The Core 100 program invites students and faculty from the College to join us for our weekly lecture series. Each week, all of the first-year students participate in lecture-discussions in groups of about 400 of their classmates. We have space in the Center for the Arts (Building 1P) Williamson Theatre to accommodate individual guests (no permission needed) and can have as many as two additional classes at each of the lectures. No permission is necessary for classes to attend, but please notify Donna Scimeca (718.982.3405) if you plan to bring a class.
The weekday lectures are 50 minutes and are all in the Williamson Theatre. They meet on the following days/times: Wednesdays at 1:25pm and 3:35pm; on Thursdays at 9:05am, 11:15am, 5:30pm, and 6:30pm; and on Saturdays at 10:10am in the Center for the Arts Lecture Hall.
The Lecture Series Schedule for the Week of Monday, Sept. 29, 2014:
Wednesday, Oct. 1:
-1:25pm: “How the Emancipation Proclamation Determined the Fate of America” presented by Deborah DeSimone
This lecture series presentation is based on the work of the renowned historian Eric Foner and his analysis of the centrality of the Emancipation Proclamation in defining the nature of U.S. society. This lecture gives a brief history of the emancipation movement with particular interest to the views of Abraham Lincoln and why they changed over time. Special attention is given to analyzing the text of the Emancipation Proclamation in order to recognize the truly unique aspects of this historic document.
Deborah De Simone is an Associate Professor of Education in the School of Education at CSI. She has been on the CSI faculty since 1993 and was a member of the cadre of professors who designed and first implemented Core 100. Her specialty areas are social studies education and U.S. History. Her undergraduate degree is from Brown University and her graduate degrees are from Columbia University Teachers’ College.
-3:35pm: “Marbury vs. Madison” presented by Derek Levine
This lecture will explore and analyze the landmark case Marbury vs. Madison and how judicial review was established.
Derek Levine holds a PhD from the University of Denver’s Korbel School of International Studies. He has written numerous articles on Sino-U.S. Relations. His most recent article, “Earning Its Wings: A Political Economy Analysis of China’s Journey toward Development of the C-919 Commercial Airliner and its Prospects for Success,” will be published in July 2015 by the Journal of Contemporary China, the number-one ranked journal for China studies. His book The Dragon Takes Flight: A Political Economy Analysis of China’s Development of Its Large Passenger Aircraft, is due out later this year.
Thursday, Oct. 2:
-9:05am: “Slavery: The Peculiar Institution” presented by Annette Marks-Ellis
This lecture is an audiovisual interactive look at the origins of slavery and its legacies. Members of the audience will view the captive process that was conducted in Africa, the Middle Passage to the New World, the auction block experience, and plantation life. An overview of the legacies of slavery will be addressed and discussed.
Annette Marks-Ellis earned her undergraduate and graduate degrees at Columbia University. She has been at CSI and teaching Core 100 since 1999. She has published several articles on African American history, women’s issues, and Caribbean culture.
-11:15am: “The Economics of Slavery” presented by Michael O’Donnell
On the eve of the Civil War, the average slaveholder, according to one estimate, “was more than five times as wealthy as the average Northerner, more than ten times as wealthy as the average non-slaveholding Southern farmer.” This lecture will examine the economic aspects of slavery.
Michael O’Donnell holds a BS in Health Planning and Administration from the University of Illinois, Urbana and an MPA from the University of Illinois, Springfield. Vocationally, he has worked in both the public and private sectors including non-profit, human service organizations and religious corporations as well as the healthcare sector. Most recently, he worked for the New York State Department of Health as a Public Health Preparedness Planner. This one role gave him his best insight into the political world as he coordinated the health department planning activities of 14 counties.
-5:30pm: “The Constitutional Foundations” presented by Natalia Brennan
This lecture will focus on the Articles of Confederation, and explore the reasons why the American people approved it and the weaknesses associated with it.
Natalia Brennan earned a Bachelo’sr degree in History from Moscow University and Master of Arts degree in History from the College of Staten Island. She has been teaching history at St John Villa Academy High School since 2004. Professor Brennan became a member of the Core 100 faculty in 2011.
6:30pm: “Expressions of Negro Spirituals” presented by Laura Troiano
The lecture is a discussion of the structure, function, and impact that spirituals have had on enslaved African Americans and the importance of religion in understanding the slave experience.
Laura Troiano is a Program Coordinator at the Institute on Ethnicity, Culture, and the Modern Experience and an Adjunct Professor at Rutgers University Newark. She is also a graduate student in the American Studies Doctoral Program at Rutgers-Newark. She has been teaching Core 100 as an Adjunct Professor at CSI since Feb 2009.
Saturday, Sept. 20, 2014
-10:10am: “The Impending Crisis: As the Country Approached War, 1848-1861” presented by Debbie-Ann Paige
This lecture will cover the main events (as well as a few local) that led to the U.S. Civil War. It will encompass key polarizing events and people leading up to the war and finish up when the first shots were fired at Fort Sumter, SC.
Debbie-Ann Paige earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and Human Resource Management from Southern New Hampshire University and both her Bachelor and Master of Arts degrees in History from the College of Staten Island, CUNY. She became a member of the Core 100 faculty in 2013.
