As the U.S. turns 250, historians, politicians, and journalists will be among those looking at what’s next for American democracy
Speakers include (from top row, left to right) Adam Kinzinger, Lina Chawaf, Audrey Carver, Peter Levine, Audie Cornish, John Green, Sam Fried, Jill Lepore, and Jonathan Tirrell.
The Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life’s 2026 event programming will reflect on the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States, with many of the events this semester—featuring journalists, authors, public servants, artists, and historians—exploring the question: What’s next for American democracy?
The Civic Life Lunch theme, “Everyday Democracy,” will look at how democracy is practiced in everyday life: in the ways we make decisions, how we navigate disagreement, and how we build community. This theme builds off the fall semester’s focus on student-centered civic engagement, while allowing for a deeper, more reflective, and action-oriented exploration of civic life.
All events take place on Tufts’ Medford/Somerville campus unless otherwise noted. Visit the Tisch College events page for details and to register.
A Conversation with John Green: Everything Is Tuberculosis
Wednesday, February 4 | 4 p.m. | DeBlois Auditorium, Medical Education Building, Boston health sciences campus
Join a conversation with award-winning author John Green about his recent book Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection. From the author of best-selling books like The Fault in Our Stars and Looking for Alaska, Green’s Everything Is Tuberculosis traces the journey of Henry Reider, a young tuberculosis patient in Sierra Leone, woven together with the scientific and social histories of how this disease has shaped our world and how our choices will shape the future of this curable disease.
Everything Is Tuberculosis was selected as this year’s selection for the Common Book Program, a partnership between Tufts University School of Medicine and Tisch College, for all incoming medical students. Learn more about John Green.
This event is hosted by the Dr. Maurice S. Segal Lecture Series and Tisch College’s Solomont Speaker Series with additional support from the Tufts Center for Global Public Health and the TUSM Global Health Faculty Council.
Civic Life Lunch: Power in Practice—Analyzing Different Kinds of Power
Wednesday, February 11 | 12 p.m to 1 p.m. | Barnum Hall 208
What can democracy look like, and what strategies can we use to shape it together?
Join Tisch College’s Associate Dean Peter Levine and Associate Director of Civic Studies Sam Fried for a participatory conversation that will examine how power operates in different contexts, across different spaces and relationships. Using scholar and grassroots organizer John Gaventa’s power cube, participants will learn one tested method for understanding the many facets of power, and how to work toward more desirable political outcomes.
This session will establish shared language and questions Tisch College will return to throughout the year as its explores everyday democracy.
Solomont Speaker Series: Adam Kinzinger
Tuesday, February 24 | 5:30 p.m. | ASEAN Auditorium, Cabot Center
Join a conversation with former U.S. Congressman (R-IL), CNN political commentator, and author Adam Kinzinger. While in Congress from 2011 to 2022, Kinzinger served as a member of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce and the House Foreign Affairs Committee, where he served as Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Europe, Eurasia, Energy and the Environment in the 116th Congress. He was also one of two Republicans who served on the non-partisan Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol. Prior to Congress, Kinzinger served in the Air Force in both Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. He later served as a pilot in the Air National Guard, with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, until his retirement in 2023. Kinzinger is the author of New York Times bestselling memoir Renegade: Defending Democracy and Liberty in Our Divided Country.
The United States at 250: A Tufts Faculty Panel
Thursday, February 26 | 6 to 8 p.m. | Eaton Hall 260
As the United States celebrates the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, where are we as a nation and what’s next? Join a diverse panel of Tufts faculty to reflect on our nation’s past and to discuss the future of American democracy. Panelists will share short comments and perspectives from their area of academic expertise before opening up the conversation to audience questions. Panelists include:
- David Ekbladh, Professor, History (U.S. in the World, International History, Modern U.S. History)
- Eitan Hersh, Professor, Political Science (American Politics); Director, Center for Expanding Viewpoints in Higher Education
- Peter Levine, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Lincoln Filene Professor of Citizenship & Public Affairs, Tisch College (Political Theory, American Politics, Civic Studies)
- Meredith McLain, Assistant Professor, Political Science (American Politics, Separation of Powers, Presidency, Unilateral Policymaking, Executive Politics, Congressional Oversight)
- Paul Polgar, Lecturer, History (Slavery and Emancipation, Abolition, Race and Citizenship)
- Pearl Robinson, Professor, Political Science (Comparative Politics, Africa, African-American Politics)
- Deborah Schildkraut, John Richard Skuse Professor, Political Science (American Politics, Public Opinion, Political Psychology, Racial and Ethnic Politics, Immigration)
This event is sponsored by the Political Science Department, Tisch College, the International Relations Program, the Center for Expanding Viewpoints in Higher Education, and the History Department.
