WWU’s 2026 Munro Seminar features Yale University historian on the American Revolution
Western Washington University’s annual Ralph Munro Seminar for Civic Education Oct. 15 and 16 will highlight the theme of “America 250: Lessons and Legacies of the American Revolution,” honoring the semiquincentennial of the American Revolution and exploring its legacy in our current political life.
Each year the seminar draws elected officials, nonprofit leaders, civil servants, and educators to Western’s campus to discuss pressing public policy challenges in an open forum that is free and open to the public.
All events will take place in the Viking Union Multipurpose Room, and each session will provide time for questions from the audience. Find out more here.
“On the country’s 250th anniversary, we bring together scholars and public leaders to examine the legacies of the Revolution with nuance and candor, looking at the major players in politics and at those who seek to make change on the ground,” said Munro Institute Director Kate Destler. “Whether you are a history buff, a politics junkie or simply someone who wants to strengthen our local community, you will find something that speaks to you.”
The keynote address will be “Taking a Stand: The Force of Revolution,” by Joanne Freeman, Alan Boles Professor of History and American Studies at Yale University and a leading scholar of revolutionary and early national American history and political culture.
Freeman’s talk Thursday, Oct. 15, at 5 p.m. will explore how, in times of crisis like the American Revolution, elite and ordinary people mobilize to protect what matters most to them, and how collectively they can make a difference. Deciding to take a stand was not an easy decision then, Freeman says, any more than it is today.
On Friday, Oct. 16 the Institute will hold two panels from 1 to 4:30 p.m. The first will be “Preventing Unchecked Power: Legislatures and Liberty from the Founding to Today,” with former U.S. Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, Associate Professor of Political Science Jennifer Nicoll Victor of George Mason University, and Associate Professor Craig Yirush of University of California, Los Angeles.
Next at 3 p.m. will be the panel, “Subjects to Citizens: Civic Action and Social Change,” with Assistant Professor of Education Policy Abigail Dym of Bowdoin College, Professor of Political Science Vicki Hsueh of WWU and Associate Professor Emeritus of History Reeve Huston of Duke University. This panel will examine how citizens across American history organized for social change and lessons for sustaining civic engagement today.
Click here to learn more about the Munro Seminar for Civic Education and register for this year’s event.
About the Institute
The Ralph Munro Institute for Civic Education offers students, teachers and community members an opportunity to work with professors, activists and political leaders to learn how local, state and national politics develop. The Institute was named in honor of Ralph Munro, a WWU alumnus and trustee. Munro was elected Washington’s Secretary of State in 1980 and continued in that position until his retirement in 2001.
The 2026 Munro Seminar is co-sponsored by the League of Women Voters supported by the Political Science Department, College of Humanities and Social Science, History Department, Honors College, Woodring College of Education, Office of the University President, Bellingham Public Schools Foundation, Pickford Film Center, and The Foundation for WWU & Alumni.
Please contact MunroSeminar@wwu.edu with questions or for additional information.