Events

Runs Aug 31, 2024 — Jan 26, 2025. Artist Philippa Pham Hughes is guided by an aesthetic of care and delight in creating relational spaces for joy, human interaction, reflection, and flourishing. In “Hey, We Need to Talk,” Hughes continues an exploration in her work about what it means to be an American. Hughes aims to strengthen democracy through art-driven dialogues that repair the social fabric of our country. In these relational conversations, she asks visitors to contemplate what it means to flourish—both as individuals and as a community.

On the brink of a presidential election, these two documentaries offer a thought-provoking examination of politics and identity in Chinese and Korean American communities. Join us for a special screening featuring virtual guest Kaiser Kuo, a renowned podcast host, and an in-person appearance by director Joseph Juhn.

“First Vote” explores Chinese American electoral organizing in the swing states of North Carolina and Ohio during the 2016-2018 elections.

“Chosen” chronicles the journeys of five Korean American candidates with vastly different political views who ran for U.S. Congress in 2020.

Teaching and learning centers use the term 'hot moments' to describe a sudden eruption of tension, conflict, or big emotion during class, often connected to a heightened awareness of the social differences in the room. Election seasons can generate 'hot moments' in every discipline, whether your courses frequently raise potentially sensitive subjects or never do so deliberately.

Immigration has become a polarizing issue across political systems. Anti-immigrant rhetoric is a part of the standard playbook for authoritarian populists, and even in ostensibly democratic countries, immigration policies are becoming more restrictive. Meanwhile, political conflict, war, pandemics, and climate change are leading more people to migrate in search of safety and a better life. As immigration discourse takes up much of the oxygen in politics across the world, understanding the interconnections among immigration, democracy, and authoritarianism has become more important than ever. This roundtable of distinguished scholars examines this crucial relationship between immigration politics and democratic stability.

Join us for a conversation with Susan M. Collins about monetary policy, the breadth of the Federal Reserve's work, and her career path. Collins is president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. She is also participant on the Federal Open Market Committee, which sets U.S. monetary policy, and she is a former dean of the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy.

World-renowned gynecologist, human rights activist, and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Dr. Denis Mukwege will address the use of sexual violence in war, and also a new campaign focused on critical minerals and the role of responsible business in the peace process in the Democratic Republic of Congo.