Past events hosted by the Berger Institute include Speaker Series, Conferences, Panels, and Workshops.
2017
“Six years ago we created StyleLikeU as an alternative to unconscious self-hate. Home to a series of radically honest docu-style video portraits that redefine our culture’s notion of beauty, each piece of our content is driving public engagement around the reversal of the fashion and beauty industry’s crippling status quo. By featuring the diverse stories of unapologetic individuals who are true to themselves and comfortable in their skin, you will be empowered to discover that same sense of freedom and comfort in your own skin.”
We will learn about self-acceptance and break down harmful stereotypes our country faces daily through speech and workshop activities.
Friday, April 28th in McKenna Auditorium at CMC
Lunch* + Talk: 11:00AM – noon
Workshop: Noon – 2:00PM, followed by book sale and signing
RSVP here.
Gabriela Pereira is a writer, speaker, and self-proclaimed word nerd who challenges students to find their voice and use their words for the power of good. As the founder and instigator of DIYMFA.com, her mission is to empower writers, artists, and other creative individuals to take an entrepreneurial approach to professional growth.
Pereira earned her MFA in creative writing from The New School and teaches at national conferences and regional workshops, as well as online. She also hosts DIY MFA Radio, a popular podcast where she interviews bestselling authors.
Ms. Pereira Athenaeum’s talk is co-sponsored by the Berger Institute for Work, Family & Children at CMC. Register here.
April 24, 2017: Stronger Outline = Stronger Story: A writing workshop with Gabriela Pereira of DIY MFA
Whether you’re a plotter, a “pantser” or somewhere in between, an outline can make your story stronger while making your writing life easier. Many writers think of an outline as either too daunting or too stifling but, if done correctly, it can be a powerful addition to your writing toolkit.
During this workshop, Gabriela will show you how to create a strong, flexible outline that’s custom-designed for your style, your process, and your story. She will also share her secret sauce formula for story structure and show how it works in popular books and movies. You’ll leave this interactive session knowing how to use your outline to perfect your plot, deepen your characters, and guide your story from draft to done.
Please RSVP here for Monday, April 24th 2:00 – 3:30pm at the Center for Writing and Public Discourse.
2016
February 1, 2016: Women in the World of High Tech: Voices from Silicon Valley. Hosted by CMC’s Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Have lunch at the Ath while you listen and learn from recent CMC grads at various career stages in high-profile jobs at prestigious firms (Google, Uber, and more) in Silicon Valley and the Bay Area. Panelists will discuss a broad arrange of topics, including: preparation for careers in tech, how to leverage past accomplishments and personal and professional networks to develop careers in tech, obstacles and challenges faced in the competitive and male-dominated culture of Silicon Valley, and approaches for problem-solving, including work/life balance issues. Please click here to reserve your spot.
February 19, 2016: The 7th annual Women & Leadership Workshop, co-hosted by The Robert Day School of Economics and Finance, The Kravis Leadership Institute and The Women & Leadership Alliance. This event is designed to support all students during their time of preparation for post-graduation opportunities and employment, allowing them to connect with each other and successful women leaders representing various fields of endeavor. Lunch begins at 11:30 in the Ath, with afternoon table rotations in McKenna Auditorium. Our keynote speaker this year is Dorothy Atwood, SVP, Global Public Policy at the Walt Disney Company. More information, including how and when to register, coming soon.
March 28, 2016: Women in Accounting. Join us for a lunch panel at the Athenaeum. Stay tuned for more information and a reservation link!
2015
October 26, 2015: Susan Sered, “Incarceration by Any Other Name: The Unholy Alliance of Religion, Therapeutic Culture, and the State.” Ms. Sered is a professor of sociology at Suffolk University in Boston and a senior researcher at Suffolk University’s Center for Women’s Health and Human Rights. Previously she also directed a research program in Religion, Health, and Healing at Harvard University’s Center for the Study of World Religions. A prolific writer, her books include Can’t Catch a Break: Gender, Jail, Drugs, and the Limits of Personal Responsibility, Uninsured in America: Life and Death in the Land of Opportunity, and Priestess, Mother, Sacred Sister: Religions Dominated by Women, among others. Drawing on a decade of fieldwork with criminalized women in Massachusetts, Sered argues that medicalization, criminalization, and the omnipresent 12-step movement create a double-edged sword that blames individuals for societal failings.
