The New Hampshire primary began today and is the first primary in the Democratic race. To discuss, we SPOTLIGHT Dr. Khalilah L. Brown-Dean. Dr. Brown-Dean is Associate Professor of Political Science at Quinnipiac University. With a keen eye toward the practical implications of democratic conflict, her research interests center on voting rights, criminal justice, election administration, and public policy. She is the author of Identity Politics in the United States (Polity Press). The book moves beyond the headlines to show how conflicts over group identity are an inescapable feature of American political development. There’s no question that the United States is incredibly divided. Brown-Dean shows us how we got here, and more importantly, how we move forward. Media includes: The New York Times, Democracy Now, Al-Jazeera, The Hill, Fox News Radio, NPR.
With multiple women running in the presidential race—including Amy Klobuchar, Tulsi Gabbard, and Elizabeth Warren—we FEATURE Kelly Dittmar to discuss the media coverage of women candidates. Dittmar is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Rutgers University–Camden and Scholar at the Center for American Women and Politics at the Eagleton Institute of Politics. She is the author of Navigating Gendered Terrain: Stereotypes and Strategy in Political Campaigns (Temple University Press, 2015), as well as multiple book chapters on gender and American politics. Dittmar’s research focuses on gender and American political institutions, including Congress, with a particular focus on how gender informs campaigns and the impact of gender diversity among elites in policy and political decisions, priorities, and processes. Media includes: Huffington Post, PBS Newshour, MSNBC, BBC, CBC, NPR.
President Trump has fired Gordon D. Sondland, Lt. Col. Alexander S. Vindman, and his twin brother, Lt. Col. Yevgeny Vindma, from their positions in the White House despite warnings from Senators not to do so. To discuss, we FEATURE Elizabeth Hempowicz. Hempowicz is Project On Government Oversight’s Policy Counsel. She oversees POGO’s legislative reform work, with a focus on whistleblower protections and government accountability. Hempowicz develops and advances public policies to combat corruption and to promote openness and accountability in government. She strategizes on the best way to translate POGO report findings into legislative reforms. She has participated in efforts to improve lobbying and congressional ethics rules, whistleblower protections, the Freedom of Information Act, and other open government initiatives. Media includes: Washington Examiner, Salon, Politico, NPR.
As the Wuhan coronavirus has spread, particularly in China, it has caused a racist response from the West, with many East Asian communities facing discrimination such as being assaulted on the street and Chinese-owned restaurants being accused of "uncleanliness." To discuss, we FEATURE Karin Wang. Wang is the Executive Director of UCLA School of Law's David J. Epstein Program in Public Interest Law and Policy. Previously, she was the Vice-President of Programs & Communications for Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Los Angeles, the nation’s largest legal organization for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. For more than 20 years, Wang has advocated for civil rights and immigrant rights, covering issues such as race discrimination and defamation, language rights, immigration and immigrant integration, and LGBT equality. Media includes: The New York Times, The Atlantic, Los Angeles Times, NBC.
President Trump has released a budget proposal that cuts Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security while extending tax reducations for the wealthy. To discuss, we FEATURE Joelle Gamble. Gamble is a principal with the reimagining capitalism team at Omidyar Network, where she focuses on topics related to building the power of working people and shaping a new economic paradigm. Prior to joining Omidyar Network, Gamble worked on international economic priorities at the U.S. Department of the Treasury and assisted Princeton faculty with labor economics research while pursuing her graduate degree. Media includes: Los Angeles Times, Nation, Fox Business, NBC.
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has proposed new rules on campus sexual misconduct that would classify domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking as forms of gender discrimination that must be tackled by college campuses or they risk cuts to funding. To discuss, we FEATURE Nancy Chi Cantalupo. Cantalupo is an Associate Professor at Barry University School of Law. She is a nationally-recognized expert on gender-based violence in education, and her scholarship focuses on the use of law to combat discriminatory violence, particularly gender-based violence, and includes numerous articles already published or forthcoming. Some of these articles include "And Even More of Us Are Brave: Intersectionality & Sexual Harassment of Women Students of Color" for Harvard Journal of Law and Gender; "For the Title IX Civil Rights Movement: Congratulations & Cautions" for Yale Law Journal Forum; "Institution-Specific Victimization Surveys: Addressing Legal & Practical Disincentives to Gender-Based Violence Reporting on College Campuses" for Traume, Violence & Abuse; and co-authored "Widely Welcomed and Supported by the Public: A Report on the Title IX-Related Comments in the U.S. Department of Education's Executive Order 13777 Comment Call" for California Law Review Online. Media includes: USA Today, The Washington Post, TIME.
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio has called the shooting of two police officers an "attempt to assassinate" them. To discuss, we FEATURE Captain Ivonne Roman. Captain Roman has 25 years of experience in urban policing, having held every rank from police officer to police chief. She founded the Women’s Leadership Academy in 2018, to address the stagnating rates of women in policing, and the high attrition rates for female applicants and recruits. Roman serves as an executive board member of the National Police Foundation and the American Society for Evidence-Based Policing. She is a National Institute of Justice Law Enforcement Advancing Data and Science (LEADS) scholar. Media includes: USA Today, Vice News, The Marshall Project.
U.S. federal prosecutors have charged four Chinese spies with the Equifax data hack. To discuss, we FEATURE Lotta A.C. Danielsson. Danielsson is the Vice President of the US-Taiwan Business Council, a post she has held since 2003 after joining the Council as Director of Corporate Affairs in 2000. She is an expert on cybersecurity and national security. Her specialties include the triangular relationship between the U.S., Taiwan, and China in the technology supply chain; defense and national security issues in the U.S.-Taiwan relationship; U.S. business operations in the Taiwan market; and government policies and their impact on the business environment. Media includes: South China Morning Post, Jane's Defense Weekly, The Washingtonian.
South Korean film Parasite swept at the Oscars, winning Best International Film Feature, Best Original Screenplay, Best Director, and Best Picture. It is now the first non-English language film to win Best Picture at the Academy Awards. To discuss, we FEATURE Jean H. Lee. Lee is a Seoul-based Global Fellow with the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C. Lee led the Associated Press news agency’s coverage of the Korean Peninsula as bureau chief from 2008 to 2013. Media includes: The New York Times, New York Times Magazine, Foreign Policy, PBS Newshour, CNN, BBC, NPR.
February is Black History Month and to commemorate, we FEATURE Joycelyn A. Wilson, PhD. Wilson is an Assistant Professor of Educational Foundations in the Department of Learning Sciences and Technologies at Virginia Tech. She is the founding director of HipHop2020, a curriculum project located in VT's School of Education/Institute for Creativity, Arts, and Technology (ICAT). She is also a Hiphop Archive Fellow at the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research at Harvard University. She is an educational anthropologist with interests in African American Studies, hip-hop studies, ethnography, and the social foundations of education. Her current research focuses on the language of schooling in post-civil rights/hip hop narratives and its pedagogical implications for leadership development. Media includes: FADER, The Root, BET, CNN.
This week is New York Fashion Week! To discuss, we FEATURE Michelle Washington. A TV Style Expert & Fashion Stylist, Washington is the innovative answer to fashion and style with accredited press credentials with New York Fashion Week. She has styled celebrities, magazine covers, and fashion editorials; creating a feast for the eyes with published fashion spreads, informative articles, blogs, and social media post with compelling content and exclusive interviews for a sophisticated culturally aware audience. Washington focuses on affluent, savvy, information-seeking style-makers who live life to the fullest both locally and abroad. Media includes: GQ Magazine, FOX, CBS, NBC.
Liz Theran
