Handel Family Endowed Chair to Perpetuate the Legacy of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt

The Handel Chair honors the memory of President and Mrs. Roosevelt by annually supporting a speaker at the College who will address local or national public policy issues or by supporting research or other scholarly activities related to matters affecting the community or nation.

Eleanor Roosevelt: The First Lady of World War II

October 12, 2023

• Speaker: Shannon McKenna Schmidt, author of “The First Lady of World War II: Eleanor Roosevelt’s Daring Journey to the Frontlines and Back” and co-author of two books – “Novel Destinations: A Travel Guide to Literary Landmarks from Jane Austen’s Bath to Ernest Hemingway’s Key West” and “Writers Between the Covers: The Scandalous Romantic Lives of Legendary Literary Casanovas, Coquettes, and Cads.”
• Facilitated by Shalon Hallager, instructor, history

Defenseless Under the Night: The Roosevelts, LaGuardia and the Origins of Homeland Security

November 17, 2022

• Speaker: Dr. Matthew Dallek, George Washington University professor and author
• Facilitated by Shalon Hallager, instructor, history

Eleanor Roosevelt and the Arc of the Moral Universe 

November 13, 2018

• Speaker: Michael D. Cooper, The Ploughshare Group 
• Facilitated by Dr. Andrew Rieser, professor, history

Staying Aloof is Not a Solution: Eleanor Roosevelt’s Call to Action

October 12, 2017

• Speaker: Dr. Allida Black, George Washington University Professor and author
• Facilitated by Susan Conrad, professor, physical science and geology and Tina Iraca, assistant professor, English

Symposium: Our Native Soil: The Dish on Dutchess County’s Dirt

April 8, 2017

• Keynote Speaker: Kayla Altland, FDR National Historic Site
• Facilitated by Dr. Mark Condon, professor, biology

Rewriting the Rules of the 21st Century Economy: From Structural Exclusion to Structural Inclusion

April 2016

• Speaker: Dr. Dorian Warren, MSNBC contributor and Roosevelt Institute fellow
• Facilitated by Seemi Ahmad, professor, economics

Hidden Convictions: The Second Red Scare and the Unmaking of the New Deal Left

April 2015

• Speaker: Dr. Landon Storrs, associate professor of history at the University of Iowa
• Facilitated by Laura Murphy, professor, history

Reflections on Fear and Democracy: The New Deal and Its Legacies

March 2014

• Speaker: Dr. Ira Katznelson, Columbia University’s Ruggles Professor of Political Science and History
• Facilitated by Todd Wilmot, assistant professor, history

The Long Reaction: The Transformation of American Politics and the Backlash Against the New Deal

April 2013

• Speaker: Dr. Kimberly Phillips-Fein, New York University History Professor
• Facilitated by Dr. Mikko Manner, associate professor, economics

Supreme Power: FDR’s Court Fight – and Barack Obama’s

April 2012

• Speaker: Jeff Shesol, historian, communications strategist and former speechwriter for President Bill Clinton
• Facilitated by Dr. Andrew Rieser, professor, history

The similar challenges faced by President Franklin D. Roosevelt and President Barack Obama

March 30, 2011

• Speaker: Jonathan Alter, author and former senior editor, Newsweek
• Facilitated by Seemi Ahmad, professor, economics

Achievements of Frances Perkins, the Secretary of Labor under President Franklin D. Roosevelt

April 2010

• Speaker: Kirstin Downey, journalist formerly with The Washington Post, shared 2008 Pulitzer Prize
• Facilitated by Laura Murphy, professor, history

FDR and the Evolution of American Freedom in Depression and War

April 1, 2009

• Speaker: Eric Foner, renowned historian and DeWitt Clinton Professor of History at Columbia University 
• Facilitated by George Stevens, professor emeritus, History, Government & Economics Department

Untitled

March 2008

• Speaker: Dr. Robert Dallek, retired Boston University historian of U.S. foreign policy & American presidents
• Facilitated by Dr. Andrew Rieser, professor, history

Untitled

2007

• Speaker: Lizabeth Cohen; Paul Krugman, Nobel Prize winner
• Facilitated by Seemi Ahmad, professor, economics

Untitled

2006

• Speaker: Blanch Wiesen Cook
• Facilitated by Dr. Werner Steger, professor, history

Untitled

2005

• Speaker: Dr. Lawrence Levine, MacArthur Fellow
• Facilitated by George Stevens, professor emeritus, History, Government & Economics Department

Untitled

2004

• Speaker: David M. Kennedy, Pulitzer Prize winner 
• Facilitated by Richard Reitano

Lectures are free and open to the public and are made possible by contributions to the Dutchess Community College Foundation. For more information or to be added to the mailing list call (845) 431-8400 or email dccf@sunydutchess.edu.