October 22, 2015: Anne Fausto-Sterling, “Gender Is a Process, Not a Trait: The Dynamics of the Origins of Difference in Infancy.” Ms. Fausto-Sterling is the Nancy Duke Lewis Professor Emerita of Biology and Gender Studies in the department of molecular biology, cell biology, and biochemistry and former director of the Science & Technology Studies Program at Brown University. She participates actively in the field of sexology and has written extensively about the biology of gender, sexual identity, gender identity, and gender roles. Fausto-Sterling is the author of several acclaimed books, including Sex/Gender: Biology in a Social World and Sexing the Body, that are referenced widely in feminist and scientific inquiry, as well as scientific publications in developmental genetics and developmental biology. Dr. Fausto-Sterling’s current research is focused on applying dynamic systems theory to the study of gender differentiation in early childhood. Using her empirical work on mother-infant interactions to develop a dynamic account of gender formation, she will talk about her view that gender is a dynamic process, not a singular trait, and contrast dynamic systems theory with standard gene-environment accounts of development.
April 15, 2015: Arn Chorn Pond, “Child of War, Man of Peace.” Cambodian Genocide survivor, author of Never Fall Down, and founder of Cambodian Living Arts, CMC Athenaeum. Co-sponsored with members of the Women and Leadership Alliance (WLA), including the Berger Institute for Work, Family & Children, the Mgrublian Center for Human Rights, the Center for Writing and Public Discourse, the Kravis Leadership Institute, and the Marian Miner Cook Athenaeum.
April 6, 2015: As part of the Berger Institute’s Health Speaker Series, we welcomed Mr. Jason Altmire, Florida Blue’s senior vice president, Public Policy and Community Engagement. Prior to joining Florida Blue in 2013, Mr. Altmire served three terms as a United States Congressman in Washington, D.C. For more information about Mr. Altmire, please click here.
February 20, 2015: 6th Annual Women and Leadership Workshop co-sponsored by the Berger Institute, the Kravis Leadership Institute, and the Robert Day School of Economics and Finance. The workshop took place from 11:30 am-4 pm at the Athenaeum and featured keynote speaker Azure Antoinette in addition to a networking reception and roundtable discussion.
2014
October 15, 2014: Our second speaker in the Berger Institut’s Health Speaker Series was Dr. Susan Wood, formerly of the FDA and now at the Global Women’s Institute at the George Washington University. Her talk was titled: “Women’s Health, Health Reform, and the Coverage of Contraception.”
October 1, 2014: The Berger Institute kicks of its Health Speaker Series with Dr. Robert Ross, president and CEO of The California Endowment. Dr. Ross offered his perspectives on the imperative to advance health status and access to care particularly among vulnerable and underserved populations in our state.
The first annual ImpactCMC weekend took place on Friday October 10th and Saturday October 11th here on campus. CMC’s key volunteers and board members converged for a weekend of engagement, networking, discussion, and fun. The weekend concluded with a tailgate party and CMS’s Homecoming game that Saturday night.
Friday, April 4, 2014: Eric Hanushek is the Paul and Jean Hanna Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution of Stanford University and was the keynote speaker at the Southern California Conference in Applied Microeconomics, hosted by the Berger Institute and CMC’s Lowe Institute. He has been a leader in the development of economic analysis of educational issues with his work frequently entering into the design of national and international educational policy. His research spans such diverse areas as the impact of teacher quality, high stakes accountability, equity and efficiency in school finance, and class size reduction along with the role of cognitive skills in international growth and development. His pioneering analysis measuring teacher quality through growth in student achievement forms the basis for current research into the value-added of teachers and schools. He has authored or edited twenty books, along with over 200 articles. He is a Distinguished Graduate of the United States Air Force Academy and completed his Ph.D. in economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Thursday, March 6, 2014: Film producer Sarah Johnson Redlich at the Athenaeum. Ms. Redlich was the Executive Producer on such films as Miss Representation, which explores the portrayal of women in the media and how it diminishes the influence of women in the public sphere, The Invisible War, and the upcoming The Mask You Live In, which asks: as a society, how are we failing our boys? Miss Representation was screened throughout the afternoon of March 6th in Freeberg Lounge in the Athenaeum.
