Intercultural Lecture Series
Understanding, appreciating and celebrating cultural differences are critical to the well-being of individuals and communities.
As a key component of the University’s mission and core values, intercultural education helps to prepare students and faculty “for meaningful and ethical work in a multicultural, global society.”
The Honors Program organizes four annual intercultural lectures annually in a “Visiting-Scholar-for-a-Day” format. The current speaker lineup can be found on our Cultural Events webpage.
Event Archive
Established in 1996, this lecture is held each fall to coincide with Hispanic Heritage Month and is part of the University’s Hispanic Heritage Celebration.
| Date | Title | Speaker | Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9/12/23 | Chicagolandia How Latinos Remade the Suburbs | Antonio Ramirez | Link |
| 9/21/22 | There is No Line: Demystifying Our Complex Immigration System | Nubia Willman | Link |
| 9/15/21 | Lessons Learned From My Father | Paul Chavez | Link |
| 9/23/20 | Noticing Immigrants Just Because of COVID | Jorge Mujica | Link |
| 9/18/19 | Suited for a Cause From College Project to Social Enterprise | David Rojas Jr | Link |
| 9/26/18 | Undocumented Student Acess: Mental Health Trauma, College Access and Immigration Politics | Tanya Cabrera | Link |
| 9/20/17 | Structural Violence: How Mexican Parents' Immigration Status Affects Their Children's Education | Pat Rubio Goldsmith | |
| 9/21/16 | From Exploitation to Empowerment: A Decade of Organizing in Chicago | Shelly Ruzicka | |
| 9/23/15 | César Chávez: The Man, the Myth and the Legacy | Miriam Pawel | |
| 9/22/14 | The Rights of Immigrants and the Duties of Nations | Ejuardo Mendieta | |
| 10/9/13 | Immigration, English Learners and the Future of Latino Educational Access | William Perez | |
| 9/27/12 | From Cloning to Cell Therapy: A Life in Science | Lydia Villa-Komaroff | |
| 2011 | |||
| 2010 | |||
| 2009 | |||
| 10/2/08 | Comida de la Vida: Latina Activists Fighting for Immigrant rights in Washington State | Maria Cuevas | |
| 10/17/07 | A Culture in Transition: Latinos and the American Mainstream | Phil Ponce | |
| 10/4/06 | Health Disparities Among the Hispanic/Latino Population | Aida Giachello | |
| 10/6/05 | The Fight in the Fields | Ray Telles | |
| 10/6/04 | The Legacy of César Chávez: Paving the Way for a Multicultural Education | Nancy Barcelo | |
| 2003 | The Changing Face of America | Carlos Cortes | |
| 2002 | The Core Ensemble | Tres Vidas,” a musical presentation | |
| 2001 | The Latino Century | Charles Gonzalez | |
| 2000 | Latino Empowerment Through Art and Culture | Jose A. (Pepe) Vargas | |
| 1999 | Oh! Havana: Discussions on Exile | Dr. Rafael E. Saumell | |
| 1998 | Minority Voices | Pat Mora | |
| 1997 | Being True To Your Voice: Empowerment for Latinos and Women | Maria Hinojosa | |
| 1996 | Latinos and the Building of a Multiracial Democray | Dr. Carlos Munoz Jr. |
The newest of the University’s intercultural lectures, formally named in 2011, is held each fall to coincide with National Coming Out Day and is part of the University’s commitment to the history, issues and life stories of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community.
| Date | Title | Speaker | Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10/11/23 | Telling Our Stories: Moving Illinois Forward for LGBTQIA+ Justice | Michael Ziri | Link |
| 10/19/22 | From Stonewall to the White House: Media as a Weapon for Change | Mark Segal | Link |
| 10/13/21 | Living Our Values How to Authentically Embrace Diversity, Equity and Inclusing as Individuals, Institutions and a Community | Jacqueline Boyd | Link |
| 10/21/20 | Liberation Access: Neurodiversity and Disability Justice in LGBTQ2IA Work | August Stockwell | Link |
| 10/23/19 | LGBTQIA+ Challenges: Inequities Across a Lifespan | Michael Adams | Link |
| 10/17/18 | Canaries In a Mine: Trans Educators' Multiple Roles in Higher Education | Scholar S. Simmons | Link |
| 10/11/17 | Transitional LGBT Activism: Working for Sexual Rights Worldwide | Ryan Thoreson | Link |
| 10/10/15 | Abstraction, Art and Transgender Capacity | David J Getsy | |
| 10/6/14 | Bullied: Youth, Gender, and Honophobia | C.J. Pascoe | |
| 10/18/13 | The LGBT Student and the Culture of Respect at Elmhurst College | Eliza Byard | |
| 10/1/12 | The Science of Sexual Orientation | Simon LeVay | |
| 2011 | |||
| 2010 | |||
| 2009 | |||
| 2008 | Joan Martin |
This lecture, established in 1993, is held each winter to coincide with Black History Month and is part of the University’s annual Celebration of Black Heritage.
