Marian Miner Cook
Athenaeum

Dawn Tripp's Athenaeum presentation is co-sponsored by the Gould Center for Humanistic Studies.

A senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, Henry Olsen '83 is a scholar of American politics. Focusing on how America’s political order is being upended by populist challenges from the left and the right, he will provide commentary on American political trends in 2026 and beyond.

Henry Olsen '83 was previously columnist at the Washington Post and currently pens a weekly Post newsletter on the midterm elections, Margin of Victory. His work has been featured in many other prominent publications, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, National Review, The Guardian, and The Telegraph. He is the author of The Working Class Republican: Ronald Reagan and the Return of Blue-Collar Conservatism (Broadside Books, 2017).

His predictions of American elections since 2010 have been praised for their remarkable accuracy. In the 2016 campaign, he accurately identified the factors fueling the rise of Donald Trump early in the race, and his election-eve predictions were among the most accurate of any major analyst or commentator. In 2024, he accurately predicted that President Trump would win and noted he could even win the popular vote. Olsen regularly speaks about American political trends and global populism in the United State, Europe, and Australia.

Olsen has worked in senior executive positions at many center-right think tanks. Including as Vice President and Director, National Research Initiative, at the American Enterprise Institute, Vice President of Programs at the Manhattan Institute, and President of the Commonwealth Foundation.

Olsen has a B.A. in government from Claremont McKenna College and a J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School. He is a member of the Board of Governors of the Rose Institute of State and Local Government. 

Mr. Olsen's Athenaeum presentation is co-sponsored by the Open Academy at CMC.

James Anderson is the director of the RAND Institute for Civil Justice and a senior behavioral scientist at RAND. He has been the principal investigator on a wide range of projects, ranging from policy implications of autonomous vehicle technology to understanding the effects of indigent defense systems. He is widely published and has been funded by the National Institute of Justice, the National Institutes of Health, the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the State of Pennsylvania, the Institute for Civil Justice, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Department of Defense, and the National Science Foundation. 

Anderson's work has appeared in the Harvard Law Review, the Yale Law Journal, the Stanford Law Review, the Journal of Law and Economics, the Oxford University Press, and in numerous RAND publications. He has presented to a wide variety of academic and professional audiences. He is a member of the American Law Institute. Before joining RAND, Anderson clerked for the Honorable Morton Greenberg of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and practiced law for ten years as an assistant federal defender representing death-sentenced prisoners. He received a J.D. from Yale Law School and a B.A. in ethics, politics, and economics from Yale University. 

James Anderson's Athenaeum presentation is co-sponsored by the Lowe Institute of Political Economy at CMC.

He will then turn to his other Claremont McKenna connection: the Rose Institute of State and Local Government, where he worked as a student and now serves on its Board of Governors. The Rose’s 2023 report on San Francisco's government design diagnosed a City Hall structurally unable to govern itself. Elsbernd traces how that diagnosis shaped SPUR’s 2025 report, “Charter for Change,” and how both reports converged in Mayor Daniel Lurie's three charter reform measures now before San Francisco voters.

Sean Elsbernd '97 is the President and CEO of SPUR, where he leads the organization’s efforts to advance equity-centered, data-driven public policy across San Francisco, San José, and Oakland. He brings more than 25 years of public service experience at the local, regional, and federal levels. Before joining SPUR, he served as chief of staff to San Francisco Mayor London Breed, where he oversaw citywide operations, regional partnerships, and state legislative affairs.

Sean previously served as state director for U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein and as a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, where he represented District 7. He has also held key regional transit leadership roles, including as chair of the Caltrain Board of Directors and director of the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway, and Transportation District. A fourth-generation San Franciscan, he and his wife are raising the fifth generation. Sean is passionate about building a more sustainable, inclusive and resilient Bay Area. He holds a BA from Claremont McKenna College and a JD from the University of California College of the Law, San Francisco (formerly UC Hastings).

Sean’s talk is co-sponsored by the Rose Institute of State and Local Government and Open Academy, both at CMC.

Dr. Jacinda Abdul-Mutakabbir (JAM) is an Associate Professor and Antimicrobial Resistance Researcher at the University of California, San Diego, with appointments in the Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences as well as the Division of the Black Diaspora and African American Studies.

She uses a translational research approach, integrating laboratory and clinical methods to investigate the syndemic relationship between noncommunicable diseases and antimicrobial-resistant infections and to develop community-based interventions that improve treatment outcomes. She has authored more than 90 peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, and scientific abstracts that present her findings. Her contributions have influenced national and international policies to mitigate inequities in antimicrobial resistance. She was invited to present at the 25th Presidential Advisory Council on Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria (PACCARB) Public Meeting and now serves on the council as the American Society for Microbiology (ASM) designated representative. She also served as an inaugural member of the CVS Health Equity National Advisory Board and, in 2026, was the first PharmD elected to the Infectious Diseases Society of America Executive Board. 

