Speakers include activists, scholars, scientists, and local and national leaders
The Tisch College of Civic Life will host politicians, activists, journalists, scholars, musicians, faith leaders, and even an astronaut for a mix of in-person and virtual events this spring.
Featured speakers this semester include U.S. Representatives Ayanna Pressley, Jamie Raskin, and Peter DeFazio, A69; Sen. Tim Scott; and astronaut Leland Melvin, among many others.
All events, including events held in-person, will be livestreamed, allowing for all members of the community to attend safely. Attendance for in-person events is limited to a set number of members of the Tufts community, and a Tufts ID will be required for entry. Please see each event description for attendance details.
For more information about all events and to register, please visit https://tischcollege.tufts.edu/events.
Civic Life Lunch — Taking a Breath with the Holistic Life Foundation: Mindfulness for Resilience & Wellbeing
Wednesday, February 16 | noon ET | virtual
Ali Smith, Atman Smith and Andres Gonzalez, founders of Holistic Life Foundation
Register here
Tufts Alumni in Political Journalism Career Panel
Thursday, February 17 | 5 p.m. ET | virtual
Praveen Singh, J98, TYT Network; Katherine Tully-McManus, A13, Politico; Elizabeth Landers, A13, Vice News; Grace Segers, A17, the New Republic, A17; and Caleb Symons, A20, the Keene Sentinel
Register here
Civic Life Lunch — Big Brother 2.0: Privacy in the Social Media Age
Wednesday, February 23 | noon ET | virtual
Cyrus Farivar, a senior writer at Forbes who covers surveillance technology and artificial intelligence
Register here
Tisch College Solomont Speaker Series: Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley
Thursday, February 24 | 5:30 p.m. ET | virtual
Join Tisch College for a conversation on building a multiracial democracy with U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Massachusetts). She was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2018, making her the first woman of color to be elected to Congress from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Prior to her time in office, Pressley was a community activist, working as a senior aide to Congressman Joseph P. Kennedy II, volunteering for Senator John Kerry’s reelection campaign, and working for Kerry for 13 years in a variety of roles, including constituency director and political director.
Register here
Tufts School of Engineering Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Colloquium: Leland Melvin
Friday, February 25 | 3 p.m. ET | hybrid event
Join the School of Engineering and Tisch College for a conversation with engineer, educator, NFL wide receiver, and NASA astronaut Leland Melvin. He served on board the Space Shuttle Atlantis as a mission specialist in 2008 and 2009, helping to construct the International Space Station. Melvin then led NASA education and co-chaired the White House’s Federal Coordination in STEAM Education Task Force, developing the nation’s 5-year STEM education plan. In 2017 Melvin published a memoir, Chasing Space: An Astronaut's Story of Grit, Grace, and Second Chances.
NOTE: In person attendance will be limited for health and safety reasons, but the event will also be livestreamed for virtual attendees.
Registration information to follow
Grand *Old* Party? Youth & the Future of the Republican Party with Tim Miller
Monday, February 28 | 5:30 p.m. ET | virtual
Tim Miller, political consultant, writer-at-large for The Bulwark, MSNBC political analyst, and host of “Not My Party” on Snapchat
Register here
Civic Life Lunch — From The Hill to Beacon Hill: Politics, Service & Representation with Rep. Tram Nguyen
Thursday, March 3 | noon ET | Rabb Room, Barnum Hall (in-person)
A conversation on Massachusetts politics, civic action, and the importance of equity and representation with Tram Nguyen, A08, Massachusetts state representative for the 18th Essex District. Nguyen was first elected to office in 2018 and is the first Vietnamese American woman in elected office in the Commonwealth and the first Vietnamese American elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives.
NOTE: In-person attendance will be limited to the Tufts community and will be capped at 45 people for health and safety reasons; Tufts IDs will be required for entry. The event will also be livestreamed for virtual attendees; virtual attendance via Zoom is open to the public and additional access details will be emailed in advance of the event.
Register here
Tisch College Solomont Speaker Series: “Revolutionary Nonviolence: Organizing for Freedom” with Rev. James Lawson and Kent Wong
Monday, March 7 | 5:30 p.m. ET | virtual
A conversation on the power of nonviolence in a modern context, organizing for social justice, and building a multiracial democracy with activists Rev. James Lawson and Kent Wong. In their new book, Revolutionary Nonviolence: Organizing for Freedom, Lawson and Wong provide a history of nonviolent philosophy and how to overcome violence and oppression through organized direct action, and chart a roadmap for a new generation of activists. Lawson was one of the civil rights movement’s leading theoreticians and tacticians and his work as a theologian, pastor, and social-change activist has inspired hope and liberation for more than 60 years. He is a Methodist minister who taught nonviolent theory and practice to help launch the 1960s Nashville lunch counter sit-ins, the Freedom Rides, the Memphis sanitation strike, and worker and immigrant rights movements in Los Angeles. Wong is director of the UCLA Labor Center, a union attorney, and a labor activist. He has taught a course on nonviolence with Lawson for the past 20 years and has published books on the labor movement, immigrant rights, and the Asian American community.
