Past Events
There is a widespread expectation that the Democrats will suffer losses in the 2022 midterms at all levels. This would not be unusual, since it is a regular pattern in which the party of the president in office loses ground in midterm elections. The political environment is challenging, with pain at the gas pump, inflation stretching paychecks, pandemic fatigue, disappointment with what Biden has not been able to deliver, the war in Ukraine, and bitter partisan divisions over hot button issues. Will Biden’s performance amidst all this bad news be rewarded or punished at the polls? The closing episode of this series will examine the state of the state —and the race— as we approach midterms.
Week 6: Midterm Pulse Check: Can Biden’s Party Beat the Odds?
Wednesday, April 20, 2022
Live via Zoom at 6:00 pm
Stephanie Murray, author of POLITICO’s Morning Score leads a panel discussion on the state of the state —and the race— as we approach midterms. The panel will unpack what’s important and reflect on what will happen in November. Joining Murray are Julia Azari, associate professor and assistant chair in the Department of Political Science at Marquette University, Roger Fisk, global communications and marketing strategist who played a key behind-the-scenes role in the back-to-back electoral victories of President Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012, and David Paleologos, director, Center for Political Research, Suffolk University.
Upon assuming office, President Biden proposed an ambitious equity agenda, designed to address systemic racial, gender, ethnic, and economic disparities. One year into his Presidency, we will examine his record. He has made some historic picks to lead his Administration and nominated the first black woman to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court. However, the Biden Administration’s efforts to address voting rights, immigration policy, and economic inequalities have been stalled by a deeply divided Congress. And even a much scaled-down social spending bill—which would have delivered some of the most consequential investments in the social safety net since the New Deal—seems dead in the water.
This event is free and open to the public.
REGISTER NOW TO JOIN THE CONVERSATION
Past Events
Ford Hall Forum at Suffolk University, Communication, Journalism, & Media Department, Women’s and Gender Studies Department, and the Suffolk University Theatre Department present:
TOO FAT FOR CHINA
A Comic Look at the Agony of Adoption by PHOEBE POTTS
This comedic theater performance is a sequel to Potts’ graphic memoir, Good Eggs, which charts her travails with infertility she and her husband endured. In Too Fat for China, Potts picks up the narrative with her quest for international adoption. The story has a happy ending, but it twists and turns through fraught questions about family and race—subjects that feel particularly pertinent in our current political climate. Potts tackles it all, as she does life, with humor and irreverence.
The performances will be followed by talkbacks with Potts and Shoshana Madmoni-Gerber, associate professor, Communications, Media, and Journalism Department, Suffolk University.
Wednesday, April 13, 2022 at 4:00 pm
Thursday, April 14, 2022 at 7:00 pm
FREE Admission. Reservations Required.
Modern Theatre
25 Washington Street, Boston, MA 02111
TICKETS
PDF Flyer
Past Events
Upon assuming office, President Biden proposed an ambitious equity agenda, designed to address systemic racial, gender, ethnic, and economic disparities. One year into his Presidency, we will examine his record. He has made some historic picks to lead his Administration and nominated the first black woman to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court. However, the Biden Administration’s efforts to address voting rights, immigration policy, and economic inequalities have been stalled by a deeply divided Congress. And even a much scaled-down social spending bill—which would have delivered some of the most consequential investments in the social safety net since the New Deal—seems dead in the water.
Week 5:
Taking Stock: Biden’s Equity Agenda
Tuesday, April 5, 2022
Live at 6:00 pm via Zoom
GBH News Senior Reporter
Phillip Martin leads a panel discussion to examine the present impact and future fate of Biden’s equity agenda, the fierce backlash, and how this is likely to influence voter enthusiasm in the midterms. Joining him are
Cheryl Clyburn Crawford, executive director, MassVOTE,
Gregory Fried, PhD, professor, Boston College, and
Tanisha M. Sullivan, Esq., president, NAACP, Boston Branch.
