Join the IAS on Thursday afternoons this spring for our eclectic, wide-ranging discussion series designed for scholars from all walks of life.
This spring, we are excited to host such esteemed guests as Dr. Andrea Roberts, discussing her work as director of The Texas Freedom Colonies Atlas Project; Annastacia Belladonna-Carrera, Executive Director of Common Cause Minnesota, discussing voter access & agency and election security; and Dr. Helga Tawil-Souri discussing the work of building a community-owned and managed internet access infrastructure in the Gaza Strip. Plus, we’ll take a trip to the University of Minnesota Morris to visit former IAS residential fellow Ann DuHamel to launch her Earth Day concert and conversation series, Prayers for a Feverish Planet, featuring music about the climate crisis. And more!
Events are FREE, open to the public, and will be held online* via Zoom. All events will take place at 3:30 p.m. CT. Additional details about each event, including registration details, can be found via the links below and on our events calendar.
*Spotlight Series events will be offered both online and in person in the Best Buy Theater in Northrop (masks required).
Questions about Zoom? Here are some Zoom tips for audience members.
Spring 2022 Events
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2022 @ 3:30 P.M. CT • ONLINE
Creating a Movement: The Future of Modern Dance
- Janet Eilber, Artistic Director, Martha Graham Dance Company
- Michael Novak, Artistic Director, Paul Taylor Dance Foundation
- Dante Puleio, Artistic Director, José Limón Dance Foundation
- Moderated by Carl Flink, Director of Dance & Nadine Jette Sween Professor of Dance, U of M
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2022 @ 3:30 P.M. • ONLINE
Human in the Data Graduate Student Symposium
and 2022 Fellowship Information Session
Featuring 2021–2022 Graduate Student Fellows
Register Now
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2022 @ 3:30 P.M. CT • ONLINE & BEST BUY THEATER, NORTHROP
Spotlight Series: The American Flag as a Cultural Symbol
- Mark Clague, Associate Professor, Musicology and American Culture, University of Michigan
- Ekene Ijeoma, Assistant Professor, Media Arts and Sciences and Director of Poetic Justice at MIT Media Lab
- Marc Leepson, Journalist, historian, and author
- Moderated by Kevin Lindsey, CEO, Minnesota Humanities Center
FEBRUARY 24, 2022 @ 3:30 P.M. CT • ONLINE
Posing Slaves for the Camera: Race, Memory, and Representation in Khartoum, 1882
Eve Troutt Powell, Christopher H. Browne Distinguished Professor of History, University of Pennsylvania School of Arts & Sciences
Register Now
THURSDAY, MARCH 3, 2022 @ 3:30 P.M. CT • ONLINE & BEST BUY THEATER, NORTHROP
RECEPTION TO FOLLOW
Manliness and Imperial Representation: Pacatus’s Panegyric on the Emperor Theodosius
Dr. Susanna Elm, Sidney H. Ehrman Professor of History and Ancient Greek and Roman Studies, University of California Berkeley. Presented in partnership with the Department of History as the 2022 Annual Lauritsen Lecture. Co-sponsored by the the Department of Classical and Near Eastern Religions and Cultures, the Center for Premodern Studies, the First Millennium Workshop, and the Religious Studies Program.
Register Now
THURSDAY, MARCH 17, 2022 @ 3:30 P.M. CT • ONLINE
Reconstructing Black Worlds: Counternarrative Creation as Preservation Practice
Dr. Andrea Roberts, Assistant Professor of Urban Planning, Texas A&M University and Director of The Texas Freedom Colonies Project™. Presented in partnership with Heritage Studies & Public History.
Register Now
THURSDAY, MARCH 24, 2022 @ 3:30 P.M. CT • ONLINE & BEST BUY THEATER, NORTHROP
Spotlight Series: Voter Access & Agency and Election Security
- Annastacia Belladonna-Carrera, Executive Director, Common Cause Minnesota
- Moderated by Kevin Lindsey, CEO, Minnesota Humanities Center
THURSDAY, MARCH 31, 2022 @ 3:30 P.M. CT • ONLINE
Towards an Infrastructural Ecology: An Internet Pigeon Network for Gaza
Helga Tawil-Souri, Associate Professor, Media, Culture and Communication & Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies, New York University. Presented in partnership with the Human in the Data Initiative.
Register Now
THURSDAY, APRIL 7, 2022 @ 3:30 P.M. CT • ONLINE & BEST BUY THEATER, NORTHROP
Spotlight Series: Unpacking the Middle
- Maria Regan Gonzalez, Mayor of Richfield
- Bonnie Kristian, Acting editor-in-chief, TheWeek.com
- C. Daniel Myers, Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of Minnesota Twin Cities
- Moderated by Kevin Lindsey, CEO, Minnesota Humanities Center
THURSDAY, APRIL 21, 2022 @3:30 P.M. CT • ONLINE & HUMANITIES RECITAL HALL, UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA MORRIS
Prayers for a Feverish Planet
Ann DuHamel, Associate Professor of Music, University of Minnesota Morris & guests
Register Now
THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2022 @ 3:30 P.M. CT • ONLINE
The University as a Colonizing Institution
Alexis Bunten, (Aleut/Yup’ik), Co-Director, Indigeneity, Bioneers
Register Now
ABOUT IAS THURSDAYS
IAS Thursdays is a weekly event series that brings ideas, conversations, and viewpoints from a range of scholars and panel discussions to the heart of the University. The programming series is always free and open to the general public, and is geared toward presenting ideas that researchers are passionate about to a broad audience. Learn more.
ABOUT THE SPOTLIGHT SERIES
The University of Minnesota Spotlight Series is a collaborative partnership between the University Honors Program, Institute for Advanced Study, and Northrop, to present lectures, panel discussions, exhibits, and other events throughout the academic year around timely topics of interest. The six-part 2021-22 series, hosted in partnership with the Minnesota Humanities Center, focuses on patriotism, public service, and civic engagement. The moderator for all six events will be Kevin Lindsey, CEO of Minnesota Humanities Center. All events are Thursdays 3:30-5:00 pm and may be attended in Northrop’s Best Buy Theater or online via Zoom. Q&A sessions will follow each event. Learn more.