Marian Miner Cook
Athenaeum

Danielle Allen is James Bryant Conant University Professor at Harvard University. She is also director of the Allen Lab for Democracy Renovation at the Harvard Kennedy School and director of the Democratic Knowledge Project, a research lab focused on civic education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. A professor of political philosophy, ethics, and public policy, she is also a seasoned nonprofit leader, democracy advocate, tech ethicist, and distinguished author. She is a contributing columnist at The Atlantic Magazine, winner of the 2025 Barry Prize, and was the 2020 winner of the Library of Congress’ Kluge Prize, which recognizes scholarly achievement in the disciplines not covered by the Nobel Prize. She received the Prize “for her internationally recognized scholarship in political theory and her commitment to improving democratic practice and civics education.”

Across nearly three decades in higher ed, Danielle has worked to make the world better for young people. She won the Quantrell award for excellence in undergraduate teaching at the University of Chicago, where she also served as Dean of the Division of Humanities (2004-7); she chaired the board of the Mellon Foundation (2015-19), as that foundation expanded the range of institutions in which it invests; she wrote for the Washington Post from 2008-2024, with a column on constitutional democracy; and she has developed a public policy portfolio on issues from cannabis legalization and public health policy to democracy renovation, civic education, and sound governance of and with new technology.

As a scholar, Allen currently concentrates on democracy renovation: studying how to reconnect people to their civic power, experience, and responsibility via civic education and how to redesign our political institutions to improve their responsiveness, increase the accountability of officeholders, and reward the participation of ordinary citizens. Her most recent book, Justice by Means of Democracy, provides the foundation for this work. Her forthcoming book, The Radical Duke, a biography of an 18th century British political reformer, is due out with Liveright/Norton in 2026.

Professor Allen’s Athenaeum presentation is co-sponsored by Kravis Lab for Civic Leadership, the Open Academy, the Salvatori Center, and the President's Leadership Fund, all at CMC.

(Photo credit: Melissa Blackall_PrimaryHR)

Amy Gallo works with individuals, teams, and organizations to help them better collaborate, communicate, and transform their culture to support dissent and debate. She is the best-selling author of Getting Along: How to Work with Anyone (Even Difficult People) and the Harvard Business Review "Guide to Dealing with Conflict." She has published often in Harvard Business Review, where she is a contributing editor. Her writing has been collected in numerous books including on feedback, emotional intelligence, and managing others. 

From 2019 to 2025, Gallo co-hosted HBR's popular Women at Work podcast, examining the struggles and successes of women in the workplace. Gallo has delivered keynotes and workshops at numerous companies and conferences and often appears in media outlets for her perspective on workplace dynamics, conflict, and difficult conversations. Her advice has been featured in multiple news outlets internationally. 

A graduate of Yale College, she holds a master’s in public policy from Brown University. 

Ryan Patel is currently a William F. Podlich Distinguished Fellow at CMC. Patel is an expert in scaling businesses and has served both startups and publicly traded firms. Listed as one of the “Creators to Follow” by LinkedIn Editor in Chief and recognized as a “Top Voice” on Linkedin, Patel is a news commentator board director. Patel also hosts "The Moment with Ryan Patel," featuring conversations with top innovators and executives. 

 This program is co-sponsored by the Financial Economics Institute and Kravis Leadership Institute, both at CMC.

Sean Kennedy is the executive director of the Center for Juvenile Law & Policy at Loyola Law School. For the past 15 years, he has taught appellate advocacy and the death penalty law seminar at the Law School. In 2013, Kennedy was named Criminal Defense Attorney of the Year by the Los Angeles County Bar Association and received the Fidler Institute Award for Defense Lawyer of the Year from Loyola. He is a recipient of the Public Interest Award by Loyola’s Public Interest Law Foundation. Prior to working in public defense, Kennedy was an associate at Talcott, Lightfoot, Vandevelde, Woehrle & Sadowsky, LLP, where he handled white collar criminal defense cases.

Professor Kennedy’s Athenaeum presentation is co-sponsored by the history department at CMC.

(Photo credit: Loyola Law School)

Melissa S. Kearney is the Gilbert F. Schaefer Professor of Economics at the University of Notre Dame and director of the Aspen Economic Strategy Group. She is a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research and a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. Her research focuses on poverty, inequality, social policy, and the economics of families and fertility.

