Spring 2018 Westminster Town Hall Forums Announced
Friday, February 2, 2018 at 6:38PM
Since 1980, the Westminster Town Hall Forum (free and open to all) has provided unique opportunities to explore the key issues of our day from an ethical perspective. In just an hour, guest speakers will expand your mind and maybe even change your perspective. Forums are always aired at noon on MPR News Presents, 91.1 FM in the Twin Cities. Noon forums are broadcast live, and evening forums are recorded for later broadcast, usually within a day or two of the event.
The Spring 2018 dates are:
SUZY HANSEN March 22
Topic: An American Abroad in a Post-American World
Suzy Hansen is an American journalist and editor. A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, she has lived in Istanbul since 2007 after receiving a journalism fellowship from the Institute of Current World Affairs to write on Turkish politics and foreign affairs. Since then, she has traveled for her work to Libya, Greece, Egypt, Afghanistan, Kuwait, India, Kenya, and beyond. She is a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine, London Review of Books, Vogue, GQ, Bloomberg, and Businessweek. Her first book, Notes on a Foreign Country: An American Abroad in a Post-American World, is a geopolitical memoir, challenging her assumptions about American beneficence abroad, America's role in the Middle East, and our country’s place in the world.
NADINE BURKE HARRIS April 10
Topic: Healing the Effects of Childhood Adversity and Trauma
Nadine Burke Harris is a pediatrician and advocate for children’s health. She is the founder of the Center for Youth Wellness in San Francisco, which researches the impact of adverse childhood experiences, affecting children at all socio-economic levels and putting them at higher risk for health, behavioral, and learning problems. She has shared her research and insights at the Mayo Clinic, American Academy of Pediatrics, Google Zeitgeist, and Dreamforce. She is the recipient of the Arnold P. Gold Foundation’s Humanism in Medicine award and the Heinz Award for the Human Condition. She is an advisor to the Too Small to Fail initiative, which promotes the importance of early brain and language development in children, and the author of the new book The Deepest Well: Healing the Long-Term Effects of Childhood Adversity.
STEVE SCHMIDT May 1
Topic: A Candid Look at Today's Headlines
Steve Schmidt is a political strategist, public relations executive, and an on-air political analyst at MSNBC. He was an advisor in the George W. Bush administration and served as the top strategist for the president’s 2004 re-election campaign. In 2008, he was the senior advisor to John McCain’s presidential campaign. He is a vice president at Edelman, a global communications marketing firm, where he advises politicians and business executives on a wide range of issues, including technology and telecommunications, financial services, energy, health care, and more. He serves on the board of the nonprofit research organization JUST Capital, which ranks companies on their commitment to fair pay, equal treatment of all workers, community-building, and sustainability. With David Plouffe, he founded the Center for Political Communication at the University of Delaware.
RICHARD STENGEL May 22
Topic: Mandela's Way: Lessons for an Uncertain Age
Richard Stengel is a journalist, author, and a former managing editor of Time. He has written for numerous publications, including The New Yorker, The New Republic, Spy and The New York Times, and he appears regularly on television as a commentator. In 2013, he accepted the position of Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs in the Obama administration. He has served as the president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, established by Congress to increase awareness and understanding of the Constitution. He collaborated with Nelson Mandela on his autobiography, The Long Walk to Freedom, and he was a producer on the documentary film Mandela. He is the author of Mandela’s Way: Lessons for an Uncertain Age. A graduate of Princeton University, he was awarded a Rhodes scholarship to Christ Church, Oxford, where he studied English and history.
Westminster Presbyterian Church is located at 1200 Marquette Avenue.
