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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

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.

More about this event.

Co-Sponsors:
Institute for Social Research
School of Public Health

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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

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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.)

More about this event.

Co-Sponsors:
Talking Maize & Blue
Access and Opportunity
Life-Changing Education
Wallace House Center for Journalists

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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.

More about this event.

Co-Sponsors
UMMA
Penny Stamps
Arts Initiative

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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.

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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.

More about this event.

Host
ITS Privacy Office

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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.

More about this event.

Co-Sponsors:
Center for Racial Justice
Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy
Center for Social Solutions
Latina/o Studies

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2025 EVENTS AND WEBINARS

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.

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More information about this event and our alumni speakers.

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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.

More about this event.

Co-Sponsors:
Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy
Weiser Diplomacy Center

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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.

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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.

More about this event.

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)

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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.

More about this event.

Co-Sponsors:
Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy
Weiser Diplomacy Center

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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

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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.

More about this event.

Co-Sponsor:
Institute for Social Research

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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.

More about this event.

Co-Sponsors:
Donia Human Rights Center
Liberthal-Rogel Center for Chinese Studies
Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies

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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.

Watch live from this page.

Ford School event, co-sponsored by Wallace House

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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.

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Jill Dougherty is a CNN contributor on Russia and an adjunct professor of Eurasian, Russian, and Eastern European Studies at Georgetown University.

More about this event.

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

Wallace House Presents our 2024-2025 lineup of live events with Mazin Sidahmed, Bret Stephens, Lydia Polgreen, María Elena Salinas and Stephen Henderson. Please mark your calendars for the events below and join us.

Join Mazin Sidahmed, 2021 Knight-Wallace Reporting Fellow and co-founder of the non-profit newsroom Documented, for a discussion on how shifting our journalism focus from national coverage to local news outlets and from “reporting about” to “reporting for and with” immigrant communities can help us discern immigration fact from fiction and improve outcomes for everyone.

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.

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Our 2025 Knight-Wallace Fellow, Dieu-Nalio Chery, will present his photojournalistic work showcasing Haiti’s descent at the first annual symposium titled: “Contextualize Haiti’s Demising Situation.” Dieu-Nalio Chery is a freelance photojournalist from Haiti who is now based in Michigan. For over a decade, Chery worked for The Associated Press, documenting the profound beauty, searing pain and upheaval in his homeland.

The symposium will bring together scholars and specialists in Haitian Studies, filmmakers, photographers and community leaders to discuss current issues relevant to Haiti, the Haitian diaspora, and actors involved in development in Haiti.

More information about this event.

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Please join us for an engaging conversation with New York Times technology reporter Kashmir Hill and Shobita Parthasarathy, Faculty Director of the Science, Technology, and Public Policy (STPP) Program. Our speakers will explore the intersection of technology and privacy, addressing some of today’s most salient issues.

More information about this event.

Co-Sponsors:
Gerald R. Ford School

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Joseph Sywenkyj is the 2024-25 Weiser Center for Europe and Eurasia’s Distinguished Fellow, and a Knight-Wallace Fellow at the University of Michigan. An award-winning American photographer of Ukrainian descent, Sywenkyj has lived and worked in Ukraine for the last two decades. He is a frequent contributor to publications in Europe and Eurasia and to The Wall Street Journal, and his photographs have been exhibited in galleries and museums, including the United Nations Visitor’s Lobby in New York and the Taras Shevchenko National Museum in Kyiv.

More information about the photo exhibit.
More information about this event.

Hosted by:
Weiser Center for Europe and Eurasia

Co-sponsors:
International Institute

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Join Wallace House and the Institute for Social Research for a live conversation driven by journalism and social science in the run-up to the presidential election. Hear special guests Bret Stephens and Lydia Polgreen of The New York Times, María Elena Salinas of ABC News, and Vince Hutchings of U-M Center for Political Studies in conversation with veteran Michigan journalist Stephen Henderson. As part of the University of Michigan’s Year of Democracy, Civic Empowerment, and Global Engagement initiative, this special event will provide insights on critical issues shaping the 2024 election and social science research on the American voting public.

More information about this event.

