2013 Speakers

Jeremy Courtney

January Series 2013

Thursday, January 3
Underwritten by: Spectrum Health

In the heart of conflict, there is only one kind of love big enough to change a nation: a love that strikes first. Jeremy Courtney is the founder of Preemptive Love Coalition, a development organization that works across Iraq providing lifesaving surgeries for children and more recently responds to the daily needs of those living in the shadow of ISIS. He is also the author of Preemptive Love, a book that invites you to walk along the front lines of the struggle for peace with Jeremy in a firsthand account of his team's quest to mend hearts and save lives in the world's most notorious war-torn country. Jeremy hosts conversations about peacemaking and Muslim-Christian relations and shares stories of love and hope from the front lines of Syria and Iraq, where he has lived for over a decade with his wife and two children. 

Sheryl WuDunn

January Series 2013

Friday, January 4
Underwritten by: Holland Litho Printing Services

WuDunn is a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and co-author of three best-selling books. The most recent is Half the Sky, about the challenges facing women around the globe. It has been featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show, The Colbert Report, and other network television shows and will be featured as a four-hour PBS primetime national and international broadcast event this October. WuDunn lectures to a wide range of American and global audiences and has been invited to speak to the secretary general of the United Nations, former vice president Al Gore, and other senior officials on economic, political, and social topics related to women in the developing world, the global economy, China, and the emerging markets. In 2011, Newsweek cited WuDunn as one of the “150 Women Who Shake the World.”

Note: Due to contractual restrictions, this presentation is not recorded or archived.

Roberta Green Ahmanson

January Series 2013

Monday, January 7
Underwritten by: Calvin Academy for Lifelong Learning

Ahmanson is a writer and philanthropist whose public activities are focused on deepening awareness and understanding of the role of religion in public life, the importance of knowing history to understand the present, and the vital role the arts play in shaping human experience.  She is chairman of the board of the Museum of Biblical Art in New York City, a regular speaker at the International Arts Movement’s annual encounters, and a frequent commentator on the arts.  She has sponsored a number of international art exhibitions, the most recent being “The Sacred Made Real” at the National Galleries in London and Washington DC.  She and husband, Howard, are trustees of the private philanthropy Fieldstead and Company.  Most recently, Ahmanson was Visionary-in-Residence for Biola University's Year of the Arts, 2011-2021. Ahmanson is a Calvin alum who will return to share her passion for the world of art.

Jenny Yang

January Series 2013

Tuesday, January 8
Underwritten by: John & Mary Loeks

Yang is the Director of Advocacy and Policy for the Refugee and Immigration Program at World Relief. In this position, Jenny works with members of congress, their staffers, and the administration to improve refugee and immigration policy. Previous to World Relief, she worked at the largest political fundraising firm in Maryland managing fundraising and campaigning for local politicians. Jenny has researched refugee and asylum law in Madrid, Spain through the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. She is the co-author of Welcoming the Stranger with her colleague, Matthew Soerens.

Richard Mouw and Robert Millet

January Series 2013

Wednesday, January 9
Underwritten by: Charles & Jan Stoddard

Mouw has served as president of Fuller Theological Seminary since 1993, after having served the seminary for four years as provost and senior vice president. A philosopher, scholar, and author, Mouw joined the faculty of Fuller Theological Seminary as professor of Christian philosophy and ethics in 1985. Before coming to Fuller he served for 17 years as professor of philosophy at Calvin College. Mouw serves as a panelist in the online forum “On Faith”offered by the Washington Post. In 2007 Princeton Theological Seminary awarded Mouw the Abraham Kuyper Prize for Excellence in Reformed Theology and Public Life.  Mouw has also participated on many councils and boards, and he currently serves as president of the Association of Theological Schools. He served for six years as co-chair of the official Reformed-Catholic Dialogue, and is a leader for interfaith theological conversations, particularly with Mormons and Jewish groups. Robert Millet is the leading Mormon theologian and a BYU professor.  Together they will discuss the history of their interfaith dialogue, and explain areas where they agree and disagree.

