Spike Carlsen — writer, editor, and woodworker — delivered Carleton convocation on Friday, February 27, from 10:50 to 11:50 a.m. in Skinner Chapel. His talk was titled, “Writing with Dirt Under your Fingernails… in a Well-Manicured AI World.” 

Carlsen has been writing about the world and how it works for the past 30 years. He was an editor with the home improvement division of Readers’ Digest for 15 years, where he wrote hundreds of articles and oversaw the books division. He’s written for The Wall Street Journal, Men’s Health, The Daily Beast, The Minnesota Star Tribune, Mother Earth News, and numerous other magazines. He’s the author of several books, including the award-winning A Splintered History of Wood (2008). Carlsen’s other long-form work includes A Walk Around the Block (2020), Building Unique and Useful Kid’s Furniture (2018), Cabin Lessons (2015), The Backyard Homestead Book of Building Projects (2014), Ridiculously Simple Furniture Projects (2011), and Woodworking FAQ: The Workshop Companion (2012). Carlson has also showcased his woodworking and storytelling expertise on NBC’s Today Show, Modern Marvels, HGTV, The CBS Early Show, and more. Prior to picking up a pen, he swung a hammer for 15 years and taught elementary school.

In his free time, Carlsen enjoys biking, playing guitar, woodworking, and working on refugee resettlement through Refugee Housing Minnesota, an organization he co-founded. He and his wife, Kat, live in Stillwater, Minnesota, in close proximity to their five kids and eight granddaughters.

Learn more about Carleton Convos at go.carleton.edu/convocations

Meteorologist Sven Sundgaard delivered Carleton’s convocation on Friday, February 20, from 10:50 to 11:50 a.m. in Skinner Chapel. His address, “Climate Change: A Global and Local Perspective,” was grounded in his personal expertise. 

Sundgaard’s passion for winter weather started when he began monitoring snowfall as an eighth-grade ski jumper, and has propelled him into a keystone of weather reporting in Minnesota. After years of doing the weather for KARE 11, Sundgaard started working as a meteorologist for Minnesota Public Radio, where he currently reports on weather across the state. Amongst a variety of Minnesota organizations, he provides weather and climate content for BringMeTheNews.com and serves as a scientific adviser to the Minneapolis Foundation. 

Sundgaard’s interest in the weather is anchored by his passion for conservation, climate change, and social justice. With this in mind, Sundgaard has traveled and led group trips through the Arctic, Antarctic, and Sub-Arctic regions numerous times. He has proudly been to all seven continents. Sundgaard’s dedication to environmental education — and polar bears in particular — led him to lecture multiple times on climate change’s impacts on polar bears at the Churchill Northern Studies Centre in Churchill Manitoba (on Hudson Bay). When he’s not busy with all of that, Sundgaard is a vlogger on Instagram and Facebook, as well as a licensed realtor in Minnesota, where he advocates for sustainable living options. 

Sundgaard earned his degree in meteorology from St. Cloud University in 2003. His research in thermodynamics won several undergraduate awards. 

Learn more about Carleton Convos at go.carleton.edu/convocations

The Honorable Alan Page delivered Carleton’s convocation on Friday, February 13, from 10:50 to 11:50 a.m. in Skinner Chapel. For his convocation, Page will be in conversation with Vice President for Student Life and Dean of Students Carolyn Livingston.

After serving as an attorney in the office of the Minnesota Attorney General, Page sought election to the Minnesota Supreme Court in 1992 and won, becoming the first African American on the court and one of the few associate justices ever to join the court initially through election rather than appointment. In 1998, Page was re-elected to the Minnesota Supreme Court, receiving the most votes for his position in state history. After serving consecutive elected terms, Page eventually retired at the mandatory age of 70 in 2015. In honor of his career, Page received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2018.

Page first gained notoriety in Minnesota through his football career. During his undergraduate studies at Notre Dame, Page led the school’s football program to the 1966 national championship, and in 1993, he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. The Minnesota Vikings drafted him in the first round in 1967, and he played a crucial role for the team. In 1971, he was named the NFL’s Most Valuable Player, making him only the second defensive player to be named MVP. He played in 218 consecutive games, earning All-Pro honors six times, and was voted to nine consecutive Pro Bowls. In 1988, he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and in 2019, he was chosen as a member of the NFL’s 100th Anniversary All-Time Team.

