Co-Curricular Events and Civil Discourse

Uzma  Jafri, M.D. Islamic Speakers Bureau

February 15th: 10:30 - 11:45 am, Buxton Library Southeast Corner

Uzma Jaffri, M.D., will host the presentation for the EDU students on in the SE Corner of the Library. She is a certified speaker with the Islamic Speakers Bureau. Dr. Jaffri will discuss what future teachers should know about Muslim students in their class and Islam in general. Although she is a medical doctor now, her first job after college was that of an elementary school teacher.

Dr. Kathy Nakagawa, Arizona State University, School of Social Transformation

February 17th: 10:30 - 11:45 am, Buxton Library Southeast Corner

Many parents and educators avoid conversations about race and racism with their children and students, yet young people are regularly exposed to images, stories, videos and statements that reflect racial societal attitudes. This exposure often comes through social media, such as YouTube videos, tweets, Facebook posts and Tumblr blogs. Despite that exposure, many young people are unprepared to discuss race and racism in productive ways, and many parents and educators are unsure how to guide these discussions. So how do we develop a “racial literacy” to have these conversations? Like learning to read and write, racial literacy equips us to talk about race and understand historical and systemic contexts of race and racism, and it helps navigate the parallel dialogue occurring in media. Join us for a FRANK Talk about racism, racial literacy and social media.

FrankTalks are free, thought-provoking, expert-facilitated discussions on important issues facing our communities produced in partnership with Arizona Humanities and the Arizona State Library, Archives & Public Records.

Dr. Brad Allenby, Arizona State University, Global Institute of Sustainability

March 20th: 10:30 - 11:45 am, Buxton Library Southeast Corner

Weaponized narrative is the latest term for information warfare, focusing specifically on the role of new media in shaping opinion. Weaponized narratives attack the shared beliefs and values of a person or society, and undercut culture and resiliency. Instead of using actual bombs and bullets, adversaries use tactics such as deceptive information initiatives to attack identity, manipulate narratives/stories, and manufacture emotional and psychological warfare. What are the effects on our psychology and behavior? How do we begin to understand the role of information warfare in social media, news, and marketing?Join us for this timely FRANK Talk to discuss the impact of information warfare on civic engagement and our democratic institutions. Contact: brad.allenby@asu.edu / 480-727-8594 Classes attending: JRN201 Denise Estfan (12) and HON190 Douglass & Weitz (18) & PSY101 Sada (30) .

FrankTalks are free, thought-provoking, expert-facilitated discussions on important issues facing our communities produced in partnership with Arizona Humanities and the Arizona State Library, Archives & Public Records.

Wednesday, 4/11 & Thursday, 4/12 multiple sessions: Returning Art Stolen By the Nazis
The Mondex Corporation helps is clients with both the recovery of fine art and other assets, which were looted during WWII, and is also involved with the recovery of unclaimed estates.  Mondex has an international and multilingual team of historians, provenance researchers, and legal experts who work together to help clients recover valuable works of art and other assets that were either looted during WWII or which were more recently left unclaimed.

Mr. James Palmer was born in Toronto, Canada and established Mondex Corporation in 1993 to help beneficiaries with the restitution of unclaimed assets.  Mr. Palmer has been responsible for several successful restitution cases with various private, institutional and governmental parties, including the Claims Resolution Tribunal, regarding WWII era unclaimed Swiss bank accounts; with the French Prime Minister’s Office in conjunction with the Commission for the Compensation of Victims of Spoliation (CIVS) of France, regarding properties looted in France, and with respect to several art restitution matters involving the governments of The Netherlands; Bavaria, Germany; Poland and the United States.

Sam Garman, Project Coordinator for the Bridging Success Initiative

November 14th: 10:30 - 11:45 am

Sam is responsible for ensuring the Bridging Success initiative, aimed at helping youth aging out of foster care be successful in their path to a college degree, is implemented across all Maricopa Community Colleges. Sam has over 10 years of experience working with underserved youth and is especially passionate about serving youth aging out of the foster care system. Sam attended MCCCD before completing his B.A. in communication at ASU. Sam served an AmeriCorps year and worked with a nonprofit focused on social change before returning to ASU to complete his Masters in Nonprofit Studies (MNpS). Most recently, Sam served as the Director of Curriculum and Training for New Pathways for Youth, a mentoring organization focused on providing youth faced with challenging circumstances with mentors to help them be successful. Sam lives in Tempe where he enjoys spending time with his family, completing house projects, and curating his extensive collection of bow ties.

Catherine Lockmiller, Health Sciences Librarian at the Phoenix Biomedical Campus at NAU

​April 17th: 10:30 - 11:45 am

catherine lockmiller allies with other transgender and LGBTQ+ people in the Maricopa Country. catherine is involved in social and health informatics and the ways they fit into the operating frameworks of both public and academic information spaces. In 2011, she earned her master's degree in English literature from the University of Dallas. She is a recent graduate from the San Jose State University MLIS program, where she focused her coursework on the directions digital libraries can take to empower underrepresented populations. Her research has appeared at the National Diversity in Libraries Conference, LITA Forum, and the CCHA National Humanities Conference. She also teaches critical information literacy at Chandler-Gilbert College Library and the QESST Solar Research Institute at ASU. 

catherine has authored this tremendous resource on transgender for South Mountain Community College.