Carleton Convos

Scott Wopata, executive director of the local Community Action Center (CAC) and recipient of the City of Northfield’s 2024 Human Rights Award, delivered the Carleton convocation on Friday, May 9, from 10:50 to 11:30 a.m. in Skinner Chapel. This convocation — titled, “Can we all agree to address food insecurity?” — coincides with Carleton’s annual Empty Bowls event, a community fundraiser for the local food shelf, which is run by th...

Attorney Anna McGinn ’18 delivered this week’s convocation address at Carleton titled, “In Defense of the Innocent” on Friday, May 2, from 10:50 to 11:50 a.m. in Skinner Chapel. McGinn’s work as a staff attorney at the Great North Innocence Project (GNIP) includes screening, investigating, and litigating cases involving claims of actual innocence in Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota.

Since joining GNIP in 2022, McGinn has p...

Award-winning author David Wright Faladé ’86 delivered the Carleton convocation address — titled, “My 4-color Bic and the Constitution” — on Friday, April 18 from 10:50 to 11:50 a.m. in Skinner Chapel.

Wright Faladé is the author of the novel Black Cloud Rising (2022) and most recently The New Internationals (2025), as well as the co-author of the young adult novel Away Running (2016) and the nonfiction book Fire on the Beach: Reco...

Artist and puzzle maker Wyna Liu delivered the Carleton convocation on Friday, April 11 from 10:50 to 11:50 a.m. in Skinner Chapel. Her address is titled, “A Bit About Connections.” 

Liu is best known for her work as the writer of The New York Times’s iconic word game Connections, and often writes crosswords for The New Yorker. An avid puzzler and creator, Liu began constructing crossword puzzles in 2018 and published her first cro...

Chance York delivered the Carleton convocation address on Friday, April 4 from 10:50 to 11:50 a.m. in Skinner Chapel. Among his many distinctions, York is a regional Academy Award-winning entertainer, co-founder of the program Peace in Practice, yoga instructor, rapper, student, and teacher. York has studied yoga for over 20 years, viewing it as an “art science,” which he studies in tandem with personal development. Through this li...

Syrian-American violinist Mariela Shaker delivered Carleton’s convocation address on Friday, February 28 from 10:50 to 11:50 a.m. in Skinner Chapel. Her address is titled, “Tragedy and Triumph: My Bow Bends for Peace.” An internationally recognized violinist and motivational speaker, Shaker was named a Champion of Change for World Refugees by U.S. President Barack Obama in 2015. Shaker strongly believes in music as a tool to bring ...

Comedy writer and performer Claire McFadden ’13 delivered Carleton’s convocation address on Friday, February 21, from 10:50 to 11:50 a.m. in Skinner Chapel. Her talk is titled, “Make it Yourself: How to Pursue a Creative Career After Carleton Even If You Majored in Something Completely Unrelated Like ENTS and the Path Forward Seems Shrouded in Mystery and Fear (A Convocation Speech).”

McFadden has performed her improv and sketch co...

Dr. Bryant Simon, an American historian and professor at Temple University, delivered the convocation address at Carleton on Friday, February 14 from 10:50 to 11:50 a.m. in Skinner Chapel. His speech, “The history of public bathrooms: A story of American inequality,” is based on a book he is currently writing on the topic, which is set to be published by University of Chicago Press. 

Simon has previously published four books — The ...

Printmaker Amos Paul Kennedy Jr. delivered the Carleton convocation on Friday, February 7, from 10:50 to 11:50 a.m. in Skinner Chapel. His address is titled, “A Tirade Against Boomers.” Visit the convo website for an introductory poem Kennedy provided before his address.

As a self-described “humble negro printer,”  Kennedy harnesses his printmaking abilities to produce social and political commentaries, often through posters. Kenne...

