The Great Issues Forum is one of the newest initiatives at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, and is presented by the Office of Public Programs. Funding for the initiative is provided by the Carnegie Corporation of New York, as well as the Winston Foundation, the Vital Projects Fund, and the Gellert Charitable Trust. Each year, the Forum will explore critical issues of our time through a single thematic lens. Last year the inaugural theme was Power and various categories of this theme were explored through public events and an online seminar.

This year the theme will be Religion. Several free public events, involving prominent civic and religious leaders, scientists and philosophers, will examine fundamental questions about the nature of religion and secularity. As one of society’s most powerful cultural phenomena the Great Issues Forum will look at the influence and future of religion, it will also contain a dedicated track of programs on Islam, a major world religion that is often misunderstood and inadequately examined in the U.S.

The Great Issues Forum is designed to replicate the mission of The Graduate Center of the City University of New York – to educate the children of all people, to pursue enlightenment, and to disseminate knowledge for the benefit of all society. By turning the spotlight for a year on an in-depth examination of an issue of great cultural and political consequence, the Great Issues Forum hopes to stimulate new scholarly lines of inquiry, inform students and the public at large, and encourage civic engagement in their local communities and around the world.

Conversations at the Forum

A centerpiece of the Great Issues Forum is its series of high-profile public events known as Conversations at the Forum, featuring prominent national and international civic leaders, artists, and intellectuals, who address various aspects of the theme in a spontaneous and direct dialogue with the public. These conversations are meant to encourage fresh thinking and open new lines of communication between scholars and experts in the field.

Many of these events are accessible at the video archive on the website, where the public may comment on events through discussion forums.