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Community Conversations - Archives

        

May 11, 2010

Community Conversation: West Point's View on Afghanistan

Chacho.jpgTuesday, May 11, 2010
7:30 pm
McManus Room

Lieutenant Colonel Tania M. Chacho, Academy Professor and Director of the Comparative Politics Program,Department of Social Sciences, United States Military Academy, West Point, will speak on the U.S. military's mission and tactics in Afghanistan and the factors on which success is dependent.
        

April 15, 2010

Community Conversation: Cyber Warfare—Understanding the Threat and Protecting Yourself

Mulvenon.jpgThursday, April 15, 2010
7:30 pm
McManus Room

James Mulvenon, Ph.D., Vice-President of Defense Group, Inc.'s Intelligence Division and Director of DGI's Center for Intelligence Research and Analysis, a premier open source exploitation and cultural intelligence cell for the U.S. intelligence community, will speak on cyber security. At CIRA, Dr. Mulvenon runs teams of more than a dozen Chinese, Korean, Russian, Arabic, Pashto-Urdu, and Farsi linguist-analysts performing contract research. A specialist on the Chinese military and cyber warfare, Dr. Mulvenon's research focuses on Chinese cyber issues, C4ISR (command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, and reconnaissance), defense research/development/acquisition organizations and policy, strategic weapons programs (computer network attack and nuclear warfare), cryptography, and the military and civilian implications of the information revolution in China.

Dr. Mulvenon's book, Soldiers of Fortune, details the rise and fall of the Chinese military's multi-billion dollar international business empire. His recent publications include “The Future of American Power in a Multipolar World,” in Abraham Denmark and James Mulvenon, eds., Contested Commons: The Future of American Power in a Multipolar World and “PLA Computer Network Operations: Scenarios, Doctrine, Organiations, and Capability,” in Roy Kamphausen, David Lai, and Andrew Scobell, eds., Beyond the Strait: PLA Missions Other Than Taiwan.

Among his professional affiliations, Dr. Mulvenon is a founding member and current President of the Cyber Conflict Studies Association, was a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations between 1999 and 2004, and is presently a member of the National Committee for U.S.-China Relations and the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS). He is regular media commentator on both China and cyber warfare, and his comments have appeared recently in numerous magazines, as well as television and radio. He received his Ph.D. in political science from the University of California, Los Angeles, and attended Fudan University in Shanghai from 1991-1992.

        

February 23, 2010

Community Conversation: Significance of Ethnicity in Afghanistan

community-conversations2.jpgTuesday, February 23, 2010
7:30 pm
McManus Room

Anthropologist Alessandro Monsutti, a professor at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, Switzerland, currently doing research at Yale University, will speak on the social and political history of Afghanistan, including the significance of Afghanistan's ethnic groups and tribalism.

Monsutti has done field work in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iran, and in Western countries among Afghan refugees and migrants. He has also worked as consultant for humanitarian and development organizations, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, Berne.

Community Conversations are sponsored by The Smilow Family.

        

February 11, 2010

COMMUNITY CONVERSATION: What’s Happened to Wall Street, Part II

D-Komansky.jpgMarc-Lasry2.jpg Thursday, February 11, 2010
7:30 pm
McManus Room

Moderated by Dan Goodgame, financial journalist, editor, and media consultant, two veterans of the financial world return to discuss the financial crisis and bailouts, their aftermaths and the implications. David Komansky (left), who serves on the Library’s Advisory Council, retired as Chairman of Merrill Lynch in April 2003 after spending 35 years at the firm. Marc Lasry (right), is CEO and co-founder of Avenue Capital Group.

Community Conversations are sponsored by The Smilow Family.

        

December 3, 2009

Community Conversation: State-Building in Afghanistan

Paul-Fishstein.jpgThursday, December 3, 2009
7:30 pm
McManus Room

Paul Fishstein is a Research Fellow working on State Building and Human Rights in Afghanistan and Pakistan at the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at the JFK School of Government at Harvard, prior Executive Director of the Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit, a Kabul-based, policy research institution, and has extensive experience in Afghanistan and Pakistan dating from 1977. He will address the many difficult issues affecting this complicated area of the world.

Community Conversations are sponsored by The Smilow Family.

        

October 28, 2009

Community Conversation: Underage Drinking—Whose Responsibility Is It?

beer.jpgWednesday, October 28, 2009
7:30 pm
McManus Room

Staples High School Principal, John Dodig, will begin the program with background on the drinking incidents over Homecoming weekend. Then, the forum will be opened to a discussion on underage drinking and responsibility. Come participate in finding a solution for this community issue.

Co-sponsored with the Staples High School PTA.
Community Conversations are sponsored by The Smilow Family.