Register here
Willful Defiance: The Movement to Dismantle the School-to-Prison Pipeline
Thursday, March 10 | 5:30 p.m. ET | virtual
Mark R. Warren, author, professor of public policy and public affairs at the University of Massachusetts Boston; Zakiya Sankara-Jabar, co-founder and director of Racial Justice NOW; Lorraine Wright, executive director of I Vote for Me
Register here
Civic Life Lunch: “Amplified Justice”
Tuesday, March 15 | noon ET | Rabb Room, Barnum Hall (in-person)
Bonnie Gordon, associate professor of critical and comparative studies at the University of Virginia
NOTE: In-person attendance will be limited to the Tufts community and will be capped at 45 people for health and safety reasons; Tufts IDs will be required for entry. The event will also be livestreamed for virtual attendees; virtual attendance via Zoom is open to the public and additional access details will be emailed to you in advance of the event.
Registration information to follow
What’s Going on with America’s School Boards?
Wednesday, March 16 | noon ET | virtual
Gerard Robinson, former secretary of education in Virginia and Florida education commissioner; Brian Reagan, superintendent of Waltham Public Schools; and Sarah Reckhow, associate professor of political science at Michigan State University
Register here
Tisch College Solomont Speaker Series: Congressman Jamie Raskin — “Unthinkable: Trauma, Truth, and the Trials of American Democracy”
Tuesday, March 29 | 6 p.m. ET | virtual
Join Tisch College for a conversation with U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Maryland). Earlier this year, Raskin published his New York Times number-one bestselling memoir, Unthinkable: Trauma, Truth, and the Trials of American Democracy, which documents the 45 days at the start of 2021 as he is confronted with the painful loss of his son to suicide, the violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, and leading the impeachment effort of President Trump.
Register here
Russell Lecture on Spiritual Life & Solomont Speaker Series: Valarie Kaur
Monday, March 28 | 4:30 p.m. ET | in-person
Join Tisch College and the University Chaplaincy for a joint Solomont Speaker Series and Russell Lecture on Spiritual Life event as we welcome civil rights activist, faith leader, filmmaker, lawyer, and author Valarie Kaur, who will speak on Revolutionary Love—the way of being that allows us to be present for and fully respect others.
Register here
Hoch Cunningham Environmental Lecture: Willie Burnley, Jr. & Charlotte Kelly, Somerville City Councilors At-Large
Thursday, March 31 | noon ET | virtual
Register here
Tisch College Solomont Speaker Series: Senator Tim Scott
Friday, April 1 | noon ET | in-person
Join Tisch College for a conversation on current events, public service, and the future of American politics with U.S. Sen. Tim Scott (R-South Carolina). Scott has represented South Carolina in the U.S. Senate since 2013. He currently serves on the Senate’s Finance Committee; the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions; the Committee on Banking, Housing & Urban Affairs; the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship; and serves as the ranking member on the Special Committee on Aging.
NOTE: In-person attendance will be limited to Tufts community members for health and safety reasons, and Tufts IDs will be required for entry. The event will also be livestreamed for virtual attendees; virtual attendance via Zoom is open to the public and additional access details will be emailed to you in advance of the event.
Register here
Civic Life Lunch - Science + Music + Action: What If We Change How We Look at (and Hear) the Climate Crisis?
Wednesday, April 6 | noon ET | virtual
The ClimateMusic Project: lead science advisor William Collins, composer Wendy Loomis, and poet Royal Kent
Register here
Tufts Food Systems Symposium — Unpacking Meat: Values, Cultures, and Futures
Friday, April 8 | TBD | virtual
This symposium will bring together a range of actors from different disciplines and practices to promote dialogue, share insights, and gain new perspectives on meat consumption.
Details and exact timing will be forthcoming.
Indicate interest in attending here
Tisch College Solomont Speaker Series: Congressman Peter DeFazio
Monday, April 11 | 5:30 p.m. ET | in-person
A conversation with U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Oregon), A69, as he discusses his 36-year career in U.S. Congress, including making his mark on environmental and infrastructure policy. The current chair of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, DeFazio was elected to the House of Representatives in 1986 and is the longest serving House member from Oregon and the 65th-longest serving member of the House in U.S. history. Prior to Congress, DeFazio served in the Air Force Reserves 1967-71. DeFazio announced in December that he would not seek re-election in 2022.
NOTE: In-person attendance will be limited to Tufts community members for health and safety reasons, and Tufts IDs will be required for entry. The event will also be livestreamed for virtual attendees; virtual attendance via Zoom is open to the public and additional access details will be emailed to you in advance of the event.
Register here
Lyon & Bendheim Citizenship Award — Talia Quandelacy, A07: “From Dengue to COVID: Epidemiology for Equity and Public Action”
Monday, May 2 | noon ET | hybrid
A conversation with infectious disease epidemiologist and the 2022 recipient of the Lyon & Bendheim Citizenship Award, Talia Quandelacy, A07. Quandelacy is an assistant professor of epidemiology at the Colorado School of Public Health. She has been named the recipient of the Lyon & Bendheim Citizenship Award in recognition of her exceptional work on federal and state-level responses to the COVID-19 pandemic and her efforts to uplift health disparities experienced by Native American communities. Read more about her work here.
The Lyon & Bendheim Citizenship Award celebrates individuals, groups, or institutions affiliated with Tufts University that have shown a commitment to civic engagement through successful initiatives, creative solutions, or bold leadership. J.B. Lyon, A85, and Tom Bendheim, A85, established the award to celebrate leaders who are making a difference and to connect them with students and alumni on campus.
NOTE: In-person attendance will be limited to Tufts community members for health and safety reasons, and Tufts IDs will be required for entry. The event will also be livestreamed for virtual attendees; virtual attendance via Zoom is open to the public and additional access details will be emailed to you in advance of the event.
Register here
Robin Smyton can be reached at robin.smyton@tufts.edu.