Not to be limited to only two impactful careers, Page and his wife, Diane, founded the Page Education Foundation, which assists Minnesota students of color in their pursuit of post-secondary education. To date, the foundation has supported over 8,500 students, awarding $17 million in grants.

In his honor, students at Alexander Ramsey Middle School in Minneapolis initiated a successful campaign to change the school’s name to Justice Page Middle School, which came to fruition in 2017. In 2022, the Justice Alan Page Elementary School was also named in his honor in Maplewood, Minnesota.

Page has written five children’s picture books with his daughter, Kamie Page, titled: Alan and His Perfectly Pointy Impossibly Perpendicular Pinky (2013), The Invisible You (2014), Grandpa Alan’s Sugar Shack (2017), Bee Love (Can Be Hard) (2020), and Baking Up Love (2024).

Learn more about Carleton Convos at go.carleton.edu/convocations

Steve Grove ’00 has spent his career at the intersection of politics, media, and tech. On Friday, February 6, Gove shared his experience in his convocation address, “Tech, Media, Government: The Power of Going Local to Make Change,” from 10:50 to 11:50 a.m. in Skinner Chapel. Grove has become a national voice on the power of local action to rebuild American institutions, and his talk will explore what he’s learned about strengthening technology, government, and media organizations from the inside.

Grove started his career in Silicon Valley as YouTube’s first head of news and politics, as well as the founding director of the Google News Lab, which he developed to help media companies and startups drive innovation in the news industry. Grove’s move back to his home state of Minnesota sparked a shift in his career from tech to government. He served as the commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development for Governor Tim Walz’s cabinet for four years. During his time with Walz, Grove worked to grow and protect Minnesota’s economy. He has also served as an adviser to the White House and Department of State on counterterrorism strategy.

Grove became the Star Tribune’s CEO and publisher in April 2023 and is “leading the transformation of the storied Minnesota institution toward a new vision — to become the leading model for local news in America.” Grove also recently published his book, How I Found Myself in the Midwest (2025), on his experiences moving home to Minnesota and the lessons he learned along the way about local politics and putting down roots.

Grove earned his bachelor’s degree from Claremont McKenna College (after transferring from Carleton), his master’s degree from Harvard University, and his high school diploma from Northfield High School.

Learn more about Carleton Convos at go.carleton.edu/convocations

Award-winning podcaster, writer, and political scientist Brian Klaas ’08 delivered Carleton’s weekly convocation on Friday, January 30, from 10:50 to 11:00 a.m. in Skinner Chapel. His address, “Fluke: How Chance, Luck, and Chaos Theory Explain Our World,” exemplifies his interdisciplinary expertise in the studies of democracy, authoritarianism, political violence, elections, and American politics.

Klaas has advised a variety of governments, U.S. political campaigns, NATO, the European Union, the International Crisis Group, the Carter Center, multi-billion dollar investors, international NGOs, and international politicians. The perspective Klaas brings to the study of politics is influenced by his other research interests, such as contingency, chaos theory, evolutionary biology, the philosophy of science and social science, and complex systems. Klaas also serves as associate researcher at the University of Oxford and a contributing writer for The Atlantic. He was recently named one of the 25 “Top Thinkers” globally by Prospect Magazine.

Klaas is also the author of many books. Most recently, he published his book Fluke: Chance, Chaos, and Why Everything We Do Matters in 2024. Fluke has gained acclaim through its deep exploration of how randomness serves a crucial role in the development of society today. Klaas’s other books include Corruptible: Who Gets Power and How It Changes Us (2021), How to Rig an Election (2018), The Attack on American Politics (2018), The Despot’s Apprentice: Donald Trump’s Attack on Democracy (2017), and The Despot’s Accomplice: How the West Is Aiding and Abetting the Decline of Democracy (2016). Klaas’s short-form work is also widely popular; besides his role at The Atlantic, Klaas writes The Garden of Forking Paths on Substack, which is read by 50,000 people in 175 countries, and created the award-winning Power Corrupts podcast, which has been downloaded over three million times. Klaas frequently appears on national television and radio outlets, including the BBC, MSNBC, CNN, Sky News, National Public Radio, Times Radio, LBC, and an array of other outlets. He was previously a weekly columnist for The Washington Post.

At Carleton, Klaas was an international relations and history double major who graduated summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa. He later received his DPhil in politics from the University of Oxford (New College) after completing an MPhil in comparative government from the University of Oxford (St. Antony’s). Originally from the Twin Cities, Klaas is now a dual U.S./UK citizen who lives just outside London.

