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Symposium Days

Fall Symposium Day has a rotating theme selected by the Symposium Day Committee. 

Once a semester, Augustana devotes a full day to an alternative approach for learning and opens the process to the entire campus community.

This multidisciplinary approach to discuss a theme exemplifies the value of liberal learning.

Symposium Days include invited speakers, alumni, advising sessions and opportunities to practice the liberal arts and be involved with the community.

Fall Symposium Day is centered on a different theme each year. Spring Symposium is Celebration of Learning featuring original research and scholarship by Augustana's students and faculty.

2024-25

Fall Symposium Day Oct. 9: Big Ideas

Big ideas spark innovation in industry, breakthroughs in science, reformations in education, and even revolutions of whole societies. Some even say that the United States was founded on the big idea of democracy rather than on a shared ethnicity or culture. Whether we think of progress in terms of science, innovation, human rights, AI and the nature of work, big ideas spark tremendous change--for good or ill. Given the complexity of the wicked problems we face--climate change, political polarization, rising levels of anxiety and depression--big ideas are needed now more than ever.

This year's Symposium Day theme invites proposals about big ideas from any and all disciplines, and especially those that step below or between disciplinary boundaries to question the status quo and help spark new ways of thinking.

See the full schedule