Carleton Convos

Carleton College

The Carleton College convocation program is a weekly lecture series that bring fresh insights and perspectives from experts in a variety of fields. The program has a rich history, dating back several decades. The selected convocation speakers assist the liberals arts mission of centering thoughtful conversation within education and beyond.

  1. MAY 5

    Carleton Convo with Jana Shortal | May 01, 2026

    KARE 11 news anchor Jana Shortal delivered Carleton’s convocation on Friday, May 1, from 10:50 to 11:50 a.m. in Skinner Chapel. Shortal, who has worked at KARE 11 for 22 years, has been a crucial reporter in Minneapolis during Operation Metro Surge, braving pepper spray from federal agents to report the news. Their convocation address, “The Surge,” is focused on their experience reporting Minnesota’s federal occupation, as motivated by their personal motto: “Because the truth, still, has to matter.” Shortal’s career as an anchor for KARE 11 has now spanned many deeply turbulent times in Minneapolis in the aftermath of the murders of George Floyd, Renee Good, and Alex Pretti. Shortal began their career as a general assignment reporter and currently works on KARE 11’s Breaking The News segment, weeknights at 6:30 p.m. During their career so far, they have been the winner of eight Upper Midwest Emmys and nominated for many more, honoring their media coverage on topics ranging from sports stories to the impacts of George Floyd’s legacy in Minneapolis. Originally from outside St. Louis, Shortal graduated from the University of Missouri–Columbia with a bachelor’s degree in journalism. If it were not for one persistent professor there, Shortal would have spent their adult life driving the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile. They also once sold their 10th anniversary gift from KARE 11 to an ex so they could buy a pair of Air Jordans (fun facts courtesy of a 2020 MPR journalist series). Now, they live with their partner, Laura, and their child, Zeke. Learn more about Carleton Convos at go.carleton.edu/convocations

    59 min

  2. APR 29

    Carleton Convo with Fred de Sam Lazaro | April 24, 2026

    Documentarian and journalist Fred de Sam Lazaro gave Carleton’s convocation address, “Storytelling to Make the Foreign Less Foreign,” on Friday, April 24, from 10:50 to 11:50 a.m. in Skinner Chapel. He has served as a PBS NewsHour correspondent since 1985, reporting from over 70 different countries. He also served as a regular contributor and substitute anchor for PBS’s Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly. He has directed films from India and the Democratic Republic of the Congo for the acclaimed documentary series, Wide Angle. De Sam Lazaro’s primary reporting focus has been on the myriad issues that underlie poverty and human suffering, which are historically underreported in the mainstream U.S. media. De Sam Lazaro is the founder of the Under-Told Stories Project, which is dedicated to building a library of social innovation and entrepreneurship reports, “designed to use storytelling to enhance students’ understanding of the pressing global issues of our time.” The project, now located at the University of St. Thomas, holds the central mission of reporting on poverty and human suffering, which are critical topic areas that are not always covered by mainstream media. Simply put, the mission of the project is to “make the foreign less foreign.” This is the basis for de Sam Lazaro’s convocation address, which he described as an analysis of news media solutions at the heart of bringing visibility to topics from human trafficking to menstrual hygiene product access: With video excerpts from our PBS News Hour Agents for Change series, I’ll reflect on what seems to work and what doesn’t in the complex and often corrupt business of humanitarian aid, as well as the nuances and sensitivity that are essential for credible, respectful reporting.  Storytelling is a powerful learning and teaching tool, and it is critical that we all understand how to use it amid so much polarizing misinformation that competes for our attention and indignation.” De Sam Lazaro is the recipient of three honorary doctorates, a multitude of journalism awards, and media fellowships from the Kaiser Family Foundation and the University of Michigan’s Knight Wallace program. He has served on the board of the College of St. Scholastica, his alma mater in Duluth, Minnesota; Minnpost, an online nonprofit Minnesota news service; the Asian American Journalists Association; and the Children’s Law Center of Minnesota. De Sam Lazaro was born in Bangalore, India and lives in St. Paul. This convocation was sponsored by Carleton’s Center for Community and Civic Engagement (CCCE) to celebrate the power and ingenuity of individuals who seek to make a difference in the world. It is part of a daylong celebration to honor the 40th anniversary of Acting in the Community Together (ACT), the precursor to the CCCE. Learn more about Carleton Convos at go.carleton.edu/convocations