Kearney is the author of The Two-Parent Privilege (University of Chicago Press, 2023), named a Best Book of the Year by The Wall Street Journal and The New Yorker. 

She holds a B.A. in economics from Princeton University and a Ph.D. in economics from MIT.

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

(Source: University of Notre Dame)

Cristian Eduardo is a prominent advocate, speaker, and educator dedicated to advancing the rights of immigrants, 2SLGBTQ+ individuals, and those affected by human trafficking. As a queer immigrant from Mexico, a survivor of human trafficking, and a person living with HIV, his advocacy is profoundly shaped by his lived experience, fueling his fight against hate and stigma across all sectors. Eduardo serves as a member of the U.S. Advisory Council on Human Trafficking, where he leverages his expertise to advise the President’s Interagency Task Force on federal anti-trafficking policies. His work centers on ensuring these policies are survivor-led, trauma-informed, and focused on holistic recovery. Eduardo partners with non-profit organizations and legislative stakeholders nationwide, providing training and technical assistance at the intersection of human trafficking, immigration, the 2SLGBTQ+ community, and trauma related mental health challenges. Eduardo is a Survivor Leader at New Yorkers for the Equality Model, co-chair of the New York State Anti-Trafficking Coalition, and serves on various advisory boards and committees, including the Interagency Task Force on Human Trafficking. Additionally, he is a key collaborator in HIV prevention efforts, serving on the NYC HIV Planning Group to inform the city’s Integrated HIV Prevention and Care Plan. Eduardo has received numerous honors, including the Advocate of New York City award from the NYC Office to End Gender-Based Violence, the 2023 NJ Freedom Award, and the 2025 Liberator Award Survivor of the Year.

Yasmin Z. Vafa is co-founder and Executive Director of Rights4Girls, a national human rights organization dedicated to ending gender-based violence against young women and girls in the U.S. An award-winning human rights lawyer and advocate, Vafa's work focuses on the intersections of race, gender, violence, and the law. She has successfully advocated for several laws at the federal and state levels, testified before the U.S. Senate, state legislatures, and international human rights bodies, and co-authored multiple reports detailing the over-criminalization of girls and young women of color, particularly, survivors of sexual violence.  Vafa and her work have been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, National Public Radio, ABC News, and more. She currently serves on the U.S. Advisory Committee on the Sex Trafficking of Children and Youth, serves as adjunct faculty for the National Judicial Institute on Child Sex Trafficking— an intensive judicial training she co-designed and leads with the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, and previously served on both the Department of Justice National Girls' Initiative Advisory Committee as well as the DOJ National Task Force on the Use of Restraints on Pregnant Women and Girls Under Correctional Custody. She has received numerous awards for her work including the Lois Haight Award for Excellence and Innovation for her legislative advocacy from Congress. 

This conversation will be moderated by Vivienne Arndt '28 and introduced by Macy Puckett Scripps '28.

This program is co-sponsored by the Mgrublian Center for Human Rights at CMC.

More information about panelists is forthcoming.

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.
 

Jeff Sebo is Associate Professor of Environmental Studies, Affiliated Professor of Bioethics, Medical Ethics, Philosophy, and Law, Director of the Center for Environmental and Animal Protection, Director of the Center for Mind, Ethics, and Policy, Director of the Food Impact Program, and Co-Director of the Wild Animal Welfare Program at New York University. 

He is the author of The Moral Circle and Saving Animals, Saving Ourselves and co-author of Chimpanzee Rights and Food, Animals, and the Environment. He is also an advisory board member at the Jeremy Coller Centre for Animal Sentience, an advisory board member at the Insect Welfare Research Society, an advisor at Eleos AI, and a senior affiliate at the Institute for Law & AI. 

In 2024 Vox included him on its Future Perfect 50 list of "thinkers, innovators, and changemakers who are working to make the future a better place."

Professor Sebo's Athenaeum presentation is co-sponsored by the Gould Center for Humanistic Studies at CMC.

James R. Stocker is associate professor of global affairs at Trinity Washington University. He is the author of Spheres of Intervention: US Foreign Policy and the Collapse of Lebanon, 1967–1976, which is being newly reissued in paperback in 2026. He has been a visiting researcher at Georgetown University and the American University of Beirut. He received his Ph.D .from the Graduate Institute of Geneva, where he received support from the Swiss National Science Foundation. He is a RAND Next Generation Faculty Leader.