Category Archives: Scholars’ Circle Interviews

Information and recordings from Schloars’ Circle radio show is posted here.

Scholars’ Circle – Kazakhstan Protests and Government Violence ; Omicron Variant Rages and Global Vaccine Distribution Issues – January 9, 2022

January 8, 2022 host

Kazakhstan has erupted in protests and government violence this week. We explore the potential that these protests leads to greater democratization in this authoritarian government, and detail its recent human rights abuses.[ dur: 34mins. ]

Erica Marat is an Associate Professor and Chair of the Regional and Analytical Studies Department at the College of International Security Affairs, National Defense University. She is the author of The Politics of Police Reform: Society against the State in Post-Soviet Countries.
Robert English is Associate Professor of International Relations and Co-Director of Central European Studies Program at the University of Southern California (USC). He is the author of Russia and the Idea of the West.
Steve Swerdlow is Associate Professor of the Practice of Human Rights in the Department of Political and International Relations at the University of Southern California (USC). He was Senior Central Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch. He has conducted extensive field work internationally with a particular focus on Central Asia and the Caucuses.

Vaccine hesitancy slows the effective response to Covid 19 in the Global North. Lack of vaccine distribution slows the response in the Global South. And the new omicron variant rages on. We may be fatigued of the virus, but it’s not over. We discuss vaccine inequity and distribution. [ dur: 24mins. ]

Adva Gadoth is Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Epidemiology at the Center for Global and Immigrant Health, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. She is the co-author of Incidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection among asymptomatic frontline health workers in Los Angeles County, California and Cross-sectional Assessment of COVID-19 Vaccine Acceptance Among Health Care Workers in Los Angeles.
Heather Wipfli is an Associate Professor of Clinical Preventive Medicine and International Relations at the University of Southern California (USC). She is the author of Investigating global mental health: Contributions from political science and Network influences on policy implementation: Evidence from a global health treaty.

This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker, Melissa Chiprin and Sudd Dongre.

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Scholars' Circle Interviews

Scholars’ Circle – Use of Earth’s Magnetic Field by Birds and Animals ; Examining Human’s relationship with Animals – January 2, 2022

January 1, 2022 host

First, how do birds, bees, whales and turtles all use the earth’s magnetic field to guide their behavior? [ dur: 17mins. ]

Andres Vidal Gadea is Professor of Molecular Neuroethology at Illinois State University. He is the co-author of Magnetosensitive neurons mediate geomagnetic orientation in Caenorhabditis elegans and Factors that influence magnetic orientation in C. elegans. JCPA.

For a transcript of this interview, please visit: TheBigQ

Human history has been drastically changed by our relationship with animals. So much so that our next guest says it would be a different world if not for our intimate bonds with animals. How have they changed us and the world we live in? [ dur: 41 mins. ]

Brian Fagan is Professor Emeritus of Archaeology at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He has authored more than two dozen books, including The Intimate Bond: How Animals Have Shaped Human History, Fishing: How the Sea Fed Civilization and co-authored with Nadia Durrani Climate Chaos: Lessons of Survival from our Ancestors. His website is: http://brianfagan.com/

This show was recorded on August 29, 2015

This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker, Melissa Chiprin and Sudd Dongre.

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Scholars' Circle Interviews

Scholars’ Circle – How power of the Supreme Court fails institution of American democracy – December 19, 2021

December 18, 2021 host

The US Supreme Court faces a legitimacy crisis. The US faces a democracy deficit because of the power of the Court. How should the US address both concerns? Several proposals for reform of the Court have advocated change. Would these help to rebuild the Court’s image and legitimacy? [ dur: 58mins. ]

Christopher W Schmidt is Professor of Law and Co-Director of the Institute on the Supreme Court of the United States at Chicago-Kent School of Law. He is the author of The Sit-Ins: Protest and Legal Change in the Civil Rights Era and Civil Rights in America: A History .
Richard Pacelle Jr. is Professor and Department Head in Political Science at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. He is the co-author of Decision Making by the Modern Supreme Court and the author of The Supreme Court in a Separation of Powers System: The Nation’s Balance Wheel.
Eric J. Segall is Ashe Family Chair Professor of Law at Georgia State University College of Law. He is the author of the books Originalism as Faith and Supreme Myths: Why the Supreme Court is not a Court and its Justices are not Judges.

This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker, Melissa Chiprin and Sudd Dongre.

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Scholars’ Circle – Mainstream media getting wrong about US Inflation ; Decolonize the language around arms control – December 12, 2021

December 11, 2021 host

Inflation is real. But the reporting on it has been remarkably uninformed. We talk about the real issues the US economy faces, what is driving the inflation rate, and what are the long term implications of it. [ dur: 30mins. ]

Dean Baker is Senior Economist and co-founder of the Center for Economic and Research Policy. He is the author of The End of Loser Liberalism: Making Markets Progressive and co-author of Getting Back to Full Employment: A Better Bargain for Working People.