Peter Diamandis

January Series 2013

Thursday, January 10
Underwritten by: The Richard & Helen DeVos Foundation

Diamandis is the Chairman and CEO of the X Prize Foundation, which offers large cash incentive prizes to inventors who can solve grand challenges like space flight, low-cost mobile medical diagnostics and oil spill cleanup. He is the chair of Singularity University, which teaches executives and graduate students about exponentially growing technologies, and he is the founder of more than a dozen space and high tech companies.  He has degrees in molecular biology and aerospace engineering from MIT, and an M.D. from Harvard Medical School.

Note: Due to contractual restrictions, this presentation will not be recorded or archived.

Captain Scotty Smiley

January Series 2013

Friday, January 11
Underwritten by: GMB Architects + Engineers

Captain Smiley, a Ranger and combat-diver qualified infantryman, was the Army's first active-duty, blind officer and its first blind company commander. On April 6, 2005, he lost use of both eyes when a suicide car bomber blew himself up 30 meters in front of Scotty's Stryker vehicle. Since that day, Smiley has surfed in Hawaii, skied in Vail, skydived, climbed Mount Rainier, completed a triathlon, and graduated from Duke University's Fuqua School of Business with his MBA. The Army Times named Captain Smiley its Soldier of the Year in 2007, and in 2008 he won an ESPY as the world's Best Outdoor Athlete. Scotty, a recipient of the Bronze Star and Purple Heart, recently taught the core course in leadership at West Point and now commands the Warrior Transition Unit at West Point's Keller Army Medical Center. Captain Smiley was recently named a recipient of the Army’s prestigious MacArthur Leadership Award.

Jeff Van Duzer

January Series 2013

Monday, January 14
Underwritten by: Van Wyk Risk & Financial Management and the Calvin Center for Innovation in Business

Van Duzer is the author of “Why Business Matters to God: And What Still Needs to be Fixed” and dean of the School of Business and Economics at Seattle Pacific University. He is also professor of business ethics and law, and prior to his work with SPU he served as a partner with Davis A Wright Tremaine, an international law firm.  Van Duzer has spoken at a number of different venues, including Redeemer Presbyterian Church’s Gospel and Culture Lectures in 2010.  

Rebecca Skloot

January Series 2013

Tuesday, January 15
Underwritten by: Miller Johnson

Skloot is an award- winning science writer whose articles have appeared in The New York Times Magazine; O, The Oprah Magazine; Discover; Prevention; Glamour; and others.  She specializes in narrative science writing and has worked as a correspondent for WNYC’s Radiolab and PBS’s Nova ScienceNOW. She and her father, Floyd Skloot, are co-editors of The Best American Science Writing 2011.  The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is Skloot’s first book and it immediately became a bestseller.  Ittells a riveting story of the collision between ethics, race, and medicine; of scientific discovery and faith healing; and of a daughter consumed with questions about the mother she never knew. It’s a story inextricably connected to the dark history of experimentation on African Americans, the birth of bioethics, and the legal battles over whether we control the stuff we’re made of.

Note: Due to contractual restrictions, this presentation will not be recorded or archived.

Cokie Roberts

January Series 2013

Wednesday, January 16
Underwritten by: Meijer, Inc. and Barnes & Thornburg

Long-time ABC congressional correspondent and leading political pundit, Cokie Roberts is one of the most esteemed and brilliant broadcast journalists of our time. Roberts currently serves as a political commentator for ABC News, providing analysis for all network news programming. From 1996-2002 she and Sam Donaldson co-anchored the weekly ABC interview program This Week. Roberts also serves as Senior News Analyst for National Public Radio. In her more than 40 years in broadcasting, she has won countless awards, including three Emmys. She has been inducted into the Broadcasting and Cable Hall of Fame, and was cited by the American Women in Radio and Television as one of the 50 greatest women in the history of broadcasting.

Note: Due to contractual restrictions, this presentation is not recorded or archived.

