CAPA: Related Content
The Volatile Futures/Earthly Matters Conference at Bennington this spring brought together leading scholars from across the country to examine questions related to climate change and other environmental policy debates that are currently playing out on both national and global stages.
The inaugural Taconic Mountain Student Water Conference: PFOA took place in CAPA on Friday, May 19 and Saturday, May 20. Co-organized by David Bond (Bennington) and Ken Facin (Hoosick Falls Central School Distrct), Friday's events were geared towards educating local high students, while Saturday's were open to the public. The second day of the conference provided an opportunity for residents of both the Bennington area and Hoosick Falls to receive updated information and the results from recent tests. Robert Bilott, who spearheaded efforts to expose PFOA contamination of drinking water supplies, gave the keynote speech.
The artist, curator, urbanist, and facilitator Theaster Gates was in residence at Bennington College in April, speaking to students, faculty, and staff about making place and making change, the two driving forces of his work. The highlight of his time on campus was the Adams–Tillim Lecture, which he delivered on April 25. By Aruna D'Souza
Dr. Giovanna Di Chiro is the Lang Professor for Issues of Social Change at Swarthmore College. She has published widely on the intersections of race, class, gender, and environmental justice with a focus on activism and policy change addressing environmental health disparities in lower-income communities. She teaches interdisciplinary courses in environmental studies and women’s and gender studies, and incorporates a community-based action research emphasis.
Bennington College hosted a public meeting on PFOA on Thursday, April 27, 2017. At this meeting, the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources (ANR) and Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) updated the community about ongoing negotiations with Saint Gobain and reviewed the state’s current analysis of the nature and scope of PFOA contamination in our region. ANR Secretary Julie Moore applauded the “very active” work of Bennington College in responding to this nearby environmental problem.
Bennington College faculty David Bond and Tim Schroeder also provided an update of their ongoing research into PFOA in our environment.
Dr. Janoff-Bulman is a world-renowned political psychologist and the head of the graduate psychology program at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Janoff-Bulman’s research on victimization and trauma led to the groundbreaking book Shattered Assumptions: Towards a New Psychology of Trauma (1992). In recent years, Janoff-Bulman’s study focused on morality, particularly the motivational bases of different moral perspectives and the implications for an individual’s political ideology.
The Bennington Banner covered the partnership between Manchester's Burr and Burton Academy and the Arava Institute, of which Michael Cohen was one of the founding teachers. This connection is supported by both the Manchester community and by cross-enrollment program with Bennington College.
Hydropower developer Bill Scully ’94 is working with Bennington students on two new power generation projects in the village of North Bennington.
Bennington’s Center for the Advancement of Public Action (CAPA) hosted a talk by two United Nations delegates on women's empowerment and the changing role of women in the workplace.
Susan Sgorbati, Director of CAPA, and Vahidin Omanovic of the Center for Peacebuilding, released the following joint statement.
The Mellon Foundation recently awarded $135,000 to the Consortium on Forced Migration, Displacement and Education—a group comprised of Bennington, Vassar, Sarah Lawrence, and Bard colleges—to explore innovative ways to engage with urgent issues of displacement and forced migration.
Novelist, essayist, playwright, queer activist, and Distinguished Professor of the Humanities at the College of Staten Island, Sarah Schulman.
Film Screening of United in Anger: The History of ACT UP followed by a conversation with co-producer, Sarah Schulman
David L. Phillips is director of the Program on Peace-building and Rights at Columbia University’s Institute for the Study of Human Rights. He served as a senior adviser and foreign affairs expert at the U.S. Department of State during the administrations of President Clinton, Bush, and Obama. He has published many books on the Middle East, including An Uncertain Ally: Turkey Under Erdogan’s Dictatorship, The Kurdish Spring: A New Map for the Middle East, and Losing Iraq: Inside the Post-War Reconstruction Fiasco.
David Bond, associate director of Bennington's Center for the Advancement of Public Action (CAPA), co-authored an Op-Ed in the Bennington Banner against the Trump Administration's blanket freeze on all EPA grants and contracts.
On Monday, February 20th at 8 pm at The Pershing Square Signature Center in New York City, Bennington College, in association with The 24 Hour Plays, will present The 24 Hour Plays®: A Bennington Tribute to Spencer Cox. This one night–only event will take place at The Romulus Linney Courtyard Theatre and will bring together Bennington College alumni and friends—including Emmy, Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild, and Obie winners and nominees—to write, cast, rehearse, and present six one-act plays within a 24-hour period. Ticket sales and donations will benefit the Spencer Cox ’90 Scholarship for student activists at Bennington College.
The Bennington Banner published an op-ed by Michael Thomson '15 about the impact of walls on national identity and the relationships between nations.
Submissions are now being accepted for nominees for the 2017 Elizabeth Coleman Visionary Leadership award.
President Silver published an essay about student expectations that protests will be part of their college experience, and the role of educators in helping them learn how to effect change.
On the eve of the presidential inauguration, a top journal in American anthropology has published a collection of essays, co-edited by Associate Director of the Center for the Advancement of Public Action David Bond, which raises new questions about the rise of Trump and the current state of American politics. The collection features work from leading anthropologists who offer provocative reflections on the culture of Trump and popular misconceptions of class and race today. These wide-ranging essays offer bold new interpretations of solidarity, hate and the future of American democracy.
The Philadelphia Inquirer published an article about the role of college presidents in the age of Trump that featured Mariko Silver.
Jaqueline Kramer '76 installed a selection of paintings inspired by the Syrian refugee crisis. The proceeds went to the International Rescue Committee. For Kramer, who studied painting during her time at Bennington, “This series combines my love of painting with my love of service. I’m very excited to share these paintings with others.”
In the wake of the election this November, The Chronicle of Higher Education published an opinion piece by Mariko Silver called "Learning How to Be Together."
In an address to Congress on November 29, Vermont Senator Leahy praised the work of the Arava Institute, of which Michael Cohen is one of the founding faculty members.
The mission of the Paran Creek Watershed Project is to support the village’s long term stewardship of renewable water resources; clean contaminants to improve the aquatic and riverine habitat; establish North Bennington as a model for energy independence; and form a sustainable, long-term watershed management plan by revitalizing existing infrastructure.
Inside Higher Ed wrote about Bennington’s pop-up courses, highlighting the flexibility of the model, and the breadth the pop-up courses offered by faculty members across the disciplines.
Students from Bennington, NYU, and Drew University led a protest at Columbus Circle in New York City on Saturday, November 5th against police brutality.
Rohail Altaf '17 and Asad J. Malik '19 were recently awarded a $3000 prize at the Vermont Hackathon for creating an app that uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) to improve student engagement in online courses. The pair opted for general entry, rather than as a student team, in order to be able to compete in the overall pool, against agencies and tech companies.
Representatives from a class gave a report to the Village Board of Trustees on Tuesday about their ongoing research to generate a feasibility study on local dams and waterway privileges.