Learning in community
UM’s Public Classroom Initiative provides short, accessible learning opportunities.
The Office of Equity Transformation’s Listening, Learning, Leading series helps our UM community move beyond polarization by building foundations for increased understanding and dialogue. The Public Classroom Initiative is an extension of that series, designed to foster informed dialogue and deepen understanding of contemporary issues relevant to the UM community.
Recognizing the depth of expertise across UM and the growing interest in timely, complex topics, the Public Classroom Initiative provides short, accessible learning opportunities open to all members of the university community.
Held around lunchtime in the Fireside Lounge (first floor, UMSU University Centre), each session features a UM expert delivering a concise 20-minute presentation followed by a 10-minute question and answer period.
“When we learn together, explore new areas of knowledge, welcome complexity, and expand our understanding of issues shaping our current moment, we create the conditions for informed and engaged conversation,” says Tina Chen, Vice-Provost (Equity). “By placing learning in public spaces and in short presentations, the Public Classroom Initiative removes barriers to accessing teaching and research expertise at UM. We hope to see staff, students, and faculty from a range of units, lived identities, and positions attending and joining broader dialogues at UM.”
Explore the 2026 Winter Term schedule, organized around two themes:
All events are at 12:00 p.m. unless otherwise stated.
Black Studies at UM
Cameroonian Peasants and the Global Economy through Literature and Films
- Presenter: Étienne-Marie Lassi (Dept of French, Spanish and Italian, Faculty of Arts)
- Date: Tuesday, February 3
Bearing the Burden of Liberation: Black Youth Activists and the Cost of Freedom Work
- Presenter: Warren Clarke (Dept of Anthropology, Faculty of Arts)
- Date: Tuesday, February 10 at 11:30 a.m.
Title TBA
- Presenter: Serenity Hee-Jung Joo (Faculty of Arts)
- Date: Monday, March 2 at 11:30 a.m.
An Introduction to Black Love Poems
- Presenter: Jaime Paris (Dept of English, Film & Media, Faculty of Arts)
- Date: Tuesday, March 3
Fugitive Slave Women’s Narratives in Canada
- Presenter: Nancy Kang (Dept of Women’s and Gender Studies, Faculty of Arts)
- Date: Tuesday, March 24
Learning for Democratic Futures
Politics of Classical Architecture: Past and Present
- Presenter: Braden Scott (Dept of Early Modern Art & Architecture, School of Art)
- Date: Friday, February 6
Understanding US Interventions in Central and South America: A Conversation
- Presenter: Jorge Nállim and David Churchill (Dept of History, Faculty of Arts)
- Date: Wednesday, February 11
Freedom of Expression and Universities
- Presenter: Richard Jochelson (Faculty of Law)
- Date: Thursday, March 26