Co-Sponsors:
Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy
Institute for Social Research
U-M’s Year of Democracy, Civic Empowerment and Global Engagement initiative
DPTV

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Holger Roonemaa and Inga Springe are two of the foremost investigative journalists covering the ongoing hybrid war between Russia and the Baltic states. Roonemaa, a 2025 Knight-Wallace Fellow from Estonia, and Springe, from Latvia, have spent years uncovering the covert tactics Russia employs to destabilize their countries—efforts that include funding political parties, spreading disinformation, inciting violence, and launching cyber-attacks. Their work has exposed the persistent threat Russia poses to these NATO allies, despite their integration into the European Union and the alliance two decades ago.

More information about this event.

Hosted by:
Center for Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies

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As part of the University of Michigan’s MLK Symposium, please join us for a conversation with three prominent scholars of African American political history about possible futures for movements for racial justice and democratic change during the new presidential administration.

Join Jelani Cobb, Dean of Columbia Journalism School, staff writer for The New Yorker and MSNBC political commentator, alongside U-M professors Angela Dillard and Stephen Ward, to discuss the challenges, and opportunities, facing advocates for Martin Luther King’s vision of racial equality and multiracial democracy in the coming years. 

Lynette Clemetson, director of U-M’s Wallace House Center for Journalists, will be the event’s moderator.

More information about this event.

Co-Sponsor:
Department of Afroamerican and African Studies
Department of History
Eisenberg Institute for Historical Studies

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With journalists Baktygul Chynybaeva of Kyrgyzstan, Holger Roonemaa of Estonia and Joseph Sywenkyj of Ukraine and the U.S., in conversation with Geneviève Zubrzycki, Director of the Weiser Center for Europe and Eurasia

As the Kremlin tries to silence independent media through bans, censorship and “foreign agent” labels, this repression has spread to Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia, where some governments are replicating Putin’s laws and tactics. How can journalists safeguard access to accurate information in the face of these escalating threats?

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

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In 1999, filmmaker Davy Rothbart gave nine-year-old Emmanual Sanford-Durant a camera. The boy and his family began filming their daily lives in America’s most dangerous neighborhood — just 17 blocks behind the U.S. Capitol. Together, Davy and the Sanfords kept filming and collaborating for 20 years. This critically acclaimed documentary illuminates a nation’s ongoing crisis through one family’s raw, stirring and deeply personal saga.

Watch the trailer.

More information about this event.

Co-Sponsor:
Center for Racial Justice

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Join Wallace House Center for Journalists and the Institute for Social Research for an expert panel on disappearing federal data. The panel includes Knight-Wallace Fellow Laura Santhanam, Professor of Communication and Media Josh Pasek, Director, Digital Scholarship and Creative Spaces Justin Schell, Government Information, Law and Political Science Librarian Catherine Morse. Moderated by Associate Professor of Information Libby Hemphill, the panel will discuss the current threat to federal data, societal implications, and preservation efforts.

More information

Hosted by:
Institute for Social Research

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Wallace House Presents our 2023-2024 lineup of live events with Rachel Swarns, Raney Aronson-Rath, and Kara Swisher. Please mark your calendars for the events below and join us.

For nearly two decades of reporting from and about Michigan, 2017 Knight-Wallace Fellow and ProPublica journalist Anna Clark has covered numerous consequential stories, from the Flint water crisis to the mass shooting at Oxford High School. Join her for a discussion on the dangers of a culture of secrecy for Michigan and beyond and what it takes to push back.

This is an in-person event and will not be live-streamed. A video recording will be available on our website after the event.

More information about this event.

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Human rights violations are systematic in Haiti. The situation has worsened considerably since the multiplication of massacres in 2018 and the assassination of President Jovenel Moise in July 2021. The gangs control large areas of the country and practice a scorched-earth policy. Knight-Wallace Fellow and Haitian journalist Roberson Alphonse will share his observations on the Haitian tragedy.

More information about this event.

Hosted by:
Donia Human Rights Center Lecture

Co-sponsors:
International Institute

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The U-M Space Institute will host a special screening of the Netflix documentary about the design and launch of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and a panel discussion featuring 2013 Knight-Wallace Fellow and Film Director Shai Gal and Dr. Thomas Zurbuchen, the previous Associate Administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, as well as other experts in space and astronomy.

