What the series covers
Each college nominates at least one speaker a year — a researcher, an industry practitioner, occasionally a Porter alumnus — so the series rotates across engineering, health, business, design and the sciences rather than favoring one field.
Attending
Talks are free and open to the public, held in the Halvorsen Library auditorium with a livestream for anyone who can't attend in person; a reception with light refreshments follows most talks.
Past lectures
Eight talks so far, most recent first below in the archive but listed here in the order they were given.
- September 2025 · Climate Adaptation for Small Cities
Dr. Ingrid Solberg, climate adaptation planner for a regional planning commission - October 2025 · AI and the Future of Skilled Trades
Dr. Renata Kolb, automation research lead at a national manufacturing institute - November 2025 · Designing for an Aging Population
Marcus Ihejirika, principal at a universal-design consultancy - January 2026 · The Honest Startup Pitch
Talia Fenwick, founder and former CEO of two manufacturing startups, one that failed - February 2026 · Rural Health Systems Under Pressure
Dr. Camille Tran, chief medical officer at a regional rural health network - March 2026 · The Economics of Small Manufacturing
Dr. Owen Faraday, economist specializing in regional manufacturing policy - April 2026 · Data Ethics in Practice
Dr. Yusuf Abara, data ethics researcher and former industry practitioner - May 2026 · What Employers Actually Test For
Dr. Priscilla Amankwah, organizational psychologist studying hiring assessment
In and around Porter Falls
Curriculum decisions at Porter run through the departments that meet in Founders Hall and the Applied Arts Building, then to Faculty Senate, then to the Provost in Millwright Hall. The pace is deliberately slow and the review calendar is published.
The practical details
When: 4–6 lectures per academic year. Cost: Free, open to the public. Where: Halvorsen Library auditorium, also streamed. Anything time-sensitive — an accommodation, a booking, a deadline — is worth confirming directly before you rely on it, because the specifics here can change from term to term.
If you have a question
The office behind this is Office of the Provost (Millwright Hall, Room 300). Call (715) 555–0130 or email provost@uwporterfalls.edu during the fall and spring terms, or sign in to MyPorter to send a message or book a time. If it turns out another office owns the question, they will route it rather than send you back to the start.
Fictional information
UW–Porter Falls is a work of parody. Every office, person, building, phone number and statistic on this page is invented; nothing here describes a real institution or a service you can actually contact.