Wallace House Presents our 2025-2026 lineup of live events with Andrea Hsu, Kara Swisher, Pete Buttigieg, Karen Hao and more. Please mark your calendars for the events below and join us.
Past 2026 EVENTS
Information Sick: How Journalism’s Decline and Misinformation’s Rise Are Harming Our Health and What We Can Do About It
Panel discussion with the authors
Thursday, April 16 | 3:30 PM
Institute for Social Research | 1430
426 Thompson St, Ann Arbor, MI 48104
An award-winning journalist, Joanne Kenen, and a public health expert, Joshua Sharfstein, discuss their book “Information Sick” on the pollution of our information environment, its implications for health, and what can be done.
Co-Sponsors:
Institute for Social Research
School of Public Health
The Eisendrath Symposium and WCEE Panel Event
Covering Migration in Europe: Displacement, Trauma and Reporting on Vulnerable Sources
Thursday, March 19 | 4:30 PM
Rackham Amphitheater | 4th Floor
Free and Open to the public
Across Europe, governments are tightening migration policies and backing EU proposals to send asylum seekers to third countries. Human rights groups warn that these measures are pushing people onto more dangerous routes and increasing the risk of abuse and trauma. How can journalists move beyond political debate to more responsibly cover Europe’s changing migration landscape and the lives most affected by it?
More information about this event.
The Eisendrath Symposium honors Charles R. Eisendrath, former director of Wallace House, and his lifelong commitment to international journalism.
Co-Sponsor:
Weiser Center for Europe and Eurasia
Copernicus Center for Polish Studies
The Civility Project
Creating constructive dialogue across differences
Wednesday, March 18 | 5 PM
Weill Hall Annenberg Auditorium | Room 1120
A Reception following event.
Americans are at their best when they can talk with another, disagree, even argue, but agree to keep the dialogue going. Unfortunately, too many people today feel like they can’t do that, and they have to avoid even speaking to people with whom they disagree. The Civility Project aims changing that. Co-founders of the Project, journalists Nolan Finley and Stephen Henderson, explain how to create an environment of respectful exchange.
They will also discuss their book, The Civility Book, which aims to be “A Guide to Building Bridges Across the Political Divide.” (Books will be available for purchase.)
Co-Sponsors:
Talking Maize & Blue
Access and Opportunity
Life-Changing Education
Wallace House Center for Journalists
Migration as Imagination
Monday, March 16 | 5:30 PM
University of Michigan Museum of Art
525 S State St, Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Helmut Stern Auditorium
Join Ismail Einashe, award-winning British-Somali writer and 2025-2026 Knight-Wallace Journalism Fellow, for a deeply personal presentation exploring how art can reclaim the humanity of migrants and their stories, too often lost in the headlines of global displacement.
Co-Sponsors
UMMA
Penny Stamps
Arts Initiative
TEDxUofM
2024-2025 Knight-Wallace Fellow Baktygul Chynybaeva
Saturday, March 14 | 3 PM
Power Center for Performing Arts
Ticketed Event.
2024-2025 Knight-Wallace Fellow Baktygul Chynybaeva will share her experiences reporting from the Kyrgyzstan region of Central Asia. Her reporting has significantly influenced public dialogue and policy. The theme of TEDxUofM: Radiance is to reflect on what it means to shine in moments of both triumph and adversity. Through stories of resilience, creativity, and discovery.
More information about this event.
“Privacy for Populations at Risk: Supporting Journalists Facing Attacks in the Digital Age”
Elodie Vialle, Knight-Wallace Fellow ’20
Wednesday, January 28 | 3 PM
Watch the webinar here.
Free and open to the public.
As part of the Privacy@Michigan event series, Elodie Vialle, an international journalist and human rights activist, will discuss how journalists—particularly women journalists and journalists from marginalized communities—are increasingly targeted in online spaces, from coordinated harassment to surveillance and AI-amplified attacks. Drawing on real-world cases, the session will explore practical responses to mitigate harm while safeguarding journalistic work and freedom of expression.
Wallace House Director Lynette Clemetson will moderate the discussion.