Learn more about Carleton Convos at go.carleton.edu/convocations

Aaron Golub’s career as a motivational speaker has taken him from high schools to speaking for U.S. Bank — but before that, he was the first legally blind Division I football player to compete in the NCAA. His Carleton convocation address, “Achieving Goals Through Adversity,” took place on Friday, January 16 from 10:50 to 11:50 a.m. in Skinner Chapel.

Golub’s passion for public speaking began at the age of 17, when he was asked to appear on Good Morning America after committing to play football at Tulane University. This experience ignited a conviction that he had a message that would impact millions. Golub shares his knowledge of leadership, disability, and overcoming adversity, mixed with some good old-fashioned sports stories, captivating audiences around the world. He has appeared on Good Morning America and been featured in CBS, NBC, Sports Illustrated, The New York Times, Entrepreneur, NPR, and many others.

In a recent interview, Golub reflected on what his blindness has taught him: I say all the time how thankful and grateful I am that I was born legally blind. It’s the greatest thing that’s ever happened to me. Being legally blind taught me how to be disciplined, taught me how to be consistent, taught me how to work hard, and outwork the people around me.” 

Learn more about Carleton Convos at go.carleton.edu/convocations

Louie McGee is a law student in his final year at University of Illinois Chicago School of Law. He is a graduate of the University of Minnesota, Iron Man triathlon finisher, disability advocate, and blind. He delivered Carleton’s first convocation of 2026 on Friday, January 9, from 10:50 to 11:50 a.m. in Skinner Chapel. His address is titled, “Guiding Access to Change.”

Pursuing a life that breaks through the boundaries disabled people live with every day, McGee aims to bring this focus on disability advocacy and supporting vulnerable communities to his law practice in the coming year. As a guide to his able-bodied peers who have guided him, whether shouting directions on the way down the ski mountain or running alongside him for a race, he plans to steer a changing world towards a more inclusive future.

“I have a rare retinal eye disease called Stargardt that steals my central vision. Relying only on my peripheral vision, I have little useful eyesight. After being diagnosed at age 5, it has progressed, but I decided blindness would not be a limiting factor in my life. With great support, I have been able to do anything,” McGee writes on his website. “Growing up, my family and friends guided and helped me try all kinds of things, experiencing them alongside me. I learned I could still do most things even if I saw them differently. I have always been encouraged by people who wanted me to be the best I could be and it seldom occurred to me that something might be beyond my reach.”

Learn more about Carleton Convos at go.carleton.edu/convocations

Danielle Boyer is an Anishinaabe (enrolled Sault Tribe) educator, robotics inventor, activist, and visionary. She delivered Carleton’s final convocation of fall term on Friday, November 7, from 10:50 to 11:50 a.m. in Skinner Chapel. Boyer’s mission has centered around sharing robotics knowledge and language revitalization with Indigenous children, looking at how emerging technologies can be ethically used to drive Indigenous-led efforts for cultural preservation. Her address is titled, “From Bytes to Bright Futures: Robots Changing the World.”

An antiracist future is a decolonized future, and this means addressing our power dynamics. We talked about representation, that’s awesome, but it’s very hard to gain footing when it’s representation in someone else’s system and they have power there. We need to lead our own solutions for our own communities, and this looks like different things for all of us.”

—Danielle Boyer for the MIT Solve Antiracist and Indigenous Futures Summit

As an adolescent, Boyer’s interest in robotics was challenged by the reality that her family was unable to financially support her learning. This experience, paired with seeing few girls and Indigenous people participating in robotics, has fueled her groundbreaking initiatives to facilitate robotics learning. In 2019, Boyer founded The STEAM Connection, an Indigenous youth-run nonprofit that designs, manufactures, and gives away robots aimed at educating and empowering Indigenous youth. Recently, Boyer developed SkoBot, a wearable language revitalization robot for a widening variety of Indigenous languages, with software designed to teach endangered Indigenous languages. SkoBot is designed to supplement language-learning programs, as Boyer maintains the importance of interpersonal interaction in the learning of Indigenous languages. Made of recycled bioplastic, SkoBots are designed and created for Indigenous learning programs and communities, free of charge. Boyer’s work first gained traction through her other major project, Every Kid Gets a Robot, an initiative through which STEAM Connection manufactures robotic kits to distribute to youth for free, with the goal of teaching STEM skills to underserved and Indigenous communities. As of this year, STEAM Connection has reached over one million youth scholars with representative educational resources.

