The University Roundtable at the University of Minnesota started in 2014 and has hosted speakers like molecular biologist Denis Alexander (Cambridge University, UK), political theorist Patrick Deneen (Notre Dame), neurobiologist William Hurlbut (Stanford), climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe (Texas Tech University), theologian Miroslav Volf (Yale), physicist Stephen Barr (University of Delaware), sociologist Elaine Ecklund (Rice University), philosopher Meghan Sullivan (Notre Dame), and neuroscientist Bill Newsome (Stanford). We are part of a larger network of University Roundtables that began in 2002 and have since hosted thousands of faculty members at Harvard, MIT, Yale, Brown, and other universities.
the kind of night that should be the norm in academia — serious conversation among smart people about contested issues, with pretty much everyone who spoke and counter-spoke both witty and civil.
– Harry Lewis, former Dean of Harvard College
The goal of a University Roundtable is to foster cross-disciplinary community and dialogue among faculty that explores the intersection of current scholarship with various ethical, worldview, and religious or non-religious perspectives. The former Dean of Harvard College, Harry Lewis, commented that Roundtables are “the kind of night that should be the norm in academia — serious conversation among smart people about contested issues, with pretty much everyone who spoke and counter-spoke both witty and civil.” Our hope is that these interactions will spark innovative new approaches to a diverse set of academic and personal questions. Ideally, conversations begun at University Roundtable dinners will continue in classrooms, seminars, discussion groups, coffee shops, and in every corner of the Twin Cities.
Roundtables are in-person events at a venue on or close to campus. The event includes dinner, drinks, dessert, centered around substantial table discussion after brief remarks from our presenters. At the close of our evening, we include time for questions and comments directed to each other and to our presenters. The Roundtables are invite-only events, please let us know if you would like to be considered as a participant.
Some past University Roundtables have been made possible by a grant from the John Templeton Foundation, a philanthropic catalyst for discoveries related to the big questions of human purpose and ultimate reality. Additional funding has been provided by generous scholars and donors invested in seeing the University engage with the big questions.
A Conversation with Dr. Rosalind Picard (MIT), Dr. Paul Schrater (UMN), and Dr. Tay Netoff (UMN)
Wednesday, March 19, 2025 – Anselm House will host a Roundtable with Dr. Rosalind Picard and Dr. Paul Schrater on the potential AI "singularity". Would humanity be able to co-exist with a potentially superhuman intelligence? Would it share our values and ethics? What are the promises of AI for human flourishing? Could AI threaten human life?
Are you faculty or academic staff at the University of Minnesota? Click the button below to be put on the invite list.
October 2024 – Humans have used tools for a long time. However, our relationship with tools has changed fundamentally since the Industrial Revolution. Are we set for another revolution with AI coming on the scene? At this University Roundtable, we explored this question with a particular interest in what this means for our understanding of the human person. Does our partnership with machines indeed lead to increased human flourishing and the cultivation of virtues? What does it mean for our basic human longings for meaning, permanence, truth, beauty, and community? Do we run the risk of silently yielding beauty to utility, understanding to efficiency, and an embodied life to a digital world?
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