E.N. Thompson Forum

Social entrepreneur and coauthor of The Upswing: How America Came Together a Century Ago and How We Can Do It Again.

Communication strategist, creator of The Listening Table, and VP of Warmline.org, teaching communication skills to foster authentic human connection.

The E.N. Thompson Forum on World Issues is a cooperative project of the Cooper Foundation, Lied Center for Performing Arts, and University of Nebraska-Lincoln. It was established in 1988 with the purpose of bringing a diversity of viewpoints on international and public policy issues to the university and people of Nebraska to promote understanding and encourage debate.

Leilani Farha is the former UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Housing and Global Director of The Shift. Farha has helped develop global human rights standards on the right to housing, including through her topical reports on homelessness, the financialization of housing, informal settlements, rights-based housing strategies, and the first UN Guidelines for the implementation of the right to housing. She is the central character in the documentary PUSH regarding the financialization of housing. Farha launched The Shift in 2017 to advance the movement through advocacy, research and campaigning.

This interactive event will feature local students and young professionals sharing their lived experiences as immigrants and refugees. Each panelist will tell their story, presenting a multi-dimensional picture beyond what’s portrayed in the news. Panelists will then respond to questions on a range of relevant topics, moderated by Karla Hernandez Torrijos, the inaugural Student Storyteller in Residence with the Center for Great Plains Studies. Karla is an undergraduate student, poet and workshop facilitator whose writing “interrogates our understanding of home, displacement, and the liminal space in between.”

Martha Schwartz is a landscape architect, urbanist, and climate activist. Her work and teaching focuses on the urban public realm landscape and its importance in making cities “climate ready”. For more than 40 years, Martha Schwartz Partners has completed projects around the globe, from site-specific art installations to public spaces, parks, master-planning and reclamation. Schwartz is also a tenured Professor in Practice at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design and recently founded MAYDAY. Earth, a non-profit focused on communications and education about Nature Based and Geoengineering Solutions.

Tyler Riewer is Creative Director at charity: water, a $100M nonprofit organization that uses data and storytelling to connect donors to their impact and dream up new ways to think about sustainability in the water sector. As of today, charity: water has funded 91,414 projects to bring clean and safe water to 14,762,215 people. Riewer leads a team of designers and storytellers, and travels the globe capturing stories about local partners. He studied Advertising and Journalism at Nebraska and started his career at marketing agencies Archrival and Grady Britton.

Dr. Ali S. Khan is Dean and Tenured Professor of Epidemiology at the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Public Health, and a Retired Assistant Surgeon General. He served at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for 23 years before retiring as the director of the Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response. At the CDC, Dr. Khan led and responded to numerous high-profile public health emergencies, including Ebola, the Asian Tsunami, and Hurricane Katrina. In 2016 Dr. Khan published “The Next Pandemic: On the Front Lines Against Humankind’s Gravest Dangers” with William Patrick.

Echo-Hawk is President of the Pawnee Nation Business Council. He is an author, attorney, and and well-renowned legal scholar. A Pawnee Indian with a BA, Political Science, Oklahoma St. Univ. (1970) and JD, UNM (1973), he practices law in Oklahoma.

At this Cooper Conversation, young activists from UNL and Lincoln come together to discuss their activism, what motivates them, and how to move forward. Panelists will address the intersection of their own communities’ fight for racial justice, focusing on a rise in performative activism, allyship, burden of representation, and microaggressions. Moderated by Meyri Ibrahim, UNL political science and journalism major.

Anna Deavere Smith is an actress, playwright, teacher, and author, credited with creating a new form of theater. Smith received the National Endowment for the Humanities Medal and the prestigious MacArthur Fellowship. Her acting credits in television include Shonda Rhimes’s new “untitled project,” For the People, Blackish, Nurse Jackie, and The West Wing, and her film credits include The American President, Rachel Getting Married, Philadelphia, Dave, Rent, and Human Stain.

Wadhia is Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Samuel Weiss Faculty Scholar and Clinical Professor of Law at Penn State Law in University Park. Her research focuses on the role of prosecutorial discretion in immigration law and the intersections of race, national security and immigration. Wadhia will talk about immigration reform, and the need to adopt a legal and policy framework that considers the factors driving disparate immigration enforcement–policies that affirm and include, as opposed to punish or exclude.

Listen to Margaret D. Jacobs' moments of reckoning.

This kickoff event will include faculty from the departments of History and English, the Humanities in Medicine Program, and the Center for Great Plains Studies to focus on different groups and periods of racial reckoning and action.

Pre-talk discussion for E.N. Thompson forum discussion by Ann Bancroft.

