By Nate Hoekstra
Speakers hosted by Grand Valley State University’s Hauenstein Center for Presidential Studies will generate meaningful discussions about leadership and the search for common ground at a deep level, without the heated political rhetoric of the day.
The Hauenstein Center will feature eight speakers on topics ranging from contemporary politics to history to public health, featuring authors, policy experts, journalists and historians to explain many facets of public leadership and political difference.
The events are a cross-section of the Hauenstein Center’s two main speaker series: Wheelhouse Talks and the Common Ground Initiative. Wheelhouse Talk speakers will focus on leadership experiences while Common Ground Initiative speakers will cover history and the shifting terrain of American civic life today.
The series kicks off with Debra Furr-Holden, Director of the Michigan State University Flint Center for Health Equity Solutions, who works on structural and policy interventions to improve public health for the city’s residents following the Flint water crisis.
Other speakers will include noted West Michigan historians Hank Meijer and Richard Norton Smith, who will discuss the enduring significance of the GOP Mackinac Conference 75 years ago; Dean of Yale Law School Heather K. Gerken, who will discuss how, in a polarized political environment, members of the left and right can use federalism to address their differences productively; and George H. Nash, a presidential biographer and historian who will address “American Conservatism and Populism in the Age of Trump.”
The full fall schedule is as follows. Event descriptions and free registration are available at www.gvsu.edu/hc/events
Debra Furr-Holden: Leading for Public Health in Flint
A Wheelhouse Talk event
Friday, August 31, 4 p.m.
Charles W. Loosemore Auditorium, Richard M. DeVos Center, 401 Fulton Street West, Grand Rapids, MI 49504
Hank Meijer and Richard Norton Smith: The Mackinac Conference at 75
A Common Ground Initiative event
Friday, September 7, 7 p.m.
L.V. Eberhard Center, Room 215, 301 Fulton Street West, Grand Rapids, MI 49504
Heather K. Gerken: Federalism in the 21st Century
A Common Ground Initiative event
Tuesday, September 18, 7 p.m.
Charles W. Loosemore Auditorium, Richard M. DeVos Center, 401 Fulton Street West, Grand Rapids, MI 49504
William Deresiewicz: What is Art in the 21st Century?
Partnership with Grand Valley’s Fall Arts Celebration
Monday, October 1, 7:30 p.m.
L.V. Eberhard Center, Room 215, 301 Fulton Street West, Grand Rapids, MI 49504
Joe Jones: Empowering Grand Rapids
A Wheelhouse Talks event
Friday, October 5, 4 p.m.
Charles W. Loosemore Auditorium, Richard M. DeVos Center, 401 Fulton Street West, Grand Rapids, MI 49504
: American Conservatism and Populism in the Age of Trump
A Common Ground Initiative event
Tuesday, October 16, 7 p.m.
Charles W. Loosemore Auditorium, Richard M. DeVos Center, 401 Fulton Street West, Grand Rapids, MI 49504
Kathy Crosby: Leading to Build Goodwill
A Wheelhouse Talks event
Friday, November 30, 4 p.m.
Charles W. Loosemore Auditorium, Richard M. DeVos Center, 401 Fulton Street West, Grand Rapids, MI 49504
Gleaves Whitney: Seeking Common Ground: A Dumb Idea — or the Best Hope for America?
A Common Ground Initiative event
Wednesday, December 5, 7 p.m.
Charles W. Loosemore Auditorium, Richard M. DeVos Center, 401 Fulton Street West, Grand Rapids, MI 49504
All events are free and open to the public, but registration for each is requested at gvsu.edu/hc/events.
For more information, visit gvsu.edu/hc
