The University of Minnesota Spotlight Series is a collaborative partnership between the Institute for Advanced Study and Northrop to present lectures, conversations, performances, exhibits, and other events around timely topics of interest throughout the academic year. Past guests have included Land-Grab Universities cartographer Margaret Pearce, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, independent journalist Georgia Fort, New York Times bestselling author of White Rage Carol Anderson, and many others.
The 2024–2025 series will focus on cosmic justice and include discussions about dharma, identity, and the role community plays in imagining a just society. Events may be attended in Northrop’s Best Buy Theater or online via Zoom. The series is FREE, open to the public, Q&A sessions will follow each event.
Past Themes
2023–2024: Moving Through Injustice
The University of Minnesota Spotlight Series is a collaborative partnership between the Institute for Advanced Study and Northrop to present lectures, conversations, performances, exhibits, and other events around timely topics of interest throughout the academic year. The six-part 2023–2024 series will focus on racial and social justice.
2022–2023: The Human in the Data
The University of Minnesota Spotlight Series is a collaborative partnership between the Institute for Advanced Study, Northrop, and University Honors Program to present lectures, panel discussions, exhibits, and other events throughout the academic year around timely topics of interest. The six-part 2022-23 series will focus on how data—their collection, analysis, and the research questions that rely on them—connect to the deeply personal lived experiences of individual human beings and to the human condition at large. The moderator for all six events is Michael Corey: Geospatial, Technical, and Data Lead of Mapping Prejudice.
Schedule of all six 2022–2023 Spotlight Series events
Related event: Thinking Spatially 2022 Symposium: Indigenous Mapping
2021–2022: Reconsidering Patriotism, Public Service, and Civic Engagement
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, focused on patriotism, public service, and civic engagement. The moderator for all six events was Kevin Lindsey, CEO of Minnesota Humanities Center.
Schedule of all six 2021–2022 Spotlight Series events
Related event: Thinking Spatially 2021 Symposium: Mapping Civic and Community Engagement
2020–2021: Polarization and Identities
The six-part 2020–2021 series focused on polarization and identities, inspired by both the 2020 presidential election and the polarization that has appeared in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In an academic year that included an election, and in an environment in which conversations across different identities and ideologies have become increasingly contentious, we hoped to model ways to create meaningful dialogue about these difficult-but-important topics for our students and community. The moderator for all six events was John Rash, an editorial writer for the Star Tribune, who focuses on media and politics. Events were conducted online via Zoom.
Schedule of all six 2020–2021 Spotlight Series events
Related event: Mapping Politics and Polarization: Thinking Spatially 2020 Symposium
2019–2020: Perspectives on Environmental Justice
The 2019–2020 series focused on Environmental Justice and featured perspectives from a variety of voices in the field, including academics and practitioners from multiple disciplines. Campus leaders, artists, policymakers, and funders explored several critical aspects surrounding the intersection of the environment and equity. This series was cosponsored by the Race, Indigeneity, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Initiative; the Institute for Global Studies; the Department of Geography, Environment, and Society; and the Humphrey School of Public Affairs Urban and Regional Planning Area. Events were held 3:30–5:00 p.m. CT on Thursdays in Northrop’s Best Buy Theater. All Spotlight Series events are free and open to the public.
- October 2019: Artistic Perspectives on Environmental Justice
- November 2019: Legal Perspectives on Environmental Justice
- February 2020: Philanthropic Perspectives on Environmental Justice
- March 2020: Policy Perspectives on Environmental Justice
- April 2020: Higher Education Perspectives on Environmental Justice
- Additional Event: Mapping Environmental Justice: Thinking Spatially Symposium
2018–2019: 1968-1969, Historic Upheavals, Enduring Aftershocks
Five decades ago, racial tensions, cultural upheavals and technological advances helped define the tumultuous 1968-69 era. This collaborative, yearlong series examines the impact and inspiration of those various events, from an inaugural panel discussion about the 1968 presidential campaign and its Minnesota ties to a gallery exhibit exploring the protest and takeover of Morrill Hall at the University of Minnesota in 1969 to series-culminating lecture by Carol Anderson, author of the best-selling White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide. Copresented by the Institute for Advanced Study, University Honors Program and Northrop.
View the full list of related events, related exhibits, and more here.