An MLK Symposium Event with Caitlin Dickerson of The Atlantic
DEPORTATION NATION
Chronicling Our Current Chapter in America’s Long History of Exclusion
Tuesday, January 20 | 4:30 PM
Rackham Amphitheatre
915 Washington Street, 4th Floor
The Trump administration’s deportation campaign is profoundly affecting U.S. institutions and has cemented immigration enforcement as a key civil rights issue. Yet the system behind mass deportations has existed for decades, and many headline-grabbing issues — from overcrowded detention centers to family separations and lack of due process — are nothing new. In this conversation, Dickerson will debunk common misconceptions about how the immigration system actually works and discuss the nation’s complex history of race-based fear and the recurring backlash toward immigrant groups.
Co-Sponsors:
Center for Racial Justice
Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy
Center for Social Solutions
Latina/o Studies
2025 EVENTS AND WEBINARS
Webinar for Knight-Wallace Fellowship Applicants with Ally Jarmanning
Wednesday, December 10, 2025 | Noon to 1:15 p.m. ET
Wallace House Center for Journalists invites all interested Knight-Wallace Fellowship applicants to a conversational webinar.
Meet Ally Jarmanning and discover how her year in Ann Arbor, access to a world-class university’s resources, and dedicated time for a journalism project broadened her perspectives and advanced her career. They’ll answer your questions and share insights about the Knight-Wallace Fellowship experience.
More information about this event and our alumni speakers.
Webinar for Knight-Wallace Fellowship Applicants with Maria Arce
Friday, November 21, 2025 | Noon to 1:15 p.m. ET
Wallace House Center for Journalists invites all interested Knight-Wallace Fellowship applicants to a conversational webinar.
Meet Maria Arce and discover how her year in Ann Arbor, access to a world-class university’s resources, and dedicated time for a journalism project broadened her perspectives and advanced her career. They’ll answer your questions and share insights about the Knight-Wallace Fellowship experience.
More information about this event and our alumni speakers.
Evening with Jake Tapper: Race Against Terror
6:30 PM | Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2025
Annenberg Auditorium | Gerald R. Ford School
735 S State St., Ann Arbor, MI 48104
Join Jake Tapper in conversation with Javed Ali as they discuss Tapper’s newly released nonfiction thriller, “Race Against Terror: Chasing an Al Qaeda Killer at the Dawn of the Forever War.” Hear how prosecutors, soldiers, and intelligence agents worked across continents — and what this case reveals about the threats we still face today.
Co-Sponsors:
Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy
Weiser Diplomacy Center
The Ann Arbor premiere of “Savage Art” and a post-screening discussion with the filmmaker and special guests
Sunday, November 16, 2025 | 3 PM
A SAVAGE ART: THE LIFE & CARTOONS OF PAT OLIPHANT chronicles the life and career of Australian-born Oliphant, whose tenure as a political cartoonist spanned five decades and ten U.S. Presidents.
Following the film, director Bill Banowsky will be joined by moderator Lynette Clemetson, Charles R. Eisendrath, and Mike Thompson.
Webinar for Knight-Wallace Fellowship Applicants with Delece Smith-Barrow
Monday, October 27, 2025 | Noon to 1:15 p.m. ET
Wallace House Center for Journalists invites all interested Knight-Wallace Fellowship applicants to a conversational webinar.
Meet Delece Smith-Barrow and discover how her year in Ann Arbor, access to a world-class university’s resources, and dedicated time for a journalism project broadened her perspectives and advanced her career. They’ll answer your questions and share insights about the Knight-Wallace Fellowship experience.
More information about this event and our alumni speakers.
Journalist and author, Karen Hao, “Empire of AI”
Monday, October 20, 2025 | 5 p.m.
Rackham Auditorium
915 E Washington St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109
This event is free and open to the public
Join award-winning journalist Karen Hao and Patrick Barry, clinical assistant professor at the University of Michigan Law School, for an eye-opening discussion on Hao’s best-selling book, “Empire of AI.” Drawing on reporting from inside OpenAI and across five continents, Hao sheds light on the hidden impacts of AI — from the exploitation of data workers in the Global South to the immense environmental costs of its energy and water consumption.
