The E.N. Thompson Forum on World Issues 2025-26 season centers on the theme "Belonging: Finding Connection in a Lonely World." Faculty are invited to use the final event of spring as a required or optional activity for students, or as a make-up or extra-credit opportunity. The event is free and open to the public.
Shaylyn Romney Garrett
March 31 | 6:30-7:30 p.m. | Lied Center for Performing Arts
Based on her award-winning book The Upswing: How America Came Together a Century Ago and How We Can Do It Again., co-written with Robert Putnam, Garrett’s presentation offers an evidence-based roadmap for how to reweave our tattered social fabric. Through stories and data drawn from over a century of history, Garrett speaks passionately about how everyday Americans once changed the course of our nation by building a culture of “we” — and can do it again. The event will feature a Q&A moderated by Margaret Jacobs, director of the Center for Great Plains Studies.
No-cost tickets required for on-site. A livestream will be available on the E.N. Thompson website.
Garrett is a celebrated author, speaker, and social entrepreneur whose work offers a fresh take on political polarization, social isolation, economic inequality, and culture change. Her commentary has appeared in various outlets including NPR, PBS Newshour, the BBC, Deseret Magazine, TIME Magazine and the New York Times. Romney Garrett holds a degree in government from Harvard University and has served in the Peace Corps. She spent six years in Jordan working to catalyze youth social innovation there. Upon returning to the U.S., she helped found “Weave: The Social Fabric Project” at the Aspen Institute with David Brooks. She is a member of the Braver Angels Scholars Council, Citizen University’s Civic Collaboratory, and the Faith Matters Initiative Advisory Board.
More details at: https://enthompson.unl.edu