Spencer R. Crew, Robinson Professor of American, African American, and Public History, served as the advisor to the Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington on interpretive planning for their new core exhibit. He made a presentation on the history of the celebration of Juneteenth at the Civil War Interpretive Center at Historic Blenheim in Fairfax. He also served on a panel at a forum titled Voting Rights Act at 50: Landmark Law that Transformed America, at the National Museum of American History, sponsored by the National Museum of African American History and Culture.
Robert Hazen, Robinson Professor of Earth Sciences, was elected a Fellow of Geological Society of America. He also was a keynote speaker at the Astrobiology Science Conference in Chicago, Ill.; the Deep Carbon Modeling Workshop in Berkeley, Calif.; the COMPRES High-Pressure Conference in Colorado Springs, Colo.; and the Goldschmidt (Geochemical Society) Conference in Prague, Czech Republic.
John Paden, Robinson Professor of International Studies, briefed the U.S. Commission for International Religious Freedom on “inter-faith relations in Nigeria,” prior to their Nigeria trip. He gave a lecture to 200 mid-career professionals at the National Defense University on “Managing Conflict in Nigeria.” He met with senior officials from the Nigerian government to discuss conflict management in Nigeria, and he met with State Department officials to discuss the status of the opposition party in Nigeria. Paden wrote a report for the World Bank on “Preventing Violent Extremism in Nigeria: Development Interventions in the North.” He met for talks with Nigeria’s new President, Muhammadu Buhari, in Washington, D.C., to discuss areas of future cooperation with Mason’s School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution, and other areas of mutual interest. He facilitated linkage cooperation between Mason and two of Nigeria’s federal universities (Usmanu Danfodiyo University Sokoto, and Federal University Birnin Kebbi) and with Nigeria’s National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS.)
Steven Pearlstein, Robinson Professor of Public Affairs, spoke at a panel on income inequality and corporate responsibility hosted by the Conference Board in New York City.
Laurie O. Robinson, Robinson Professor of Criminology, Law and Society, spoke at a White House forum in July with mayors and police chiefs from around the country about the President’s Task Force on 21st-Century Policing. She also gave talks on that subject to other groups, including the FBI National Executives Institute (NEI), the Maryland State Police Training Commission, the D.C. City Council Judiciary Committee, and the National Criminal Justice Association.