Carleton Convos

Dr. Alicia Prieto Langarica, Distinguished Professor in the Department of Mathematics & Statistics at Youngstown State University, delivered Carleton’s convocation address on Friday, October 10, from 10:50 to 11:50 a.m. in Skinner Chapel. Her address is titled, “Re-Indigenizing Our Teaching Practices.” Her expertise stems from her experience teaching mathematics and her unique teaching style, which focuses on mentorship and a holistic focus on the student.

After earning her BS in applied mathematics from the University of Texas–Dallas in 2008 and her PhD from the University of Texas–Arlington in 2012, Prieto Langarica has changed the lives of many of her students at Youngstown State through her unique and dedicated teaching. In a video interview with the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, she reflected that mentorship proved crucial to her success — something that she has passed on to her students. Prieto Langarica has never turned down a student who hopes to gain further research experience outside of class, often mentoring over a dozen students per semester. In particular, Prieto Langarica puts emphasis on mentoring students who are underrepresented in the mathematics community, such as Latine and Hispanic students. Her impact has not gone unrecognized; Prieto Langarica’s teaching was honored with the Henry L. Alder Award for Distinguished Teaching from the Mathematical Association of America in 2019, as well as the Transforming Post-Secondary Education in Mathematics Award in 2024.

Prieto Langarica’s research lies at the intersection of mathematics and biology, with applications in medical modeling, epidemiology, sleep regulation, and thermoregulation. She has also recently explored mathematics education, public policy, and data science applications in her research portfolio. Furthermore, her work with undergraduate students frequently centers around community engagement projects that center local public policy.

Prieto Langarica’s convocation address is sponsored by Carleton’s Elizabeth Nason Distinguished Visitors Fund. The fund works to bring prominent professional women to campus in order to expose students to women who are successful in their careers.

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

Chérif Keïta, William H. Laird Professor of French and the Liberal Arts at Carleton, delivered the annual A&I Convocation on Friday, September 26, from 10:50 to 11:50 a.m. in Skinner Chapel. For first-year students, the A&I Convocation is an opportunity to actively engage in the convo tradition at Carleton while incorporating the address into their Argument and Inquiry (A&I) seminars. Moreover, it is an opportunity for some of Carleton’s most senior and beloved professors to share their perspectives on liberal arts education and offer advice on the process of learning. As a celebrated language and literature professor at Carleton since 1985, Keïta has a unique perspective to share. His address, “Northfield and/in South Africa in the 19th century,” will focus on how his being “found and chosen” by a Northfield-based story led to his past 26 years of research and filmmaking in South Africa.

Keïta’s parents’ belief in his education resulted in Keïta attending a Catholic school in Bamako, Mali, near where he was born. Raised Muslim, Keïta credits his time at the Catholic school with widening the scope of his spiritualism and enriching his intellectual journey from a young age. While Keïta’s academic interest initially inspired a desire to study archaeology at the university level, the Malian government gave him an opportunity to travel to Brussels, Belgium, to study English and Russian translation instead. As his senior thesis, Keïta translated Paul Lewinson’s Race, Class, and Party: A History of Negro Suffrage and White Politics in the South, a book that played a role in Keïta’s intellectual journey to the United States.

In 1978, Keïta came to the U.S. to pursue his PhD in romance languages and literatures, with a minor in African history and politics and a certificate in global policy studies. Studying at the University of Georgia–Athens allowed him to experience the southern U.S. and sparked his discovery of literature written in French by Africans and West Indians subject to French colonial domination.

Many Septembers ago (40 Septembers, in fact), Keïta began his career at Carleton, with special interests including the novel and social change in Mali; oral tradition; and the relationship between music (traditional and modern), literature, and culture in Africa. He has since published multiple books and dozens of articles on Malian and African literature, music, and film, as well as on social and literary problems in contemporary Africa.

Keïta is also an award-winning filmmaker, whose works have been shown on television and at film festivals across multiple continents. His latest documentary film, Namballa Keita: A Soldier and His Village, tells the story of his late father, a nurse and veteran of the French colonial army, who never had formal education but whose commitment to public education gave him national prominence in a newly independent Mali.

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

The Carleton community gathered in the Chapel on Monday, September 15 at 3 p.m. for Opening Convocation, celebrating the start of a new academic year and recognizing students on the Dean’s List. Opening Convo is the first event in the convocation program and features the Bubble Brigade at the beginning and end, where Carleton seniors blow bubbles from the Chapel balcony over the faculty’s processional and recessional. Read more about the event on Carleton News. 

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

Author Marie Myung-Ok Lee delivered Carleton’s convocation address on Friday, May 16, from 10:50 to 11:50 a.m. in Skinner Chapel. Her address is titled, “Acceptance vs. Belonging and the Life You Want to Live.”

