Lunch and Learn: Misinformation

Co-presented with the Prince George's County Office of Human Rights

This summer, grab your favorite lunch at noon and tune in to virtual conversations with the Prince George’s County Office of Human Rights and the Prince George’s County Memorial Library System on topics from repairing the effects of racial injustice to fighting for equitable access to recovering from exile and loss. Let’s learn together!

Lunch and Learn returns with special guests Theo Dolan, Dr. David A. Crocker, and Dr. Stacy J. Kosko. We will talk about misinformation, how to spot it, why it’s important to notice misinformation and propaganda, and how to combat them.

Registration not required. Click on the YouTube video linked below to stream the program live or watch the recording later.

About our guests: 

Theo Dolan currently serves as Digital Technology and Civic Activism Advisor at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Dolan has twenty years of experience working at the intersection of media, technology and peacebuilding, including by designing and leading international initiatives to address digital threats such as disinformation and hate speech. Dolan has collaborated with local partners in Iraq, Afghanistan, South Sudan and Somalia to produce entertaining multimedia programs to educate youth audiences about their roles in building peace and help them feel empowered to take up those roles. While working for international NGOs such as IREX, FHI 360 and the United States Institute of Peace (USIP), he has led projects designed to prevent election violence, counter violent extremism, and support civil society’s role in engendering good governance. From 2013-2018, he lived in Nairobi, Kenya while heading the regional office of PeaceTech Lab, an offshoot of USIP. He is a seasoned expert in educating youth and marginalized groups about media literacy as a tool for building resilience to manipulative information and serves on the board of Media Literacy Now, a US-based advocacy organization. Mr. Dolan holds a Master’s degree from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and a Bachelor’s degree from Middlebury College.

Dr. David A. Crocker is a Research Professor Emeritus in the University of Maryland’s Thurgood Marshall School of Public Policy. He came to UMD in 1993 and retired in 2019. He specializes in international development ethics, sociopolitical philosophy, transitional justice, democracy and democratization. He was the founder and first president of the International Development Ethics Association. In 2010, Crocker received the Landmark Award "given for exceptional long-term achievements in support of international life at the University of Maryland." In 2018, he received the School of Public Policy’s award for “Social Impact.”

Dr. Stacy J. Kosko is an Associate Research Professor in the Department of Government and Politics and Director of the College Park Scholars International Studies program at the University of Maryland.  Her research and consulting work focuses on development ethics, human rights, and marginalized populations while her teaching and pedagogy emphasize experiential and project-based learning.  She spent the 2017-2018 academic year as a Fulbright Scholar in Moldova. At UMD she co-founded the Experiential Learning Working Group.  She is a fellow of the Human Development and Capability Association and Vice President of the International Development Ethics Association as well as Vice Chair of the Board at the Center for Values in International Development.