February 13, 2014: Kathy DeBoer, at noon in the Athenaeum. Ms. DeBoer is currently Executive Director of the American Volleyball Coaches Association and the author of Gender and Competition: How Men and Women Approach Work and Play Differently. DeBoer examines many of the non-physical differences between the sexes (their values and fears, conversation, behavior, psychological adjustment, etc.), then helps define these and other variables as they relate to gender differences in both competitive play and competitive work environments. Finally, DeBoer offers detailed suggestions on how men and women can communicate, understand, and ultimately overcome their differences.
February 11, 2014: Rebecca Jo Plant, author of Mom: The Transformation of Motherhood in Modern America. Plant is currently an associate professor in the History Department at the University of California, San Diego. Recently, she has been researching and writing about the psychological, social and political consequences of war in the nineteenth and twentieth-century U.S.
February 7, 2014: 5th Annual Women and Leadership Workshop co-sponsored by the Berger Institute, the Kravis Leadership Institute, and the Robert Day School of Economics and Finance. The workshop will take place from 11:30 am-4 pm at the Athenaeum and will feature keynote speaker Michelle Bauman ’89 in addition to a networking reception and roundtable discussion. For more information, click here to view the flyer.
February 4, 2014: Lunch with Eve Ensler, playwright, performer, and activist, best known for her play “The Vagina Monologues.”
2013
September 23, 2013: Gloria Allred, “Women’s Rights and Women’s Wrongs – Sexual Harassment in the Workplace and Sexual Assault on College Campuses.” Allred currently serves as president of the Women’s Equal Rights Legal Defense and Education Fund, and Time magazine called her “one of the nation’s most effective advocates of family rights and feminist causes.” Co-sponsored with the Athenaeum, ASCMC, the Kravis Leadership Institute, and the Center for Writing and Public Discourse.
September 18, 2013: Zach Wahls, “What Makes A Family?” The son of two lesbian mothers, this 19-year-old University of Iowa student shares his fresh, bold perspective on the issue of gay marriage. Co-sponsored with the Athenaeum.
April 25, 2013: The Berger Institute is pleased to sponsor a screening of Mary Trunk’s film Lost in Living. This film tells the story of four women – a painter, a filmmaker, a novelist, and a multi-media artist – in two different age brackets, and gives them room to speak about the choices and challenges of being both a mother and an artist. Screening in Pickford Auditorium from 4-6pm.
April 19, 2013: Hilary Hoynes, keynote speaker at the Southern California Conference in Applied Microeconomics, co-hosted with the Lowe Institute of Political Economy.
March 13, 2013: Jennifer Pozner, author whose book Reality Bites Back brings attention to the negative stereotypes of women cultivated and perpetuated by reality TV.
March 1, 2013: 4th Annual WLA Women and Leadership Workshop, from 11:30am-3:30pm in the Marian Miner Cook Athenaeum. Co-sponsored by the Kravis Leadership Institute, and the Robert Day School of Economics and Finance, and members of the Women and Leadership Alliance. More information here!
February 26, 2013: Rachel Lloyd, a leading advocate for commercially sexually exploited and domestically trafficked girls and young women. In 1998, with only a computer and $30, Lloyd established GEMS: Girls Educational and Mentoring Services to support girls and young women victimized by the commercial sex industry.