Lee’s novel Somebody’s Daughter (2005) was an O. Henry Award nominee and is celebrated as an important contribution to Korean American literature. She more recently published her second novel, The Evening Hero (2022), which The New York Times dubbed a “soulful, melodic, rhapsodic novel.” Beyond her writing for adults, Lee has written many beloved young adult (YA) novels under the name Marie G. Lee. Among these, her novel Finding My Voice (1992) is widely considered to be the first contemporary YA novel with an Asian American protagonist written by an Asian American.

Lee’s Korean identity has been thoroughly explored throughout her writing career. She was the first Fulbright Scholar to Korea for creative writing. She is also one of only fifty writers ever granted a visa to North Korea as a journalist since the Korean War. Lee’s journalism — mostly in the form of stories and essays — has been featured in The Atlantic, The New York Times, Slate, Salon, Guernica, and The Guardian, among others. Her work frequently engages with immigration, the effects of partition on Koreans and the Korean diaspora, and the hardship her mother endured to escape her war-torn homeland for a better life in the United States.

Lee earned her BA from Brown University, where she was a writer-in-residence before beginning her current teaching career at Columbia University. She has been a Yaddo and MacDowell Colony fellow, in addition to receiving the Best Book Award from the Friends of American Writers, a Rhode Island State Council on the Arts fiction fellowship, and a New York Foundation for the Arts fiction fellowship. Furthermore, she has served as a judge for the National Book Award and the PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award. She is also a founder of the Asian American Writers’ Workshop.

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

Scott Wopata, executive director of the local Community Action Center (CAC) and recipient of the City of Northfield’s 2024 Human Rights Award, delivered the Carleton convocation on Friday, May 9, from 10:50 to 11:30 a.m. in Skinner Chapel. This convocation — titled, “Can we all agree to address food insecurity?” — coincides with Carleton’s annual Empty Bowls event, a community fundraiser for the local food shelf, which is run by the CAC. 

In his more than twenty years living in Northfield, Wopata has worn many hats. His roles include community collaborator, economist, soccer coach, carpenter, youth pastor, trail runner (he is the fastest Minnesotan to run the Superior 100-mile trail race), and parent of four children. With this diverse range of experiences, Wopata now uses his skills at the CAC, a social justice organization serving more than 16,000 residents in Rice County that addresses needs ranging from food insecurity to accessing hygiene products.

As the CAC’s executive director, Wopata emphasizes building community systems through partnership and collaboration with the very individuals who access them. He oversees a variety of programs, including food shelves, emergency shelters, environmental justice efforts, net-zero energy construction, and economic development. The CAC has received several honors, including the 2024 Minnesota Climate Adaptation Award for Climate Justice Leadership.

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

Attorney Anna McGinn ’18 delivered this week’s convocation address at Carleton titled, “In Defense of the Innocent” on Friday, May 2, from 10:50 to 11:50 a.m. in Skinner Chapel. McGinn’s work as a staff attorney at the Great North Innocence Project (GNIP) includes screening, investigating, and litigating cases involving claims of actual innocence in Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota.

Since joining GNIP in 2022, McGinn has played a key role in five cases in which individuals secured their freedom after being wrongfully convicted. Collectively, those individuals spent 62 years in prison. McGinn originally joined GNIP as a Bank of America legal fellow, a prestigious honor supporting scholars dedicated to working in social justice. In addition to her legal work, McGinn leads innocence clinics at law schools in Minnesota and South Dakota, helping train the next generation of legal professionals committed to justice.

Founded in 2001, GNIP has dedicated itself to analyzing cases in which newly discovered evidence offers clear and convincing proof of actual innocence. To date, GNIP’s team of legal professionals has helped exonerate 13 individuals who collectively served 173 years in prison for crimes they did not commit.

Originally from Minnesota, McGinn graduated from Carleton in 2018 with a major in religion and minor in philosophy. She also competed on Carleton’s swim team. She went on to earn her JD from Notre Dame Law School.

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

Activist, writer, speaker, podcaster, and cultural access consultant Emily Ladau delivered Carleton’s convocation address — titled, “How to become an ally to the disability community” — on Friday, April 25, from 10:50 to 11:50 a.m. in Skinner Chapel. Due to systemic issues around the treatment of individuals with disabilities during travel, particularly with ensuring safe transportation of wheelchairs, Ladau’s convocation address will be livestreamed. There will still be a Q&A following the address, as well as free treats and drinks in the Chapel beforehand. 

Ladau is the author of Demystifying Disability (2021), which covers a broad variety of pertinent topics including disability history and identity, ensuring accessibility, recognizing ableism, and speaking respectfully. Her address will coincide with her book’s content, demonstrating her knack for candid instruction combined with her belief that storytelling is crucial to making the disability experience accessible to the world as well as creating a world that is accessible to the disability community.