Dr. Abdul-Mutakabbir has earned both national and international recognition for her work in antimicrobial resistance research and health equity. In 2020, she was recognized as a Top Scientist Under 30 by the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases. She received the 2021 Gita Patel Best Practice Award from the Society of Infectious Diseases Pharmacists, the 2023 Clinical Practice Innovation Award from the Infectious Diseases Society of America, and the 2024 New Clinical Practitioner Award from the American College of Clinical Pharmacy. In 2026, she was named a finalist for the Nancy Jamison Fund for Social Justice Award, presented by Catalyst of San Diego and Imperial Counties, and elected as a Fellow of the Infectious Diseases Society of America.

Dr. Abdul-Mutakabbir's Athenaeum presentation is co-sponsored by the Berger Institute for Individual and Social Development and the Women and Leadership Alliance, both at CMC.

Ryan Patel is a Global Business Executive, Board Director, and Host and Executive Producer of Yahoo's original series “How They Run with Ryan Patel”. A globally recognized expert on business, innovation, and the future of industries, he has advised startups, Fortune 500 companies, and governments. Patel is a LinkedIn Top Voice and frequent national media commentator on business, technology, and the global economy.

Nicole Turner, M.S. is the Senior Vice President and Head of Workplace Experience at Mastercard. A seasoned corporate executive with a 20-year tenure at the global payments company, Nicole spearheads the strategic operations, engagement, and employee infrastructure across Mastercard's corporate headquarters and its primary global Technology Hubs—spanning major epicenters like London, Singapore, New York, and Atlanta.

Ryan Patel and Nicole Turner’s Athenaeum presentation is co-sponsored by the Financial Economic Institute at CMC.

Jud Campbell became a Stanford Law faculty in 2023. He is a legal historian whose scholarship explores American constitutional thought, with particular attention to the history of rights. Before joining the Stanford Law faculty in 2023, Campbell was a professor at the University of Richmond School of Law. He has also been a visiting professor at Harvard Law School, New York University School of Law, and the University of Chicago Law School. Earlier in his career, he served as Executive Director of the Stanford Constitutional Law Center.

He earned his J.D. from Stanford Law School and subsequently clerked for Judge Diane S. Sykes of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit and for Judge Jose A. Cabranes of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. He holds a B.A. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and two master's degrees from the London School of Economics, where he studied as a Marshall Scholar.

Campbell's Athenaeum presentation is co-sponsored by The Salvatori Center and Open Academy, both at CMC.

Aslı Ü. Bâli is the Howard M. Holtzmann Professor of Law at Yale Law School. Her teaching and scholarship focus on public international law, particularly human rights law, and comparative constitutional law, with a regional focus on the Middle East.

Before joining Yale, Bâli was a professor of law at UCLA, where she was the founding faculty director of the Promise Institute for Human Rights and director of the university-wide Center for Near Eastern Studies. She has published widely in leading law reviews and peer-reviewed social science journals and is co-editor of two volumes on comparative law published by Cambridge University Press. She has also written essays and op-eds for such venues as The Boston Review, The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Guardian, The London Review of Books, The Nation, Jadaliyya, MERIP, and The Law and Political Economy Blog. 

Bâli served as president of the Middle East Studies Association of North America from 2023 to 2025. She is co-chair of the advisory board for the Middle East and North Africa Division of Human Rights Watch, a nonresident fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, and a member of the editorial board of the American Journal of International Law.

Professor Bali's Athenaeum presentation is co-sponsored by the Mgrublian Center for Human Rights at CMC.

But this isn't just a career story. Shaun believes the West is in the fight of its life — culturally, geopolitically, and technologically — and that the decisions being made right now in boardrooms, dorm rooms, and on college campuses will determine whether Western civilization thrives or retreats. This is a conversation about optimism with teeth: the idea that building the future requires not just great technology, but moral clarity, intellectual courage, and the willingness to say hard things out loud.

Jason Rosenthal is an Operating Partner at a16z crypto. Jason has spent more than 25 years as an internet entrepreneur and executive, including more than 10 years as a startup CEO, and his career has been dedicated to the development of transformational new platforms. Jason works closely with the CEOs and founders in our crypto portfolio to provide leadership guidance, help them plan for and react to the aspects of running companies in rapidly-changing markets, and generally help them become the best version of their professional selves.

Whether you're thinking about starting a company, joining one, you aspire to become a world class investor, or are simply trying to figure out what you stand for — this is the conversation you don't want to miss.

This event is sponsored by the Open Academy at CMC.

Zach Ingrasci '12 is a film director and the co-founder of the twice Emmy-Nominated film studio Optimist, a production company committed to making documentaries that nurture optimism and create impact. Best known for directing the feature documentaries Living On One Dollar, Salam Neighbor, This Is Not Financial Advice and Five Years North, Zach’s films have been released by Netflix, Amazon Prime, National Geographic, PBS and HBO. Every Optimist film is accompanied by an impact campaign to create measurable outcomes. His projects have raised over $119 million for the films’ causes and have changed over 606,869 lives.

