Thompson Forum announces 2018-19 series

The E.N. Thompson Forum on World Issues at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln has announced its 2018-19 series, “Prospect/Retrospect.” For its 30th-anniversary season, the forum will welcome three acclaimed speakers: Jon Meacham, Nadine Strossen and Jana Eggers.

This academic year will witness several significant events: the 150th anniversary of the University of Nebraska and the 50th anniversary of its Department of Computer Science and Engineering. In addition to these celebrations, the year will see commemorations of challenging times in world history: 50 years since the assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., North Vietnam’s launching of the Tet Offensive, American athletes protesting racial injustice at the summer Olympics, and militarized police confronting protesters across the globe.

Issues faced by global citizens of 1968 bear striking similarities to those of today. The E.N. Thompson Forum will take this year as an opportunity for retrospection, critical consideration of the present and an occasion to imagine futures that are informed by, rather than negligent of, the past.

The events, each held at the Lied Center for Performing Arts, are:

• Oct. 9, 7:30 p.m. — Jon Meacham, one of America’s most prominent public intellectuals and a regular contributor to Time magazine and The New York Times Book Review, will present “Tumult, Tragedy and Hope: America in 1968 from a Half Century’s Perspective.” Meachem’s bestseller “American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House” won the Pulitzer Prize in 2009. He is also the author of other bestsellers and formerly served as Newsweek magazine’s managing editor. The talk is the 23rd Annual Governor’s Lecture in the Humanities, presented by Humanities Nebraska.

• Nov. 7, 7 p.m. — Nadine Strossen, former president of the American Civil Liberties Union and current professor at the New York University School of Law, will present “HATE: Why We Should Resist It with Free Speech, Not Censorship.” Considered one of the most influential women in constitutional law, civil liberties and international human rights, Strossen is committed to the betterment of social justice.

• Feb. 26, 2019, 7 p.m. — Jana Eggers, self-proclaimed math and computer nerd and CEO of Nara Logics — a neuroscience-inspired artificial intelligence company — will present “The Role of Artificial Intelligence in Our Future.” She will discuss all things artificial intelligence: its history, potential to drive the future, and ways it will inspire innovation in higher education.

Event summaries and biographical information on each of the speakers is available here.

Free tickets will be available starting Aug. 30 from the Lied Center. To order tickets, click here, call 402-472-4747 or visit the Lied Center box office, 301 N. 12th St. Forums are general-admission events; seating is on a first-come, first-served basis.

Events are streamed online on the Thompson Forum website. The Oct. 9 and Feb. 26 events will be streamed on LNKTV City and available live on ALLO channel 2, Charter Spectrum 1300 and Windstream Kinetic 1005. The Nov. 7 event will be streamed on LNKTV Education and available live on Allo channel 23, Charter Spectrum 1303 and Windstream Kinetic 1080. All events will also be accessible on campus channel 4 and KRNU radio 90.3 FM. All talks are interpreted for people who are deaf and hard of hearing.

A pre-talk will be delivered by a local expert on the topic in the Steinhart Room 30 minutes before each forum.

The E.N. Thompson Forum on World Issues is a cooperative project of the Cooper Foundation, Lied Center and the university. 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 discussion.