“Unknown: Cosmic Time Machine” follows the ambitious decades-long mission to create and deploy the largest-ever space telescope, the James Webb Space Telescope. The documentary showcases a remarkable team of NASA engineers and scientists as they take a giant leap in trying to understand the mysteries of the universe.

More information about this event.

Co-sponsors:
University of Michigan Space Institute
Department of Astronomy
Aerospace Engineering

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For eight years, Martin Baron served as executive editor of The Washington Post, leading its newsroom from Jeff Bezos’s purchase of the paper to the election and presidency of Donald Trump. Join Baron in conversation with Stephen Henderson for a discussion on Baron’s new book “Collision of Power: Trump, Bezos and The Washington Post,” as he details his tenure at The Post and examines larger issues of the press and its role in democracy.

More information about this event.

Co-sponsors:
Detroit Public Television (DPTV)

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Join us for a special event featuring CNN anchor and Chief Washington correspondent, Jake Tapper, as part of the continuing series: “Democracy in Crisis: Views from the Press.” Tapper will be joined in conversation with Wallace House Director, Lynette Clemetson. Their wide-ranging discussion will cover the state of democracy and the role and responsibility of the press in a democratic society, as well as how Tapper’s experience of being an anchor and correspondent informs his craft of writing.

Tapper’s newly released book, “All the Demons Are Here,” will be available for purchase at the event. The author will stay for a short book signing after the program.

This event is presented by the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy in partnership with Wallace House Center for Journalists and U-M Democracy & Debate. 

More information about this event.

Co-sponsors:
Alumni Association of the University of Michigan

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Literati Bookstore is proud to welcome Laura Meckler to present and discuss her book “Dream Town: Shaker Heights and the Quest for Racial Equity.” in collaboration with Wallace House Center for Journalists and the Department of English Language and Literature at The University of Michigan. She’ll be joined in conversation by Dr. Brianne Dotson.

More information about this event.

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What is the responsibility of American institutions in reparative justice?

Join New York Times journalist and author Rachel Swarns in conversation with Wallace House director Lynette Clemetson, as she discusses her book “The 272: The Families Who Were Enslaved and Sold To Build the American Catholic Church,” a story of servitude and slavery spanning nearly two centuries and detailing the beginnings of Georgetown University and the U.S. Catholic Church. Swarns’s journalism started a national conversation about universities with ties to slavery.

Swarn’s book, “The 272,” will be available for purchase at the event.

More information about this event.

Co-Sponsors:
Center for Racial Justice housed at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy
Center for Social Solutions
Donia Human Rights Center
Eisenberg Institute for Historical Studies

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Join Knight-Wallace Fellows Kat Stafford ’22 of Reuters and Anna Clark ’17 of ProPublica as they discuss “The Role of History in Investigative Reporting,” moderated by University of Michigan historian Stephen A. Berrey.

More information about this event.

Hosted By:
Eisenberg Institute for Historical Studies

Co-sponsor:
Wallace House Center for Journalists

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Join Knight-Wallace Fellow Iuliia Mendel for a discussion of her book “The Fight of Our Lives.”

Written with the sound of Russian bombs and exploding shells in the background, Mendel details life lived under the Russian siege of her home country, Ukraine, in 2022. She says goodbye to her fiancé, who joins the front lines like many other Ukrainian men. Throughout this story of Zelenskyy, Ukraine, and its extraordinary people, Mendel reminds us of the paramount importance of truth and human values, especially in these darkest times. Mendel held the position of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Press Secretary for over two years until the spring of 2021.

More information about this event.

Hosted By:
Weiser Center for Europe and Eurasia

Co-sponsors:
Center for European Studies
International Institute
Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies

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An AP team of Ukrainian journalists trapped in the besieged city of Mariupol struggle to continue their work documenting atrocities of the Russian invasion. As the only international reporters who remain in the city, they capture what later become defining images of the war. The documentary shows vivid, harrowing accounts of civilians caught in the siege and a window into what it’s like to report from a conflict zone and the impact of such journalism around the globe.

