Off the Cuff – The Oberlin Review

Off The Cuff: Jorge Heine, Former Chilean Ambassador

March 15, 2019

Jorge Heine is an experienced politician, educator, and author. He is a former Chilean ambassador to China, India, Bangladesh, South Africa, and Sri Lanka. Heine is also a former Chilean Cabinet Minister and is currently a Public Policy Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C.. Additionally, Heine has contributed as a consultant to the United Nations, sits on the editorial board of various publications, including Global Governance, World Affairs, and Diploma...

OTC: Kathleen Stephens, Former U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Korea

March 8, 2019

Former U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Korea Kathleen Stephens spoke yesterday on “Militarization and Demilitarization on the Korean Peninsula” for the 2019 Global Issues Symposium. The symposium has spent all of February and March exploring the theme “Militarization of Global Politics, Economy & Society.” The talk was part of a panel titled “Militarized East Asia.” In addition to her work in South Korea, Stephens has also worked in China, the former Yugoslavia, Portugal, and No...

Rosa Brooks, Georgetown Law Professor

March 1, 2019

Rosa Brooks is a law professor at Georgetown University currently focusing on issues related to police brutality. She was the keynote speaker at Oberlin’s 2019 Global Issues Symposium, giving a Feb. 15 lecture titled “How Everything Became War and the Military Became Everything: Tales from the Pentagon.” In 2016, she published a book under the same title which discussed hyper-militarization in the United States. Brooks has served as counselor to the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy in ...

OTC: Zahida Sherman, Multicultural Resource Center Director

February 22, 2019

Zahida Sherman stepped into her new role as director of Oberlin’s Multicultural Resource Center on Monday, Feb. 18. Most recently, Sherman was an assistant director of Black Student Success at the University of the Pacific. She has also worked as an associate development coordinator for Diversity and Inclusion at Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP in Los Angeles, and as an assistant director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Kenyon College. Sherman earned her BA in anthropology fro...

OTC: Krista Long, Owner of Ben Franklin’s

February 15, 2019

Krista Long, an Oberlin native, is the owner and operator of Ben Franklin and MindFair Books. She is a highly active member of the Oberlin community. In addition to owning two small businesses, Long has children who went to Oberlin public schools. She has also participated in Cleveland 101, an orientation program that introduced incoming first-years to the area and taught them how best to navigate the Oberlin and greater Northeast Ohio community during first-year orientation. This interview has...

Kaitlyn Rivers, Chair of Black Scientists Guild

February 8, 2019

College junior Kaitlyn Rivers is Biology major interested in marine science and conservation. Originally from Florida, Rivers is also the chair of Oberlin’s Black Scientists Guild, a campus organization dedicated to supporting Black students in STEM fields that have historically been dominated by white scientists. As chair, Rivers hopes to build community between Black science students at Oberlin, help them connect with alumni, and help them explore career possibilities. In honor of Black History...

Joseph B. Maiville, Evening Circulation

December 7, 2018

Joseph Maiville, OC ’07, is the evening circulation desk supervisor at the Mary Church Terrell library. He first visited Oberlin as a prospective student in the spring of 2003 and has lived here ever since. Around Terrell, Maiville is known for his consistent, easygoing presence and love of puns. Off campus, he is involved in local politics around Lorain County and has dabbled in music as well, fronting a heavy-metal band for three years. He credits Oberlin with helping him to discover his pas...

Jesse Milan, Jr., AIDS Activist

November 30, 2018

Jesse Milan Jr. is the president and CEO of AIDS United, an organization dedicated to fighting the AIDS epidemic in the United States. He delivered a convocation address Tuesday titled “You are the Keeper of the HIV Movement,” which discussed the ways young people can engage in the HIV/AIDs movement. Milan has lived with HIV for 35 years and has been involved with activism in the public health sector for over 30 years. A lawyer by training, he currently serves on the Scientific Advisory Board for...

Josh Voorhees, Political Journalist

November 16, 2018

Josh Voorhees, an American political journalist and senior writer for Slate, delivered a lecture on Monday titled “Blue Waves and Red Walls: Making Sense of the 2018 Midterm Election.” Voorhees has taught in London, has covered national politics in Iowa City, and is now based in Northeast Ohio. He specialized in covering national and international political campaigns and has been published in Politico, Greenwire, The Scientific American, E&E News and the New York Times. This interview ...

Josh Keating, OC ’07, Slate Editor

November 9, 2018

Josh Keating, OC ’07, is a writer and editor at Slate magazine focusing on international news and foreign policy. He returned to campus in October to meet with students, faculty, and staff and to discuss his new book Invisible Countries, which investigates ideas around nationhood, borders, and what defines a country. Keating has been interested in geography and borders since childhood, when he followed global news events like the fall of the Berlin Wall. Over the course of his research f...

Peter Staley, Activist

November 2, 2018

Peter Staley, OC ’83, is an HIV/AIDS–LGBTQ rights activist who was a prominent member of AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) and the founder of Treatment Action Group (TAG), which formed and eventually split from the Treatment and Date Committee of ACT UP. Staley is a main figure in the Oscar-nominated documentary How to Survive a Plague, which details the history of ACT UP and the AIDS crisis. Staley returned to Oberlin for his talk, “Radical Homosexuals: How ACT UP Changed the World.�...

Off The Cuff: Karen G. Fleming, Professor

October 12, 2018

Karen G. Fleming is a Biophysics Professor at Johns Hopkins University. She frequently speaks at universities across the nation about fostering a more supportive environment for women and people of color in the STEM fields. In recognition of her work, Fleming received an award from Johns Hopkins Diversity Leadership Council in 2015. Fleming visited Oberlin last Wednesday to present her talk, “#WeCanBeBetter: Bystander Intervention as a Tool for Achieving Equity in STEM,” which details ...