Nadia Murad, Human Rights Activist.

Wilkinson College is committed to leading the conversation in our community on issues of humanity, unity, and justice through our annual Engaging the World (ETW) event series. For the past five years, this important series has focused on topics such as the significance of race, environmental justice, ethnic studies, health equity, and, most recently, gender and sexuality. These interdisciplinary, campus-wide conversations are intended to promote thoughtful dialogue, mindful reflection, social tolerance, awareness, respect, peace, and kindness. The 2025-2026 theme is Engaging the World: The Environment and Building Resilient Futures and aims to promote informed, sustained, and enriching dialogues through an in-depth exploration of the environment and building resilient futures.

This year’s ETW keynote will feature Nadia Murad on Monday, October 6, 2025, at 7 p.m. in the Musco Center for the Arts. Murad is the author of the best-selling memoir The Last Girl, founder and president of Nadia’s Initiative, and the first United Nations Goodwill Ambassador for the Dignity of Survivors of Human Trafficking. A familiar face at Chapman University, she also serves as a Distinguished Presidential Fellow in Peace Studies in Wilkinson College, where she continues her advocacy for survivors of sexual violence. Murad will join Wilkinson College Dean Jennifer Keene for a conversation on sustainable development in communities facing crisis.

“People tend to focus on the natural environment, but this year’s ETW Series allows us to think about the built environment, the political environment, the educational environment, etc. We all live in the midst of multiple cultural contexts, and critical thinking requires us to determine how our behavior is shaped by all the external factors competing for our attention, in order to build a better, more resilient, more inclusive, more sustainable future for us all.”

Dr. Stephanie Takaragawa (Sociology), Associate Dean and Chair of the ETW Planning Committee. 

This year’s ETW series includes film screenings, literature talks, lectures, and other events focused on environments of different kinds. This allows us to explore how environments both shape and are shaped by institutions and social structures, the social and legal ramifications regarding environmental issues impacting communities, as well as the sociopolitical structures that influence discourse and debates concerning the environment. The series will further inquire into how innovation, lived experience, and power intersect as communities respond to current and future challenges presented by their environments.

Complementing the series of events, several Wilkinson College faculty are teaching courses, including First-Year Foundations classes, that correspond to the environment and building resilient futures. One such example is Dr. Kyle Harp-Rushing (Sociology), who will be teaching FFC 100D: Capitalism and the Environment.

“This class will explore taken-for-granted concepts like ‘nature’ and ‘capitalism’ in a fun, exciting, and approachable way,” said Harp-Rushing. “My hope for students is that together we counteract the sense of isolation and alienation that exists… [so] that we realize how deeply connected and interdependent we are… and that this sense of mutuality will flourish into recognition of our collective power to enact radical and positive ecopolitical change when we work together across differences.”

Some planned events include the International Day of Peace with Professor Atalia Omer (Sept. 18) and Strategies to Protect our Climate: Lessons from Solidarity with Indigenous Peoples (Oct. 29).

For a full list of ETW: Leading the Conversation Fall 2025 events, click here!