E.N. Thompson Forum On World Issues

E.N. Thompson Forum On World Issues

For more information on E.N. Thompson Forums, CLICK HERE.

Mission: to bring a diversity of viewpoints on international and public policy issues to the university and the residents of the state to promote understanding and encourage debate.

Over the past three decades, the E.N. Thompson Forum on World Issues has established itself as one of the preeminent speakers series in higher education. Past Thompson Forum events have featured, among many others: Mikhail Gorbachev, former president of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics; Holocaust survivor and peace activist Elie Wiesel; Camelia Sadat, the daughter of Anwar Sadat and founder of the Sadat Peace Institute; Maki Mandela, daughter of the former South African president; the Rev. Peter Gomes, Plummer Professor of Christian Morals at Harvard University; Hedrick Smith, journalist and expert on the former Soviet Union; Kennedy Administration Secretary of Defense Robert MacNamara; Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa; Derek Chollet from the US Department of Defense; journalist Sonia Shah; and Jose Antonio Vargas, founder of Define American.

Programming Committee

Program Committee members are globally-minded university and community leaders who are responsible for developing the Forum theme and for generating speaker ideas.

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE PROGRAMMING COMMITTEE

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29th Annual Governor's Lecture in the Humanities:

A Conversation with Amy Tan

SEPTEMBER 24, 2024 - 7:30 P.M.

Presented by Humanities Nebraska (HN) and the E.N. Thompson Forum on World Issues, “A Conversation with Amy Tan” will be free and open to the public at the Lied Center for Performing Arts in Lincoln and live-streamed on Tuesday, September 24, 2024 at 7:30 p.m.

 

Tan, a widely acclaimed best-selling author, will speak on her many books, all of which have shone light on the human experience from fresh perspectives.

Born in the U.S. to immigrant parents from China, Tan’s first best-selling novel was “The Joy Luck Club,” which is a look at the immigration experience from the perspective of mothers and daughters. Other New York Times best-sellers followed, including “The Kitchen God’s Wife,” “The Hundred Secret Senses,” “The Bonesetter’s Daughter,” “Saving Fish from Drowning,” and “The Valley of Amazement.” Tan is also the author of two children’s books, a memoir, and other works. In keeping with her love of science and childhood love of doodling, she recently took up nature journal sketching. Her new book, “The Backyard Bird Chronicles” (Knopf, 2024), debuted at #1 on the ABA’s Indie bestseller list and was called “delightful” by the New York Times. She received the National Humanities Medal in 2021.

Co-chaired by Connie Duncan and Andy Pollock, this year’s Governor’s Lecture in the Humanities is the 29th consecutive year that Humanities Nebraska has brought an outstanding national speaker to Nebraska to give a free public talk on topics related to the humanities.  It will also kick off the 37th year of the E.N. Thompson Forum lecture series.

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Aimee Nezhukumatathil

E.N. THOMPSON FORUM

October 17, 2024 - 3:30 pm

Poet, professor and author of World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, & Other Astonishments, Barnes and Noble’s Book of the Year in 2020.

Register for this workshop at https://enthompson.unl.edu/

 

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Ed Yong: The Amazing Nature of Animal Senses

E.N. THOMPSON FORUM

March 25, 2025 - 6:30P.M.

Science journalist Ed Yong, author of An Immense World, will take audiences through the hidden realms of animal senses. Science journalist Ed Yong, author of An Immense World, will take audiences through the hidden realms of animal senses.

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Neil deGrasse Tyson

April 22, 2025 - 7:30 pm

Join renowned astrophysicist and author Neil deGrasse Tyson for an out-of-this-world Earth Day event! Tyson will present “The Cosmic Perspective.” There is no view of the world as emotionally potent as the one granted by a cosmic perspective. It’s one that sees Earth as a planet in a vast universe. It profoundly influences what we think and feel about science, culture, politics, and life itself. Tyson will also discuss our influence on our universe related to sustainability and climate change.

$10 discount with code FORUM10 (limit 500).

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