The screening will be followed by a Q&A with producers Raney Aronson-Rath and Michelle Mizner.

The Eisendrath Symposium honors Charles R. Eisendrath, former director of Wallace House, and his lifelong commitment to international journalism.

More information about this event.

Co-sponsors:
Weiser Center for Europe and Eurasia
International Institute
Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies

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During the period that spanned from the Revolution of Dignity to the full-scale war between Russia and Ukraine, accomplished Ukrainian film producers Pavlo Peleshok and Yurko Ivanyshyn assumed the dual roles of defenders of their nation and chroniclers of its unfolding tragedy. Drawing on their personal film archives and fragmented memories, the pair assembled a mosaic of the causes and consequences of today’s Russian-Ukrainian war, starting from the end of 2013. As volunteers, Peleshok and Ivanyshyn ventured to the frontlines and hotspots of the Donbas region, risking their lives to capture the reality of the conflict. Even amid the ceaseless turmoil, they remained steadfast in their determination to create content that would convey the stark truth of the war to the wider world. 

The screening will be followed by a Q&A with director Pavlo Peleshok.

More information about this event.

Co-sponsors:
Wallace House Center for Journalists
International Institute
Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies
Center for European Studies

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Award-winning journalist Kara Swisher has interviewed nearly every consequential innovator and tech entrepreneur working today. Her new memoir, “Burn Book: A Tech Love Story,” is an insider’s tale of success, failure, hubris and optimism. As Detroit gains influence in technology and the EV revolution, Swisher sits down with Mary Barra, chair and CEO of General Motors, to discuss her new book and explore the dynamic interplay of legacy companies, innovation, strategic bets on the future, and tech’s potential to solve problems and not just create them.

Co-sponsors:
Gerald R. Ford School
U-M Democracy & Debate
U-M School of Information

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Russian-born author, political journalist and historian Mikhail Zygar will discuss his book “War and Punishment,” a story about an alternative, anti-imperialist Russian historical narrative. Starting last fall, all high school students in Russia are required to study history using a textbook written by Putin’s former minister of culture (and his ghostwriter), Vladimir Medinsky. Zygar debunks all the myths Putin’s history textbook promotes, and the the myths Putin uses to justify the war in Ukraine.

Zygar’s book, “War and Punishment,” will be available for purchase at the event.

More information about this book this event.

Hosted By:
Center for Russian, East European, and

Co-sponsors:
Wallace House Center for Journalists
Weiser Center for Europe and Eurasia

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Wallace House Presents returns to campus this semester with live events, bringing Scott Tong, Anna Quindlen, Jelani Cobb, and a special movie screening and discussion with Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey to our community. Please mark your calendars for the events below and join us.

Welcome remarks by Tabbye Chavous, Vice Provost for Equity and Inclusion and Chief Diversity Officer

In 2013, longtime China correspondent Scott Tong came to the Knight-Wallace Fellowships to research China’s on-again, off-again ties with the global community and how it connected with his own family. The resulting book, “A Village with My Name: A Family History of China’s Opening to the World,” examines nationalism and globalization through the stories of five generations of Tongs.

Now a co-host of “Here and Now,” Tong returns to Wallace House to discuss Beijing’s increasing authoritarianism and international aggression and what it means for its future and that of globalization.

This is an in-person event and will not be live-streamed. A video recording will be available on our website after the event.

More information about this event.

Michigan Radio is a co-sponsor of this event.

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Best-selling author Anna Quindlen says recording our daily lives in an enduring form is more important than ever, urging all of us to pick up a pen and find ourselves. Join Anna Quindlen and Anne Curzan, LSA Dean and English Professor, for an in-person discussion about Quindlen’s book “Write for Your Life,” and learn how anyone can write and why everyone should.

This in-person event will also be live-streamed.

More information about this event.

Co-sponsors:
College of Literature, Science, and the Arts
Department of English Language and Literature
Detroit Public Television
Literati Bookstore
Michigan Radio

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Join Ira Shapiro, author and former Hill staffer, and Chris Marquette, Knight-Wallace Fellow and congressional reporter, for a discussion on Shapiro’s new book, “The Betrayal: How Mitch McConnell and the Senate Republicans Abandoned America,” our current political climate, and the state of democracy in these fractious times.

