Marian Miner Cook
Athenaeum

Christine Porath is a professor at Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Previously she was a faculty member at Georgetown University and the University of Southern California. Her research focuses on how to help people and communities thrive.

Her speaking and consulting clients include Google, United Nations, Microsoft, World Bank, World Health Organization, International Monetary Fund, Genentech, Ford, Marriott, National Institute of Health, Cleveland Clinic, AT&T, 3M, Verizon, Southwest, Salesforce, MD Anderson, Department of Labor, Department of the Treasury, Department of Justice, and National Security Agency.

Porath is a frequent contributor to the Harvard Business Review, and written for the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post. She has taught in various executive programs at Harvard, Georgetown, and the University of Southern California (USC).

Before getting her Ph.D., she worked for International Management Group (IMG), a leading sports management and marketing firm.

Porath received her Ph.D. from Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She earned her bachelor's degree in economics from College of the Holy Cross where she was a member of Phi Beta Kappa as well as the women’s basketball and soccer teams.

Christine Porath is a professor at Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  Previously she was a faculty member at Georgetown University and at the University of Southern California. Her research focuses on how to help people and communities thrive. 

Her speaking and consulting clients include Google, United Nations, Microsoft, World Bank, World Health Organization, International Monetary Fund, Genentech, Ford, Marriott, National Institute of Health, Cleveland Clinic, AT&T, 3M, Verizon, Southwest, Salesforce, MD Anderson, Department of Labor, Department of the Treasury, Department of Justice, and National Security Agency. 

Porath is a frequent contributor to the Harvard Business Review, and written for the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post. She has taught in various executive programs at Harvard, Georgetown, and the University of Southern California. 

Before getting her Ph.D., she worked for International Management Group (IMG), a leading sports management and marketing firm. 

Porath received her Ph.D. from Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She earned her bachelor's degree in economics from College of the Holy Cross where she was a member of Phi Beta Kappa as well as the women’s basketball and soccer teams. 

Duncan Scott is senior vice president of Strategic Sourcing & Quality for New Balance Athletic Shoe, a leading manufacturer of branded athletic footwear, apparel and equipment since 1906. 

Currently based in Boston, Scott started his career in the industry in 1986 and has held global leadership roles in footwear & apparel sourcing and manufacturing in Korea, Taiwan, China, Brazil, and Hong Kong. He was Country Manager of China for Reebok, Head of Social & Environmental Compliance at Adidas, and subsequently Head of Global Footwear Sourcing for Adidas and VP of Sourcing for Sportswear at VF. Scott also served as Head of Latin American Sourcing for adidas, based in Sao Paulo, Brazil before joining New Balance in 2010. 

Scott has been active in corporate social responsibility forums and organizations during his career and has represented New Balance since 2017 in the Industry Summit initiative, a coalition of 13 global brands focused on social and environmental issues. He currently serves on the advisory board of the Global Labor Institute, which drives new conversations about work in global supply chains powered by quantitative research and action. Scott also serves as Vice Chair of the ESG Committee for the World Federation of Sporting Goods

He is a 1981 graduate of Cornell University, where he was an English major in the College of Arts & Sciences and ran for the varsity Cross Country & Track Teams.

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. 

 

Šumit Ganguly is a Senior Fellow and directs the Huntington Program on Strengthening US-India Relations at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. He is also Distinguished Professor and the Tagore Chair Emeritus at Indiana University—Bloomington. 

Ganguly is the author, co-author, editor or co-editor of over twenty books on the contemporary politics of South Asia. His most recent book, co-edited with Klaus Brummer, is States and their Nationals Abroad: Support, Co-Opt and Repress (Cambridge University Press, 2024). He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Professor Ganguly’s Athenaeum presentation is co-sponsored by the Keck Center for International and Strategic Studies at CMC.

 

Nadine Strossen, the John Marshall Harlan II Professor of Law Emerita at New York Law School and past president of the American Civil Liberties Union (1991-2008), is a Senior Fellow with FIRE (the Foundation for Individual Rights and Education) and a leading expert and frequent speaker/media commentator on constitutional law and civil liberties, who has testified before Congress on multiple occasions. She serves on the advisory boards of the ACLU, Academic Freedom Alliance, Heterodox Academy, National Coalition Against Censorship, and the University of Austin.

The National Law Journal has named Strossen one of America’s "100 Most Influential Lawyers," and several other publications have named her one of the country’s most influential women. Her many honorary degrees and awards include the American Bar Association’s prestigious Margaret Brent Women Lawyers of Achievement Award (2017). In 2023, the National Coalition Against Censorship (an alliance of more than 50 national non-profit organizations) selected Strossen for its Judy Blume Lifetime Achievement Award for Free Speech.

When Strossen stepped down as ACLU President, three ideologically diverse Supreme Court Justices participated in her farewell/tribute luncheon: Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Antonin Scalia, and David Souter.

She is the author of HATE: Why We Should Resist It with Free Speech, Not Censorship (2018) and Free Speech: What Everyone Needs to Know (2023). She is also the host and project consultant for Free To Speak, a 3-hour documentary film series on free speech that was released on public television in 2023, and now available on YouTube.

Her book Defending Pornography: Free Speech, Sex, and the Fight for Women’s Rights was named a New York Times “notable book” of 1995 and was republished in 2024 as part of the New York University Press “Classic” series. Her book HATE was selected as the “Common Read” by Washington University and Washburn University.

Strossen has made thousands of public presentations before diverse audiences around the world, including on more than 500 different campuses and in many foreign countries, and she has appeared on virtually every national television news program. Her hundreds of publications have appeared in many scholarly and general interest publications.

