NU Ideas Podcast
NU Ideas is a podcast about belonging, imagination, and transformation. Each episode invites you into timely conversations with thinkers, educators, and organizers working to shift culture on campus and in Chicago.
Learning is a lifelong practice. It invites us to reexamine what we think we know and stay curious about what we’ve yet to discover.
NU Ideas is hosted and edited by the Community Enrichment Education Team, designed to showcase timely conversations, community-rooted projects, and emerging ideas.
Through short episodes (20–30 minutes), the series will explore how learning can be a vehicle for cultural shift—amplifying voices both within Northwestern and across the broader Chicago community, from campus researchers to public artists, educators, organizers, and civic leaders.
What to Expect:
- Conversations that bridge disciplines and communities.
- Spotlights on initiatives that redistribute knowledge and cultivate connection.
- Stories that challenge, invite, and inspire.
Whether you’re tuning in from a classroom, a staff retreat, or a CTA ride—we hope NU Ideas becomes a space for reflection, inquiry, and shared discovery.
NU Ideas Episodes Season 1
Episode 1.1: Women’s Center 40th Anniversary: Space Time Portals
Women’s Center 40th Anniversary: Space Time Portals
Sarah Brown, director of the Women’s Center, reflects on the programs and staff that have made an impact on the Northwestern campus over the years. She discusses what feels most urgent in feminism today, what she hopes to find in the Women’s Center archives in 40 years, and reminds us that everyone and anyone can be a feminist.
Reflection Questions:
- What would be in your time capsule? What story would it tell?
- When you think of a time warp portal, what world do you hope it opens up to?
- What are some ways that we can show care to one another through mutual aid?
Episode 1.2: Steve Adams Curiosity Personal Archive
Steve Adams Curiosity Personal Archive
Curiosity is powerful. It is a force that drives us to understand the world more deeply. Steve Adams and the host of NU IDEAS sit down to talk about how curiosity can help us build a robust and nuanced personal archive. Saving materials from our lives gives us a particular look back on what was going on in the world.
Additional Resources
- Archives in Context Podcast, Season 5, Episode 6: Archives, Community, and Education at the Library of Congress with Danna Bell and Guha Shankar - During this conversation, Bell and Shankar discuss the intersection of archives, community, and education, specifically addressing how the country’s renewed focus on social justice impacts their work at the Library of Congress.
- Things To Do At Home: Organize Your Personal Archive - The Writers Guild Foundation Archivist, Hilary Swett shares some thoughts about how to be fortuitously productive.
- When you think about building your personal archive, how might you capture the current moment for future use?
- In a time where the validity of information is constantly questioned, how can curiosity serve as a tactic or tool for others?
Episode 1.3: Elliott Scholars Program, Part 1: Chatting with the Students
Elliott Scholars Program, Part 1: Chatting with the Students
The Global Engagement Studies Institute (GESI) is an extremely unique offering at Northwestern: Students undertake a summer internship in locations like Uganda and Costa Rica to join the efforts of local organizations to advance community-driven change. Last year, the Buffett Institute launched the Elliott Scholars Program to further build upon this work. Elliott Scholars take a two-quarter course sequence in international development before participating in GESI.
In this episode, Sarah Norman and Carter Sampson chat with NU IDE as co-host about the impact of the Elliott Scholars Program. From relationship building to developing a deeper knowledge of the development projects, this program has clearly broadened their experience as NU students and readied them to be active members of their wider communities.
Reflection Questions:
- How does the way community is defined shape how you think about your own community?
- Think about your own ideas around global service. How have these episodes added to or offered deeper reflection on your own views?
Episode 1.4: Elliott Scholars Program, Part 2: Talking with Patrick Eccles
Elliott Scholars Program, Part 1: Chatting with the Students
The Global Engagement Studies Institute (GESI) is an extremely unique offering at Northwestern: Students undertake a summer internship in locations like Uganda and Costa Rica to join the efforts of local organizations to advance community-driven change. Last year, the Buffett Institute launched the Elliott Scholars Program to further build upon this work. Elliott Scholars take a two-quarter course sequence in international development before participating in GESI.
Patrick Eccles, Senior Associate Director for Global Engagement Programs, who for the past 14 years has carefully maintained the GESI program’s emphasis on global social justice, building out pre-departure programs to prepare students to humbly learn from the communities they serve. The host of NU IDEAS got to chat with Eccles about the history of GESI and the impact of the Elliot Scholar program.
Reflection Questions:
- How does the way community is defined shape how you think about your own community?
- Think about your own ideas around global service. How have these episodes added to or offered deeper reflection on your own views?