Register (In-Person Attendance).
Civic Life Lunch: The Democracy Dilemma—Civic Simulation with VF-GLADi
Tuesday, March 10 | 12 to 1 p.m. | Rabb Room, Barnum Hall
What role does listening play in navigating power, disagreement, and institutional life?
Join an interactive conversation led by Jonathan Tirrell, director of The Vuslat Foundation Generous Listening and Dialogue Initiative (VF-GLADi), that invites participants into a structured role-playing experience focused on real-world civic challenges. Rather than aiming for consensus or easy resolution, the session centers listening as strategic practice for understanding stakes, navigating power dynamics, and acting intentionally within complex systems.
Participants will leave better empowered with concrete listening strategies they can use in classrooms, workplaces, and civic spaces where disagreement and hierarchy are present.
Solomont Speaker Series: Jill Lepore
Monday, March 30 | 5:30 p.m. | Eaton Hall 260
Join a conversation with renowned professor, bestselling author, and historian Jill Lepore, J87, on her 2025 book We the People: A History of the U.S. Constitution. Published on the occasion of the 250th anniversary of America’s founding, We the People shares the messy history of the U.S. Constitution while also seeking to rekindle a sense of constitutional possibility.
Lepore is the David Woods Kemper ‘41 Professor of American History at Harvard University and professor of law at Harvard Law School, where she teaches classes in evidence, historical methods, humanistic inquiry, and American history. Much of her scholarship explores absences and asymmetries in the historical record, with a particular emphasis on the history and technology of evidence. Lepore is also a staff writer at The New Yorker, where she writes about American history, law, literature and politics, and she is the founder and director of Amend, an NEH-funded data collection of attempts to amend the U.S. Constitution. Learn more about Jill Lepore.
Civics in Higher Education: A National Summit
Friday, April 10 | 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. | Medford/Somerville campus
Tisch College and the Alliance for Civics in the Academy, with support from GBH, are proud to host a one-day national summit on the state of civics in higher education.
The summit will convene practitioners, faculty, administrators, and students from across the United States to explore, discuss and compare models of civic practice in higher education.
Civic Life Lunch: Truth Under Fire—Journalism, Dissent, and Repression
Tuesday, April 14 | 12 to 1 p.m. | Barnum 104, Barnum Hall
What does democratic life demand when truth is contested and telling it carries risk?
Join Tisch College for a conversation with Lina Chawaf, a journalist, media consultant, and human rights advocate. For more than three decades, Chawaf has worked at the intersection of journalism, human rights, and civic life, reporting on the Syrian conflict while building media infrastructures that center civilian voices under conditions of violence, displacement, and repression.
As the founder and leader of Radio Rozana, Chawaf has helped create a transnational media network that delivers independent reporting, cultural programming, and public-interest journalism to Syrian audiences both inside the country and across the diaspora.
This conversation will explore how journalism operates when democratic norms are fragile or absent; how reporters navigate credibility, safety, and responsibility in moments of crisis; and how media shapes public understanding, accountability, and how we engage ethically in democratic life.
17th Edward R. Murrow Forum on Issues in Journalism: Audie Cornish
Wednesday, April 15| 5:30 p.m. | ASEAN Auditorium, Cabot Center
Join a behind-the-scenes conversation with seasoned journalist Audie Cornish. Cornish is an anchor and senior analyst for CNN, where she hosts CNN This Morning with Audie Cornish as well as the award-winning weekly podcast The Assignment with Audie Cornish. Before joining CNN, Cornish served as co-host of NPR’s flagship news program All Things Considered. She’s the recipient of many awards, including the George Peabody Award for her work with David Isay’s StoryCorps 9/11 Project, the Sol Taishoff Award for Excellence in Broadcast Journalism in 2020 from the National Press Foundation, and the Salute to Excellence Award from National Association of Black Journalists for her reporting on the opioid crisis in Baltimore. Cornish began her career in Boston at the Associated Press and Boston’s WBUR. Learn more about Audie Cornish. The conversation will be moderated by Tufts Trustee Emeritus, President and CEO of WNET, and award-winning producer Neal Shapiro, A80, A23P, A26P.
This event is sponsored by Tisch College’s Solomont Speaker Series.
