(PDF) (DOC) (JPG)August 27, 2018

MAHWAH, N.J. — Dr. Helen C. Epstein, visiting professor of Human Rights and Public Health at Bard College, will speak about “Another Fine Mess: the U.S. Role in Africa’s Wars,” on Friday, September 14 at 1:45 p.m. in the Robert A. Scott Student Center (Alumni Lounges) at Ramapo College of New Jersey. The lecture will be presented under the auspices of the Gross Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies and is free and open to the public.

Between April and July 1994, hundreds of thousands of Rwandans were murdered in the most rapid genocide ever recorded. In its sheer brutality, the Rwanda genocide has been compared to the Holocaust. Dr. Epstein will chronicle how the U.S. preoccupation with terrorism and its naïve dealings with strongmen are at the root of much of the turmoil in eastern and central Africa.

Epstein received her B.A. in 1984 (Physics, University of California-Berkeley), her Ph.D. in 1991 (Molecular Biology, Cambridge University), and her MSc in 1996 (Public Health in Developing Countries, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine). In 1993, she moved to Uganda in search of an AIDS vaccine and taught molecular biology in the medical school at Makerere University in Kampala for a year.

Although Epstein’s efforts to find a vaccine failed, she witnessed firsthand the suffering caused by HIV, which became the subject of her book published in 2007. This autobiographical account discusses 15 years of observing both the epidemic and the reactions to it of Western scientists, humanitarian agencies, and the communities most affected by AIDS deaths. Her most recent book, on which her lecture is based, is Another Fine Mess: America, Uganda, and the War on Terror (Columbia Global Reports, 2017). Among other periodicals, she has been a contributor to The Guardian, The New York Review of Books and The Nation. In addition to teaching at Bard College since 2010, Epstein has been a visiting research scholar at the Center for Health and Wellbeing at Princeton University and from 2013-2014 was an Open Society Fellow with the Open Society Foundations.

For information or to request disability-related accommodations for this event, please contact holgen@ramapo.edu or call 201-684-7409.

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About Ramapo College

Ramapo College of New Jersey is the state’s premier public liberal arts college and is committed to academic excellence through interdisciplinary and experiential learning, and international and intercultural understanding. The comprehensive college is situated among the beautiful Ramapo Mountains, is within commuting distance to New York City, was named one of the 50 Most Beautiful College Campuses in America by CondeNast Traveler, and boasts the best on-campus housing in New Jersey per Niche.com. Established in 1969, Ramapo College offers bachelor’s degrees in the arts, business, data science, humanities, social sciences and the sciences, as well as in professional studies, which include business, education, nursing and social work. In addition, the College offers courses leading to teacher certification at the elementary and secondary levels, and offers graduate programs leading to master’s degrees in Accounting, Applied Mathematics, Business Administration, Contemporary Instructional Design, Computer Science, Creative Music Technology, Data Science, Educational Leadership, Nursing, Social Work and Special Education, as well as a Doctor of Nursing Practice.

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