Chamberlin Lectureship
The Chamberlin Lectureship is coordinated by the Center for Spiritual Life and was established at Lewis & Clark College in 1979 by the Rev. Mark and Dr. Corinne Chamberlin. Rev. Chamberlin was a minister in the United Methodist Church and Dr. Chamberlin practiced medicine in the Gresham area of Portland for over thirty years. Their hope was to bring nationally acclaimed speakers to our campus who exemplify through their scholarship or professional work a deep commitment to social justice as rooted in the faith traditions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Previous Chamberlin Lecturers include, among others, Nobel Peace Prize recipient Elie Wiesel, former United States Ambassador to the United Nations Rev. Andrew Young, Charlayne Hunter-Gault, Rabbi Michael Lerner, James Foreman, Jr., and Ash-Lee Woodard Henderson.
For the academic year of 2024-2025, the Chamberlin Social Justice Endowment committee chose to focus on supporting events that help the campus grapple with the ongoing war in Gaza and the Israel/Palestine conflict. For Fall 2024, the Chamberlin endowment supported a pedagogical experiment of a one-credit course, MENA 298, that fused Community Dialogues, Teach-Ins from internal CAS faculty members, and reading discussions to ground students in reflection and learning. An ethic of justice, reconciliation, and peace guided the creation of the course. Oren Kosansky was the primary organizer of this learning opportunity.
In December, the Center for Spiritual Life partnered with the Office for Equity and Inclusion to offer an Antisemitism and Islamophobia Workshop for Staff and Faculty. Two experts in their fields, Hussein Ibish and David Schraub, presented the workshop to 60 participants from all three schools at Lewis & Clark.
We continue to be grateful to the legacy of Rev. Mark and Dr. Corinne Chamberlin, who gift continues to stimulate our learning and encourages us to be better citizens of our global community.
For more information about the Chamberlin Lectureship, please contact Hilary Martin Himan, Chaplain and Director of Spiritual Life.
Past speakers:
