2026 Spring Semester Public Affairs Discussion Group Schedule

January 16: Changing the Narrative: Using Fiction to Advance Dr. King’s Anti-Racist Agenda. With Mark Joseph, Ph.D, Leona Joseph/Marguerite Haynam Professor in Community Development.

January 23: Changes in the U.S. Foreign Policy Community. A discussion with James M. Lindsay, Ph.D., Mary and David Boies Distinguished Senior Fellow in U.S. Foreign Policy, Council on Foreign Relations.

January 30: Social Media and Politics. With Allison Girvin, MS, Adjunct Professor of English and former executive with ABC News, NBC News, Bloomberg, and Huffington Post.

February 6: Autism: Why Does the Rate of Its Diagnosis Keep Increasing? With Max Wiznitzer, MD, Professor of Pediatric Neurology and Director, Rainbow Autism Center.

February 13: Allocating Organs for Transplant: How Data Science and Simulation are Used to Inform Transplant Policy. With Johnie Rose, MD, PhD, Associate Professor and Director, Case Comprehensive Cancer Center Population Cancer Analytics Shared Resource.

February 20: Trump Unbound? President Trump and His Team in the First Year of His Second Administration. With David B. Cohen, Ph.D., Professor of Political Science and Director, Applied Politics Program, University of Akron.

February 27: Activism Over the Life Course: Polish Solidarity Refugees, 1980 – 2025. With Mary Patrice Erdmans, Ph.D., Professor of Sociology.

March 6: TBA

March 13: Spring Break

March 20: TBA

March 27: TBA

April 3: Youth Justice in Ohio: An Untold Story of Success and Possibility. With Gabriella Celeste, J.D., Policy Director for the Schubert Center for Childhood Studies, and Co-Director of the Child Studies Program.

April 10: TBA

April 17: Iran’s Water Crisis. With Neda A. Zawahri, Ph.D., Professor of Political Science, Cleveland State University.

April 24: TBA