Bancroft is one of the world’s preeminent polar explorers and an internationally recognized educator who is dedicated to inspiring women and girls around the world. Through her various roles as explorer, educator, speaker and philanthropist, Bancroft shares stories related to outdoor adventure to inspire a global audience to pursue their individual dreams.

Pre-talk video for the Ann Bancroft talk "No Horizon is So Far."

Focused on solutions and action, today’s youth are not afraid to face problems that threaten their future. Join us for a Cooper Conversation featuring and hosted by youth activists as they seek to inspire the broader community. Learn more about the panel on the E.N. Thompson Forum website.

Pre-talk video for the discussion "Naming the Beast: Climate Change and our Youth Taking Action."

Martinez is a powerful voice in the global youth- led environmental movement. From the age of six, Martinez has spoken around the world, from the Rio+20 United Nations Summit, to the General Assembly at the UN. A musician and activist, he is also known as a fashion model, philanthropist, and cross-cultural icon.

Margaret Huettl, Assistant Professor of History and Ethnic Studies at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, introduces the November E.N. Thompson Forum speaker Xiuhtezcatl Martinez.

Pre-talk video by David Forsythe for Doris Kearns Goodwin's E.N. Thompson Forum talk "Leadership in Turbulent Times"

Pipher, PhD, is the author of 10 books, including #1 New York Times bestseller “Reviving Ophelia: Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls” and most recently, “Women Rowing North: Navigating Life’s Currents and Flourishing As We Age.” In 2013, she published “The Green Boat: Reviving Ourselves in Our Capsized Culture” about environmental activism in Nebraska.

Introduction to writer Mary Pipher in advance of her E.N. Thompson Forum talk "Trauma and Recovery: A New Story of Interconnection and Action..."

Farah Pandith is an author, foreign policy strategist, and former diplomat. A world-leading expert and pioneer in countering violent extremism, she is a frequent media commentator and public speaker. She served as a political appointee under Presidents George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama, and most recently she was the first-ever Special Representative to Muslim Communities, serving both Secretaries Hillary Clinton and John Kerry. She has served on the National Security Council, at the U.S. Department of State, and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in various senior roles. She has also served on the Department of Homeland Security’s Advisory Council, chairing its task force on countering violent extremism.

2011 Nobel Peace Laureate Leymah Gbowee is a Liberian peace activist, trained social worker and women’s rights advocate. She currently serves as Executive Director of the Women, Peace and Security Program at Columbia University’s Earth Institute, and is the founder and current President of the Gbowee Peace Foundation Africa, the founding head of the Liberia Reconciliation Initiative, and co-founder and former Executive Director of Women Peace and Security Network Africa (WIPSEN-A). She is also a founding member and former Liberian Coordinator of Women in Peacebuilding Network/West Africa Network for Peacebuilding (WIPNET/WANEP).

Jana Eggers is a math and computer nerd who took the business path for a career. She’s CEO of Nara Logics and active in customer-inspired innovation, the artificial intelligence (AI) industry, and Autonomy/Mastery/Purpose-style leadership. Her passions are working with teams to define and deliver products customers love, algorithms, and their intelligence, and inspiring teams to do more than they thought possible. In her talk, she will address the ways that AI is already present in our lives, helping us understand what artificial intelligence is, where it’s heading, and why we should embrace it.

Nadine Strossen expertly dissects Constitutional law to share current challenges to our civil liberties today, stimulating thoughtful consideration of democratic ideals. https://enthompson.unl.edu/

In 2015, Misty Copeland became the first African American female Principal Dancer in American Ballet Theatre’s 75-year history. Hear from this artist, author, entrepreneur and humanitarian about how she broke barriers and her work to inspire young people everywhere.

Since 1922, the National Communication Association has sponsored international student exchange tours for the purpose of promoting debate, discussion, and intercultural communication. Renowned for their wit, humor, and eloquence, members of the United Kingdom’s English-Speaking Union tour the United States each year, debating the best and the brightest at our institutions of higher learning. The list of tour alumni include a British Prime Minister, a Leader of the Opposition, an Archbishop of Canterbury, and many senior politicians, journalists, and businesspeople. It promises to be educational and entertaining for those interested in communication, civic engagement, international relations, and global politics. The event will be moderated by Aaron Duncan, UNL Director of Speech & Debate.

Are there a higher set of drivers in the global economy than we commonly pay attention to? Is the election of Donald Trump really just one part of a much larger, global pattern of events that is still unfolding and will affect us for years to come? Mark Blyth, the political economist noted for predicting both Brexit and the election of Donald Trump, walks you through the disparate dynamics in both the U.S. and Europe that will forever alter politics as usual and send shockwaves through the global economy. Dr. Blyth also tells you what this shift of power means to financial markets, the fate of the EU, and the political and economic climate in the U.S. His straight-talking, no-holds-barred and frequently entertaining analysis tells it like it is, with powerful predictions of what’s to come.