    1h 2m

  3. APR 20

    Carleton Convo with Joel Simon | April 17, 2026

    hen people take to the streets, the press plays an essential role, documenting events, deepening understanding, and ensuring that fundamental rights are protected. But are the rights of journalists secure? Joel Simon — who gave convocation at Carleton on Friday, April 17, from 10:50 to 11:50 a.m. in Skinner Chapel — began his career as a correspondent in Latin America. There, he cut his teeth covering demonstrations before becoming a leading press freedom advocate with the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). During his Carleton convo address, “Protests and Press Freedom: From Mexico City to Minneapolis,” Simon will trace the evolution of protest coverage, showing how the erosion of press rights undermines the broader legal protections for assembly and speech enshrined in international law and the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.  Simon served as executive director of the CPJ, an independent nonprofit dedicated to advocating for the safety and rights of journalists around the world, for 15 years, from 2006 to 2021. While at CPJ, Simon played a key role in the establishment of the Emergencies Department, which provides safety information and direct support for journalists under threat. These services include placement for journalists at leading journalism schools. Simon’s work traveling the world and defending the rights of journalists has effectively saved lives and gotten innumerable people out of harm’s way. Simon is the founding director of the Journalism Protection Initiative at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY and 2022 a fellow at the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia University and a senior visiting fellow at the Knight First Amendment Institute, also at Columbia. He writes on press freedom issues for The New Yorker and produces a regular column for Columbia Journalism Review.    Simon is also the author of four books, with a fifth approaching publication. His most recent book, co-authored with Robert Mahoney, is titled, The Infodemic: How Censorship and Lies Made the World Sicker and Less Free (2022). Simon has also published We Want to Negotiate: The Secret World of Kidnapping, Hostages, and Ransom (2019); The New Censorship: Inside the Global Battle for Media Freedom (2014); and Endangered Mexico: An Environment on the Edge (1997), which was named one of the best 100 books of the year by the LA Times.  Simon began his journalism career in the 1990s covering Guatemalan conflict, while also conducting forays into El Salvador and Cuba, before shifting to cover Mexico. In Mexico, he covered the Zapatista uprising, the peso devaluation, and the assassination of the presidential candidate Luis Donaldo Colosio Murrieta. He returned to his hometown of New York City after leaving the CPJ to teach journalism, while continuing to write and speak widely about press freedom and media issues. Learn more about Carleton Convos at go.carleton.edu/convocations

    1h 2m

  4. APR 14

    Carleton Convo with Peter Gwinn ’93 | April 10, 2026

    Comedy writer Peter Gwinn ’93 delivered Carleton’s convocation on Friday, April 10, from 10:50 to 11:50 a.m. in Skinner Chapel. His address is titled, “How to Be a Comedian When Nothing is Funny.” Gwinn worked as one of the original writers on The Colbert Report, which was awarded two Emmys (and eight Emmy nominations), three Writers Guild Awards (and six WGA nominations), and two Peabody Awards during his time on the show. Gwinn also wrote for Alpha House, a TV show about four Republican senators who share a Washington, D.C. house rental. Beyond his work with television, Gwinn has written a variety of stage comedy shows that have been performed at UCB Theater, The Second City, and the iO Theater. His stage plays and musicals include Oh! Those Midsummer Nights!; The Story of a Story (The Untold Story), which revived the Jeff Awards in 2016 when it was nominated for Best New Work; Twist Your Dickens; Listen, Kid…; and Moulin Scrooge! Gwinn also appeared on the Netflix show Easy in 2017. Gwinn currently writes for the NPR comedy news quiz, Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me! Listen for his name — always with a funny tagline — in the end credits every weekend. Aside from his written work, Gwinn is also celebrated for his work as an improv comedian and improv coach at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater in New York and the iO Theater and Home Comedy Theaters in Chicago. Over the course of his career, he has performed with and/or instructed a long list of comedians, including Amy Poehler, Seth Meyers, Jason Sudeikis, Chris Gethard, Amber Ruffin, Rachel Dratch, and Zach Woods. Gwinn also founded the internationally celebrated comedy group Baby Wants Candy, which has consistently sold out its runs at Edinburgh Fringe Festival and has been named a New York Times critics’ pick.  Gwinn also enjoys creating and solving puzzles. He won the Midwest Division at the 2019 American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, he is a regular contributor to AVCX Trivia, and he helped write the 2022 MIT Mystery Hunt with Team Palindrome. Learn more about Carleton Convos at go.carleton.edu/convocations