Beginning her career at the age of 10, Ladau first became a spokesperson for disability rights through her role starring in multiple episodes of Sesame Street, providing education on living with a physical disability. Since then, she has been awarded the prestigious Henry Viscardi Achievement Award, which recognizes international leaders with disabilities (2022); the Frieda Zames Advocacy Award from the New York City Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities (2022); Disability Advocate of the Year from the Jewish Federations of North America and the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism (2022); and the Paul G. Hearne Emerging Leader Award from the American Association of People with Disabilities (2018). In 2023, she was also selected to receive the Progressive Women’s Voices IMPACT Award from the Women’s Media Center.

Beyond her book, Ladau is also the editor of Able News, a monthly publication of The Viscardi Center that amplifies the perspective of New York’s diverse, vibrant disability community and serves as a statewide resource. She also serves as the digital content manager for the Disability & Philanthropy Forum, an organization dedicated to the expansion of philanthropic commitment to disability inclusion. Her writing has been published in outlets including The New York Times, CNN, Vice, and HuffPost, while she has served as a source for media outlets including MSNBC, PBS NewsHour, NPR, and The Washington Post. Her speaking career has addressed audiences from the United Nations to the U.S. Department of Education to Microsoft and Comcast/NBCUniversal. Her speaking reaches further audiences through The Accessible Stall podcast, which she co-hosts. Central to all of Ladau’s work is harnessing the power of storytelling as a tool to engage people in learning about disability.

Ladau previously served as the editor of The Century Foundation’s Economic Justice project and was the founding editor-in-chief of the Rooted in Rights blog.

A Long Island local, Ladau earned her BA in English from Adelphi University in 2013, where she now is a member of the Board of Trustees. She was named one of Adelphi’s 10 Under 10 Young Alumni in 2017.

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

Award-winning author David Wright Faladé ’86 delivered the Carleton convocation address — titled, “My 4-color Bic and the Constitution” — on Friday, April 18 from 10:50 to 11:50 a.m. in Skinner Chapel.

Wright Faladé is the author of the novel Black Cloud Rising (2022) and most recently The New Internationals (2025), as well as the co-author of the young adult novel Away Running (2016) and the nonfiction book Fire on the Beach: Recovering the Lost Story of Richard Etheridge and the Pea Island Lifesavers (2000), which was a New Yorker notable selection and a St. Louis-Dispatch Best Book of 2001. Wright Faladé was also a recipient of the Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Award, a prestigious award recognizing Black writers for their achievements. 

He is a professor of English at the University of Illinois and the 2021–22 Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center Fellow at the New York Public Library. He has also written for The New Yorker, Village Voice, Southern Review, Newsday, and more.

Wright Faladé graduated from Carleton in 1986, completed nine months in Brazil as a Fulbright scholar, and later earned his MFA from the University of Massachusetts–Amherst.

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

Artist and puzzle maker Wyna Liu delivered the Carleton convocation on Friday, April 11 from 10:50 to 11:50 a.m. in Skinner Chapel. Her address is titled, “A Bit About Connections.” 

Liu is best known for her work as the writer of The New York Times’s iconic word game Connections, and often writes crosswords for The New Yorker. An avid puzzler and creator, Liu began constructing crossword puzzles in 2018 and published her first crossword in 2019 for the American Values Club Crossword, where she now serves as assistant editor. A year after her first publication, she became a games editor with The New York Times. In 2023, she was chosen by The New York Times to produce Connections for the newspaper’s games section. 

When Liu isn’t working on a puzzle to confuse and intrigue the masses, she enjoys her artistic work. She exercises her talents through jewelry-making and creating sculptural, yet wearable clothing in her living room. Liu has taken classes in neon-making and puppetry, and has started experimenting with making wax molds.

Liu earned her bachelor’s degree at Oberlin College and went on to earn her master’s degree from the Interactive Telecommunications Program at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.

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

Chance York delivered the Carleton convocation address on Friday, April 4 from 10:50 to 11:50 a.m. in Skinner Chapel. Among his many distinctions, York is a regional Academy Award-winning entertainer, co-founder of the program Peace in Practice, yoga instructor, rapper, student, and teacher. York has studied yoga for over 20 years, viewing it as an “art science,” which he studies in tandem with personal development. Through this line of work, York co-founded Peace In Practice, a nonprofit working to promote access and services to yoga, as well as wellness and mindfulness practices for the Black and brown communities of the Twin Cities area. 

When he’s not working in yoga, York has a prolific entertainment career. Beyond playing in two bands, York has had serious success in the Twin Cities arena, and has opened for Chance the Rapper, DRAM, Saba, Chester Watson, and more. Furthermore, York boasts a notable career as an entertainer and on-camera personality. He is the host of the PBS Twin Cities show Outside Chance, which was awarded a regional Academy Award. The series emphasizes a growth mindset and explores activities and communities outdoors.

A student at Brown University, York is a qualified Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) instructor and teaches at the University of Minnesota’s Bakken Center for Spirituality and Healing.

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