Sonia Shah is an investigative science journalist and author of critically acclaimed and prize-winning books on science, human rights, and international politics. Her most recent book, “Pandemic: Tracking Contagions from Cholera to Ebola and Beyond,” was selected as a New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice. Her critically acclaimed 2010 book, “The Fever: How Malaria Has Ruled Humankind for 500,000 Years,” was based on five years of original reportage in Cameroon, Malawi, and Panama and was called a “tour-de-force” by the New York Times.

New York Times Op-Ed columnist David Brooks has a unique gift for bringing audiences face to face with the spirit of our times, and he does so with humor and insight. A regular analyst on PBS NewsHour and NPR’s All Things Considered, he is a keen observer and commentator on politics and foreign affairs. His newest book, “The Road to Character,” tells the story of ten great lives that illustrate how character is developed and models how we can all strive to build rich inner lives.

The first Asian-American reporter to win a Pulitzer Prize, Sheryl WuDunn has journeyed through several industries, from banking to journalism and book writing. Her latest book, “A Path Appears,” is about spreading opportunity and making a difference in the world. Her previous book, the best-selling “Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide,” (co-written with her husband, Nicholas Kristof,) had an immense impact on exposing the plight of oppressed peoples around the globe, sparking activism and a new sense of awareness worldwide. Thanks to the book’s popularity and global impact, it soon grew into a multi-platform digital media effort that now includes a highly popular documentary series on PBS, mobile games and an online social media game on Facebook. http://enthompson.unl.edu/

Wes Moore knows that being a leader—both in your personal life and in the business world—comes down to one thing: personal responsibility. Drawing on his experiences as a leader in the public and private sectors and in the military, Moore explains that embracing your own personal responsibility – and holding yourself accountable for your choices – is a quality that makes great "transformational leaders": leaders who create a vision, then inspire and empower those around them to execute that vision. In December 2000, the Baltimore Sun ran a small piece about Wes Moore, a local student who had just received a Rhodes Scholarship. The same paper also ran a series of articles about four young men who had allegedly killed a police officer in an armed robbery. The police were still hunting for two of the suspects who had gone on the lam, a pair of brothers. One was named Wes Moore. Moore couldn’t shake off the unsettling coincidence, or the inkling that the two shared much more than space in the same newspaper. After following the story of the robbery, the manhunt, and the trial to its conclusion, he wrote a letter to the other Wes, now a convicted murderer serving a life sentence. His letter tentatively asked the questions that had been haunting him: Who are you? How did this happen? With stories of heart-wrenching losses and moments of surprising redemption, Moore describes a generation of boys trying to find their way in a challenging and, at times, hostile world. More at https://enthompson.unl.edu/

Bill McKibben is an author and environmentalist who in 2014 was awarded the Right Livelihood Prize, which is frequently referred to as the ‘alternative Nobel.’ His 1989 book “The End of Nature” is regarded as the first book for a general audience about climate change, and has been translated into 24 languages; he’s gone on to write a dozen more books. He is a founder of 350.org, the first planet-wide, grassroots climate change movement, which has organized twenty thousand rallies around the world in every country save North Korea, spearheaded the resistance to the Keystone XL Pipeline, and launched the fast-growing fossil fuel divestment movement. http://enthompson.unl.edu/

In 2011, journalist Jose Antonio Vargas “outed” himself as an undocumented immigrant in an essay published in The New York Times Magazine. The article stunned media and political circles and attracted worldwide coverage. Vargas has since testified at a United States Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on immigration reform, and has been at the forefront of challenging the media's coverage of undocumented immigrants. His film, “Documented,” chronicles his own journey while closely exploring the plight of other undocumented immigrants in America and the politics that surround the hotly contested issue of “legal status.” CNN debuted the film in June 2014.

This Wilson Dialogue will explore the global environmental and financial effect of carbon emissions and proposed regulation. Experts Lewis and Metcalf will debate the pros and cons of carbon regulation through taxation, cap and trade, and other measures. What is the carbon footprint of your household, employer and nation? How would proposed regulation impact you? Join the dialogue to find out. More at http://enthompson.unl.edu/

Milton Chen is senior fellow and executive director emeritus at the George Lucas Educational Foundation, a nonprofit operating foundation in the San Francisco Bay Area that utilizes its multimedia website, Edutopia.org, and documentary films to communicate a new vision for 21st century education. He served as executive director of GLEF for 12 years, and during his tenure, GLEF and Edutopia, greatly expanded their editorial publishing efforts, including the award-winning Edutopia magazine. Learn more at http://enthompson.unl.edu/

More at the E.N. Thompson Forum website.

