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Programs

Find detailed information for each upcoming program/lecture series below by clicking on the title to open the tab.

A flyer of programs is also published for fall and spring semesters in both electronic and paper format. A printer's proof of the paper format for each of these semesters will be published on this page when available. To be added to the paper mailing list, please contact us. Summer and Winter are only available in electronic format.

Tell a Friend, Bring a Friend: We encourage you to tell others about our programming and bring them with you to our programs! This flyer provides an overview of the Center's programming and history: Selim Center Informational Flyer.

Please note that all registration fees are non-refundable at any time.

Contact Us

Email
selimcenter@stthomas.edu

Phone
(651) 962-5188

Mailing Address
Selim Center for Lifelong Learning
Mail #OEC 109 2115 Summit Avenue
St. Paul, MN 55105

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Current & Upcoming Lifelong Learning Opportunities

Selim Center Programs for Fall 2026 are open for registration! See below for more information on each program, as well as the registration link. More programs may be added in the coming days, please check back soon!

The Midterms and The Nation with David Schultz

Date: November 6th Lunch & Learn Event

Time: 12:00pm-1:45pm

Location: ASC 378 (Woulfe Alumni Hall)

Program Description:

The Midterms and The Nation with Professor David Schultz 

National political analyst and Selim Center regular David Schultz (Distinguished University Professor of Politics and Law, Hamline University) will provide an assessment of the 2026 electoral landscape and its possible meanings.  He will discuss national trends, the Minnesota gubernatorial and Congressional results, and the broader context of the nation's political climate and its institutions.  Tickets for this event include lunch. 

You can register online by visiting our registration site here:

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The Book of Job

Date: Thursdays, September 24th, October 1st, October 8th

Time: 10:00am-11:45pm

Location: O'Shaughnessy Education Center Auditorium

Program Description:

The Book of Job with Professor Daniel Pioske 

In this series, Dan Pioske (Associate Professor and Associate Chair of Theology, Ñî¹óåú´«Ã½. Thomas) explores the Book of Job.  Among the most beautiful and challenging books of the Old Testament and one of the greatest literary and theological works of the ancient world, Job raises enduring questions about suffering, justice, faith, and God that have resonated throughout both the Jewish and Christian traditions.

You can register online by visiting our registration site here:

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Polarized Politics: Causes, Attributes, and Responses

Date: Thursdays, September 24th, October 1st, October 8th

Time: 1:00pm-2:45pm

Location: O'Shaughnessy Education Center Auditorium

Program Description:

Polarized Politics: Causes, Attributes, and Responses with Professors Goltz, Lynch, and High-Pippert

Drawing on their combined expertise, this series features three faculty members from the Ñî¹óåú´«Ã½. Thomas political science department who will explore the complex problem of polarized or "frozen" politics in modern American life.  The series begins with deep tensions in political philosophy, moves to an assessment of the electoral and communicative mechanisms that select for polemics and punish compromise, and concludes with how both institutions and citizens can find alternatives to totalizing political identities. 

You can register online by visiting our registration site here:

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The Middle East in the 20th Century and Beyond

Date:Tuesdays, October 13th, 20th & 27th

Time: 11:45am-1:15pm

Location: O'Shaughnessy Education Center Auditorium

Program Description:

The Middle East in the 20^thCentury and Beyond with Professor Shaherzad Ahmadi

In this series, held over the noon hour to promote intergenerational attendance, Professor Shaherzad Ahmadi (Associate Professor of History, Ñî¹óåú´«Ã½. Thomas) will explain how global currents of economic and political change created the national identities and regional politics of the modern Middle East.  This story of revolutionary transformation and conservative resistance challenges many assumptions about how both peoples and states encountered the problems of modernization, Western influences, Cold War tensions, and the relationship of religion to politics and everyday life.

You can register online by visiting our registration site here:

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The Federal Reserve and You

Date: Tuesdays, October 6th and 13th

Time: 10:00am-11:45am

Location: O'Shaughnessy Education Center Auditorium

Program Description:

The Federal Reserve and You with Libby Starling, Senior Community Development Officer,

Minneapolis Federal Reserve

What does the Federal Reserve have to do with neighborhood development and home affordability in the Twin Cities?  In this special two-lecture program, Libby Starling of the Minneapolis Federal Reserve will explain the structure and function of the Federal Reserve Bank and how the economics of monetary policy affect the real-world questions of neighborhood composition, housing availability, and who gets to own a home in the Twin Cities metro.

You can register online by visiting our registration site here:

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Veterans in Perspective

Date: Wednesday, November 4th

Time: 1:00pm-2:45pm

Location: O'Shaughnessy Education Center Auditorium

Program Description:

Veterans in Perspective: a special collaboration between the Selim Center and the Karon Veterans' Resource Center

This year's annual supporter appreciation event focuses on veterans and veteranhood in the United States.  Developed in partnership with the Karon Family Veterans' Resource Center, our program will feature US military servicemembers from across three generations sharing perspectives on service, citizen-soldierhood, and the relationship of military service to American culture more broadly. While veterans and military service are sometimes stereotyped into  singular and often politicized roles, the complexity of their experiences reflects the equally nuanced nature of the citizen-soldier throughout United States history.

As a thank-you to our benefactors, this event is free to all who have made a gift to the Selim Center in the 2026-27 fiscal year. Donations can be mailed to the Selim Center, given in check or cash at the door on the day of the event, or made online via our Tommie Give Day site (website will be added once it is opened in October).