Boyer’s inspirational work is widely recognized; she is a National Geographic Young Explorer, Echoing Green Fellow, two-time MIT Solve Fellow, Washington Post Next Changemaker, and Teen Vogue Indigenous Youth Changemaker. She has spoken at the White House twice and addressed the UNESCO Headquarters on Indigenous languages. She was featured in a MIT Solve documentary that earned a Webby, Sundance Brand Storytelling Award, Tribeca X Award, and SXSW Feature.

Learn more about Carleton Convos at go.carleton.edu/convocations

Marc Schulz, associate director of the Harvard Study of Adult Development and Bryn Mawr psychology professor, delivered Carleton’s convocation on Friday, October 31, from 10:50 to 11:50 a.m. in Skinner Chapel. In his address, “The Good Life: Lessons for Living from the World’s Longest Study of Well-Being,” Schulz will share insights from his work with the Harvard Study of Adult Development, as discussed in his New York Times best-selling book, The Good Life: Lessons from the World’s Longest Scientific Study of Happiness.

Schulz has served as the associate director of the Harvard Study of Adult Development since 2014. The study, which began in 1938, now spans two generations and more than 700 families. With the central focus of the study being human flourishing, Schulz’s expertise on “the good life” is considerable. This is well-demonstrated in his acclaimed book, as well as his speaking career, which helps make accessible key insights from the psychological study — and posits that the key ingredients to happiness may be closer than we think.

Beyond his work with the Study, Schulz is a professor of psychology on the Sue Kardas PhD 1971 Professorship at Bryn Mawr College and serves as the director of the College’s data science program. Across his work, he focuses on human connection and the consequences of emotional stress in the context of development and life transitions across adulthood. He is the author of numerous academic publications and the co-editor of multiple books. His essays on human connection and well-being have appeared in popular press outlets such as The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, Big Think, and CNBC.

Although Schulz has described himself as a shy and somewhat introverted child, these qualities, paired with his lifelong curiosity, have played crucial balancing roles in his career path. In an episode of The Proof podcast, Schulz reflected on how he found his intellectual happy medium between in-person psychological analysis and more academic work with the Harvard Study of Adult Development. 

Schulz completed his BA in sociology at Amherst College, his PhD in clinical psychology at the University of California–Berkeley, and postdoctoral fellowships in clinical and health psychology at Harvard Medical School.

Learn more about Carleton Convos at go.carleton.edu/convocations

Brandon Blackwell’s skill in trivia quizzes has brought him around the world — next stop, Carleton College! Blackwell’s address, “Adventures in Quizzing, Apology of a Tryhard,” took place on Friday, October 24, from 10:50 to 11:50 a.m. in Skinner Chapel. An internationally renowned quizzer, Blackwell finished second in the Junior World Quizzing Championships in 2020, with the majority of his success coming from his group quiz work. Blackwell has more team quiz titles at the national level or higher in the 2020s than anybody else in the world. He now works as an adviser to the U.S. national quiz team and has served as a tactical coach to several top Jeopardy! champions.

Born and raised in Queens, New York City, Blackwell’s first quiz TV appearances were during his teen years, including a win on Million Second Quiz that earned him a third of $1 million. By the time he turned 20, Blackwell had already earned over $400,000 quizzing competitively. While quizzing competitively, Blackwell attended New York University, earning a bachelor’s degree in computer science while embracing interdisciplinary opportunities to expand his knowledge for quizzes. After graduating, Blackwell turned his quizzing attention to the United Kingdom.

At the time, Blackwell considered the UK to be “the epicenter” of high-level quizzing. Blackwell’s specific goal was to win University Challenge, a TV quiz show that many say “makes Jeopardy! look like a walk in the park.” After being accepted to Imperial College London for a master’s in computer science, he played a key role in developing the school’s quiz team, resulting in a championship win in the 2019–2020 quiz cycle.

More recently, Blackwell has appeared on The Chase and The Chase Australia, where he is known as “The Lightning Bolt.” Renowned for his title as “world’s fastest quizzer,” as well as his charisma, Blackwell’s role as the professional quizzer is to compete against a team of contestants to prevent them from winning a cash prize. Check out a YouTube clip of his work on The Chase Australia.

Learn more about Carleton Convos at go.carleton.edu/convocations