Arms control discourses are centered around western notions of modernity and civilization. What does it mean to decolonize the language around arms control? How is it accomplished? [ dur: 28mins. ]

Ritu Mathur is Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science and Geography at the University of Texas at San Antonio. She is the author of Civilizational Discourses in Weapons Control.

This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker, Melissa Chiprin and Sudd Dongre.

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Scholars’ Circle – Why US Supply Chain Failed During the Pandemic and How to make it Resilient – December 5, 2021

December 4, 2021 host

The pandemic has exposed the weaknesses of the supply chain, with its emphasis on lowering cost without regard to resilience of disruptions. Can government and industry cooperate to build resilience without adding prohibitive cost to production? How responsible is the government to managing the supply chain? What are the larger issues of global supply and production models? [ dur: 58mins. ]

Christopher S. Tang is Distinguished Professor, Edward W. Carter Chair in Business Administration and Senior Associate Dean of Global Initiatives at UCLA. He is the co-author of Supply Chain Risk Management and the co-editor of Operations Management Models with Consumer-Driven Demand.
Eleftherios Iakovou is the Harvey Hubbell Professor of Industrial Distribution at Texas A&M University and the Director of Manufacturing and Logistics Innovation Initiatives at the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station. He is the co-author of Sustainable supply chain management in the digitalisation era: The impact of Automated Guided Vehicles and, with Chelsea White, the co-author of How to build a more secure, resilient, next-gen U.S. supply chain.
Chelsea C. White III is the Schneider National Chair in transportation and logistics and is a professor at the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Georgia Tech. He is the co-author of Mobile Access Hub Deployment for Urban Parcel Logistics and How to build a more secure, resilient, next-gen U.S. supply chain with Eleftherios Iakovou.

This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker, Melissa Chiprin and Sudd Dongre.

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Scholars’ Circle – What happened at COP26 in Glasgow ? – November 28, 2021

November 28, 2021 host

After world leaders met in Glasgow to mitigate the climate crisis, what exactly did they discuss? What was in the agreement and what does that mean for the future of the planet? We break down some of the specific agreements and the language used to confront the climate crisis. How does a promise to “phase down” the use of coal fall short of the required action to confront the crisis? What role should indigenous peoples, largely unrepresented at the meetings, play at administering these carbon reductions? [ dur: 58mins. ]

Reynaldo A. Morales is Assistant Professor at Northwestern University with a joint faculty appointment at the Medill School of Journalism & Media and the Buffett Institute for Global Affairs. He is the author of Building Global Indigenous Media Networks: Envisioning Sustainable and Regenerative Futures Around Indigenous Peoples’ Meaningful Representation.
Klaus Weber is a Professor of Management & Organizations and the deputy director of the Northwestern Buffett Institute for Global Affairs. He is also affiliated with the Institute for Sustainability and Energy at Northwestern. He is the author of Organizational Structure from Interaction: Evidence from Corporate Sustainability Efforts.
Shannon Gibson is Associate Professor of Political Science, International Relations, and Environmental Studies at the University of Southern California. She is the author of the forthcoming book Politics of Global Environment.

This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker, Melissa Chiprin and Sudd Dongre.

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Scholars' Circle Interviews

Scholars’ Circle – Will Carbon emission reduction goals be met with voluntary commitments by Corporations and the Nation State – November 21, 2021

November 20, 2021 host

Climate Change is an existential threat that demands bold action and a transformation of how humanity uses its resources. Concepts like “net zero” and “carbon offset” have done little toward decreasing the amount of greenhouse gases we emit into the atmosphere. Is the current legal and voluntary structure adequate to meet the challenge of climate change? Are we up to the challenge? [ dur: 58mins. ]

William Moomaw is Emeritus Professor of international environmental policy and founding director of the Center for International Environment and Resource Policy at The Fletcher School, Tufts University. He is the co-founder and current co-director of the Global Development and Environment Institute at Tufts. Professor Moomaw has been a lead author of five Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Reports. He is the author of Intact Forests in the United States: Proforestation Mitigates Climate Change and Serves the Greatest Good and Scientist Diplomats or Diplomat Scientists: Who Makes Science Diplomacy Effective?
LeRoy Westerling is Professor of Management of Complex Systems at Ernest and Julio Gallo Management Program at the University of California, Merced. He is the co-author of Greater Temperature and Precipitation Extremes Intensify Western U.S. Droughts, Wildfire Severity, and Sierra Nevada Tree Mortality.
Christopher Wright is Professor of Organisational Studies at the University of Sydney Business School. He is the co-author of Climate Change, Capitalism, and Corporations: Processes of Creative Self-Destruction.
Prue Taylor is the Deputy Director of the New Zealand Centre for Environmental Law. She is Senior Lecturer in the School of Architecture and Planning at the University of Auckland. She is the author of Opportunity within Failure: Can the Global Pact for the Environment Learn from Responsibility to Protect? and a book chapter on Responsibility for the Ecological Integrity of the High Seas: The Role of Natural Law.

