Events Archive
Event Archive
Agora Fellows: Introduction and Discourse Contract
The Program for Public Discourse invites all undergraduates to join or attend a meeting with the Agora Fellows, a cohort of students committed to the study and practice of public discourse.
This first meeting will include a group discussion and drafting of this semester’s discourse compact, plus a brainstorming session about what topics will be tackled in future dialogues and debates.
The Agora Fellows meet bi-weekly on Thursday evenings, 7:00 - 8:30 pm in Bynum 336.
This first meeting will include a group discussion and drafting of this semester’s discourse compact, plus a brainstorming session about what topics will be tackled in future dialogues and debates.
The Agora Fellows meet bi-weekly on Thursday evenings, 7:00 - 8:30 pm in Bynum 336.
UNC Faculty Symposium on Deliberative Pedagogy
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View an anonymized copy of the event's chat log, which includes further discussion and links to additional resources.
Communication Beyond Carolina, (10 - 11 a.m.):
This panel will provide an overview of the Communication Beyond Carolina component of the new IDEAs in Action curriculum. In addition to hearing from the Office of Undergraduate Curricula's Curriculum Director, this panel includes the chair of the General Education Oversight Committee, and an expert in communicating science to a lay audience who also teaches courses aligned with the Communication Beyond Carolina learning outcomes.
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This panel will provide an overview of the Communication Beyond Carolina component of the new IDEAs in Action curriculum. In addition to hearing from the Office of Undergraduate Curricula's Curriculum Director, this panel includes the chair of the General Education Oversight Committee, and an expert in communicating science to a lay audience who also teaches courses aligned with the Communication Beyond Carolina learning outcomes.
- Dr. Charlotte Boettiger, Department of Psychology & Neuroscience (View Charlotte's presentation here)
- Nick Siedentop, Office of Undergraduate Curricula (View Nick's presentation here)
- Dr. Erika Wise, Department of Geography ( View Erika's presentation here)
Facilitating & Evaluating Public Discourse, (11 a.m. - noon):
This panel will provide a range of strategies and techniques for facilitating and evaluating students' capacity to engage in discourse. Drawing from experiences within and beyond the college classroom, panelists will offer tips and reflections for how best to generate meaningful discussion and deliberation, as well as how to evaluate students' participation.
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This panel will provide a range of strategies and techniques for facilitating and evaluating students' capacity to engage in discourse. Drawing from experiences within and beyond the college classroom, panelists will offer tips and reflections for how best to generate meaningful discussion and deliberation, as well as how to evaluate students' participation.
- Dr. Kelly Hogan, Office of Instructional Innovation; Department of Biology (View Kelly's presentation here)
- Dr. Lloyd Kramer, Carolina Public Humanities; Department of History (View Lloyd's presentation here)
- Dr. Michael Vazquez, Parr Center for Ethics; Department of Philosophy (View Michael's presentation here)
Engaging Race and Racism in the Classroom, (1 - 2 p.m.):
This panel will provide strategies and techniques for engaging with topics related to race and racism within a course. With a focus on cultivating students' skills in discussing race and racism, panelists will offer tips and reflections for how best to generate productive deliberation on race and racism, while attending to the ways in which race and racism shapes the classroom experience.
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This panel will provide strategies and techniques for engaging with topics related to race and racism within a course. With a focus on cultivating students' skills in discussing race and racism, panelists will offer tips and reflections for how best to generate productive deliberation on race and racism, while attending to the ways in which race and racism shapes the classroom experience.
- Dr. Travis Alrbitton, School of Social Work
- Dr. Sibby Anderson-Thompkins, Office for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (View Sibby's presentation here)
- Dr. Emily Boehm, Center for Faculty Excellence (View Emily's presentation here)
Student Perspectives on Dialogue and Debate, (2 - 3 p.m.):
This panel will offer students' own reflections on dialogue and debate at UNC. Highlighting their experiences within two different programs that each include a focus on the skills of deliberation and debate, the student panelists will share their key take-aways and what they think instructors should know when designing such class-based experiences. The students will be joined by faculty with whom they work in these two programs, who will also share their reflections on teaching dialogue, debate, and the skills of public discourse.
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This panel will offer students' own reflections on dialogue and debate at UNC. Highlighting their experiences within two different programs that each include a focus on the skills of deliberation and debate, the student panelists will share their key take-aways and what they think instructors should know when designing such class-based experiences. The students will be joined by faculty with whom they work in these two programs, who will also share their reflections on teaching dialogue, debate, and the skills of public discourse.
