This symposium will convene leading scholars and political practitioners to discuss the current state of U.S. democracy, contemporary research on American politics, and the roles that academics and practitioners can play in resisting authoritarianism, defending research, and strengthening democratic institutions.
Speakers will include:
Beth Baltzan - Deputy Director of the Coalition for New Trade
Greg Casar - Congressional Representative and Chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus
Ernesto Castañeda -PhD is the Director of the Center for Latin American and Latino Studies and the Immigration Lab. Full Professor, College of Arts and Sciences and School of International Service, American University
Kristen Clarke -Distinguished Lecturer of Civil Rights at the University of Pennsylvania Law School and holds the W. Haywood Burns Chair at CUNY School of Law for the 2025-26 school year
Marshall Ganz - Rita E. Hauser Senior Lecturer in Leadership, Organizing, and Civil Society, Kennedy School of Government
Hahrie Han - Inaugural Director of the SNF Agora Institute and Professor of Political Science, Johns Hopkins University
James Jones- Inaugural Director of the Sheila Y. Oliver Center for Politics and Race in America, Associate Professor of Africana Studies and Sociology, Rutgers University-Newark
Daniel Laurison - Associate Professor of Sociology, Director Healthy, Equitable, and Responsive Research Democracy (HEARD) Initiative, Swarthmore College
Caroline W. Lee - Professor of Sociology and Faculty Director of the Landis Center for Community Engagement at Lafayette College
Wendy Y. Li - SNF Agora Institute Postdoctoral Fellow Johns Hopkins University
Jamila Michener - Associate Professor of Government and Public Policy, Inaugural Director of the Center for Racial Justice and Equitable Futures, and Senior Associate Dean for Public Engagement at the Brooks School of Public Policy, Cornell University
Alondra Nelson - Harold F. Linder Professor at the Institute for Advanced Study, former Deputy Assistant to the President and Acting Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP)
Lindsay Owens - Executive Director of the Groundwork Collaborative, former senior advisor to Senator Elizabeth Warren
Beth Pearson - Chief of Staff, Office of Senator Elizabeth Warren
Christine M. Slaughter - Assistant Professor of Political Science, Boston University and fellow in the Allen Lab for Democracy Renovation at the Harvard Kennedy School
Ambassador Katherine Tai- is an expert on international economic policy and diplomacy and has spent her career advancing just, people-centered policies on the world stage
Dorian Warren - Co-President of Community Change and Co-Founder of the Economic Security Project
This symposium is supported by the Sheila Y. Oliver Center for Politics and Race in America at Rutgers University–Newark; the Swarthmore Healthy, Equitable, and Responsive Democracy (HEARD) Initiative; the SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University; the Johns Hopkins University Department of Sociology; the Boston University Department of Political Science; and the Boston University Center for Innovation in Social Sciences.