The Center for the Study of Citizenship introduces Corporate Citizenship Workshops.
The featured presenter, Alyssa Martina, Founder and CEO of Metro Parent Magazine, will discuss “Why Corporations Should Care about Corporate Citizenship”.
Reminiscent of European assemblies in the Age of Enlightenment, Citizenship Salons seek to inspire and to increase knowledge through conversation.
Salons are by invitation only and are held in the homes of our affiliates. Small groups gather together to discuss an issue of citizenship from Corporate Social Responsibility to Health Citizenship. An expert leads the discussion on the particular topic.
Date / Time: Tuesday, February 2, 2010, 7–9 p.m.Our national political discourse is increasingly marked by disturbing and often divisive rhetoric. From talk radio to town halls, assertions are made about opposing points of view with little thought of accuracy or consequences. Can we learn to treat our differences with respect? Is there still room for decorum in public debate?
November 12 – 13, 2009Distinguished journalist, Jose Vargas will examine the state of professional journalism, how news is collected and disseminated, how the boundaries between citizen and journalist often overlap, and the implications that all of these changes have for the future of journalism. Vargas embodies the ongoing revolution in the field.
March 3, 2008Renowned journalist Nick Clooney and citizen media advocate Dan Gillmor spoke at Wayne State University’s Center for the Study of Citizenship. This event was moderated by Mary Kramer, publisher of Crain’s Detroit Business.
November 30, 2007On November 30, 2007 presented a sysposium on Virtual Citizenship. Speakers included: Wendy Chun, Brown University; Russell Dalton, University of California - Irvine; Fred Stutzman, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; and Vernor Vinge, author of Rainbows End.
After a multi-day screening of Spike Lee’s documentary, When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts, CSC sponsored a lecture by Elvis Mitchell, the host of The Treatment, for National Public Radio, in which he interviews some of the most influential persons in the film industry and fine arts. Formerly the film critic for The New York Times, Mitchell is also an alumnus of Wayne State University. Mitchell spoke about race and citizenship, and its representation in film.
President and CEO of the USC Shoah Foundation Institute for Visual History and Education, Douglas Greenberg spoke to the ways in which citizenship and genocide connect in the modern world. His talk focused specifically on the Holocaust and the Rwandan genocide.
Professor Jonathan Marks (anthropology, University of North Carolina at Charlotte) spoke on the relationship between genetics research and definitions of race, focusing on the implications of this movement on health care. His recent research confronts the recent trends to attempt to impose genetic and biological constructs on to the social/anthropological notions of race. He questions the outcomes of genetic and biological anthropology research funded by large pharmeceutical companies. Marks is the author of Human Biodiversity and What it Means to Be 98% Chimpanzee, as well as the e-publication, The Un-Textbook of Biological Anthropology.
April 1, 2006On April 1, 2006 the Center for the Study of Citizenship and Wayne State University’s Hilberry Theatre collaborated on a program featuring a matinee performance of Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra followed by a discussion about the play and how it embodies gender and citizenship.
February 13, 2006On February 13, 2006, Wayne State Assistant Professor of Philosophy John Corvino debated Glenn Stanton, senior analyst with Focus on the Family, on the merits of same-sex marriage before a packed audience in WSU’s Community Arts Auditorium. Corvino argued in favor of gay marriage, contending that same-sex marriage promotes happy, stable relationships, which are good not only for the people in them but also for society at large. Stanton argued against same-sex marriage, claiming that it deliberately deprives children of a mother or a father and that the complementarity of male and female is crucial to the nature of marriage. Both speakers emphasized the importance of reasoned, vigorous yet respectful dialogue on this controversial topic.
This program was presented by Edwin Black. Black, an award-winning New York Times and investigative journalist, was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for his book, Banking on Baghdad: Inside Iraq's 7000-year History of War, Profit, and Conflict. To write this book, Black led a team of 30 researchers in five countries, accessing more than 100 repositories and securing some 50,000 documents. Black was granted access to the corporate archives of numerous oil companies involved in Iraq and the Middle East.
This program was presented by Kathleen Moore, chair of the Law and Society Program at the University of California at Santa Barbara. Moore’s research interests include immigration, Muslim communities in the West, religion and law, Islamic law, civil rights and liberties, cultural pluralism, and cultural studies. Her recent publications include United We Stand: American Attitudes toward (Muslim) Immigration Post-September 11th, A Part of US or A Part from US? Post September 11th Attitudes towards Muslims and Civil Liberties in the United States...
The second annual collaboration between the Center for the Study of Citizenship and Wayne State University’s Hilberry Theatre featured a performance of Bertolt Brecht’s Mother Courage and a discussion exploring citizenship in times of crisis led by WSU scholars. Participants included Guy Stern, distinguished professor of German and Slavic languages; Anne Rothe, assistant professor of German and Slavic languages; Blair Anderson, chair, Theatre Department; and Janine Lanza, assistant professor of history.
Bruce Schneier, chief technical officer, Counterpane Internet Security Inc., and author of Beyond Fear: Thinking Sensibly about Security in an Uncertain World, delivered this lecture about how security really works. Putting into perspective a world that has become obsessed with security, Schneier explained that security cannot be thought about in absolutes, but instead in terms of “sensible trade-offs, whether on a personal or global scale.”
September 10, 2004On September 10, 2004, Robert M. O’Neil, Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of Virginia Law School and Director of the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression, delivered the keynote lecture at the Center’s third anniversary symposium commemorating the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. His subject was the state of academic freedom since those events. Asking whether academic freedom has diminished since then, O’Neil’s response was a heavily qualified “no.”
March 24, 2004The Center sponsored a highly successful and visible symposium commemorating the 50th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education. A collaborative effort between the Center, with tremendous assistance from the WSU Law School and the American Bar Association, the symposium and related events were centerpieces for the ABA’s year-long commemoration of Brown. Among the speakers were keynoter Charles Ogletree, who drew an estimated audience of over 200, and ABA President Dennis Archer.
The Center sponsored a lecture program to complement the Hilberry Theatre’s production of The Kentucky Cycle, a two-part play by Robert Schenkkan that tells the story of three Kentucky families from 1775 to 1975. The Center’s Director, Marc Kruman moderated a panel discussion during the intermission between parts I and II of the play after an “all-American” buffet picnic dinner, bluegrass entertainment from Michigan’s troubadour, Neil Woodward, and a welcome from Blair Anderson, chair of the theater department.
September 11 – 12, 2003The Center’s first major conference, “The Many Faces of Patriotism,” was held on September 11 and 12, 2003. At least 250 people attended the conference. The attendees included judges, attorneys, educators, corporate and non-profit business people, as well as Wayne State University faculty, students, administrators, and alumni. The conference received considerable media coverage, including segments on WDET (NPR), Channel 4 (NBC), Channel 7 (ABC), and articles in Wayne State publications.