- Dr. Christian Lundberg, Department of Communication
- Students from the Chancellor's Science Scholars
- Dr. Kevin Marinelli, Department of Communication; UNC Program for Public Discourse
- Students from the Agora Fellows
Date: May 6, 2021
Times: 09:30 am – 03:00 pm
Audience: UNC Faculty & Staff
Venue: Online
Debating Public Policy Series: Debating the Minimum Wage
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For our inaugural Debating Public Policy Series event, the UNC Program for Public Discourse invites two UNC faculty members to debate the advantages and disadvantages of President Biden’s recent proposal to raise the federal minimum wage to $15. Dr. Luca Flabbi of the UNC Department of Economics will argue in favor. Dr. Paige Ouimet of UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School will argue against. The debate is moderated by Kevin Marinelli, executive director of the UNC Program for Public Discourse.
Luca Flabbi, Ph.D is an Associate Professor in the UNC Department of Economics. Dr. Flabbi is an applied microeconomist and econometrician with expertise in labor/population economics and in applied econometric methods.
Download Dr. Flabbi's presentation here.
Paige Ouimet, Ph.D. has several research projects looking at income inequality and the role of firms. She also has researched ESOP (employee share ownership plans) and employee stock options and their impact on labor productivity, wages and turnover. Her research agenda is concentrated at the juncture of finance and labor economics. She is interested in in how decisions studied in finance impact employee stakeholders – specifically how those effects are reflected in firm performance and, hence, corporate finance decisions.
Download Dr. Ouimet's presentation here.
Event Moderator
Kevin Marinelli, Ph.D. serves as executive director of the Program for Public Discourse and teaches in the Department of Communication. He teaches courses in rhetorical studies, and his scholarship centers on public argument. Currently, he is investigating practices of rhetorical citizenship.
Date: April 19, 2021
Times: 05:00 pm – 06:30 pm
Audience: Public Event
Venue:
Abbey Speaker Series - The Future of Conservatism
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Conservatism in America has an uncertain future. On a host of issues including populism, free trade, and nationalism, conservatives are no longer united. Now, perhaps more than ever, what it means to be a “conservative,” where conservatism is likely headed, and where, ideally, it should direct itself are open to debate. A panel of political thinkers with different views on conservatism will discuss these critical questions.This event is co-sponsored by the Arete Initiative, part of the Kenan Institute for Ethics at Duke University.
Patrick Deneen, PhD is a Professor of Political Science and the David A. Potenziani Memorial Chair of Constitutional Studies at the University of Notre Dame. He has previously taught at Princeton University and Georgetown University. Deneen has published several books on American political thought, including Why Liberalism Failed (2018) and Conserving America? Thoughts on Present Discontents (2016).
Before transitioning to education, Patrick Deneen was Speechwriter and Special Advisor to the Director of the United States Information Agency. He was also awarded the American Political Science Association's Leo Strauss Award for Best Dissertation in Political Theory in 1995 and an honorable mention for the organization's Best First Book Award in 2000.
Before transitioning to education, Patrick Deneen was Speechwriter and Special Advisor to the Director of the United States Information Agency. He was also awarded the American Political Science Association's Leo Strauss Award for Best Dissertation in Political Theory in 1995 and an honorable mention for the organization's Best First Book Award in 2000.
Yuval Levin, PhD is the director of Social, Cultural, and Constitutional Studies at the American Enterprise Institute. As director, he studies the foundations of self-government and the future of law, regulation, and constitutionalism while also exploring the impact of social and political life on the American family. He is also the founding and current editor of National Affairs, a senior editor of The New Atlantis, and a contributing editor to National Review. Previously, Levin served as a member of the White House domestic policy staff under President George W. Bush and was the President's Council on Bioethics' executive director.
His most recent published works include A Time to Build: From Family and Community to Congress and the Campus, How Recommitting to Our Institutions Can Revive the American Dream (2020).
His most recent published works include A Time to Build: From Family and Community to Congress and the Campus, How Recommitting to Our Institutions Can Revive the American Dream (2020).
Daniel McCarthy is the editor of Modern Age: A Conservative Review, published by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute. He also serves as the director of the Robert Novak Journalism Fellowship Program at The Fund for American Studies and is a visiting fellow at the Center for the Study of Statesmanship at The Catholic University of America. Before joining Modern Age, McCarthy was the editor of The American Conservative.
McCarthy’s writings have been published by various news organizations including The New York Times, USA Today, The Spectator, and the National Interest.