February 20, 2013: Jaclyn Friedman, writer, performer, and activist, and the editor of the hit book Yes Means Yes: Visions of Female Sexual Power and a World without Rape (one of Publishers’ Weekly’s Top 100 Books of 2009 and one of Ms. Magazine’s Top 100 Feminist Non-fiction of All Time list). Her latest book, What You Really Want: The Smart Girl’s Shame-Free Guide to Sex and Safety, was released in November 2011.
2012
November 8, 2012: Ann Meyers Drysdale, the only woman to sign a free agent contract with the NBA. Currently the Vice President of the Phoenix Suns (NBA), Time has called her one of the ten greatest female athletes of all time. This event, in celebration of the 40th anniversary of Title IX, is sponsored by CMS Athletics, the Marian Miner Cook Athenaeum, the Berger Institute, the Kravis Leadership Institute, the Robert Day School of Economics and Finance, and the Center for Human Rights Leadership.
October 31, 2012: Anita Hill, currently Senior Advisor to the Provost and Professor of Social Policy, Law, and Women’s Studies at Brandeis University. Sponsored by the Robert Day School of Economics and Finance, the Berger Institute, the Center for Writing and Public Discourse, and the Marian Miner Cook Athenaeum.
October 3, 2012: Lisa Maatz, Director of Public Policy and Government Relations for the American Association of University Women (AAUW). Sponsored by the Marian Miner Cook Athenaeum and the Berger Institute for Work, Family, and Children.
April 27, 2012: WLA Negotiation Workshop, from 2:00-5:00pm in Pickford Auditorium at Claremont McKenna College. Co-sponsored by the Women & Leadership Alliance, the Kravis Leadership Institute, the Robert Day School of Economics and Finance, and the CMC Office of Development. This workshop targeted negotiation strategies in the areas of compensation, professional development and social interactions in three specialized sessions. Each session was led by a professional in the respective topic area and students had an opportunity to participate in negotiation simulations based upon focused scenarios.
April 13, 2012: Southern California Conference in Applied Microeconomics, co-hosted with the Lowe Institute of Political Economy and the Robert Day School of Economics and Finance. The Berger Institute sponsored the lunch keynote speaker, Dr. Michael Greenstone, 3M Professor of Environmental Economics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His talk was entitled “Can Adaptation Save Us From Climate Change?”
March 22-25, 2012: The 4th International Conference on Adoption and Culture, Mapping Adoption: Histories, Georgraphies, Literatures, Politics. Co-hosted with the Alliance for the Study of Adoption and Culture and theIntercollegiate Women’s Studies of the Claremont Colleges.
March 7, 2012: A Career in Law: Can You Achieve Work/Life Satisfaction? At the Marian Miner Cook Athenaeum. Panelists included: Gigi Birchfield, Esq., CMC ’82, P’12, Judge John P. Doyle, CMC P’11, P’13, Judge Carolyn B. Kuhl, CMC P’11, Judge Margaret Nagle CMC P’10, P’12. Moderated by Judge Suzanne H. Segal CMC ‘82. Click here for more information on our panel members.
February 22, 2012 – Meg Wolitzer, best-selling novelist and writer. Her books, including The Wife (2004), The Ten-Year Nap (2008), and The Uncoupling (2011), have been praised in the pages of The New York Times and The Washington Post, among others. In addition, Wolitzer has written a number of screenplays. Her short fiction has appeared in The Best American Short Stories and The Puschcart Prize, and she has also taught writing at the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop and at Skidmore College.
February 10, 2012: WLA Women and Leadership Workshop. The keynote speaker was Jennifer Waggoner (CMC ’95), President of the League of Women Voters of California, whose talk was titled “Nobody Wants to Be A Leaderette.” Co-sponsored by the Berger Institute for Work, Family, and Children, the Kravis Leadership Institute, the Robert Day School of Economics and Finance, and members of the Women and Leadership Alliance. This event took place in the Marian Miner Cook Athenaeum.
February 5, 2012: Living Room Conversation on Work and Family, Burlingame, CA. This event was hosted at the home of Wendy Verba CMC ’82, a Berger Institute Advisory Board Member. The focus of the conversation was “Work and Family.”
