Robert Williams
Law professor, civil rights activist, and Native American, Williams has established a notable career in the fields of Native American and International law and indigenous people’s rights.
Diversity & Inclusion
Trailblazers making strides on the need for inclusivity, diversity, intersectionality and understanding shared values
Andres Oppenheimer
Pulitzer Prize winning Latin American journalist, and international authority on the growing dominance of Latin America in the global economy.
Kate Clinton
Award-winning political humorist, feminist, and crusader for LGBTQ rights, Clinton has been called “a savvy, witty observer of American life”, and uses humor as a tool for social change.
Kathryn Woods
Recreating the remarkable life of famous abolitionist, feminist, and escaped slave Sojourner Truth, Kathryn Woods memorializes one of the most significant figures in American history.
Charles Neblett
Original Civil Rights Movement Freedom Singer – Civil and Human Rights Activist. President and founder of Community Projects, Inc.
Suzan Shown Harjo
President of The Morning Star Institute. Poet, writer, lecturer and policy advocate, who has helped Native Peoples protect sacred places and recover more than one million acres of land.
Ainissa Ramirez
Science Communicator & Innovator, known as the “Science Evangelist,” Dr. Ramirez educates and excites audiences of all backgrounds, making science timely, informative and fascinating.
Video: Ainissa Ramirez and the importance of STEM education
Derrick Pitts
NASA’s first Astrobiology Ambassador & Chief Astronomer and Planetarium Director at the Franklin Institute, Pitts points us up above the atmosphere. His motto: “Eat, breathe, do science. Sleep later.
Video: Pitts at UW-Madison’s Big Learning Event
Spencer Overton
Author of Stealing Democracy: The New Politics of Voter Suppression, President of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, and former Justice Department official.
Video: Spencer Overton on Voting Rights in the Age of Black Lives Matter
Lorene Cary
Powerful storyteller, educator, and social activist delivering important autobiographical, historical, and fictional stories about issues surrounding race and class.
Diana Yanez
Yanez tackles issues of race and sexuality using comedy. From writing to filmmaking, her talents breakthrough one-dimensional stereotypes.
Jianli Yang
Major leader of the Chinese Democracy Movement- from demonstrating in Tiananmen Square to being imprisoned in China for his activism, Dr. Yang fights courageously freedom in his native land
Charles Kimball
Middle East expert and analyst on world religions, Islam, Jewish-Christian-Muslim relations, and the intersection of religion and politics in America.
Jianying Zha
Born in Beijing, educated in the West, journalist and author Jianying Zha brings unique insight into the rapid changes and movement in Chinese culture, politics, and economics.
Hassan Abbas
Former senior Pakistani government official and scholar of Middle East politics and a leading expert on South Asia and the terrorist organizations based in the Pakistan-Afghanistan region.
Nikki Giovanni
World-renowned poet, activist, writer and educator. Over the past thirty years, Nikki Giovanni, one of the foremost black poet activists, has brought the eyes of the world upon her.
Richard Morse
“With my music, I’m providing a safe haven for folks as the government fails…There are times when the Haitian people can’t speak out. But I can write a song.”
Video: Richard Morse GlobalFEST 2011
Robin Wright
Veteran journalist discusses the future of the Middle East, the world’s most volatile region.