Past Events
Historical and current shortages in the hospital industry are not limited to personal protective equipment and ventilators but instead include a variety of medical supplies and pharmaceuticals. In this event, a panel of experts from both the hospital and healthcare distribution sectors will discuss how supply chain shortages affect U.S. hospitals, not just during the pandemic but also before. Supply shortages impact both patient care and the cost of care in the United States. Join us to learn about the complex reasons behind these shortages, their impact on our healthcare system, and how both the suppliers and healthcare providers are minimizing the challenges of recurring healthcare supplies.
Thursday, March 31, 2022
6:00–7:30 pm Live via Zoom
This event is free and open to the public.
Speakers:
Peter Bennett Vice President, U.S. Demand and Supply Planning, Cardinal Health
Eric Berger CMRP, Vice President, Supply Chain, Beth Israel Lahey Health
Erich Heneke Ph.D., Director, Business Integrity & Continuity, Mayo Clinic
Yan Hao, MHA’13, MEd, CMRP, CVAHP, Value Analysis Manager, Beth Isreal Deaconess Medical Center
Past Events
Punctuate4, Ford Hall Forum at Suffolk University, and the Suffolk University Theatre Department present The Battle Not Begun:
The Battle Not Begun is an imagined yet truthful portrayal of “Munich,” a world-historic matching of wits between leaders from different moral universes, one like us, one “radically other.” The play offers a fresh understanding of the historical roots of Hitler’s evil.
Thursday, March 10, 2022, at 6 pm
Modern Theatre
525 Washington Street Boston, Ma 02111
Admission is free; reservations are required.
Members of the public age 5+ attending an event held at the Modern Theatre will be required to provide proof of vaccination. We are unable to accept negative test results for entry. Boosters are not required at this time.
Past Events
From charged school board meetings to shouting matches in Congress, on social media platforms, and increasingly partisan media outlets, the level of incivility and outright hostility to anyone with views opposed to one’s own are alarming and unproductive. Real policy debates and compromise cannot be accomplished in an environment in which participants ascribe malign intent or even dehumanize others. Polarization in the United States has created both legislative stasis at the federal level and also widened the red state/blue state gulf, all contributing to a widespread lack of trust in democratic institutions by voters. How did we get here? How will our democracy recover? How can we get out of it? President Biden promised a return to civility in his Inaugural Address. Has he made any headway?
Tuesday, March 1, 2022
Live via Zoom at 6:00 pm
This program is free and open to the public.
Our evening’s panel of nationally recognized experts is,
Scott Klug, former Republican U. S. Representative for Wisconsin’s 2
nd congressional district,
Larry LaRocco, former Democratic U. S. Representative for Idaho’s 1
st congressional district, and
Jennifer McCoy, Ph.D., professor of political science at Georgia State University and nonresident scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. The evening’s moderator is
Arjun Singh, audio producer covering politics, The Washington Post.
Past Events
In this program, a panel of experts, Xin “Shawn” Liao, Head of Software Engineering, Supply Chain Inventory Planning & Optimization, Wayfair, Martin Mirsky, President, SUPPLY CHAIN SYSTEMS, INC., and Alex Ramirez, Director, Client Solutions & Global Strategic Accounts | Supply Chain & Logistics Technology, ADVATIX, will examine current and emerging technologies such as platforms, IoT, cloud and edge infrastructure, blockchains, optimization, artificial intelligence, analytics, and how the technologies have evolved in response to supply chain challenges during the pandemic. The afternoon’s moderator is Alan Dunn, President, GDI CONSULTING & TRAINING COMPANY.
Friday, February 25, 2022
12:00-1:15 pm Live via Zoom
This event is free and open to the public.
