Carleton Convos

Carleton Convo with Jana Shortal | May 01, 2026

KARE 11 news anchor Jana Shortal delivered Carleton’s convocation on Friday, May 1, from 10:50 to 11:50 a.m. in Skinner Chapel. Shortal, who has worked at KARE 11 for 22 years, has been a crucial reporter in Minneapolis during Operation Metro Surge, braving pepper spray from federal agents to report the news [https://www.kare11.com/article/news/local/kare-11s-jana-shortal-recounts-getting-pepper-sprayed-by-federal-agents-mn/89-62463358-5efd-4129-9b20-3a17ec284674]. Their convocation address, “The Surge,” is focused on their experience reporting Minnesota’s federal occupation, as motivated by their personal motto: “Because the truth, still, has to matter.” Shortal’s career as an anchor for KARE 11 has now spanned many deeply turbulent times in Minneapolis in the aftermath of the murders of George Floyd, Renee Good, and Alex Pretti. Shortal began their career as a general assignment reporter and currently works on KARE 11’s Breaking The News segment, weeknights at 6:30 p.m. During their career so far, they have been the winner of eight Upper Midwest Emmys and nominated for many more, honoring their media coverage on topics ranging from sports stories to the impacts of George Floyd’s legacy in Minneapolis. Originally from outside St. Louis, Shortal graduated from the University of Missouri–Columbia with a bachelor’s degree in journalism. If it were not for one persistent professor there, Shortal would have spent their adult life driving the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile. They also once sold their 10th anniversary gift from KARE 11 to an ex so they could buy a pair of Air Jordans (fun facts courtesy of a 2020 MPR journalist series [https://www.mpr.org/js]). Now, they live with their partner, Laura, and their child, Zeke. Learn more about Carleton Convos at go.carleton.edu/convocations [https://www.carleton.edu/convocations/]

Carleton Convo with Fred de Sam Lazaro | April 24, 2026

Documentarian and journalist Fred de Sam Lazaro gave Carleton’s convocation address, “Storytelling to Make the Foreign Less Foreign,” on Friday, April 24, from 10:50 to 11:50 a.m. in Skinner Chapel. He has served as a PBS NewsHour correspondent since 1985, reporting from over 70 different countries. He also served as a regular contributor and substitute anchor for PBS’s Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly. He has directed films from India and the Democratic Republic of the Congo for the acclaimed documentary series, Wide Angle. De Sam Lazaro’s primary reporting focus has been on the myriad issues that underlie poverty and human suffering, which are historically underreported in the mainstream U.S. media. De Sam Lazaro is the founder of the Under-Told Stories Project [https://www.undertoldstories.org/], which is dedicated to building a library of social innovation and entrepreneurship reports, “designed to use storytelling to enhance students’ understanding of the pressing global issues of our time.” The project, now located at the University of St. Thomas, holds the central mission of reporting on poverty and human suffering, which are critical topic areas that are not always covered by mainstream media. Simply put, the mission of the project is to “make the foreign less foreign.” This is the basis for de Sam Lazaro’s convocation address, which he described as an analysis of news media solutions at the heart of bringing visibility to topics from human trafficking to menstrual hygiene product access: With video excerpts from our PBS News Hour Agents for Change series, I’ll reflect on what seems to work and what doesn’t in the complex and often corrupt business of humanitarian aid, as well as the nuances and sensitivity that are essential for credible, respectful reporting.  Storytelling is a powerful learning and teaching tool, and it is critical that we all understand how to use it amid so much polarizing misinformation that competes for our attention and indignation.” De Sam Lazaro is the recipient of three honorary doctorates, a multitude of journalism awards, and media fellowships from the Kaiser Family Foundation and the University of Michigan’s Knight Wallace program. He has served on the board of the College of St. Scholastica, his alma mater in Duluth, Minnesota; Minnpost, an online nonprofit Minnesota news service; the Asian American Journalists Association; and the Children’s Law Center of Minnesota. De Sam Lazaro was born in Bangalore, India and lives in St. Paul. This convocation was sponsored by Carleton’s Center for Community and Civic Engagement [https://www.carleton.edu/ccce/] (CCCE) to celebrate the power and ingenuity of individuals who seek to make a difference in the world. It is part of a daylong celebration to honor the 40th anniversary of Acting in the Community Together (ACT), the precursor to the CCCE. Learn more about Carleton Convos at go.carleton.edu/convocations [https://www.carleton.edu/convocations/]

