Bishop C.C. McCabe Lectures
Bishop Charles Cardwell McCabe embodies the spirit of American University's founders. McCabe, Vice Chancellor and Chancellor of the university from 1899-1902, dreamt of an educational system unlike that of any other university of its time. He believed in building a lasting future for AU and began the first successful fundraising campaign with his call to action, "Five dollars each, from one million people," to foster the new university.
Under Bishop McCabe's leadership, American University's second building was constructed: the McKinley Memorial Building, created in honor of United States President William McKinley. McCabe himself laid the cornerstone for the building.
Filmmaker Alex Rivera: Artificial Intelligence, Science Fiction, and RasquacheFutures October 24, 2023
Named by Varietyas one of “Ten Directors to Watch," award-winning filmmaker Alex Riverawill speak to American University's College of Arts and Sciences for the 2023-24 Bishop McCabe Lecture Series.
Rivera's work explores themes of globalization, migration, and technology. For over 25 years, Rivera has used science-fiction imagery to illuminate Latinx lives and politics. Hewill discuss how rhetoric and the recent and profound emergence surrounding ‘artificial intelligence’ have impacted his image-making and thinking about technology, labor, and power.Riverawill be joined byProfessor David Vazquez and Professor Despina Kakoudaki for a panel discussion after his presentation.
About Alex Rivera
Rivera’s first feature film,Sleep Dealer, a cyberpunk thriller set on the US/Mexico border, won awards at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival and the Berlin International Film Festival, was screened at the Museum of Modern Art and had a commercial theatrical release in the US, France, Japan, and other countries. InThe New York Times, A.O. Scott described Rivera as “a brilliant young director” andVarietynamed him one of “Ten Directors to Watch.”
Rivera’s second feature,The Infiltrators, won the NEXT: Audience Award and the Innovator Award at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival. The Infiltrators uses documentary and scripted forms to tell the true story of Dreamers who ‘infiltrate’ a detention center to get immigrants out.The Hollywood Reporterraved “watching it is a thrill” andThe New Yorker Radio Hourcalled the film “extraordinary and important.”
Alex Rivera is a 2021 MacArthur Fellow, Sundance Fellow, Creative Capital Grantee, and was The Rothschild Lecturer at Harvard University. He studied at Hampshire College, lives in Los Angeles, and is an Associate Professor of Filmmaking Practice at ASU's Sidney Poitier New American Film School.
The Bishop McCabe Lecture Fund
The Bishop C.C. McCabe Lecture Fund was established by the Board of Trustees in 1907 in memory of the Bishop and through his generous bequest to the College of Arts and Sciences. Although these funds help to offset the costs of producing the lecture series, they do not fully support its needs.
If you are interested in making a gift in support of the Bishop C.C. McCabe Lecture Series, please the Office of Development and Alumni Relations at 202-885-5900, or make your gift online.
Bishop McCabe's legacy can still be felt today. The Bishop McCabe Fund was established in 1906 through a bequest in the Bishop's will to create a lecture series in the College of Arts and Sciences. Today, the Bishop C.C. McCabe Lecture Series features prominent faculty members, notable alumni, and distinguished scholars from all disciplines within the college.
Sponsors
- College of Arts & Sciences
- Literature Department
- Antiracist Research & Policy Center
- Humanities Lab
- Center for Latin American
& Latino Studies - American University Library
- AU Core
- Latinx Studies Program
- School of Communications