You can register online by visiting our registration site here:

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Disputed Elections and Constitutional Crises

Date: Wednesdays, September 23rd, 30th & 7th

Time: 10:00am-11:45am

Location: O'Shaughnessy Education Center Auditorium

Program Description:

Disputed Elections and Constitutional Crises with Frank Sachs

Contrary to our popular perceptions, approximately one in four U.S. presidential elections has seen significant accompanying controversy.  Four Presidential elections' results have been disputed, while in two others the nominating process came under great criticism for irregularities.  In two more elections, the winner of the popular vote lost the Electoral College vote, and two where the final results could have been heavily disputed but the losing candidate did not protest and in one they did and lost anyway.  Frank Sachs, teacher at the Blake School for more than four decades and recipient of the Presidential Scholars Teacher Recognition Award, will discuss why all these elections were disputed, how the disputes were resolved, what was the impact on the presidency, and American history.

You can register online by visiting our registration site here:

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The State of Cancer Research: What We Know and Where We Might Go

Date: Wednesday, October 28th

Time: 1:00pm-2:45pm

Location: O'Shaughnessy Education Center Auditorium

Program Description:

The State of Cancer Research: What We Know and Where We Might Go with Dr. Alpay Temiz, 

Research Associate Professor, Institute for Health Informatics, University of Minnesota

In this special program, Dr. Alpay Temiz will introduce us to recent breakthroughs in genomics and bioinformatics that have produced substantial progress in identifying genetic markers and gene sequencing in the vast field of cancer research. He will then address how computational algorithms and artificial intelligence may accelerate or even transform cancer research in both genetic modeling and diagnostics and also highlight some of the durable problems within cancer science that remain resistant to breakthroughs.

This program is given in honor of Dr. Al Levitan, longtime friend, generous supporter, and lifelong learner at the Selim Center for Lifelong Learning.

You can register online by visiting our registration site here:

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Home: An Exploration

Date: Tuesdays, September 22, 29 & October 6

Time: 1:00pm-2:45pm

Location: O'Shaughnessy Education Center Auditorium

Program Description:

Home: An Exploration with Dr. Christopher Toner 

Home is central to our everyday worlds, our literature and legends, and our politics.  But what do we mean by "home," and how does home relate to ourselves, families, communities, and states?  This three part series will begin with a broad exploration of what home has meant to different societies, propose a working model of how we might think of "home" in our modern lives, and discuss the implications for our individual, communal, and political lives that "home" entails in the twenty-first century.

You can register online by visiting our registration site here:

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Human Rights In Crisis

Date: Wednesdays, October 7 and 14

Time: 1:00pm-2:45pm

Location: O'Shaughnessy Education Center Auditorium

Program Description:

Human Rights In Crisis with Dr. James Dawes (DeWitt Wallace Distinguished Professor, Macalester College)

In this two-part series, Professor James Dawes will explore the relationship between human understandings of trauma and rights from ancient Greece to the algorithmic present.  How do we remember terrible events without becoming trapped by them? How do we tell stories about suffering that are honest about the past but still leave room for hope? What happens to human rights if we create artificial intelligence systems more intelligent and powerful than we are?.

You can register online by visiting our registration site here:

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World War II in China

Date: Thursdays, October 22, 29 & November 54

Time: 10:00am-11:45am

Location: O'Shaughnessy Education Center Auditorium

Program Description:

World War II in China with Dr. Connor Mills 

For Americans, the Chinese theater of World War II can too often be regarded as a sideshow to more decisive campaigns.  Yet the war in China began earliest (in 1931), lasted longest (14 years), produced among the highest human costs, and involved a bewildering array of belligerents.  For Japan, China was the principal objective of imperial ambition, and more than 75% of all Japanese Army personnel deployed during World War II would fight in the Chinese campaigns.  Moreover, the war in China yielded consequences of profound significance for the global 20th century and fundamentally influenced the origins and course of the Cold War. 

You can register online by visiting our registration site here:

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A Divided Nation: The Coming of the Civil War, 1846-1861

Date: Thursdays, October 22, 29 & November 54

Time: 1:00pm-2:45pm

Location: O'Shaughnessy Education Center Auditorium

Program Description:

A Divided Nation: The Coming of the Civil War, 1846-1861 with Dr. David Williard

Explaining how an optimistic American public whose economy and borders were relentlessly expanding and whose political tensions seemed to have been effectively suppressed charted a course that ended in the bloodiest and most revolutionary conflict that the United States has ever witnessed poses a challenge for both historians and for public memory.  This three-part series will integrate contingent political and institutional developments with explanations stemming from broader cultural and economic conditions, beginning with the invasion of Mexico in 1845 and culminating with the declaration of an insurrection by President Lincoln in April 1861.

You can register online by visiting our registration site here:

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Sample Programs from Spring 2026

 

• The Making of Minneapolis
• Latin America: From the Maya to Maduro
• AI: Artificiality and Intelligence
• The American Revolution and the Fate of the World
• How to Think about Language
• Immigration and US Law
• Math and Society
• The Politics of Music
• The Ecosystem Around Us
• Iran: The Islamic Republic and the World in the 21^st Century 

 

To register on-line with a credit card on our secure page, please visit our

To pay by mail, using check or cash, please use this printable registration form: Printable Registration Form

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