PDF Flyer
Past Events
Suffolk University’s Ford Hall Forum, Communication, Journalism, & Media Department, Center for Women’s and Gender Studies, Office of Diversity, Access, & Inclusion, Center for Student Diversity and Inclusion, and the Black Alumni Network invite you to join us
IN CELEBRATION OF BLACK HISTORY MONTH
With the screening of The Panola Project by Emmy-award-winning filmmaker Jeremy S. Levine. Following the screening, there will be a talkback with Levine, Rachael DeCruz, the film’s director, and Dorothy Oliver, the film’s subject. The afternoon’s moderator is Shoshana Madmoni-Gerber, associate professor, Communication, Journalism, & Media Department, Suffolk University. Thursday, February 24, 2022 12:30-1:45 pm Live via Zoom Webinar This event is free and open to the public The Panola Project chronicles the journey of the unstoppable Dorothy Oliver to vaccinate her rural, Black town of Panola, Alabama from the convenience store she runs out of a mobile home. Nearly 99% of adults in her town have received the shot in a state with one of the lowest vaccination rates in the country.
“Seeing Dorothy Oliver bring vaccines to her town and persuade people to take them in this short film is extraordinary and beautiful.”
— ATUL GAWANDE, STAFF WRITER AT THE NEW YORKER
“What an extraordinary accomplishment Dorothy.”
— DR. ANTHONY FAUCI
Register now to join the conversation
PDF Flyer
Past Events
Ford Hall Forum and the Political Science and Legal Studies Department at Suffolk University, The Washington Center, and GBH Forum Network present:
A VIRTUAL SPRING 2022 LECTURE SERIES
GOVERNING IN CRISIS: BIDEN AND THE LOOMING MIDTERMS
WEEK TWO
Challenges to Safeguarding our Democracy
Is there an alert system to notify us about the health of our democracy? In this episode we will examine the impact of partisan rancor not seen since the Civil War, declining trust in institutions, doubts about our election process, and the insurrection on January 6, 2021. There is emerging consensus that democracy in the United States is threatened. What can we do about it?
Wednesday, February 16, 2022
Live via Zoom at 6:00 pm
This event is free and open to the public
Our evening’s panel of nationally recognized experts is, U.S. Representative James E. Clyburn of South Carolina, Gilda R. Daniels, JD, professor of law, University of Baltimore School of Law, Laura Gamboa, PhD, assistant professor, University of Utah, and Jared Holt, resident fellow, Digital Forensic Lab, Atlantic Council. Aaron Schachter, executive producer and editor, GBH Radio and Television, will serve as the panel’s moderator.
JOIN NOW TO JOIN THE CONVERSATION
PDF Flyer
Past Events
A Virtual Spring 2022 Lecture Series
Governing in Crisis: Biden and the Looming Midterms
Week One: Pulse Check: Biden’s Agenda One Year In
One year into the Biden Administration, how can we assess its performance? Which of the priority agenda items has seen progress? What have been the successes, failures, and the reasons for these in the world he inherited? How has that landscape changed? Which areas are most meaningful for the health of our democracy and the health of the world that future generations will inherit?
Wednesday, January 26, 2022
Live via Zoom at 6:00 pm
This event is free and open to the public
Join our nationally recognized panel of experts, Amesh Adalja, MD, senior scholar, Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, Dave Paleologos, director, Political Research Center, Suffolk University, and Lara Brown. Ph.D., professor, and director, Graduate School of Political Management, The George Washington University and the evening’s moderator Steve Scully, senior vice president, Bipartisan Policy Center, as they unpack these questions and “score” Biden’s performance heading into midterms.
Register now to join the conversation
PDF Flyer
Past Events
In this program, a panel of experts, Andrew Demakes, owner, Old Neighborhood Foods, Jeff Lipson, managing director, CFood Brands, and Conor Stevens, senior director, Last Mile Logistics, GrubHub, will explore the complex issues of food supply chain challenges and offers insights into what challenges food supply chains have faced, how industries have responded, and how they can be re-designed for future resilience. The afternoon’s moderator is Amy Z. Zeng, Dean, Sawyer Busines School, Suffolk University.
Friday, January 28, 2022
12:00-1:15 pm Live via Zoom
This event is free and open to the public.
Since its outbreak, COVID-19 has changed the world in many ways, with fundamental shifts in how people live and work, which will have long-lasting effects beyond the post-COVID era. This pandemic has made supply and demand extremely volatile, shifting faster than supply chains can adjust, and disrupted nearly every aspect of the global supply chain—the usually invisible pathway of sourcing, manufacturing, transportation, and logistics that gets goods from where they are grown, mined, manufactured, or stored to where they are going. We hope you will join us for these timely and wide-ranging discussions on these important issues.