Hosted by:
Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy

Co-sponsors:
Alumni Association of the University of Michigan
Democracy & Debate

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In October 2017, Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey of The New York Times broke the story of Harvey Weinstein’s decades of sexual abuse allegations and ignited the #metoo movement.  Meet the reporters behind the groundbreaking expose and watch the feature film, “She Said,” based on their book of the same name.  The conversation with Kantor and Twohey will follow the movie screening. 

This event will not be live-streamed. Wallace House and its co-sponsors will not receive any proceeds from ticket sales.

Co-sponsors:
College of Engineering
College of Literature, Science, and the Arts
Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy
Office of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

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Wallace House Presents Linda Villarosa, journalist, educator and writer for The New York Times Magazine, as she examines racial inequities and bias in U.S. medical care and the devastating consequences on the health and well-being of Black Americans.

More information about this event.

THIS IS AN MLK SYMPOSIUM EVENT

Co-sponsor:
Center for Racial Justice

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Wallace House Presents journalist and scholar Jelani Cobb, in conversation with Ford School Dean Celeste Watkins-Hayes, as part of the continuing series: “Democracy in Crisis: Views from the Press.” Watch Cobb, dean of Columbia Journalism School and staff writer for The New Yorker, as he examines race, historic challenges to democracy, the impact of the media, and how these inform our current moment.

More information about this event.

THIS IS AN MLK SYMPOSIUM EVENT

Co-sponsors:
Democracy & Debate
Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy
Alumni Association

Ford School
Democracy & Debate
Alumni Association
With support from our media partners at Detroit Public Television (DPTV) and PBS Books

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February 24 marks one year since the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. Ukrainian-born retired U.S. Army Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, former Director for European Affairs for the United States National Security Council examines the current state of the war and its impacts on the Ukrainian people, the implications for global security, and prospects for peace and rebuilding.

Discussion moderated by Geneviève Zubrzycki, professor of sociology and WCEE Director, and John
Ciorciari, professor of public policy and director of the Ford School’s Weiser Diplomacy Center.

Featuring a special performance by members of the Ukrainian Bandurist Chorus of North America.

The event will conclude with a candlelight vigil on the Diag.

This evening is organized by the Weiser Center for Europe and Eurasia in partnership with the Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies; Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures; Ukrainian Club at U-M; Weiser Diplomacy Center; and Wallace House Center for Journalists.

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Wallace House Presents CNN Anchor Chris Wallace and Governor Gretchen Whitmer as part of the continuing series: “Democracy in Crisis: Views from the Press.” Join this hour-long special event with Mr. Wallace and Governor Whitmer as they discuss politics, public service, the media, and the state of our democracy, with opening remarks by the University of Michigan President Santa Ono. 

More information about this event.

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As natural disasters become more frequent and devastating, how can newsrooms better prepare for the reporting and operations challenges posed by these emergencies?

Covering Natural Disasters is a one-day symposium developed by current Knight-Wallace Fellow María Arce to bring together journalists, extreme weather experts, and emergency managers in a small group to discuss best practices for covering disasters and solutions to working with limited resources amid the destruction and tragedy of these events.

This symposium is an opportunity for editors, staff reporters, and freelancers to learn, connect and be better prepared to cover the next natural disaster with new skills and trauma-informed practices

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Wallace House Presents Fred de Sam Lazaro, executive director of the Under-Told Stories Project and correspondent for the PBS NewsHour, as he takes a critical look at the world’s underreported events and awakens us to understand the daily concerns of faraway people who increasingly affect our lives. A 1989 Michigan Journalism Fellow (later named the Knight-Wallace Journalism Fellowship), de Sam Lazaro founded Under-Told Stories a journalism project focused on the consequences of poverty and the work of change agents addressing them telling stories about the world’s biggest challenges including climate, food and water, and human rights.

More information about this event.

The Eisendrath Symposium honors Charles R. Eisendrath, former director of Wallace House, and his lifelong commitment to international journalism.

This event is produced with support from Knight Foundation.

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