Screenwriter and producer Bob Daily ’82 delivered convocation at Carleton College on Friday, January 31 from 10:50 to 11:50 a.m. in Skinner Chapel. Through his address “On Creativity: Nine lessons I’ve learned, stolen and ignored,” Daily highlighted his path from Carleton to the entertainment industry. 

Daily began his television career as a writer and producer on the famed NBC series Frasier, for which he was awarded back-to-back ...

Noah Tarnow ’97 delivered convocation at Carleton College on Friday, January 24 from 10:50 to 11:50 a.m. in Skinner Chapel. Tarnow detailed his unique path from Carleton alum to senior quizmaster in an address titled, “The Trivial Benefits of a Carleton Education (or, How One Alum Made Himself a Game Show Host),” which, of course, included trivia questions throughout. 

Originally a biweekly nightlife event, Tarnow’s The Big Quiz T...

Political scientist Lawrence R. Jacobs delivered convocation at Carleton College on Friday, January 17 from 10:50 to 11:50 a.m. in Skinner Chapel. Jacobs’ address, “American Democracy in Fractured Times,” stemmed from his expertise in American political science and was informed by the content of his latest book, Democracy Under Fire: Donald Trump and the Breaking of American History.

Jacobs is the founder and director of the Center...

Abby Kiesa, deputy director of CIRCLE, delivered the Carleton convocation address on Friday, November 1 from 10:50 to 11:50 a.m. in Skinner Chapel. Her talk was titled, “Including youth in ‘we the people’: Youth voice in U.S. democracy.”

CIRCLE (Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement) is part of Tufts University’s Tisch College of Civic Life. The Center conducts research and collaborates on systems cha...

Theda Skocpol, Victor S. Thomas Professor of Government and Sociology at Harvard University, delivered the Carleton convocation address on Friday, October 25 from 10:50 to 11:50 a.m. in Skinner Chapel.

Skocpol’s work addresses a broad spectrum of questions about socio-political change, including health care reform, public policy, and civic engagement amid shifting inequalities in American democracy; currently, she is probing partis...

Pat Sukhum ’96, CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters Twin Cities, delivered the Carleton convocation address for Family Weekend on Friday, October 18 from 10:50 to 11:50 a.m. in Skinner Chapel.

After 25 years in the bustling world of health tech startups, Sukhum found himself — somewhat unexpectedly — as the CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters Twin Cities, the largest Minnesota arm of the nationwide nonprofit youth mentoring organization, B...

Francis Su, Benediktsson-Karwa Professor of Mathematics at Harvey Mudd College and former president of the Mathematical Association of America, delivered the Carleton convocation address on Friday, October 11 from 10:50 to 11:50 a.m. in Skinner Chapel. His address was titled, “Seeing the unseen: the enchantment of mathematical beauty.”

In his talk, Su tackled multiple questions, including: What is the nature of beauty? How does it ...

Patricia Torres Ray — a former member of the Minnesota Senate, where she represented District 63 — delivered the Carleton convocation address on Friday, October 4 from 10:50 to 11:50 a.m. in Skinner Chapel. Her address was titled, “Immigration as Statement of Conscience.”

After working in public service for 20 years, Torres Ray ran for office in 2006 and became the first Latina elected to the Minnesota Senate. She held multiple lea...

Deborah Appleman — Hollis L. Caswell Professor of Educational Studies, associate program director of American studies, and chair of educational studies — delivered the address for Carleton’s annual Argument & Inquiry (A&I) Convocation on Friday, September 27 from 10:50 to 11:50 a.m. in Skinner Chapel. In her address, “Academic Freedom and Necessity of Discomfort: The Trouble with Cancel Culture and Content Warnings,” Applem...

Dean Phillips, U.S. Representative for Minnesota’s Third Congressional District, delivered the address for Carleton's Opening Convocation on Monday, September 16 starting at 3 p.m. in Skinner Chapel.

Phillips was raised in Edina, Minnesota, attended Brown University, and earned his MBA from the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Business. After being employed at a variety of small startups, he worked his way up and eventua...