2011
November 30, 2011 – Condoleezza Rice, former United States Secretary of State (2005-2009) and former United States National Security Advisor (2001-2005); author, No Higher Honor: A Memoir of My Years in Washington (2011) and Extraordinary, Ordinary People: A Memoir of Family (2010). Sponsored by Res Publica, the Berger Institute for Work, Family, and Children, the Kravis Leadership Institute, the Salvatori Center for the Study of Individual Freedom, the Lowe Institute of Political Economy, the Keck Center for International & Strategic Studies, and the Marian Miner Cook Athenaeum.
October 26, 2011: A lunch (12pm) panel discussion held in the Marian Miner Cook Athenaeum: A Career in Government: Can You Achieve Work/Life Satisfaction? Panelists included Hilary Appel (Podlich Family Professor of Government and Associate Dean of the Faculty, CMC), Lisa Minshew Pitney, CMC ’88 (Government Relations, Disney Co.), Aleta Wagner (Executive Director for International Programs, CMC). Moderated by William Ascher (Donald C. McKenna Professor of Government and Economics, CMC).
September 18, 2011: Living Room Conversation, Los Angeles, CA. This event was hosted at the home of Gigi Birchfield (CMC ’82), a Berger Institute Advisory Board Member. The focus of the conversation was “Navigating Work and Family in Today’s Global Economy.”
April 15, 2011 – “Immigration: Economics, Attitudes and Policies.” A talk by Dr. David Card, Class of 1950 Professor of Economics, University of California, Berkeley; Director, Center for Labor Economics, University of California, Berkeley; and Faculty Research Associate, National Bureau of Economic Research. Keynote speaker at the Southern California Conference in Applied Microeconomics, co-hosted with the Lowe Institute of Political Economy. The Berger Institute sponsored a lunch with the keynote speaker.
March 21, 2011 – Ellen Galinsky, President and Co-Founder of Families and Work Institute (FWI), helped establish the field of work and family life at Bank Street College of Education, where she was on the faculty for twenty-five years. Her more than forty books and reports include the highly acclaimed Mind in the Making: The Seven Essential Life Skills Every Child Needs, Ask The Children and the now classic The Six Stages of Parenthood. She has published over 100 articles in academic journals, books and magazines.
March 2nd, 2011: Women in Finance: Can You Achieve Work/Family Satisfaction? At the Marian Miner Cook Athenaeum. Co-sponsored with the Robert Day School of Economics and Finance. Panel members: Heidi Cruz (CMC ’94), M.B.A., Tiffany Kosch, M.B.A., and Jill Mullen (CMC P’12). Click here for more information on our panel members.
February 25, 2011: WLA Women and Leadership Workshop. They keynote speaker was Dr. Lois Frankel, President of Corporate Coaching International, whose talk was titled “See Jane Lead.” Co-sponsored by the Kravis Leadership Institute, the Berger Institute for Work, Family, and Children, and the Robert Day School of Economics and Finance. This event took place in the Founders Room (Bauer Center North) from 9 – 11:30am, followed by lunch in the Marian Miner Cook Athenaeum.
2010
September 22nd, 2010: Women in Science and Medicine: Can You Achieve Work/Life Satisfaction? A lunch panel discussion, 11:45am – 1:15pm at the Marian Miner Cook Athenaeum. Panel members: Stephanie Cropper, M.D., Jean Doble, M.B.S., Nina Karnovsky, Ph.D., and Angelika Niemz, Ph.D. Co-sponsored with the Joint Science Department and the 5 College Women in Science Club. Click here for more information on our panelists.
April 16, 2010 – “Gender, Source Country Characteristics and Labor Market Assimilation Among Immigrants.” A talk by Dr. Francine Blau, Frances Perkins Professor of Industrial and Labor Relations and Labor Economics and Academic Fellows of the Labor and Employment Relations Association (LERA). Keynote speaker at the Southern California Conference in Applied Microeconomics, co-hosted with the Lowe Institute of Political Economy.