McCarthy’s writings have been published by various news organizations including The New York Times, USA Today, The Spectator, and the National Interest.
Ashleen Menchaca-Bagnulo, PhD is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Texas State University, where she researches Western Civic Republic tradition and has lectured on political thought during eras ranging from the Medieval period to the American Civil War. She received her PhD in Political Science from the University of Notre Dame. Before arriving at Texas State, Dr. Menchaca-Bangulo served appointments at Princeton University, the US Naval Academy, and Furman University.
Her scholarly writings can be found in various journals, including Augustine's Political Thought, Political Science Reviewers, and Perspectives on Political Science. She is an editor of and contributor to an upcoming anthology on Augustine in unsettled times, along with Bolek Kabala and Nathan Pinkoski.
Her scholarly writings can be found in various journals, including Augustine's Political Thought, Political Science Reviewers, and Perspectives on Political Science. She is an editor of and contributor to an upcoming anthology on Augustine in unsettled times, along with Bolek Kabala and Nathan Pinkoski.
Event Moderator
Jed Atkins, PhD is director of the Arete Initiative at the Kenan Institute for Ethics at Duke University, where he is the E. Blake Byrne Associate Professor of Classical Studies and Associate Professor of Political Science. Additionally, Dr. Atkins teaches in Duke’s Visions of Freedom Focus Cluster, which offers courses designed to develop a critical understanding of various competing conceptions of freedom and their historical origins. He received his PhD from the University of Cambridge.
An expert on Greek, Roman, and early Christian moral and political thought, Dr. Atkins is the author of Cicero on Politics and the Limits of Reason (2013), Roman Political Thought (2018), and co-editor of the forthcoming Cambridge Companion to Cicero’s Philosophy.
An expert on Greek, Roman, and early Christian moral and political thought, Dr. Atkins is the author of Cicero on Politics and the Limits of Reason (2013), Roman Political Thought (2018), and co-editor of the forthcoming Cambridge Companion to Cicero’s Philosophy.
Date: March 23, 2021
Times: 05:30 pm – 07:00 pm
Audience: Public Event
Venue: Online
Abbey Speaker Series: Defining Racial Justice in the 21st Century - Competing Perspectives and Shared Goals
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In the wake of a summer of protests against police brutality, the midst of an ongoing pandemic, and the aftermath of a contentious election, this event brings together a panel of Black academic, journalistic, religious, and political leaders to discuss and debate their different definitions of what racial justice looks like - and how it might be achieved - in the twenty-first century.This event is co-sponsored by the Department of African, African American, and Diaspora Studies.
Senator Valerie P. Foushee is a Democratic member of the North Carolina General Assembly, representing the 23rd District in the North Carolina Senate, a position she has held since 2013. Before her current position, Senator Foushee served for 21 years with the Chapel Hill Police Department and spent varying amounts of time on the Board of Education for the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools, the All State School Board, and the Orange County Board of Commissioners. Senator Foushee is a University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill graduate, having earned Bachelor of Arts degrees in Political Science and African and Afro-American Studies.
Touré Reed, PhD is a Professor of History at Illinois State University whose research and writings focus on the impact of race and class ideologies on African American civil rights politics and US public policy from the Progressive Era through the Presidency of Barack Obama. Dr. Reed’s most recent book, Toward Freedom: The Case Against Race Reductionism (2020), challenges the idea that current racial disparities in wealth, employment, and incarceration are largely the result of liberal policymakers' failure to acknowledge and account for the impact of racism on Black Americans.
Jacqueline C. Rivers, PhD is executive director of the Seymour Institute for Black Church and Policy Studies at Harvard University and was previously a doctoral fellow in the Multidisciplinary Program in Inequality & Social Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School. Dr. Rivers founded and served as executive director of MathPower, a community-based nonprofit in Boston focused on reforming mathematics education in urban schools. She earned a doctorate in African-American Studies and Sociology at Harvard University.
Event Moderator
Jamelle Bouie is a columnist for the New York Times and a political analyst for CBS News covering campaigns, elections, national affairs, and culture. Before joining the Times, Bouie was chief political correspondent for Slate magazine. He has also served as a staff writer for The Daily Beast and held fellowships at The American Project and The Nation. Bouie attended the University of Virginia, graduating with a degree in Political and Social Thought and Government.
Date: February 23, 2021
Times: 05:30 pm – 07:00 pm
Audience: Public Event
Venue: Online
Deliberation Scholars - Welcome Back and Introductions
This semester's first meeting of the Deliberation Scholars. Prof. Kevin Marinelli will welcome students back, make introductions for the newest Scholars, and let them know about his plans for the coming months.