Register Now to Join the Conversation
PDF Flyer
Past Events
Governing in Crisis: Biden and the Looming Midterms
A Virtual Spring 2022 Lecture Series
February 16, 2022 – TBD
March 1, 2022 – TBD
March 23, 2022 -TBD
April 5, 2022 – TBD
April 20, 2022 – TBD
As we approach the one-year mark of the Biden Presidency, our country is on the brink. Whether that’s the brink of disaster or recovery will be largely determined by the 2022 midterms. That means you, the voters, wield the power to shape the country’s trajectory based on your judgment of Biden’s performance to date and your awareness and understanding of what’s at stake, at local, state, and federal levels.
Upon his inauguration, Biden inherited a raging global pandemic, an economy in trouble, escalating racial and partisan tensions, and a worsening climate crisis, all in the setting of America’s place in the world and the health of our democracy being tested as never before. His agenda was to create a roadmap to tackle these challenges and promote unity in a deeply divided nation. So how has Biden fared in addressing his Administration’s priorities and these evolving crises?
Take a seat and join candid conversations with panels of experts, analysts, and practitioners. Decide for yourself where Biden is succeeding and failing. In this six-week series, four organizations devoted to civic education have combined forces to elevate discourse and inspire a new generation of citizens to get engaged and collectively find a path forward. We encourage you to join us for one or all the episodes to stay informed, and keep the conversation going, all the way into the election booth.
This series builds upon Suffolk University’s historic mission of access, opportunity, and engagement with our alumni and the communities to which we belong. It is sponsored by the Department of Political Science and Legal Studies in collaboration with the Ford Hall Forum, The Washington Center, and GBH’s Forum Network.
Taking a Deep Dive into the Global Supply Chain Crisis
A Three-Week Spring Seminar Series
Week Two, Innovative Technologies in Global Supply Chains
Friday, February 25, 2022
12:00-1:15 pm Live via Zoom
In this program, a panel of experts will examine supply chain technologies such as platforms, blockchain, IoT, and analytics and their emerging trends in response to the fundamental shift to digital communications and e-commerce far accelerated during the pandemic.
Week Three, Overcoming Supply Shortages in U.S. Hospitals: Before and During the Pandemic
Thursday, March 31, 2022
6:00-7:15 pm In-person and Live via Zoom
In this program, a panel of experts will explore the manufacturing, transportation, and storage of drugs/vaccines.
These events are free and open to the public.
Since its outbreak, COVID-19 has changed the world in many ways, with fundamental shifts in how people live and work, which will have long-lasting effects beyond the post-COVID era. This pandemic has made supply and demand extremely volatile, shifting faster than supply chains can adjust, and disrupted nearly every aspect of the global supply chain—the usually invisible pathway of sourcing, manufacturing, transportation, and logistics that gets goods from where they are grown, mined, manufactured, or stored to where they are going. We hope you will join us for these timely and wide-ranging discussions on these important issues.
Past Events
Ford Hall Forum, Moakley Center for Public Management, Office of Diversity, Access, and Inclusion, and the Center for Student Diversity and Inclusion at Suffolk University present:
“Unbought, Unbossed and Unbothered: Exploring the journeys of unconventional Black feminist art”
In this discussion, moderated by award-winning The Boston Globe cultural columnist Jenee’ Osterheldt, three Black women artists open up about their creative paths and the unique challenges they faced along the way. How do you produce and thrive when you don’t adhere to societal expectations of what it means to be Black and female in America? Osterheldt and the featured panelists hold nothing back in what will be a riveting conversation.
Wednesday, November 17, 2021
6:00 pm Live via ZOOM
This event is free and open to the public.
