The Pope’s Call for Action on Climate Change
“Man can’t change the climate.” With those words on the floor of the United States Senate last January, Senator James Inhofe of Oklahoma summarized the current Republican consensus on climate change. The Earth is so big, the logic goes, that our insignificant selves could never have an impact big enough to alter the climate. In a 50-49 vote that followed, the Senate said climate change was not caused by human activity. … Read More
Pell Center Tapes Pilot Episodes of “Story in the Public Square” TV Show
The Pell Center at Salve Regina University has announced its latest undertaking—a talk show that interviews today’s best storytellers about their creative process and how their stories impact public understanding and policy.
Lisa Genova: Neuroscientist, Best Selling Author, Advocate and 2015 Pell Center Prize Winner
NEWPORT, R.I.—Lisa Genova is on a mission. The Harvard-trained neuroscientist and author of four best-selling novels, including Still Alice and the recently published Inside the O’Briens, wants to use the books she writes to change lives, end stigma, and create a world where we can talk about survivors of Alzheimer’s and other neurological diseases and conditions. Genova was honored for her work with the 2015 Pell Center Prize for Story … Read More
IRS Hacked…Again!
Although many people may seek to avoid phone calls from the IRS, this is one you’ll want to take—the IRS is contacting nearly 100,000 people because hackers stole their personal (and sensitive) tax information. In addition, the hackers attempted to pilfer an extra 100,000 tax returns but were unsuccessful, according to the agency. The IRS breach is just the latest bullet point in an endless list of cyber exploits that … Read More
The Will to Fight
U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter stirred reaction in Baghdad and Washington this weekend when, in an appearance on CNN, he blamed the loss of Ramadi to an outnumbered force of ISIS militants on the Iraqi military’s apparent unwillingness to fight. It was a striking statement by a senior American official—and it was refreshing. Secretary Carter didn’t break news—even a casual observer of the Iraqi military’s previous fights with ISIS would … Read More
Rhode Island Students Awarded Pell Medal for U.S. History
Newport, R.I.—Sixty-six Rhode Island students earned the Herbert and Claiborne Pell Medal for U.S. History this year. The medal, administered now by the Pell Center at Salve Regina University, recognizes college and high school students in the state who have excelled in U.S. History. The Pell Medal was originally presented by Senator Claiborne Pell and his wife, Mrs. Nuala Pell, for more than 50 years. After Mrs. Pell’s passing in … Read More
We Remember | Memorial Day 2015
Gilgamesh, in the epic Mesopotamian poem, wanted to live forever, like the gods. But Gilgamesh was human. His mortality meant that he would know death. His name, however, could live forever. He would be remembered, he reasoned, because of the great things he did. He asked: “Who is the mortal able to enter heaven? Only the gods can live forever. The life of man is short. What he accomplishes … Read More
Pell Center Lecture Discusses U.S Government and Private Sector Cybersecurity Efforts, the Impacts of the NIST Framework
NEWPORT, R.I.—The Pell Center hosted a major cybersecurity lecture this month that featured Roger Cressey, an internationally known cybersecurity expert and counterterrorism analyst with NBC News, and Kiersten Todt, President and Managing Partner of Liberty Group Ventures, LLC. Over 50 senior leaders representing Rhode Island’s private and public sectors took part in the event to discuss cyber risk management and the impacts of the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s … Read More
A Pivot to the East in the Struggle for Power in Cyberspace
As the U.S. relationship with China and Russia continues to deteriorate—cyber-espionage accusations straining relations with the former, the crisis in Ukraine complicating ties with the latter—the two Eastern superpowers joined forces last week to sign a new cybersecurity pact. The deal between China and Russia unites our main cyberspace adversaries and signals Russia’s pivot to the East, all of which will likely exacerbate cybersecurity tensions all around. According to the … Read More
Pick Your Poison: Ignoring Science at Our Own Peril
Throughout human history, our progress has been intimately linked to advances in science. Even in the so-called “dark ages,” the light of learning was turned on the natural world. From those efforts came Copernicus, Tycho Brahe, and Galileo. New understandings of the universe based on observation with new instruments challenged world-views, and the Pope, in one of the great refutations of science in recorded history, forced Galileo to recant his … Read More