Strossen graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Harvard College and magna cum laude from Harvard Law School. Before becoming a law professor, she practiced law in her home town of Minneapolis and in New York City. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Professor Strossen’s Athenaeum program is the Salvatori Center's 2025-26 Lofgren Lecture on American Constitutionalism and is also co-sponsored by the Open Academy at CMC. 

Debak Das is an assistant professor in peace and security at the Josef Korbel School of Global and Public Affairs at the University of Denver. His research interests lie at the intersection of international security, nuclear proliferation, crises, and international history. His research and writing have been published in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Global Studies Quarterly, H-Diplo Robert Jervis International Security Studies Forum, International Studies Review, Lawfare, Political Science Quarterly, Research and Politics, Security Studies, Texas National Security Review, The Washington Post, and War on the Rocks.

Das earned his Ph.D. in Government from Cornell University in 2021. He was the MacArthur Nuclear Security Pre-Doctoral Fellow in 2019-2020, and a Stanton Nuclear Security Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC) at Stanford University in 2021-2022. Das also holds an M.Phil in Diplomacy and Disarmament, and an M.A. in Politics (with specialization in International Relations) from the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.

Das is also an affiliate at CISAC at Stanford University, the Centre de Recherche Internationales (CERI) at Sciences Po, Paris, and at the Council for Strategic and Defense Research, New Delhi.

Drawing on decades in the arena—and insights from his book Soul Venture, Ashwin Gulati ’90 provides a unique insider's view of the entrepreneurial journey. From launching international ventures to becoming a seasoned executive brought in to help companies take off or land, Gulati has helped pilot the complex transitional moments for more than 100 companies in a variety of industries. He has worked in the UK, Spain, France and the U.S. After nearly three decades in the trenches, he has identified the hidden pitfalls, unspoken truths, and personal twists that ultimately determine a venture’s success or failure.

In addition to these professional insights, Gulati will share lessons from his own journey, from arriving in the U.S. from India at age 13, to pursuing his interwoven passion for tennis and business, and asking the difficult questions about work/life balance and personal success.

Gulati holds a B.A. in economics and mathematics from Claremont McKenna College, including studies at King's College in England and the London School of Economics.

Jessica Fagerstrom ‘06, medical physicist and educator, specializes in radiation oncology physics and works with advanced technologies such as high dose-rate (HDR) brachytherapy and precision radiation therapy to deliver life-saving care. Her clinical and educational work emphasizes that science in medicine is not only about technology—it is about improving lives, ensuring patient safety, and inspiring the next generation of innovators. Fagerstrom is currently in the department of radiation oncology at the University of Washington in Seattle.

As an alumna of Claremont McKenna College, Fagerstrom credits her liberal arts education with shaping the interdisciplinary approach she brings to healthcare. Her career blends deep technical expertise with a commitment to public engagement, including developing hands-on learning experiences to make complex medical science accessible to students of all ages. By connecting scientific innovation to its human impact, she encourages broader participation in science and a deeper understanding of its role in society.

Michael Bridge is a musical maverick. “A wizard of the accordion” (CBC), he’s a virtuoso performer on both the acoustic accordion and its 21^st century cousin, the digital accordion. His concerts and improvisations capture the energy and panache of stadium rock with the elegance and discipline of chamber music.

It all began when Bridge was 5 years old, growing up in Calgary, when his mom bought him a $5 accordion at a garage sale. He has since performed throughout Europe, 25 U.S. states, and all Canadian provinces. He received his doctorate in accordion performance from the University of Toronto. He’s at home with classical, contemporary, jazz, and folk music and has premiered 60 new works.

Bridge embraces a musical aesthetic that is alternatively irreverent, deadly serious, meticulously prepared and completely in-the-moment. Ultimately, he aims to make your world more bearable, beautiful and human—even if only for the length of a concert.

Grace Stewart ’17 is a mezzo-soprano who performs opera, musical theater, and choral repertoire throughout the Inland Empire, Los Angeles, and Orange County regions. She received her M.M. in Opera Performance from the Bob Cole Conservatory of Music at Cal State Long Beach. Opera credits include Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro at CSULB and chorus in numerous Pacific Opera Project productions including L’elisir d’amore, Pirates of Penzance, Trial by Jury, Die Fledermaus, Don Bucefalo, and HMS Pinafore. Favorite theater credits include featured dancer in Something Rotten at Rialto Community Players and Legendary Productions’ Beauty and the Beast as Madame de la Grande Bouche and Into the Woods as Lucinda. Grace sings with Pacific Chorale, and she has also sung as a member and soloist of Inland Master Chorale, including as Mother in a concert performance of the musical Ragtime. 

Stewart graduated from CMC in 2017 with a major in Environmental Analysis. While at CMC, she took voice lessons at Scripps and gave a senior recital at the Athenaeum in April 2017.

David Dreier ’75 served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1981 to 2013, becoming the youngest—and the first Californian—chair of the powerful Rules Committee, where he helped shape legislation for floor debate. A former chair of Tribune Publishing and a long-time advocate of press freedom, he founded the Fallen Journalists Memorial Foundation to honor slain journalists on the National Mall. Dreier is a trustee of Claremont McKenna College.

John W. Dean III served as White House Counsel to President Richard Nixon (1970–73) and became a central witness in the Watergate investigation, pleading guilty to a felony as part of the cover-up before turning state’s evidence. Disbarred after Watergate, Dean went on to write widely on law, politics, and presidential power, and has been a prominent commentator and critic of excessive executive authority in the George W. Bush and Donald Trump eras.

This program is co-sponsored by the Dreier Roundtable at CMC.