March 10, 2010 – Joanna Strober, author of Getting to 50/50: How Working Couples Can Have It All By Sharing It All
2009
October 5, 2009 – Sylvia Ann Hewlett, author of Off-Ramps and On-Ramps: Keeping Talented Women on the Road to Success (2007)
April 19, 2009: Living Room Conversation on Work and Family, Palos Verdes Estates, CA
March 23, 2009 – Dr. Janet Currie, Professor of Economics and Chair of the Department of Economics, Columbia University
March 11, 2009 – Sandra Tsing Loh, writer/performer, regular commentator on NPR’s “Morning Edition”
March 2, 2009 – Dr. June Carbone, Edward A. Smith/Missouri Chair of Law Professor, University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law
February 23, 2009: Alumni Panel on Work and Family
February 8, 2009: Living Room Conversation on Work and Family, Atherton, CA (Bay Area)
2008
November 9 , 2008: Living Room Conversation on Work and Family, Orange County, CA
September 14, 2008: Living Room Conversation on Work and Family, Los Angeles, CA
April 15, 2008 – Dr. Ross D. Parke, Distinguished Professor of Psychology and Director of the Center for Family Studies, University of California, Riverside
March 25, 2008 – Dr. Shelly Lundberg, Castor Professor of Economics and Directos of the Center for Studies in Demography and Ucology, University of Washington
February 18, 2008 – Dr. Raka Ray, Sarah Kailath Chair of India Studies, Associate Professor of Sociology and South and Southeast Asia Studies, University of California, Berkeley
2007
March 24, 2007: CMC Women in Real Life: The Work/Family Challenge. A first-ever conference for CMC women (and men) of all ages, stages, and choices, exploring the ways we struggle for balance on the work/family spectrum.
2006
November 6, 2006 – Dr. Stephanie Coontz, Professor of History and Women’s Studies, The Evergreen State College
October 24, 2006 – Dr. Kathryn Edin, Professor of Sociology and Research Associated at the Population Studies Center, University of Pennsylvania
October 9, 2006 – Hon. Eugene Hyman, Santa Clara Superior Court Judge
September 26, 2006 – Jeremy Rifkin, Founder and President of the Foundation on Economic Trends
March 25, 2006: Work and Families: Changing Realities, 23rd Annual Claremont Symposium.
March 16-17, 2006: Biology and Beyond: Siblings in Foster Care and Adoption Conference.
2005
November 7, 2005 – Dr. Carollee Howes, Professor of Education University of California, Los Angeles
September 26, 2005 – Julie Fletcher, Vice-President, Human Resources and Learning Option One Mortgage
2004
March 11, 2004 – Dr. Phyllis Moen, Professor of Sociology, University of Minnesota
March 1, 2004 – Amelia Tyagi, Co-Founder of HealthAllies
February 26, 2004 – Dr. Bernardo J. Carducci, Professor of Psychology and Director of the Shyness Research Institute at Indiana University Southeast
2003
April 7, 2003 – Dr. Rosalind Barnett, Women’s Studies Research Center, Brandeis University
March 31, 2003 – Dr. Michael Lamb, Head, Section on Social and Emotional Development, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
February 22, 2003: Leadership in Work/Family Balance Conference.
January 27, 2003 – Dr. Alvin Poussaint, Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School – Co-sponsored with the Marian Miner Cook Athenaeum
2002
April 15, 2002 – Duncan Thomas, Professor of Economics, University of California, Los Angeles
April 2, 2002 – Cathy Guisewite, Cartoonist, “Twenty-five Years with Cathy”
April 1, 2002 – Hedrick Smith, Film Maker, “Juggling Work and Family”
March 4, 2002 – Barbara Schneider, Co-chair, Chicago Center on Working Families, University of Chicago
February 18, 2002 – Ann Crittenden, Author, “The Price of Motherhood”
January 30, 2002 – Diane F. Halpern, Director, Berger Institute for Work, Family, and Children and Professor, Claremont McKenna College
2001
October 4, 2001 – Maya Ajmera, Founder, Global Fund For Children