Scholars will also begin discussing the semester's Reading Group book, I'm Right and You're an Idiot: The Toxic State of Public Discourse and How to Clean it Up by James Hoggan.
Students interested in attending this event can apply to be a Deliberation Scholar here.
Scholars will also begin discussing the semester's Reading Group book, I'm Right and You're an Idiot: The Toxic State of Public Discourse and How to Clean it Up by James Hoggan.
Students interested in attending this event can apply to be a Deliberation Scholar here.
Public Discourse Post-Election: Is Dialogue Possible? – an Academic Perspective
In the second part of our two-part event, the Program for Public Discourse is joined by academic experts for a discussion about the intersecting forces that influence how and whether partisans can have productive conversations in a polarized political climate.
We’ll ask where we are as a state and nation and what we must do to improve the quality of our discourse and democratic processes.
Additionally, we hope to provide students with academic insights into how they might consider the 2020 elections’ influence on the shape of their civic lives moving forward.
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Dr. Travis Albritton is a clinical associate professor and Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Social Work. He currently chairs the School of Social Work’s Diversity Committee and serves on the University’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Council. His research interests include educational equity in K-12 education, academic achievement among Black males, and closing educational opportunity gaps for children of all ages.
Dr. Susan Bickford is an associate professor in the Department of Political Science. Her research focuses on ancient Greek political thought, feminist political theory, and the impact of conflict and inequality on the practice of citizenship. She has published articles in several scholarly journals and authored the book The Dissonance of Democracy: Listening, Conflict, and Citizenship.
Dr. Marc Hetherington is a Raymond H. Dawson Distinguished Bicentennial Professor of Political Science at UNC-Chapel Hill. His focus is on the American electorate and the polarization of public opinion. Previously, he taught at the Paris Institute of Political Studies, Vanderbilt University, and Bowdoin College. Hetherington has published several books and over a dozen articles in academic journals.
Dr. Christian Lundberg is an associate professor in the Department of Communication at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is also Co-Director of the University Program in Cultural Studies. His teaching interests include theories of the public and public discourse, public speaking, rhetorical theory, debate and deliberation, critical theory, and cultural studies.
Event Moderator
Kevin Marinelli is the executive director of the Program for Public Discourse and an assistant professor in the Department of Communication at UNC. He is a rhetorical scholar who previously served as director of the Speaking Center at Davidson College for three years before joining the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to teach rhetoric in 2019. He has also taught at Young Harris College, the University of Georgia and San Jose State University. He holds a Ph.D. in speech-communication from the University of Georgia and an M.A. in the same subject from San Jose State. He also holds bachelor’s degrees in both communication studies and political science from the College of Charleston.
Date: November 17, 2020
Times: 05:30 pm – 07:00 pm
Audience: Public Event
Venue: Online
Public Discourse Post-Election: Is Dialogue Possible? – a Frontline Perspective
In the first part of our two-part event, the Program for Public Discourse is joined by Democratic and Republican operatives for a discussion that utilizes the 2020 elections as a window into the broader ways in which Americans talk about politics.
Additionally, we hope to provide students with political insights from the ground level of the campaign trails, so they can better understand the choices campaigns make, along with the strategies behind them.
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Brett O’Donnell is a political consultant for the Republican Party and President of O’Donnell & Associates, Ltd, a strategic communication consulting organization. He has served as a message and media strategist for several members of congress and for-profit and non-profit corporations. In the past, he worked on the presidential campaigns of Michelle Bachman, Mitt Romney, John McCain, and George W. Bush. Before becoming a consultant, O’Donnell served as the Director of Debate at Liberty University for 18 years.
B.J. Rudell is a field organizer for the Democratic Party and the former Associate Director of Polis: Center for Politics at Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy. He has written dozens of political op-eds for publications like the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the Dallas Morning News and has shared political insight on CNN and Fox News.
Event Moderator
Kevin Marinelli is the executive director of the Program for Public Discourse and an assistant professor in the Department of Communication at UNC. He is a rhetorical scholar who previously served as director of the Speaking Center at Davidson College for three years before joining the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to teach rhetoric in 2019. He has also taught at Young Harris College, the University of Georgia and San Jose State University. He holds a Ph.D. in speech-communication from the University of Georgia and an M.A. in the same subject from San Jose State. He also holds bachelor’s degrees in both communication studies and political science from the College of Charleston.