    1 hr

  5. APR 3

    Carleton Convo with Andrew Little ’06 | April 3, 2026

    Carleton’s convocation series returned for spring term with Andrew Little ’06, associate professor of political science at University of California–Berkeley, whose address is titled, “The Case Against Pessimism About Democracy.” He spoke at Carleton on Friday, April 3, from 10:50 to 11:50 a.m. in Skinner Chapel. Little’s research often focuses on how beliefs and biases about the political world affect the functioning of democracy. His work consists of modeling motivated reasoning (wanting to believe certain things are true), selection neglect (not understanding the biases in observed information), and making simplifying assumptions. Little’s address will also include discussions of the Varieties of Democracy (V-DEM) project, a common measure of democracy across countries used in political science. Little’s work has been published in leading political science and economics journals, including the American Journal of Political Science, American Political Science Review, and the Economic Journal. His work has also been featured in The Washington Post, The Economist, and The New York Times, among others. Little also serves as an editor of The American Journal of Political Science. Prior to his professorship at Berkley, Little received his BA from Carleton, his PhD from NYU, and taught at Cornell.  Learn more about Carleton Convos at go.carleton.edu/convocations

    1 hr

  6. MAR 3

    Carleton Convo with Spike Carlsen | February 27, 2026

    Spike Carlsen — writer, editor, and woodworker — delivered Carleton convocation on Friday, February 27, from 10:50 to 11:50 a.m. in Skinner Chapel. His talk was titled, “Writing with Dirt Under your Fingernails… in a Well-Manicured AI World.”  Carlsen has been writing about the world and how it works for the past 30 years. He was an editor with the home improvement division of Readers’ Digest for 15 years, where he wrote hundreds of articles and oversaw the books division. He’s written for The Wall Street Journal, Men’s Health, The Daily Beast, The Minnesota Star Tribune, Mother Earth News, and numerous other magazines. He’s the author of several books, including the award-winning A Splintered History of Wood (2008). Carlsen’s other long-form work includes A Walk Around the Block (2020), Building Unique and Useful Kid’s Furniture (2018), Cabin Lessons (2015), The Backyard Homestead Book of Building Projects (2014), Ridiculously Simple Furniture Projects (2011), and Woodworking FAQ: The Workshop Companion (2012). Carlson has also showcased his woodworking and storytelling expertise on NBC’s Today Show, Modern Marvels, HGTV, The CBS Early Show, and more. Prior to picking up a pen, he swung a hammer for 15 years and taught elementary school. In his free time, Carlsen enjoys biking, playing guitar, woodworking, and working on refugee resettlement through Refugee Housing Minnesota, an organization he co-founded. He and his wife, Kat, live in Stillwater, Minnesota, in close proximity to their five kids and eight granddaughters. Learn more about Carleton Convos at go.carleton.edu/convocations