REGISTER NOW TO JOIN THE CONVERSATION
PDF Flyer
Past Events
Jeneé Osterheldt Bio
Jeneé Osterheldt is the culture columnist for The Boston Globe where she covers identity and social justice through the lens of culture and the arts. Her work centers on Black lives and the lives of people of color. She is also the creator of A Beautiful Resistance, a multimedia series for the Globe that centers on Black voices and celebrates Black Joy.
Jeneé’s job is to provide context. Sometimes this means writing about Beyoncé and Black womanhood or unpacking the importance of public art and representation. Sometimes this means taking systemic racism, sexism, and oppression to task. It always means Black lives matter.
She joined the Globe in 2018. A native of Alexandria, Va. and a graduate of Norfolk State University, Osterheldt was a 2017 Nieman Fellow at Harvard, where her studies focused on the intersection of art and justice. She previously worked as a Kansas City Star culture columnist.
Past Events
Ford Hall Forum at Suffolk University, the Communication, Journalism, & Media and World Languages & Cultural Studies Departments and The Women’s and Gender Studies Program at Suffolk University present:
The screening of the acclaimed documentary film Dove’s Cry by Israeli filmmaker Ganit Ilouz, which will be followed by a post-screening talk with the filmmaker.
The afternoon’s moderator is Shoshana Madmoni-Gerber, associate professor, Communication, Journalism, & Media Department, Suffolk University.
Tuesday, October 26, 2021, 12:30 pm, IN PERSON AND Live VIA ZOOM
Sargent Hall
120 Tremont Street, Fifth Floor Commons
Boston, Massachusetts 02108
No registration is required for in-person attendance
Director Ganit IIouz’s documentary Dove’s Cry exposes the experiences of an Arabic educator teaching in a Jewish elementary school in Israel. The film followed the teacher Hadeel for an entire school year illustrating the oppression and general ignorance of the Jewish population towards Arab people and culture. While the film focuses on Hadeel’s day-to-day journey as a Muslim woman trying to share her culture with her Jewish students it also follows the struggles she faces at home and even lacks the acceptance of her narrative among her colleagues.
Dove’s Cry, premiered at the 15th Docaviv International Film Festival, 2013, is the first full-length documentary for filmmaker Ilouz. Her past projects include short documentaries, among them Hebrew Labor, 2010, screened at the 13th Tel Aviv International Student Film Festival, and The Perfect Human, 2005, which won the Grillo Award at the University of Colorado Boulder.
Please be sure to review the COVID 19 Visitor Policy prior to arriving on campus for the event.
JOIN VIA ZOOM
PDF FLYER
Past Events
Ford Hall Forum and the Center for Political Research at Suffolk University present:
An evening with nationally recognized pollster David Paleologos of Suffolk University’s Center for Political Research. Paleologos will discuss the recent first-of-its-kind Suffolk/USA TODAY collaboration, CityView, a new series of pilot polls in Milwaukee, Detroit and Los Angeles, which have explored residents’ views on racial justice and race relations, policing, public safety, and other community issues across the United States. The evening’s moderator is Adrian Walker, associate editor and columnist, The Boston Globe.
Thursday, October 21, 2021 Live via Zoom at 6:00 pm This event is free and open to the public.
Since 2002, the Suffolk University Political Research Center (SUPRC) has conducted innovative survey research and political polling. Now, over a year after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis brought a new racial reckoning to the forefront, Suffolk University in Boston joins the national conversation with “Suffolk City View,” a new series of polls on racial justice, policing, and other urban issues in America’s most diverse cities. After successful pilot polls in Milwaukee in June 2021 and Detroit in July 2021, and with plans to expand to other cities across the country over the course of the next year, SUPRC wants to know how urban residents feel about the state of race and city life in the 21st century and to investigate solutions to the conflict between law enforcement and the ongoing police and criminal justice reform movement. Moving beyond the buzzwords of “Black Lives Matter” or “Defund the Police,” SUPRC’s surveys will delve deep into current events and join the ranks of innovative research conducted by Suffolk University.
