How it works
The Speakers Bureau is the friendly cousin of the faculty experts directory. Experts answer reporters on deadline. The bureau sends a person to a Tuesday lunch meeting in a church basement. Speakers volunteer for it, and they have each built a 30- to 50-minute talk for a general audience, with time for questions.
- Cost: free to nonprofit and civic groups, schools and libraries within 60 miles of campus. The university covers mileage. Please don’t offer an honorarium; if you insist, the speaker will route it to the Hometown Porter Falls Scholarship.
- Audience: ten people or more. For fewer, we can usually arrange a video talk.
- Lead time: four weeks. Two is possible in January and July, when calendars are emptier.
- Not included: political endorsements, product pitches or paid corporate training. Corporate training goes through Continuing Education.
Speakers and topics, 2026–27
| Speaker | Department | Talk |
|---|---|---|
| Emmett Rasmussen, Teaching Professor | Manufacturing & Industrial Engineering | Your Kitchen Is a Workstation: Ergonomics at Home and in the Shop |
| Gustav Sato, Professor | Plastics & Packaging Engineering | How a Plastic Part Is Made, and Why the Cheap Ones Crack |
| Grace Nguyen, Associate Professor | Cybersecurity & Information Technology | The Grandparent Scam, Fake Invoices and Other Things That Arrive by Text |
| Grace Vasquez, Professor | Nursing | Aging in Place: What Nurses Wish Families Knew Sooner |
| Delia Escobar, Assistant Professor | Health & Nutrition Sciences | Balance, Falls and the Biomechanics of Getting Up Again |
| Devon Marchetti, Professor | Environmental Science | Why the Porter River Moves: Floods, Banks and the Millrace |
| Grace Groves, Professor | Physics & Astronomy | Why the New Restaurant Is So Loud: Room Acoustics for Everyone |
| Josephine Antonelli, Professor | Humanities | Disagreeing at a Public Meeting Without Wrecking the Town |
| Freya Ferris, Professor | Teacher Education | Reading an IEP: A Guide for Parents and Grandparents |
| Grace Delacroix, Professor | Marketing & Supply Chain | Why Prices Jump: Sourcing and Supply for Small Buyers |
| Elena Fontaine, Associate Professor | Construction Management | Hiring a Contractor and Actually Reading the Bid |
| Colin Sundqvist, Professor | Accounting & Finance | Bookkeeping Software for Small Nonprofits and the Treasurers Who Inherit It |
| Duane Kolsrud, Director of Facilities | Facilities Management | Fourteen Buildings and One Boiler Plant: How a Campus Gets Through January |
Mr. Kolsrud’s talk is the most requested on the list. He has been at Porter since 1998 and has every key, which comes up during questions.
Popular combinations
Some groups ask for a short series. Here are combinations that have worked:
- Senior centers and PLLI-style groups: Vasquez, Escobar and Nguyen, a health-safety-scams trio that runs over three months.
- Service clubs: Delacroix, Fontaine and Kolsrud, for audiences of business owners and people who like boilers.
- Parent groups and PTOs: Ferris, then a STEM Saturdays staff visit to explain the youth programs.
- Lake and river associations: Marchetti. He will bring a stream-table model if you have an outlet and a table that can get wet.
Several speakers also give short versions of their talks at Open Campus Day, which is a good way to audition one before booking.
Requesting a speaker
- Send the bureau your group’s name, the town, expected attendance, two or three possible dates, and the speaker or topic you want. “Anything about the river” is a fine request.
- The coordinator confirms with the speaker within five working days and sends you a confirmation with an A/V checklist.
- Tell us before the talk about accessibility needs: a microphone, captions for a video talk, or large-print handouts.
- Afterwards, fill out a two-minute feedback form. Speakers read every one.
Journalists should contact media relations instead; the bureau is not built for same-day calls. Groups that want students as well as a speaker, for a service project, for example, should start at Community engagement.
Fictional information
UW–Porter Falls is a work of parody. The Speakers Bureau and its talks are invented, and the faculty and staff listed are fictional people from this site’s directory. None of them will come to your meeting, however good the coffee.