This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker, Melissa Chiprin and Sudd Dongre.

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Scholars’ Circle – Algorithms, how do they make biased decisions? – November 14, 2021

November 13, 2021 host

Algorithms reflect the biases of the society in which they exist and the programmers who create them. There has been a social and political reaction against their use. How do algorithms govern social and political interactions? What is the most proper use of algorithms? And what are the biases that persist in their use? [ dur: 58mins. ]

Tina Eliassi-Rad is a Professor of Computer Science at Northeastern University. She is also a core faculty member at Northeastern’s Network Science Institute and the Institute for Experiential AI. She is the author of Measuring Algorithmically Infused Societies and What Science Can Do for Democracy: A Complexity Science Approach.
Damien Patrick Williams is PhD candidate in the Department of Science, Technology, and Society at Virginia Tech. He is the author of Why AI Research Needs Disabled and Marginalized Perspectives, Fitting the description: historical and sociotechnical elements of facial recognition and anti-black surveillance, and Constructing Situated and Social Knowledge: Ethical, Sociological, and Phenomenological Factors in Technological Design.
Henning Schulzrinne is Professor in the Department of Computer Science at Colombia University. He is the co-author of Mobility Protocols and Handover Optimization: Design, Evaluation and Application, Bridging communications and the physical world and Future internets escape the simulator. He was nominated as Internet Hall of Fame Innovator in 2013. He was Chief Technology Officer for the FCC under the Obama Administration.

This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker, Melissa Chiprin and Sudd Dongre.

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Scholars’ Circle – Critique on Governance in Post-Colonial Cameroon, a country with linguistic and sectarian divide and clashes – November 7, 2021

November 6, 2021 host

Cameroon has seen increased violence and an ongoing civil war based on its linguistic, sectarian divide. Can the nation survive? How much is this a democracy deficiency and how much is this failure of leadership? How can Cameroon overcome its governance challenges? [ dur: 36mins. ]

John Mukum Mbaku is a Brady Presidential Distinguished Professor of Economics and John S. Hinckley Fellow at Weber State University. He is the author of Protecting Minority Rights in African Countries: A Constitutional Political Economy Approach and co-author of Corruption in Africa: Causes, Consequences, and Cleanups.
Moses K. Tesi is a Professor of Political Science at Middle Tennessee State University. He is the author of the Balancing Sovereignty and Development in International Affairs: Cameroon’s Post-Independence Relations with France, Africa, and the World and a contributor to The State, Politics, and the Struggle for Democracy in Cameroon.

As civil war in Cameroon continued with clashes between the Franchophone and Anglophone populations, protests against violations of federalism agreements were met with state led violence. What were the impacts? We’ll hear from one of the organizers. [ dur: 22mins. ]

Fontem A. Neba was Secretary General of the Teacher’s Trade Union of the University of Buea before his arrest on the 17th of January, 2017. He was Secretary General of the now banned Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium. Mr. Neba was Professor of Applied Linguistics at the University of Buea. Now he is in exile and serves as the Secretary General of the Southern Cameroon’s Alliance.

This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker, Melissa Chiprin and Sudd Dongre.

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The Scholars' Circle Interviews

Category Archives: Scholars’ Circle Interviews

Scholars’ Circle – Kazakhstan Protests and Government Violence ; Omicron Variant Rages and Global Vaccine Distribution Issues – January 9, 2022

Scholars’ Circle – Use of Earth’s Magnetic Field by Birds and Animals ; Examining Human’s relationship with Animals – January 2, 2022

Scholars’ Circle – How power of the Supreme Court fails institution of American democracy – December 19, 2021

Scholars’ Circle – Mainstream media getting wrong about US Inflation ; Decolonize the language around arms control – December 12, 2021

Scholars’ Circle – Why US Supply Chain Failed During the Pandemic and How to make it Resilient – December 5, 2021

Scholars’ Circle – What happened at COP26 in Glasgow ? – November 28, 2021

Scholars’ Circle – Will Carbon emission reduction goals be met with voluntary commitments by Corporations and the Nation State – November 21, 2021

Scholars’ Circle – Algorithms, how do they make biased decisions? – November 14, 2021

Scholars’ Circle – Critique on Governance in Post-Colonial Cameroon, a country with linguistic and sectarian divide and clashes – November 7, 2021

By Maria Armoudian