Register to join the conversation
PDF Flyer
Past Events
Ford Hall Forum at Suffolk University and GBH Forum Network present:
AN AFTERNOON WITH INTERNATIONALLY ACCLAIMED SCIENCE JOURNALIST AND AUTHOR LAURA SPINNEY
Spinney will discuss her latest non-fiction title, Pale Rider: The Spanish Flu of 1918 and How it Changed the World. She will discuss the enduring effects of this pandemic flu, which killed over 50 million people worldwide, and society’s response—how they altered global politics, race relations, family structures, and thinking across medicine, religion, and the arts. Spinney will discuss the parallels between the Spanish Flu and COVID-19, what we can learn from history and memory, and how pandemics begin and how they end. The afternoon’s moderator is Udodiri R. Okwandu, Presidential Scholar, Harvard University.
Thursday, October 7, 2021
12:00 pm Live via Zoom
This event is free and open to the public.
This virtual program is produced by GBH Forum Network.
To join the conversation, please register
PDF Flyer
Past Events
Feminist Perspectives:
From The Bible to Rousseau
Thursday, September 30, 2021
Live via Zoom at 12:30 pm
This event is free and open to the public
Barbara Abrams, PhD., Suffolk University, Mira Morgenstern, PhD, The City College of New York, and Karen Sullivan, PhD, Queens College/CUNY discuss their latest book, Reframing Rousseau’s Lévite d’Ephraïm: The Hebrew Bible, hospitality, and modern identity. The afternoon’s moderator is Jennifer Vanderheyden, PhD., Marquette University.
What can Enlightenment philosophes — especially Rousseau, arguably the most difficult of them all — have to tell us about modern life that we don’t already know?
Join a team of scholars from different academic areas, each of whom offers a unique vantage point in understanding Rousseau’s texts. This constellation of approaches — grounded in an appreciation of the shared background of feminist critique promoted by the contributors to this volume — provides the density that allows Rousseau’s nuanced writings to be read in their full complexity.
This multi graph book focuses on a relatively unfamiliar work of Rousseau’s, Le Lévite d’Ephraïm, a prose-poem in which Rousseau elaborates on a little-known Hebrew biblical text to interrogate many of the accepted, conventional views on issues ranging from the role of sacred texts; to Rousseau’s self-construction through the representation of guilt and remorse; to the role of hospitality in structuring both individual self-representation and social cohesion; to the place of violence in establishing national and communal self-identity. In each of these spheres, Rousseau reveals a particularly modern perspective in trying to honor both personal and social needs, and in privileging both the individual viewpoint and the political structure.
This virtual program is produced by GBH Forum Network.
Our Panelists:
Past Events
Week 6: Life after COVID-19: The New Normal?
Wednesday, August 18, 2021
Live at 6:00 pm
After COVID. It’s hard to imagine what that will look like and how long it will take us, globally, nationally, regionally and locally, to get there. The term “new normal” has been tossed around faster than the COVID-19 virus is spreading, but what does it really mean? The truth is that we can’t provide any concrete answers to this complex question, but we can examine empirical patterns that are already observable and ask experts from public health, development, economics, political science, and public policy to predict what will change fundamentally and what lessons about preparedness we will have learned. We hope you’ll join us for a far-ranging and provocative discussion to cap off our Pandemic 2.0 series.
Panelists:
Amesh Adaja
Michael Osterholm
Racheal Sliverman
Eugene Daniels (Moderator)
Register Here to Join the Conversation
PDF Flyer
Past Events
Wednesday, August 11, 2021
LIVE at 6:00 pm
This event is free and open to the public
When COVID-19 initially began to rage across the globe, it was described as an equal opportunity killer that didn’t differentiate between hosts – everyone was vulnerable. It quickly became apparent that not everyone was impacted in the same way. While the virus itself does not discriminate, our responses to it – geographically, socioeconomically, and politically – have resulted in vastly different outcomes. The past 18 months have exposed massive inequalities at both the national and international levels when it comes to combating the virus.
This evening’s panel will examine some of the most disappointing and surprising developments in COVID responsiveness and to ask essential questions to better understand what role resources, ideology, and geography have played in creating such divergent responses and to discuss what can be done to level the playing field going forward.
Register to Join the Conversation
PDF Flyer