Rachel Fenning, Professor of Psychological Science and Director of The Claremont Autism Center at CMC, is a licensed clinical psychologist with particular expertise in assessment and intervention for individuals with neurodevelopmental differences, including autism. Her research examines child and family contributions to social emotional development, biobehavioral regulation, and clinical outcomes in children with autism and related intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). She also develops and tests interventions designed to promote physical health, adaptive behavior, and well-being in underserved autistic children and their families. Her work has been funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Health Resources and Services Administration. She is a former President of Division 33 (IDD/ASD) of the American Psychological Association, and she serves on the Editorial Board of Psychological Assessment and Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology.

Chloe Martinez, Associate Director for Programming at the Center for Writing & Public Discourse and Lecturer in Religious Studies at CMC, is the coeditor, with Lisa Van Orman Hadley, of Chaos, Creativity, Completion: New Approaches to Writing and ADHD (University of Chicago Press, 2026); translator of Blue Like My Beloved: Poems of Mirabai (New Directions, October 2026); and author of the poetry collection Ten Thousand Selves and the chapbook Corner Shrine. Her research on religion has appeared in journals including The Medieval History Journal and South Asia​, and has been funded by organizations including the Woodrow Wilson Foundation, AIIS, and SSRC-Mellon Mays. A 2026 National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellow in Translation, she is assistant editor at Beloit Poetry Journal and poetry editor at the Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion.

J.D. Rackey is the associate director of the Structural Democracy project at the Bipartisan Policy Center where he leads their work on governing institutions and electoral systems reform. His research focuses on the politics and procedures of the U.S. Congress with an emphasis on congressional capacity and modernization. Rackey’s work has appeared in scholarly journals such as Political Science Today and Social Science Quarterly and has been published or cited in popular press outlets such as The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Hill, and CQ Roll Call. He also currently serves as president of the National Capital Area Political Science Association.

Rackey previously served as professional staff with the U.S. House of Representatives Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress. He has also been an adjunct lecturer at Georgetown University. He earned his Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Oklahoma and is a former American Political Science Association Public Service Fellow.

Polish-American architect Daniel Libeskind is an international figure in architecture and urban design. Informed by a deep commitment to music, philosophy, and literature, Libeskind aims to create architecture that is resonant, original, and sustainable.

Libeskind established his architectural studio, Studio Libeskind, in Berlin, Germany, in 1989 after winning the competition to build the Jewish Museum in Berlin. In February 2003, Studio Libeskind moved its headquarters from Berlin to New York City to oversee the master plan for the World Trade Center redevelopment, which is being realized in Lower Manhattan.

Libeskind’s practice is involved in designing and realizing a diverse array of urban, cultural, and commercial projects around the globe. The Studio has completed buildings that range from museums and concert halls to convention centers, university buildings, hotels, shopping centers, and residential towers. As Principal Design Architect for Studio Libeskind, Libeskind speaks widely on the art of architecture in universities and professional summits. His architecture and ideas have been the subject of many articles and exhibitions, influencing the field of architecture and the development of cities and culture.

Libeskind has won dozens of awards for his work including the Goethe Medal, the Hiroshima Peace Prize, the Dresden Peace Prize, and the European Union Prize for Civil Rights.

Mr. Libeskind's Athenaeum presentation is co-sponsored by the President's Office and the President's Leadership Fund.

Photo credit: Stefan Ruiz

(Special Note: This event had originally been scheduled for Wednesday, November 5, 2025. We are honoring the head table sign-ups from that original date. Students who had secured a head table spot (or were waitlisted for the head table) will have the right of first refusal for the head table. If you had a confirmed spot at the head table, we are aware of who you are and we will contact you directly in early April.)

For more information on this film, please visit: https://www.specialrussiantruth.com/

Glenn C. Loury, Merton P. Stoltz Professor Emeritus of Social Sciences, Professor Emeritus of Economics, and Professor Emeritus of International and Public Affairs, joined Brown University in 2005. He is an academic economist who has made scholarly contributions to the fields of welfare economics, income distribution, game theory, industrial organization, and natural resource economics. He is also a prominent social critic and public intellectual, having published over 200 articles in journals of public affairs in the U.S. and abroad on the issues of racial inequality and social policy.

Loury is a Fellow of the Econometric Society, a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a past Vice President of the American Economics Association. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and was for many years a contributing editor at The New Republic magazine.

Among the issues Loury studies are racial affirmative action; dysfunctional social identity; status transmission across generations; and cognitive theories of racial stigma. He also writes popular essays on social and political themes as a public intellectual.

Michael J. Fortner, Pamela B. Gann Associate Professor of Government and George R. Roberts Fellow at Claremont McKenna College, will moderate the conversation.

(Special Note: This event had originally been scheduled for Tuesday, February 24, 2026. We are honoring the head table sign-ups from that original date. Students who had secured a head table spot (or were waitlisted for the head table) will have the right of first refusal for the head table. If you had a confirmed spot at the head table, we are aware of who you are and we will contact you directly in early April.)