        

September 22, 2009

COMMUNITY CONVERSATION:
Are You Ready for Life (Part2)?

robert-Lipsyte-credit-Sandy.jpgTuesday, September 22
7:30 pm
McManus Room

Robert Lipsyte is the host of Life (Part 2), an innovative PBS series that offers insights into how to navigate the process of reinventing yourself in an ever-shifting landscape—and also share secrets of how to enjoy the journey. Lipsyte, an author, Emmy-award winner, former sports and city columnist for the New York Times and correspondent for CBS Sunday Morning with Charles Kuralt and NBC Nightly News, uses his tough-minded journalistic instincts, ever-ready wit, and opinions to rediscover the art of aging.

Books by Robert Lipsyte.

Community Conversations are sponsored by The Smilow Family.

        

June 4, 2009

COMMUNITY CONVERSATION:
Living in Disruptive Times...
Societal Implications of the Financial Crisis

community-conversations2.jpgThursday, June 4
7:30 pm
McManus Room

Dan Gross, senior editor at Newsweek, Al Puchala, co-founder and managing director of Signal Equity Partners and Naomi Starobin, WSHU Public Radio news director, will discuss the society implications of the current financial crisis on a panel moderated by Irving Wladawsky-Berger, Chairman Emeritus, IBM Academy of Technology, Visiting Lecturer at MIT.

Sponsored by The Smilow Family.

        

February 10, 2009

COMMUNITY CONVERSATION: What’s Happened to Wall Street?

D-Komansky.jpgMarc-Lasry2.jpg Tuesday, February 10
7:30 pm
McManus Room

Moderated by Business Week's senior editor and senior economist Jim Cooper, two veterans of the financial world will discuss the current state of Wall Street.

David Komansky (left), who serves on the Library’s Advisory Council, retired as Chairman of Merrill Lynch in April 2003 after spending 35 years at the firm. Marc Lasry (right), is CEO and co-founder of Avenue Capitol Group.

There is no registration for this event, but seating will be limited.
Community Conversations are sponsored by The Smilow Family.
        

September 4, 2008

Community Conversations:
Patient-Doctor Partnerships

Catharine-Ann-Stone.jpgDr.-Richard-Zelkowitz.jpgThursday, September 4
7:30 pm
McManus Room

The doctor-patient partnership is key when fighting a major medical crisis. Westporters Catherine Ann Stone, author of Down to the Marrow, an account of her battles with cancer, and Dr. Richard Zelkowitz, well-known oncologist from The Whittingham Cancer Center, will lead a Community Conversation on this crucial partnership. The importance of understanding the treatment options and acknowledging the patient's intuition, as well as the role of humor in the healing process will be discussed.

Books will be available for purchase and signing.
Author's website.
More information about the Whittingham Cancer Center and the Smilow Family Breast Health Center.

Sponsored by The Smilow Family.

        

June 30, 2008

Community Conversations:
The Next Chapter – from the Golden Age of Television to His Golden Age

sonny-fox2.jpgMonday, June 30
7:30 pm
McManus Room

Sonny Fox is the embodiment of life after 50...60...70...and 80..! With clips from his early years on television, he will entertain, enlighten, and show the enthusiasm that has allowed him to re-invent his life from his early on-air television career to his more recent activities with international social and health reform through entertainment .

Sponsored by The Smilow Family.

        

December 3, 2007

COMMUNITY CONVERSATION ON IMMIGRATION: A Look at Local Issues

statueofliberty.jpg Monday, December 3
7:30 pm
McManus Room

Eileen Heaphy, former Executive Director of the World Affairs Forum in Stamford and former Consul General in Monterrey, Mexico, will moderate a panel on local immigration issues. This event is in cooperation with the Westport League of Women Voters Immigration Study Committee.

Sponsored by The Smilow Family.

        

November 26, 2007

COMMUNITY CONVERSATION ON IRAN

ianbremmer.jpg Monday, November 26
7:30 pm
McManus Room

Ian Bremmer, president of the Eurasia Group in New York City, the world's largest political-risk consultancy, will lead a panel discussion on Iran. Bremmer is author of The J-Curve: A New Way to Understand Why Nations Rise and Fall, a columnist for The Financial Times, contributing editor at The National Interest, and a political commentator on CNN, Fox News, and CNBC.

Also on the panel will be Dr. Gary Sick. Dr. Sick served on the National Security Council staff under Presidents Ford, Carter and Reagan. He was the principal White House aide for Iran during the Iranian Revolution and the hostage crisis and is the author of two books on U.S.-Iranian relations.


More about Ian Bremmer.

More about Dr. Gary Sick.

Sponsored by The Smilow Family.