Carleton Convo with Joel Simon | April 17, 2026

hen people take to the streets, the press plays an essential role, documenting events, deepening understanding, and ensuring that fundamental rights are protected. But are the rights of journalists secure? Joel Simon — who gave convocation at Carleton on Friday, April 17, from 10:50 to 11:50 a.m. in Skinner Chapel — began his career as a correspondent in Latin America. There, he cut his teeth covering demonstrations before becoming a leading press freedom advocate with the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). During his Carleton convo address, “Protests and Press Freedom: From Mexico City to Minneapolis,” Simon will trace the evolution of protest coverage, showing how the erosion of press rights undermines the broader legal protections for assembly and speech enshrined in international law and the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.  Simon served as executive director of the CPJ [https://cpj.org/about/], an independent nonprofit dedicated to advocating for the safety and rights of journalists around the world, for 15 years, from 2006 to 2021. While at CPJ, Simon played a key role in the establishment of the Emergencies Department, which provides safety information and direct support for journalists under threat. These services include placement for journalists at leading journalism schools. Simon’s work traveling the world and defending the rights of journalists has effectively saved lives and gotten innumerable people out of harm’s way. Simon is the founding director of the Journalism Protection Initiative at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY and 2022 a fellow at the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia University and a senior visiting fellow at the Knight First Amendment Institute, also at Columbia. He writes on press freedom issues for The New Yorker and produces a regular column for Columbia Journalism Review.    Simon is also the author of four books, with a fifth approaching publication. His most recent book, co-authored with Robert Mahoney, is titled, The Infodemic: How Censorship and Lies Made the World Sicker and Less Free (2022). Simon has also published We Want to Negotiate: The Secret World of Kidnapping, Hostages, and Ransom (2019); The New Censorship: Inside the Global Battle for Media Freedom (2014); and Endangered Mexico: An Environment on the Edge (1997), which was named one of the best 100 books of the year by the LA Times.  Simon began his journalism career in the 1990s covering Guatemalan conflict, while also conducting forays into El Salvador and Cuba, before shifting to cover Mexico. In Mexico, he covered the Zapatista uprising, the peso devaluation, and the assassination of the presidential candidate Luis Donaldo Colosio Murrieta. He returned to his hometown of New York City after leaving the CPJ to teach journalism, while continuing to write and speak widely about press freedom and media issues. Learn more about Carleton Convos at go.carleton.edu/convocations [https://www.carleton.edu/convocations/]

Carleton Convo with Peter Gwinn ’93 | April 10, 2026

Comedy writer Peter Gwinn ’93 delivered Carleton’s convocation on Friday, April 10, from 10:50 to 11:50 a.m. in Skinner Chapel. His address is titled, “How to Be a Comedian When Nothing is Funny.” Gwinn worked as one of the original writers on The Colbert Report [https://tv.apple.com/us/show/the-colbert-report/umc.cmc.3k1kkmfgd34hfnk8mc6p1uj01], which was awarded two Emmys (and eight Emmy nominations), three Writers Guild Awards (and six WGA nominations), and two Peabody Awards during his time on the show. Gwinn also wrote for Alpha House [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3012160/], a TV show about four Republican senators who share a Washington, D.C. house rental. Beyond his work with television, Gwinn has written a variety of stage comedy shows that have been performed at UCB Theater, The Second City, and the iO Theater. His stage plays and musicals include Oh! Those Midsummer Nights!; The Story of a Story (The Untold Story), which revived the Jeff Awards in 2016 when it was nominated for Best New Work; Twist Your Dickens; Listen, Kid…; and Moulin Scrooge! Gwinn also appeared on the Netflix show Easy in 2017. Gwinn currently writes for the NPR comedy news quiz, Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me! Listen for his name — always with a funny tagline — in the end credits every weekend. Aside from his written work, Gwinn is also celebrated for his work as an improv comedian and improv coach at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater in New York and the iO Theater and Home Comedy Theaters in Chicago. Over the course of his career, he has performed with and/or instructed a long list of comedians, including Amy Poehler, Seth Meyers, Jason Sudeikis, Chris Gethard, Amber Ruffin, Rachel Dratch, and Zach Woods. Gwinn also founded the internationally celebrated comedy group Baby Wants Candy [https://www.babywantscandy.com/], which has consistently sold out its runs at Edinburgh Fringe Festival and has been named a New York Times critics’ pick [https://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/26/theater/reviews/26baby.html].  Gwinn also enjoys creating and solving puzzles. He won the Midwest Division at the 2019 American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, he is a regular contributor to AVCX Trivia, and he helped write the 2022 MIT Mystery Hunt with Team Palindrome. Learn more about Carleton Convos at go.carleton.edu/convocations [https://www.carleton.edu/convocations/]

Carleton Convo with Andrew Little ’06 | April 3, 2026

Carleton’s convocation series returned for spring term with Andrew Little ’06, associate professor of political science at University of California–Berkeley, whose address is titled, “The Case Against Pessimism About Democracy.” He spoke at Carleton on Friday, April 3, from 10:50 to 11:50 a.m. in Skinner Chapel. Little’s research often focuses on how beliefs and biases about the political world affect the functioning of democracy. His work [https://anthlittle.github.io/] consists of modeling motivated reasoning (wanting to believe certain things are true), selection neglect (not understanding the biases in observed information), and making simplifying assumptions. Little’s address will also include discussions of the Varieties of Democracy (V-DEM) project, a common measure of democracy across countries used in political science. Little’s work has been published in leading political science and economics journals, including the American Journal of Political Science, American Political Science Review, and the Economic Journal. His work has also been featured in The Washington Post, The Economist, and The New York Times, among others. Little also serves as an editor of The American Journal of Political Science. Prior to his professorship at Berkley, Little received his BA from Carleton, his PhD from NYU, and taught at Cornell.  Learn more about Carleton Convos at go.carleton.edu/convocations [https://www.carleton.edu/convocations/]