twist.
Jean E. Calvert, founding director and chief editor of the John Dickinson Writings Project, will discuss her multi-award-winning book with Jeffrey Rosen, CEO emeritus of the National Constitution Center. Calvert’s book Penman of the Founding: A Biography of John Dickinson is the first full-scale biography of Dickinson, a signer of the U.S. Constitution. Rosen is a professor of law at the George Washington University Law School and the New York Times bestselling author of The Pursuit of Happiness.
Professor of Music Jennifer Blyth, an acclaimed pianist, and Associate Professor of Music James Martin, an award-winning vocalist, will enhance the discussion with live performances of "The Liberty Song" and two "Pursuit of Happiness" song cycles.written by Rosen. The song cycles were arranged by Lecturer in Music Greg Strohman, and they were performed by Blyth and Martin in 2025 at the American Philosophical Society.
A reception and book signing with Calvert follow the main event.
Sept. 23: Morgan Lecture
Rhacel Salazar Parreñas, Princeton University
Rhacel Salazar Parreñas, the Doris Stevens Professor in Women's Studies and professor of sociology and gender & sexuality studies at Princeton University, will deliver Dickinson’s 2026 Morgan Lecture in the Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium at 7 p.m.
Parreñas’ book Unfree: Migrant Domestic Work in Arab States earned the American Sociological Association's 2023 Distinguished Book Prize. In her talk, From the Kafala to Human Trafficking: Migrant Domestic Work Across the Globe, Parreñas will posit that the kafala sponsorship system that binds a migrant domestic worker to a single employer is not unique to the Middle East.
Specifically, Parreñas’ will explore how millions of migrant women, legally reduced to household dependents rather than independent workers, are left uniquely vulnerable to exploitation and trafficking. The talk, initiated by the Clarke Forum's student project managers, is part of the forum's Leadership in an Age of Uncertainty series.
Additional highlights
Sept. 10: The New Misogyny and the Rise of Violent Extremism
Cynthia Miller-Idriss, PERIL
Cynthia Miller-Idriss, professor in the School of Public Affairs and in the School of Education at American University and founding director of the Polarization and Extremism Research and Innovation Lab (PERIL), will discuss the misogyny threading through mass shootings, terrorism and acts of violent extremism. Her lecture, The New Misogyny and the Rise of Violent Extremism, will be held Thursday, Sept. 10, in the Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium at 7 p.m.
Sept. 29: Can a Computer Program Think Like a Human?
John MacCormick, Dickinson College
September’s Clarke Forum programs conclude Tuesday, Sept. 29, as the Dickinson Faculty Forum presents Can a Computer Program Think Like a Human? at 7 p.m. in the Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium. John MacCormick, professor of computer science and the author of Thinking AI: How Artificial Intelligence Emulates Human Understanding, will unpack two decades of startling AI advances and what they mean for the future of a liberal-arts education. No technical knowledge is needed to attend and enjoy this event.
All Clarke Forum programs are free and open to the public, and most are livestreamed via the forum's YouTube channel.
View the full fall 2026 schedule.
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Published August 31, 2026