    56 min

  7. FEB 24

    Carleton Convo with Sven Sundgaard | February 20, 2026

    Meteorologist Sven Sundgaard delivered Carleton’s convocation on Friday, February 20, from 10:50 to 11:50 a.m. in Skinner Chapel. His address, “Climate Change: A Global and Local Perspective,” was grounded in his personal expertise.  Sundgaard’s passion for winter weather started when he began monitoring snowfall as an eighth-grade ski jumper, and has propelled him into a keystone of weather reporting in Minnesota. After years of doing the weather for KARE 11, Sundgaard started working as a meteorologist for Minnesota Public Radio, where he currently reports on weather across the state. Amongst a variety of Minnesota organizations, he provides weather and climate content for BringMeTheNews.com and serves as a scientific adviser to the Minneapolis Foundation.  Sundgaard’s interest in the weather is anchored by his passion for conservation, climate change, and social justice. With this in mind, Sundgaard has traveled and led group trips through the Arctic, Antarctic, and Sub-Arctic regions numerous times. He has proudly been to all seven continents. Sundgaard’s dedication to environmental education — and polar bears in particular — led him to lecture multiple times on climate change’s impacts on polar bears at the Churchill Northern Studies Centre in Churchill Manitoba (on Hudson Bay). When he’s not busy with all of that, Sundgaard is a vlogger on Instagram and Facebook, as well as a licensed realtor in Minnesota, where he advocates for sustainable living options.  Sundgaard earned his degree in meteorology from St. Cloud University in 2003. His research in thermodynamics won several undergraduate awards.  Learn more about Carleton Convos at go.carleton.edu/convocations

    1h 4m

  8. FEB 16

    Carleton Convo with the Honorable Alan Page | February 13, 2026

    The Honorable Alan Page delivered Carleton’s convocation on Friday, February 13, from 10:50 to 11:50 a.m. in Skinner Chapel. For his convocation, Page will be in conversation with Vice President for Student Life and Dean of Students Carolyn Livingston. After serving as an attorney in the office of the Minnesota Attorney General, Page sought election to the Minnesota Supreme Court in 1992 and won, becoming the first African American on the court and one of the few associate justices ever to join the court initially through election rather than appointment. In 1998, Page was re-elected to the Minnesota Supreme Court, receiving the most votes for his position in state history. After serving consecutive elected terms, Page eventually retired at the mandatory age of 70 in 2015. In honor of his career, Page received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2018. Page first gained notoriety in Minnesota through his football career. During his undergraduate studies at Notre Dame, Page led the school’s football program to the 1966 national championship, and in 1993, he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. The Minnesota Vikings drafted him in the first round in 1967, and he played a crucial role for the team. In 1971, he was named the NFL’s Most Valuable Player, making him only the second defensive player to be named MVP. He played in 218 consecutive games, earning All-Pro honors six times, and was voted to nine consecutive Pro Bowls. In 1988, he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and in 2019, he was chosen as a member of the NFL’s 100th Anniversary All-Time Team. Not to be limited to only two impactful careers, Page and his wife, Diane, founded the Page Education Foundation, which assists Minnesota students of color in their pursuit of post-secondary education. To date, the foundation has supported over 8,500 students, awarding $17 million in grants. In his honor, students at Alexander Ramsey Middle School in Minneapolis initiated a successful campaign to change the school’s name to Justice Page Middle School, which came to fruition in 2017. In 2022, the Justice Alan Page Elementary School was also named in his honor in Maplewood, Minnesota. Page has written five children’s picture books with his daughter, Kamie Page, titled: Alan and His Perfectly Pointy Impossibly Perpendicular Pinky (2013), The Invisible You (2014), Grandpa Alan’s Sugar Shack (2017), Bee Love (Can Be Hard) (2020), and Baking Up Love (2024). Learn more about Carleton Convos at go.carleton.edu/convocations

    1h 1m
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About

The Carleton College convocation program is a weekly lecture series that bring fresh insights and perspectives from experts in a variety of fields. The program has a rich history, dating back several decades. The selected convocation speakers assist the liberals arts mission of centering thoughtful conversation within education and beyond.

Information

  • Creator
    Carleton College
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2026
  • Episodes
    66
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2023 All rights reserved.
  • Show Website
    Carleton Convos

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