Join us for a public conversation about the role of academics in informing and fostering positive social change.  Labor studies scholars and working-class historians in particular have long worked at the crossroads of academia and activism. Panelists will discuss how participation in current labor and social struggles guides their campus and community organizing, public history initiatives, teaching, mentoring, and other activities. They also explore the role of research and scholarship in social change, while acknowledging that intellectual labor complements but never replaces collective action and movement building.

Participants include Shel Stromquist, History Department, University of Iowa; John McKerley, Labor Center, University of Iowa; Eric Fure-Slocum, History Department, St. Olaf College; Emily Labarbera-Twarog, School of Labor & Employment Relations, University of Illinois; Ralph Scharnau, History Department, Dubuque University, and Peter Rachleff, East Side Freedom Library.

We hope that our initial conversation will generate a wider discussion.