Date: November 16, 2020
Times: 05:30 pm – 07:00 pm
Audience: Public Event
Venue: Online
Free Speech on Campus
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A panel discussion about the current state of free expression on college campuses featuring Greg Lukianoff, Dr. Sigal Ben-Porath, and Dr. Jacqueline Pfeffer Merrill. Moderated by Prof. Kevin Marinelli, Executive Director of the UNC Program for Public Discourse. A part of #UNCResearchWeek, our panelists will discuss the "Free Expression and Constructive Dialogue at UNC-Chapel Hill" report composed by UNC Profs. Jennifer Larson, Mark McNeilly, and Timothy Ryan. You can read more about the study’s conclusions and find a link to the full report on The Daily Tar Heel. Profs. Larson and McNeilly also discussed the report with the James G. Martin Center earlier this year.
Greg Lukianoff is President and CEO of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, FIRE, and co-author of the New York Times best-seller, The Coddling of the American Mind. His work has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and elsewhere. He has also testified before the U.S. Congress regarding the state of free speech on college campuses.
Sigal Ben-Porath, Ph.D., is a professor in the Literacy, Culture, and International Education Division of the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education. She is an executive committee member of the Andrea Mitchell Center for the Study of Democracy and is the Penn Press faculty advisory board chair. Her published works include Making Up Our Mind: What School Choice is Really About, Free Speech on Campus, and more.
Jacqueline Pfeffer Merrill, Ph.D., is Director of the Campus Free Expression Project at the Bipartisan Policy Center. She has served as a faculty member at St. John’s College and the College of William & Mary and taught at Duke University, the University of Calgary, Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, and the college program at Maryland’s only women’s prison. Her writing has appeared in several publications, including Society, Law & Liberty, and Philanthropy.
Event Moderator
Kevin Marinelli is the executive director of the Program for Public Discourse and an assistant professor in the Department of Communication at UNC. He is a rhetorical scholar who previously served as director of the Speaking Center at Davidson College for three years before joining the Massachusettes Institute of Technology to teach rhetoric in 2019. He has also taught at Young Harris College, the University of Georgia and San Jose State University. He holds a Ph.D. in speech-communication from the University of Georgia and an M.A. in the same subject from San Jose State. He also holds bachelor’s degrees in both communication studies and political science from the College of Charleston.
Date: October 20, 2020
Times: 05:30 pm – 07:00 pm
Audience: Public Event
Venue: Online
Robert P. George and Cornel West In Conversation
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Cornel West: "What I mean by 'the left' is I am talking about the tradition, both secular and religious, that pushes back against the logic of the market, that pushes back against corporate power..." Robert P. George: "The form of American conservatism that I am attracted to is old-fashioned liberalism in the tradition of James Madison and Alexis de Tocqueville. A tradition that views freedom as important, not as an end in itself, but as a means to other ends."
Robert P. George is McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and Director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University. He is also frequently a Visiting Professor at Harvard Law School. In addition to his academic service, Professor George has served as Chairman of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. He has also served on the President’s Council on Bioethics, as a presidential appointee to the United States Commission on Civil Rights, and as the U.S. member of UNESCO’s World Commission on the Ethics of Science and Technology. He is a former Judicial Fellow at the Supreme Court of the United States, where he received the Justice Tom C. Clark Award.
Cornel West is a prominent and provocative democratic intellectual. He has taught at Yale, Harvard, the University of Paris, Princeton, and, most recently, Union Theological Seminary. He graduated Magna Cum Laude from Harvard in three years and obtained his MA and Ph.D. in philosophy at Princeton. He has written 20 books and has edited 13. He is best known for his classics Race Matters and Democracy Matters, and his memoir, Brother West: Living and Loving Out Loud. He appears frequently on the Bill Maher Show, CNN, C-Span, and on Tavis Smiley’s PBS TV Show.
Event Moderator
Thomas Chatterton Williams, is a contributing writer at the New York Times Magazine and a columnist for Harper’s. Williams is the author of two memoirs, Losing My Cool and Self-Portrait in Black and White, which recount his struggles with racial identity as a teen-ager and as an adult. The son of a Black father and a white mother, he describes himself in his second book as "an ex-black man." He is known for his critique of Ta-Nehisi Coates, whom Williams believes overemphasizes race and racism, creating "a fantasy that flattens psychological and material difference within and between groups.
Date: September 10, 2020
Times: 05:30 pm – 07:00 pm
Audience: Public Event
Venue: Online