Speakers: Lyllye Reynolds-Parker, Civil Rights Activist and Educator; Vera Keller, Associate Professor of History, University of Oregon; and Joel Iboa, Oregon Just Transition Alliance
Recording Date: Wednesday, September 8, 2021, 1 PM, by ZOOM
Broadcast: September 10, 2021, Noon
Location: City Club of Eugene Facebook Page
Coordinator: Andrew Kalloch
In recent months, thought leaders across the political spectrum and across industry/academia have begun to discuss the what some call “New Normal” of post-pandemic America, from public health and the impact of technology to the nature of the workforce and beyond.
As Eugene and Lane County emerge from the first phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, City Club has a unique opportunity to localize this conversation and ask the big questions about what we want in our own future.
That’s why City Club’s theme for the 2021-2022 programming is what we call the “Next Normal” – a focus on how our city and region can reset our intentions and consider choices that lead to better outcomes for all Oregonians.
To that end, our season kickoff program is titled "The Next Normal: Life in Post-Pandemic Eugene." Our goal is to engage in a broad conversation about the vision for Eugene's future in a post-pandemic world.
Over the program year, we will follow up this forum with a series of additional, topic-specific forums, including next week’s forum "Flexible, Adaptable, Visible: The Future of Working from Home”, and deep dives into the future of public safety, education, the built environment, and more.
Lyllye Reynolds-Parker is a civil rights activist and educator. Born into one of the founding Black families of Eugene, she has been a leader in the city's movement for racial justice. She started college at 40, as a single parent, and stayed on after graduation to become a counselor at the University of Oregon’s Multicultural Center. In honor of Ms. Reynolds-Parker’s achievements, the UO opened the Lyllye Reynolds-Parker Black Cultural Center in 2019.
Vera Keller is an Associate Professor of History at the University of Oregon. Professor Keller’s research focuses on the emergence of experimental science in early modern Europe. She studies and writes about how our understanding of experimental knowledge evolved from being a form of thought that sought to purge human subjectivity and forge absolute certainty to being a quest that embraces doubt, epistemic risk-taking, and the pursuit of highly improbable but very (humanly) desirable knowledge goals. Professor Keller’s research has opened a window into how people have conceived of the future at various points in time, particularly moments of seemingly great change.