W. Dwight Armstrong

January Series 2013

Thursday, January 17
Underwritten by: Belstra Milling Company

By 2050, world population will grow from 7 to 9 billion. Experts suggest agricultural output must double to provide the food, feed, fiber and fuel to meet increased demand and provide relief to the one billion currently suffering from food insecurity and hunger. Yet analysts suggest we will not be able to bring new land into production, use more water than we do today, or expand the use of fertilizers and pesticides in ways that would threaten the environment. The paths we take to feed a growing planet and meet the needs of consumer choice are the hot topics in agriculture today. Inevitably, they will involve tradeoffs, risks and compromise. Dr. Dwight Armstrong, CEO of the national FFA organization, will explore the issues that face domestic and global communities as they race against time to create balanced agricultural systems that will feed the world in a nutritious, sustainable way.

Garth Pauley

January Series 2013

Friday, January 18
Underwritten by: I.C.N. Foundation

Pauley is a professor of Communication Arts and Sciences at Calvin College and teaches American oratory.  He specializes in the area of the rhetoric of the American civil rights movement, American political rhetoric on civil rights issues, and colonial era American sermons.  Pauley earned his Ph.D. from Penn State and is a past recipient of a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Communication Association's Karl Wallace Memorial Award.  He will speak to our audience on the topic of presidential speeches just days prior to the 2013 Presidential Inauguration.

Robert Robinson

January Series 2013

Monday, January 21
Underwritten by: Larry & Mary Gerbens Family Foundation in celebration of the work being done by the Baxter Community Center, the Grand Rapids Symphony's "Celebration of Soul", and the Grand Rapids African American Health Institute

Robinson is a two-time Minnesota Music Award Winner for Best Gospel Artist and Group and has been voted Best Male Vocalist by the Minneapolis and Saint Paul entertainment paper, City Pages. He has performed with Aretha Franklin, nine-time Grammy Award winner Andrae Crouch, Kenny Loggins, the Sounds of Blackness, Bobby McFerrin, Barry Manilow, Jermaine Jackson, and others.  For 20 years he served as Executive and Artistic Director of the Twin Cities Community Gospel Choir. Robert’s musical catalog includes twelve solo projects.  In January 2010, Robinson launched his newest “Signature” CD and kicked off his latest tour. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel described Robinson as “a volcanic talent.” His performance was depicted as “glorious” by the Salt Lake City Deseret News, and the Minneapolis Star Tribune proclaimed Robinson to be “a soaring presence.”

Note: Due to contractual restrictions, this presentation is not recorded or archived.

Mike Kim

January Series 2013

Tuesday, January 22
Underwritten by: Peter C. and Emajean Cook Foundation

Kim is an author, consultant, NGO founder, and North Korean specialist.  He is the founder of Crossing Borders, an actionable nonprofit dedicated to providing humanitarian assistance to North Korean refugees in China.  Kim resides in Washington DC where he is helping the U.S. government understand the intricacies of international illicit networks, developing a socially responsible platform within Deloitte and acting as a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Note: Due to contractual restrictions, this presentation is not recorded or archived.

Chap Clark

January Series 2013

Wednesday, January 23
Underwritten by: The Christian Reformed Church in North America

Clark is associate provost for regional campuses and strategic projects and professor of youth, family, and culture at Fuller Theological Seminary.   A well-known practitioner, adolescent and family scholar, and author, Clark has more than 30 years’ experience in direct ministry, including 15 years with Young Life, as well as positions with several churches, Denver Seminary, and Youth Specialties. He is the senior editor of Youthworker Journal and president of Foothill Community Ministries, Inc., the parent organization for the ParenTeen and HURT Seminars. Dr. Clark has remained in direct ministry with young people, and is committed to the equipping and training of men and women who recognize the Church's mandate of reaching out to young people in the name of Christ.  He is the author of many books, articles, and videos that focus primarily on relationships. Most recently, he published Hurt 2.0 and coauthored Sticky Faith with Fuller’s Kara Powell.