William Cohen Papers Forum Theme is Transparency, 2010
Contact: Desiree Butterfield-Nagy, 581-2665
ORONO — The fourth William S. Cohen Papers Forum will take place Friday, Nov. 12 at the University of Maine’s Wells Conference Center with opening remarks at 9 a.m.
Cary Coglianese, deputy dean and professor of political science at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, will give the keynote address. Coglianese served as the chair of a nonpartisan Task Force on Transparency and Public Participation for OMB Watch, a Washington, D.C., advocacy organization.
This year’s daylong event will focus on the theme of transparency and will include panel discussions with journalists, academics and government representatives following the keynote. Participants include several media representatives, including former Bangor Daily News editor-in-chief Mark Woodward, MPBN reporter Irwin Gratz, and Jim Campbell, producer and host of “Notes from the Electronic Cottage” for WERU-FM Community Radio.
The forum, one of Raymond H. Fogler Library’s outreach efforts, was designed to allow for contemporary discussions based on topics found in the archive of former U.S. Representative, U.S. Senator and Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen.
“We had been looking for the perfect topic to serve as a focus for the upcoming forum,” says Fogler archivist Desiree Butterfield-Nagy. “Transparency is a word that is still being defined through its use, and one surrounded by debate. It became obvious that there was a strong connection between this topic and the archival collection, so it seemed like a natural choice.”
Audience members also will hear from Amanda Wood, the director of governmental affairs in the Washington office of U.S. Sen. Susan Collins; Kelly Hokkanen, general manager of InforME, a partner of Maine.gov; and Tarren R. Bragdon, CEO of The Maine Heritage Policy Center. Several members of the University of Maine community will participate, including assistant professor Sunny Hughes and associate professors Carolyn Ball, Jon Ippolito, Joline Blais and Amy Fried.
The director, producer and individuals featured in “The Way We Get By” documentary about several volunteers who greet troops at the Bangor International Airport also will participate in a session examining connections between transparency and documentary filmmaking. Camden International Film Festival founder Ben Fowlie will moderate the session.
The free event is open to anyone who would like to register. Support for the day has been provided by the Bangor Daily News, Max Kagan Family Foundation, the Maine Humanities Council, the UMaine College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, the Cultural Affairs/Distinguished Lecture Series, and the William S. Cohen Center for International Policy and Commerce. Additional details, including registration information, are available online at http://www.library.umaine.edu/cohen.