E.N. Thompson Forum

The E.N. Thompson Forum on World Issues is a cooperative project of the Cooper Foundation, Lied Center for Performing Arts, and University of Nebraska-Lincoln. It was established in 1988 with the purpose of bringing a diversity of viewpoints on international and public policy issues to the university and people of Nebraska to promote understanding and encourage debate.

Leilani Farha is the former UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Housing and Global Director of The Shift. Farha has helped develop global human rights standards on the right to housing, including through her topical reports on homelessness, the financialization of housing, informal settlements, rights-based housing strategies, and the first UN Guidelines for the implementation of the right to ho...

This interactive event will feature local students and young professionals sharing their lived experiences as immigrants and refugees. Each panelist will tell their story, presenting a multi-dimensional picture beyond what’s portrayed in the news. Panelists will then respond to questions on a range of relevant topics, moderated by Karla Hernandez Torrijos, the inaugural Student Storyteller in Resi...

Martha Schwartz is a landscape architect, urbanist, and climate activist. Her work and teaching focuses on the urban public realm landscape and its importance in making cities “climate ready”. For more than 40 years, Martha Schwartz Partners has completed projects around the globe, from site-specific art installations to public spaces, parks, master-planning and reclamation. Schwartz is also a ten...

Tyler Riewer is Creative Director at charity: water, a $100M nonprofit organization that uses data and storytelling to connect donors to their impact and dream up new ways to think about sustainability in the water sector. As of today, charity: water has funded 91,414 projects to bring clean and safe water to 14,762,215 people. Riewer leads a team of designers and storytellers, and travels the glo...

Dr. Ali S. Khan is Dean and Tenured Professor of Epidemiology at the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Public Health, and a Retired Assistant Surgeon General. He served at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for 23 years before retiring as the director of the Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response. At the CDC, Dr. Khan led and responded to numerous high-p...

Echo-Hawk is President of the Pawnee Nation Business Council. He is an author, attorney, and and well-renowned legal scholar. A Pawnee Indian with a BA, Political Science, Oklahoma St. Univ. (1970) and JD, UNM (1973), he practices law in Oklahoma.

At this Cooper Conversation, young activists from UNL and Lincoln come together to discuss their activism, what motivates them, and how to move forward. Panelists will address the intersection of their own communities’ fight for racial justice, focusing on a rise in performative activism, allyship, burden of representation, and microaggressions. Moderated by Meyri Ibrahim, UNL political science an...

Anna Deavere Smith is an actress, playwright, teacher, and author, credited with creating a new form of theater. Smith received the National Endowment for the Humanities Medal and the prestigious MacArthur Fellowship. Her acting credits in television include Shonda Rhimes’s new “untitled project,” For the People, Blackish, Nurse Jackie, and The West Wing, and her film credits include The American...

Wadhia is Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Samuel Weiss Faculty Scholar and Clinical Professor of Law at Penn State Law in University Park. Her research focuses on the role of prosecutorial discretion in immigration law and the intersections of race, national security and immigration. Wadhia will talk about immigration reform, and the need to adopt a legal and policy framework...

Listen to Margaret D. Jacobs' moments of reckoning.

This kickoff event will include faculty from the departments of History and English, the Humanities in Medicine Program, and the Center for Great Plains Studies to focus on different groups and periods of racial reckoning and action.

Pre-talk discussion for E.N. Thompson forum discussion by Ann Bancroft.

Bancroft is one of the world’s preeminent polar explorers and an internationally recognized educator who is dedicated to inspiring women and girls around the world. Through her various roles as explorer, educator, speaker and philanthropist, Bancroft shares stories related to outdoor adventure to inspire a global audience to pursue their individual dreams.

Pre-talk video for the Ann Bancroft talk "No Horizon is So Far."

Focused on solutions and action, today’s youth are not afraid to face problems that threaten their future. Join us for a Cooper Conversation featuring and hosted by youth activists as they seek to inspire the broader community. Learn more about the panel on the E.N. Thompson Forum website .

Pre-talk video for the discussion "Naming the Beast: Climate Change and our Youth Taking Action."

Martinez is a powerful voice in the global youth- led environmental movement. From the age of six, Martinez has spoken around the world, from the Rio+20 United Nations Summit, to the General Assembly at the UN. A musician and activist, he is also known as a fashion model, philanthropist, and cross-cultural icon.

Margaret Huettl, Assistant Professor of History and Ethnic Studies at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, introduces the November E.N. Thompson Forum speaker Xiuhtezcatl Martinez.

Pre-talk video by David Forsythe for Doris Kearns Goodwin's E.N. Thompson Forum talk "Leadership in Turbulent Times"

Pipher, PhD, is the author of 10 books, including #1 New York Times bestseller “Reviving Ophelia: Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls” and most recently, “Women Rowing North: Navigating Life’s Currents and Flourishing As We Age.” In 2013, she published “The Green Boat: Reviving Ourselves in Our Capsized Culture” about environmental activism in Nebraska.

Introduction to writer Mary Pipher in advance of her E.N. Thompson Forum talk "Trauma and Recovery: A New Story of Interconnection and Action..."

Farah Pandith is an author, foreign policy strategist, and former diplomat. A world-leading expert and pioneer in countering violent extremism, she is a frequent media commentator and public speaker. She served as a political appointee under Presidents George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama, and most recently she was the first-ever Special Representative to Muslim Communities, serving...

2011 Nobel Peace Laureate Leymah Gbowee is a Liberian peace activist, trained social worker and women’s rights advocate. She currently serves as Executive Director of the Women, Peace and Security Program at Columbia University’s Earth Institute, and is the founder and current President of the Gbowee Peace Foundation Africa, the founding head of the Liberia Reconciliation Initiative, and co-founde...

Jana Eggers is a math and computer nerd who took the business path for a career. She’s CEO of Nara Logics and active in customer-inspired innovation, the artificial intelligence (AI) industry, and Autonomy/Mastery/Purpose-style leadership. Her passions are working with teams to define and deliver products customers love, algorithms, and their intelligence, and inspiring teams to do more than they...