CECIL  COLLEGE  SPEAKERS  SERIES
2008 - 2009
"Connecting the Local to the Global," the Cecil College Speakers Series 2008-2009, will expose its audience to intellectuals with unique backgrounds and perspectives on the human connections between distant communities by focusing on locally and globally relevant issues: environmental deterioration, religious conflict, global health, and popular culture.

Presentations will take place at 6:30 p.m. at Cecil College's Milburn Stone Theatre in North East, Maryland.  Lite Fare will be served before each evening's event.  The series is free and open to the public, seating is limited.
1
September 30, 2008, 6:30 p.m.
Communicating Nature: Journalism, Environmentalism and Cultural Awareness
As the upcoming election reminds us, almost every environmental issue has both local and global impact.  Journalist Tom Horton and photojournalist Dave Harp will take a unique look at local and global environmental issues by focusing on the cultural barriers journalists face in communicating scientific problems to general audiences in different cultures, such as those that live off of the Chesapeake Bay and the Panama Canal.  Horton and Harp have done substantial work for international and local publications, including National Geographic Magazine, The New York Times, Chesapeake Bay Magazine and The Baltimore Sun.
2
November 04, 2008, 6:30 p.m.
Common Ground, Peaceful Spirits: Transcending Conflict in Christianity, Judaism & Islam
With the media emphasis on religious extremism and acts of terror, we often concentrate on the difference between faiths and see them as insurmountable and threatening.  Imam Mohamad Bashar Arafat, Ph.D., will focus his presentation on the similarities between these dominant religions, the positive interaction of moderate religious communities in the United States, and the myths and realities of media representation.  Arafat, who is president of the Civilizations Exchange and Cooperation Foundation, has taught at several prestigious universities and travels around the globe forming positive relationships between the United States, Islam and other cultures.
3
February 10, 2009, 6:30 p.m.
The Culture of Global Health: Reasons to Care on a Local Level
It is easy for individuals to think that health issues like tuberculosis in Haiti or HIV and AIDS in Africa are problems that do not affect us here in the United States.  Dr. Max Lum, director of the Office of Health Communication and Global Collaboration for the Centers for Disease Control, will challenge that notion and stress that these crises need our attention; not only because as humans it's important that we be compassionate toward one another, but also because these crises can affect us directly as a result of our globalized world.  Lum has also worked in public health service in Micronesia and West Africa.
4
April 15, 2009, 6:30 p.m.
A Universal Beat: Hip-Hop, Revolution and Commodification
With rap music, the musical component of hip-hop, grossing $1.5 billion in 2005, artists/clothing designers like Sean "Puff Daddy/P.Diddy" Combs earning the title of one of the richest men under 40, and Harvard hosting a conference on African Hip-Hop, it's impossible to deny the worldwide influence of this cultural phenomenon.  In this presentation, Dr. Dipannita Basu, associate professor of sociology and black studies at Pitzer College in California, will examine the globalization of hip-hop, as well as the philosophical and socio-economic similarities and differences of the communities that embrace the culture around the world.