Co-Sponsors:
Science, Technology, and Public Policy (STPP) Program
U-M School of Information
Dissonance Event Series
Information and Technology Services
Center for Ethics, Society, and Computing (ESC)
Systems of Secrecy: Journalism, Power and the Policy Gaps that Enable Corruption
Monday, October 20, 2025 | 11:45 a.m.
Weill Hall | Betty Ford classroom 1110
725 South State St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109
From the Panama Papers to China Targets, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Gerard Ryle has overseen investigations that exposed how the powerful exploit opaque systems across borders — from tax havens and shell companies to international law enforcement mechanisms. Ryle, executive director of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and a 2006 Knight-Wallace fellow, will examine what global investigative journalism reveals about the limits of public policy and regulations when laws fall short, enforcement fails, and bad actors innovate faster than the system meant to stop them.
Co-Sponsors:
Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy
Weiser Diplomacy Center
Unpacking U.S. Immigration Policy: What’s at Stake for Our Communities?
Thursday, October 9, 2025 | 11:45 a.m.
Trotter Multicultural Center, large meeting room
428 S State St, Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Join William Lopez, Kristina Fullerton Rico, and 2026 Knight-Wallace Fellow Irene Romulo as they discuss how the information ecosystem can feel overwhelming, especially when it comes to understanding policy issues that shape our lives. Let’s Unpack That is an engaging series of lunchtime teach-ins where U-M leading experts break down the policy issues of the day in a clear, approachable way. Each session will give you the tools to make sense of complex debates and explore why they matter for you, your community, and the world.
More about this event.
Co-Sponsor:
Center for Racial Justice at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy
LSI SciComm Series: Author Kate Zernike
The Exceptions: The Past, Present and Future of Women in Science
Thursday, October 9, 2025 | 10 a.m.
Rackham Auditorium Amphitheater
915 E Washington St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Book-signing following the event
Kate Zernike, author of “The Exceptions: Nancy Hopkins and the Fight for Women in Science,” will talk about how Hopkins was emblematic of her generation, and the next generation of scientists can learn from the experience of the women at MIT.
Co-Sponsor:
Institute for Social Research
The Hazards of Human Rights Reporting:
Reporting from the Field
Donia Human Rights Panel
Wednesday, October 1 | Noon
Michigan League
Koessler Room | Floor 3
911 N University Ave, Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Join 2026 Knight-Wallace Fellows Clavel Rangel Jimenez and Tenzin Pema as they discuss the challenges of reporting on human rights abuses by governments and other actors. They will share comparative insights from their field experiences to help understand violations occurring beyond our borders. This discussion will be moderated by Lynette Clemetson, director of Wallace Center for Journalists.
Co-Sponsors:
Donia Human Rights Center
Liberthal-Rogel Center for Chinese Studies
Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies
Pete Buttigieg joins the “On with Kara Swisher” Podcast
Wednesday, September 17, 2025 | 4:30 p.m.
Rackham Auditorium
915 E Washington St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109
This is a Ticketed Event
Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg joins award-winning journalist Kara Swisher for a discussion on the state of U.S. democracy, politics, and more, at this live taping of the “On with Kara Swisher” podcast.
Ford School event, co-sponsored by Wallace House
The 38th Annual Hovey Lecture with NPR’s Andrea Hsu
“Inside the Firings and the Future of the Federal Workforce”
Thursday, September 11, 2025 | 5 p.m.
Recpetion following lecture
Wallace House Garden, 620 Oxford Road
An in-person outdoor event
Join Andrea Hsu, 2012 Knight-Wallace Fellow and NPR’s labor and workplace correspondent, for a discussion on what she’s hearing from those still inside the government and those recently pushed out, and what this transformation could mean for how Americans experience and rely on their government.
This is an in-person event and will not be live-streamed. However, a recording of the lecture will be available on our website following the event.
More information about this event.
CREES Distinguished Lecture: “Putin’s Eternal War” with Jill Doughterty
Tuesday, September 9, 2025 | 5:30 p.m.
Weiser Hall | Floor 10
500 Church St, Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Free and open to the public
Jill Dougherty is a CNN contributor on Russia and an adjunct professor of Eurasian, Russian, and Eastern European Studies at Georgetown University.
Co-Sponsors:
Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies
Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy
Weiser Center for Europe and Eurasia
International Policy Center