Analog telephone calls degraded with distance; digitizing communications led to the Internet. Analog computations degraded with time; digitizing computing led to the PC. Today's most advanced manufacturing remains analog: the designs are digital, but the processes are not. I will introduce emerging research on digitizing fabrication, and explore the implications of anyone being able to make (almost) anything.

Lecture Summary Zhao’s book of the same title, “Catching Up or Leading the Way: American Education in the Age of Globalization,” addresses these and other questions. At a time when globalization and technology are dramatically altering the world we live in, is education reform in the United States headed down the right path? Are schools emphasizing the knowledge and skills that students need in a global society? Or, are they undermining students’ strengths by overemphasizing high-stakes testing and standardization? Are education systems in China and other countries as superior as some people claim? American education is at a crossroads. We need to change course to maintain leadership in a rapidly changing world. How should we redesign our educational system?

In moderated debate style, Bacevich and Chollet will discuss the following topics and take questions from the audience. What is the right size and role of the U.S. military today? Drones, surveillance and technology – how and when should they be used? Does the all-volunteer military influence America’s willingness to intervene globally? Would a draft reduce U.S. military involvement? Is the permanent commitment of U.S. troops abroad in peaceful nations necessary and sustainable?

Reporter Hedrick Smith spent 26 years at the New York Times, where he was among the team that produced the Pulitzer Prize-winning Pentagon Papers. He also spent several years as the Times’ Moscow bureau chief, for which he won a Pulitzer for international reporting from Russia and Eastern Europe. That experience also yielded his bestselling book “The Russians.” Another of his books, “The Power Game: How Washington Works,” is considered a modern classic and essential reading for DC’s power players. Since 1989, Smith has created more than two dozen primetime specials for PBS, on topics ranging from Duke Ellington’s Washington to “Inside the Terror Network.” He has won numerous awards—among them two Emmys—for this television work. E.N. Thompson Forum website

Susan Glasser is the new Editor of POLITICO magazine. Previously she was editor-in-chief of Foreign Policy, the magazine of global politics, economics and ideas. During her tenure at its helm, the magazine won numerous awards for its innovative coverage, including three digital National Magazine Awards. Previously, Glasser covered the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as a foreign correspondent and editor at the Washington Post. She was also editor of Roll Call, the newspaper of Capitol Hill, and with her husband Peter Baker, co-authored the book “Kremlin Rising: Vladimir Putin’s Russia and the End of Revolution.” She is a graduate of Harvard University. E.N. Thompson Forum website

Journalist David Wessel is economics editor of The Wall Street Journal and writes the newspaper’s weekly “Capital” column. His book, “In Fed We Trust: Ben Bernanke’s War on the Great Panic,” was a New York Times notable book in 2009. Wessel has shared two Pulitzer prizes, one for a series on the persistence of racism in Boston (Boston Globe, 1983) and the other for a series on corporate wrong-doing (The Wall Street Journal, 2002). He frequently appears on National Public Radio and WETA’s Washington Week. A 1975 graduate of Haverford College, Wessel is also the co-author of “Prosperity,” a 1998 book on the American middle class. Learn more at http://enthompson.unl.edu/

In her presentation, Nobel Laureate Shirin Ebadi will tie the efforts she’s made on behalf of women and religious minorities to the world of religious freedom, all while focusing on the importance of human rights throughout. This unique program will help the audience understand the importance of tolerance, perseverance, and belief in human rights for all; and most importantly share easy tools anyone can use to make a difference. http://enthompson.unl.edu/

Since the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 was adopted, the U.S. government has paid more attention to human rights violations committed against members of religious minorities in hot spots throughout the world. Implementing this policy has encountered both resistance and assistance from traditional diplomats, foreign governments, and NGO representatives. In this lecture, Felice Gaer, director of the American Jewish Committee’s Jacob Blaustein Institute for the Advancement of Human Rights, will discuss what has been accomplished and what is needed to bolster this vital human rights concern.

The death penalty continues to generate intense debate, including in Nebraska — one of 33 states that authorize capital punishment. In this debate, Nebraska Solicitor General J. Kirk Brown and University of Colorado Boulder professor Michael Radelet will explore such questions as whether the death penalty is humane, fairly applied, reduces violent crime, or is cost effective. They’ll also examine impacts on the condemned person, the legal and judicial systems, victims’ loved ones, and the taxpaying society at large.