Marjie Thompson
Charles River Museum of Industry and Innovation
Marjie Thompson
Charles River Museum of Industry and Innovation
Alexandra Vacroux is Executive Director of the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Harvard University. Her scholarly work addresses many Russian and Eurasian policy issues and she teaches popular courses on the comparative politics of Eurasia and post-Soviet conflict. As Director of Graduate Studies for the Davis Center’s MA program in regional studies, she has mentored dozens of Harvard’s best and brightest students and regional experts. Alexandra lived in Moscow from 1992 to 2004. While there she held a number of positions, including consultant for the Russian Privatization Agency; partner and head of sales at the Brunswick Warburg investment bank; and active member of the board of United Way Moscow. While completing her dissertation on corruption in Russian pharmaceutical markets she was affiliated with the Center for Economic and Financial Research (CEFIR), a Russian think tank associated with the New Economic School. Prior to joining the Davis Center in 2010 lived in Washington, DC, where she was a Scholar at the Kennan Institute, part of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. Alexandra received a Dean’s Distinction Award from Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences, and was given the Alumni Award from the Education for Public Inquiry and International Citizenship (EPIIC) Program at Tufts. As a commentator, she has been praised as "refreshing," "straightforward," and "quick and to the point." She has appeared on NPR, CNN, Fox News Radio, China Central TV, Hromadske TV (Ukraine), and speaks regularly at community forums at home and abroad. She holds a Ph.D. in Government from Harvard University.
Boston Public Library - Rabb Lecture Hall
JOHN SHATTUCK, an international legal scholar and human rights leader, is currently Professor of Practice in Diplomacy at Tufts after a long and distinguished career in academia and government. In the early post-Cold War years, he was responsible for coordinating and implementing U.S. efforts to promote human rights, democracy and international labor rights. The first U.S. official to reach and interview survivors of the genocide at Srebrenica, he helped negotiate the Dayton peace agreement that ended the war in Bosnia and was instrumental in the establishment of the International Criminal Tribunals for the Former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. He also served President Clinton as U.S. Ambassador to the Czech Republic from 1998-2000. His new book Holding Together: the hijacking of rights in America is co-authored with SUSHMA RAMAN, Executive Director and Mathias Risse, faculty director at the Harvard Carr Center for Human Rights Policy. Shattuck and Raman will join the Forum to discuss the current world crisis with regard to human rights, a fight which challenges Americans domestically, as well as internationally.
Virtual
When John and his brother Bert started the now $150 million company in 1994, they had $78 in their pockets, lived out of their van, and sold t-shirts on the streets of Boston. Was this their way of avoiding the “real world”? You betcha. Did it turn into something much bigger? Absolutely. It has been over 25 years since they sold their first t-shirt, but John and Bert champion the same mission: to spread the power of optimism. On their journey, they’ve been inspired by a vibrant community of resilient optimists — people from all backgrounds who identify deeply with the brand and who constantly demonstrate the depth and meaning behind the three simple words “Life is Good.”
Boston Public Library - Abbey Room
Martin Parr
Virtual
Dr. Jennifer D. Sciubba, Global Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center
Boston Public Library - Rabb Lecture Hall
Ada Limón
Boston College - Gasson 100
ROBERT DAVID "KC" JOHNSON is a Professor of History at Brooklyn College and the City University of New York Graduate Center. In 2007-2008, he taught at Tel Aviv University as Fulbright Distinguished Chair in the Humanities. Professor Johnson received his B.A. and Ph.D. from Harvard and his M.A. from the University of Chicago. His books include Congress and the Cold War, which was published by Cambridge University Press and won the D.B. Hardeman Prize. He has written widely on 20th and 21st century U.S. political, diplomatic, and legal affairs. LORI ERICKSON is Collections Manager and Registrar for Revolutionary Spaces. She manages the object collections and archives, overseeing collections care, planning, and documentation. Before arriving at Revolutionary Spaces, Lori held positions as Curator and Collections Manager, in addition to working as a museum collections and exhibitions consultant. She holds both a B.A. and an M.S. in anthropology with a focus on archaeology and museum studies.
Virtual
Robert Waldinger M.D., Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, directs one of the longest-running studies of adult life and says “deep, meaningful relationships are linked with emotional well-being and physical health.” His new book The Good Life which comes out next year, provides “lessons from the world’s longest scientific study of happiness” and he maintains that friendship is key. But friendships are both a science and an art. Joining him in the discussion about how to cultivate, nurture and keep friendships will be Jan Yager, Ph.D sociologist and author of several books on the topic including Friendgevity making and keeping friends who enhance and extend your life”.
Virtual
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