| Date | Title | Speaker | Detail |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2/14/24 | Letters to Martin: Meditations on Democracy in Black America | Randal Maurice Jelks | Link |
| 2/15/23 | Now is the Time for Critical Race Theory: Chaos, Community and Radical Propositions for Education | David Stovall | Link |
| 2/16/22 | Ida B. Wells | Michelle Duster | Link |
| 2/17/21 | Painful Past or Present Politics: An Examination of My Own Life in a Racially Polarized Chicago | Sherry Williams | Link |
| 2/19/20 | Featuring the film documentary, The Area | Naeema Torres & Deborah Payne | Link |
| 2/20/19 | Blueprint for the Beloved Community | Brad R. Braxton | Link |
| 2/21/18 | Pastor of West Point Missionary Baptist Church | L. Bernard Jakes | Link |
| 1/13/17 | Dear Martin: How Do We Build Democracy in an Anti-democratic Age? | Maurice Jelks | |
| 2/2/16 | Reframing King: Revolutionary Warrior for Justice and Freedom | David Stovall | Link |
| 1/29/15 | The Strange Eventful History of Young Soul Rebels | Daniel McNeil | |
| 1/29/14 | We Shall Overcome… When? | Shaun Harper | |
| 2/15/13 | Sustainable Justice for Maginalized Communities | Sylvia Hood Washington | |
| 2/8/12 | Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention | Wendy Wolf | |
| 2011 | |||
| 2/16/10 | Pastor of Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ | Otis Moss III | |
| 2/18/09 | Building a Multi-Cultural Community | Forrest Parker | |
| 2/19/08 | Lessons in Leadership | Julius W. Becton Jr | |
| 2007 | |||
| 2006 | |||
| 2/23/05 | Beyond the Dream: Working for Change in Communities of Difference | Mark A. Hicks | |
| 2004 | |||
| 2/17/03 | The Underground Railroad in Illinois | Glennette Tilley Turner |
Established in 2002, this lecture is held each spring to coincide with Women’s History Month and is part of the University’s Women’s History Celebration.
| Date | Title | Speaker | Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3/6/24 | Dea Ex Machina: Using Feminine Images of God to Describe AI | Kristel Clayville | Link |
| 3/8/23 | Nuclear Accidents, Disasters and the Future | Gayle E Woloschak | Link |
| 3/16/22 | Outsider-Within and the Politics of Belonging: A Womanist Reading Hebrew Bible Narratives | Vanessa Lovelace | Link |
| 3/10/21 | In Pursuit of Justice: Womanist Non-Binary Perspectives About Intersectionality, Trauma, Lament and Hope | Linda Thomas | Link |
| 3/18/20 | rescheduled for 3/10/2021 due to pandemic | Linda Thomas | Link |
| 3/13/19 | Gender-Based Environmental Shame: A Problem for Everyone. | Sarah Fredericks | Link |
| 3/14/18 | A Surprised Queenhood in the New Black Sun: The Life and Legacy of Gwendolyn Brooks | Angela Jackson | Link |
| 2017 | |||
| 2016 | |||
| 2015 | |||
| 3/20/14 | Gender, Race and the Future of Education | Shannon Sullivan | |
| 4/25/13 | Narcissism: A Defense | Laura Kipnis | |
| 3/22/12 | Keeping the Feminish Promise: Women and Gender in History | Emily Swafford | |
| 3/8/11 | Taking Diversity Seriously | Marla Brettschneider | |
| 3/16/10 | Scholar/Author | Louis Knight | |
| 2009 | |||
| 2008 | |||
| 3/15/07 | War on the Family: Imprisoned Monters and the Children The Leave Behind | Nancy Pearcey/Dr. Renny Golden | |
| 3/9/06 | When Sisterhood was Poserful and Some of Us Were Brave: Race, Class, and Gender in Higher Education Then and Now | Paula Rothenberg | |
| 3/2/05 | Sassy Women: Memory, Imagination, & Social Change | Jacqueline Jones Royster |
An additional appreciation of diversity comes from the University’s Office of Equity and Inclusion through its array of programs and activities. For students interested in the academic study of diversity, the University’s Department of Intercultural Studies offers a major and a minor.
For more information about the intercultural lecture series, please contact Professor Mary Kay Mulvaney.