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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.
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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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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:
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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)
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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.
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Week 4:The Economics of Pandemic Disruption
Wednesday, August 4, 2021
LIVE at 6 pm via Zoom
This event is free and open to the public
Public policy responses to the COVID-19 pandemic have caused enormous global economic disruption as have reactions from consumers and corporations. The economic turmoil is visible everywhere – in supply chains, in unemployment numbers, and in housing markets. Consumers are hoarding. The unequal distribution of economic pain in communities, sectors, and groups has worsened. Despite this, some have managed to innovate and thrive (the world has 6 more billionaires), which only escalates the widening wealth gap. Given these trends, how will this economic disruption further impact our behaviors and change the fundamentals of how markets function, and how will we treat vulnerable groups, conduct economic policy, and think about the care economy and public health infrastructure going forward? Come join the conversation with our panel who’ll tackle these questions and discuss the economic implications if these disruptions persist.
Panelists
Michael Ettlinger, JD, Founding Director, Carson School of Public Policy, University of New Hampshire
Kristen Broady, PhD, Fellow, Metropolitan Policy Program, Brookings Institution; Professor of Financial Economics, Dillard University
Jacob William Faber, PhD, Associate Professor, Wagner School of Public Policy; Department of Sociology, New York University
Mabel Jong, Award-winning Journalist (Moderator)
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Week Three: Getting the Word Out. How do we Communicate during a Pandemic?
Wednesday, July 28, 2021
Live at 6:00 pm
This event is free and open to the public.
We could see COVID-19 as a common enemy to unite us, yet several responses to the pandemic have resulted in misinformation that creates confusion, hostility, and even violence. Antagonism around how we define the crisis caused by COVID-19 inspires outrage toward mask and vaccine mandates, lockdowns, school and business closures. To make matters worse, global leaders have manipulated information, undermined trust in vaccines, and advanced political agendas by politicizing public health responses.
This evening’s expert panel will measure how effective public health information and policy have been communicated by governments, public health officials, media, and civic organizations. They will also discuss ways to combat misinformation as we make our way through the pandemic. Join us to continue our survey course on how the complexities and challenges of the crisis impact and impede our ability to fight the pandemic.
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Week 2: Vaccinating the World: Will Diplomacy, Nationalism or Profit Motive Prevail?
Wednesday, July 21, 2021
Live at 6:00 pm.
This event is free and open to the public
How can nations gain influence, strengthen alliances and protect their own populations against a global threat? Here’s one way: provide support in the battle against the common enemy. With less than 10 percent of the globe vaccinated and surges in infections from the COVID-19 Delta variant on the rise, getting shots in arms everywhere should be a public health priority, a national security strategy, and a moral imperative, especially for high-income countries. Yet vaccine nationalism, underfunded international organizations, and arguments over intellectual property rights, rather than vaccine diplomacy and robust international coordination, have slowed progress.
This week Elise Labott, a global correspondent for Foreign Affairs moderates a panel discussion to help us understand the complex issues governing the global response to the pandemic to date, the prospects for getting it right in the future, and how Covid-19 is shaping geopolitics in a changing world.
SPEAKERS:
Tahir Amin, Co-Founder and Co-Executive Director, I Mak
Abby Maxman, President & CEO, Oxfam America
Krishna Udayakumar, MD, Founding Director, Duke Global Health Innovation Center, Duke Global Health Institute.
Elise Labott, Global Affairs Columnist, Foreign Affairs (MODERATOR)
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Week One: From Outbreak to Pandemic: Year Two and Counting
Wednesday, July 14, 2021 Live at 6:00 pm This event is free and open to the public.
As we move into the second year of COVID-19, some communities are emerging from months of isolation, assessing damages, removing masks, and navigating toward a “new normal.” While it’s tempting to feel like a finish line has been crossed with some incredible progress having been made, the pandemic is far from over. It still rages across the globe, with infections, deaths, and more transmissible variants emerging faster than the availability and pace of vaccinations. The juxtaposition is striking given that almost four million people have died globally, and the death rate in 2021 already exceeds that of 2020.
The pandemic has wreaked havoc on the economy, politics, trust in institutions, and reshaped lives in ways not yet understood. In this series, we invite experts into our virtual classroom to assess how far we have come, how far we have to go until the world is vaccinated and to examine some of the most consequential and inequitable outcomes to date. Although many of us are quite literally sick of COVID, in this 2nd edition of our survey course for everyone, we’ll offer a unique take on the politics of the global public policy response, present a diversity of perspectives on what the post-pandemic new normal will be, and explore whether we will be any better prepared for the next global crisis.
SPEAKERS: Helen W. Boucher Jonathan Haughton Jan Vogler Renuka Rayasam
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Week No. 8 Assessing Biden’s First 100 Days: Where do we go from here?
Thursday, April 21, 2021
Live at 6:00 pm via Zoom
This event is free and open to the public
The 100-day mark is an important yardstick for assessing a modern President’s performance. It’s traditionally been the “honeymoon” period, providing a window of opportunity for new Administrations to move campaign promises from rhetoric to reality. Although most Americans can’t seem to agree on much these days, we can probably agree that these are atypical times, and that makes Biden’s “honeymoon” a complex one. The Biden-Harris Administration faces numerous historic challenges at home and abroad, all while attempting to move its agenda forward. Join us as we discuss where the Administration has and has not made headway and why and also for a conversation about what comes next.
This event continues a new spring series, No. 46: Examining the First 100 Days of the Biden Administration, that focuses on the most important developments in the early days of the Biden Administration. Guest speakers over the semester examine the ability of the 46th President and his team to affect change in some of the most vital policy areas that impact all of us.
SPEAKERS (Click to view their bios)
Esther Choo. M.D., M.P.H. Oregon Health & Science University
Joel Clement Union of Concerned Scientists
Jonathan Gruber, Ph.D. MIT
Julie Kashen, The Century Foundation
Eugene Daniels, Politico (Moderator)
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Week No. 7: Fixing What’s Broken: Uncivil War and American Democracy
Thursday, April 15, 2021
Live at 6:00 pm via Zoom
This event is free and open to the public
Fourteen days after a mob stormed the Capitol attempting to “stop the steal,” President Biden declared in his inaugural address that we must “end this Uncivil War” threatening our democracy. Hyperpolarization, partisan tribalism, the politics of outrage, incivility, refusal to compromise, and truth decay have led to a state of division and politically motivated violence we’ve not seen since the Civil War. GBH News political reporter Mike Deehan moderates a discussion with U.S. Congressman Jim McGovern, political scientist Lilliana Mason, and political strategist Ron Christie on what can be done to turn the temperature down, answer President Biden’s call for “unity” and focus on the urgent business of governing our nation.
This event continues a new spring series, No. 46: Examining the First 100 Days of the Biden Administration, that focuses on the most important developments in the early days of the Biden Administration. Guest speakers over the semester examine the ability of the 46th President and his team to affect change in some of the most vital policy areas that impact all of us.
Speakers and their bios:
Ron Christie, Adjunct Professor, New York University
Dr. Lilliana Mason Associate Professor of Government and Politics, University of Maryland, College Park
U.S. Congressman Jim McGovern (D-MA), 2nd District
Mike Deehan, (Moderator) State House Political Reporter, GBH-FM
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Image Courtesy Gina Janovitz Design
