Panel of second and third year law students discussing their summer public interest jobs.
Showing of the PBS Documentary Unnatural Causes: Is Inequality Making Us Sick?
Wed, Sept. 10
6:00-7:30 p.m. – Rm. 283
Episode One: “In Sickness and in Health”
With Series Senior Producer, Christine Sommers
UNNATURAL CAUSES draws attention to the root causes of health and illness and helps to reframe the debate about health in America. Economic and racial inequality are not abstract concepts but hospitalize and kill even more people than cigarettes. The wages and benefits we're paid, the neighborhoods we live in, the schools we attend, our access to resources and even our tax policies are health issues every bit as critical as diet, smoking and exercise. For more information, check out the website: http://www.unnaturalcauses.org/
Christine Herbes-Sommers has produced over 100 hours of documentary, dramatic and educational programming for PBS since 1976. Her film Joan Robinson: One Woman’s Story won the DuPont Columbia Journalism Award in 1981. Her other work has garnered many other awards. After a decade of independent production and several years living with her family in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, Sommers joined WGBH as senior producer/project director for educational programming in 1992. In that role she produced five large-scale multi-platform projects, including the 26-part Biography of America; and Discovering Psychology, an update of the 26-part survey of psychology. In 2003 she directed/produced The Difference Between Us, the first episode of the critically acclaimed Race: The Power of An Illusion.
Incarceration Policy and the Effects on Black Men
Wed, Oct. 1
12:30-1:30pm – Rm.262
Glenn C. Loury, Merton P. Stoltz Professor of the Social Sciences and Professor of Economics at Brown University
The incarceration ratio of black Americans to white Americans is 8 to 1. The United States has 5% of the world’s population but houses 25% of the world’s inmates. Property and drug offenders constitute 2/3 of the inmate population while those individuals are disproportionately drawn from the most disadvantaged parts of our society.
Glenn C. Loury is the Merton P. Stoltz Professor of the Social Sciences and Professor of Economics at Brown University. He has taught previously at Boston University, Harvard, Northwestern, and the University of Michigan. He holds a B.A. in Mathematics (Northwestern University) and a Ph.D. in Economics (MIT).
Professor Loury is a distinguished academic economist who has contributed to a variety of areas in applied microeconomic theory: welfare economics, game theory, industrial organization, natural resource economics, and the economics of income distribution. He is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and a Carnegie Scholarship to support his work. In addition to this scholarly work, Professor Loury is also a prominent social critic and public intellectual. His over 200 essays and reviews on racial inequality and social policy have appeared in dozens of influential journals of public affairs in the U.S. and abroad.
Professor Loury’s books include One by One, From the Inside Out: Essays and Reviews on Race and Responsibility in America (The Free Press, 1995 – winner of theAmerican Book Award and the Christianity Today Book Award); The Anatomy of Racial Inequality (Harvard University Press, 2002); and, Ethnicity, Social Mobility and Public Policy: Comparing the US and the UK (Cambridge University Press, 2005).
Massachusetts Public Defenders -- Defending Civil Rights in the 21st Century: the Work Life of Public Defenders and Tips for Applying for a Job
Wed, Oct. 15
12:30-1:30pm – Rm. 262
Andy Silverman, Deputy Chief Counsel, Committee for Public Counsel Services (CPCS)
Joanna Arkema (RWU Class of ’07)
Staff Attorney, Pittsfield District Court Office
Thomas Mello (RWU Class of ’04)
Staff Attorney, New Bedford Superior Court Office
Erin Steadman (RWU Class of ’06)
Staff Attorney, New Bedford Superior Court Office.
“Coming to Terms with the Past to Build a Just and Peaceful Future: The Liberian Truth and Reconciliation Commission”
Wednesday, November 5th
12:30 – 1:30 – Room 262
Evan Posner , Dechert, LLP
Michele Garnett-McKenzie, Advocates for Human Rights
Mator Kpangbai, Former President, Liberian Community Association of Rhode Island
Casey Lee, RWU 2L
During the spring of 2008, RWU law students partnered with attorneys from several law firms, Advocates for Human Rights, and the Liberian Community Association of Rhode Island to take statements from Liberians living in Rhode Island about their experiences during the Liberian Civil War as well as their Diaspora experiences. Through the statement taking process in the U.S., Advocates for Human Rights documented human rights violations during civil strife in Liberia and Liberian’s recommendations for reconciliation, justice and peace for the future in Liberia.
Join us for the Speaker Series – refreshments will be served.
