The Forum

President W.R. Davies was the prime mover in establishing The Forum within the first year of his administration, to bring to life his vision of the college as a cultural center. He transformed Eau Claire's after-dinner speakers club into a college-community partnership that selected an average of five speakers a year. The Forum is committed to the concept of non-discrimination as related to race, creed, sexual orientation, age and physical disability.

Tickets for one or all events are available through the University Service Center.
$8.00 | General Public + UWEC Faculty/Staff
$2.00 | UWEC Students & Children ages 17 and under

Visit the Service Center in Davies Center’s east lobby.
Call 715-836-INFO [4636] or 800-949-UWEC [8932].
PURCHASE ONLINE

Brian Baumgartner became a household name as 'Kevin Malone,' on NBC's Emmy-winning series The Office. After its 9-year run, Brian continues to make regular appearances on fan favorite TV shows, including Amazon’s Original Drama Hand of God, TNT’s Good Behavior and the Dreamworks Animation reboot of Mr. Peabody and Sherman. 

Baumgartner broke into the entertainment industry only three months after moving to Hollywood. Between his LA arrival and landing the role of ‘Kevin,’ Brian appeared on Jake in Progress, Arrested Development and Everwood. His film credits include License to Wed, Four Christmases, The Last Push & the portrayal of a conflicted priest in Into Temptation opposite Kristin Chenoweth and Jeremy Sisto. He worked on Paul Feig's Ghostbusters and Geezer, costarring with Billie Joe Armstrong, Judy Greer and Fred Armisen. In 2020, Baumgartner starred in My Boyfriend’s Meds alongside Jaime Camil and Sandra Echeverria, as well as Electric Jesus. 

Brian currently voices Walter on Netflix’s animated show Trash Truck. Baumgartner will be starring in Paramount’s Rumble, expected in 2021. In 2020, Baumgartner produced and hosted a Spotify-exclusive podcast, “An Oral History of the Office” in partnership with Propagate Content. He is currently the host and co-producer of “The Office Deep Dive” podcast in partnership with Propagate Content and iHeartMedia. Listeners will hear never-before-told stories from iconic cast members – such as Steve Carell, John Krasinski, Rainn Wilson, Jenna Fischer, Angela Kinsey, and writer, director & creator Greg Daniels. In just one year, Brian reached 20M downloads across the two podcasts. In July 2021, Baumgartner announced his new book about the NBC sitcom, Welcome to Dunder Mifflin: The Ultimate Oral History of 'The Office,' which is set for publication in October. 

Born in Atlanta, GA, Brian moved north to serve as the Artistic Director of Hidden Theatre in Minneapolis, where he received multiple awards for artistic and acting excellence. In addition, Baumgartner performed regionally at the Guthrie Theater, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Children's Theater Company and Theatre de la Jeune Lune, which were all special Tony Award recipients. 

Baumgartner launched a production company, 3 Bees Entertainment, which is responsible for NBC Sports Specials leading up to The American Century Championship. Brian does triple duty as Executive Producer, Creator and Host, pairing him with world famous athletes for lessons in physical, mental and emotional strength to help him compete more successfully in the aforementioned televised golf tournament. 3 Bees is also the creative machine behind a hit web series about professional turtle racing, in which Brian also starred alongside Jerome Bettis for CollegeHumor.com. 

Baumgartner won a Daytime Emmy Award in 2007 for Outstanding Broadband Comedy, is a two-time SAG Award Winner and a Webby Award Winner for “An Oral History of The Office”. 

Baumgartner currently resides in Southern California where he remains one of Hollywood’s top-ranked golfers.

Named one of TIME’s 100 most influential people of 2024, Connie Walker has spent over two decades shedding light on often overlooked Indigenous stories. A Pulitzer Prize and Peabody Award-winning investigative journalist, her work has exposed the crisis of violence in Indigenous communities and the devastating impacts of intergenerational trauma stemming from Indian Residential Schools. A powerful storyteller, Walker’s presentations help audiences better understand their role in reconciliation and provide valuable tips for meaningful inclusion in the workplace.

A member of the Okanese First Nation in Saskatchewan, Walker is the host of the acclaimed podcast Stolen from Gimlet Media and Spotify Studios. Its second season, “Stolen: Surviving St. Michael’s”, is considered one of the most comprehensive investigations into a single residential school. It exposed systemic abuse that permeated St. Michael’s Indian Residential School in Duck Lake, Saskatchewan for decades and preserved the testimonies of survivors through a modern-day oral history project.

In 2023, “Stolen: Surviving St. Michael’s” won a Pulitzer Prize and a Peabody Award, becoming the first podcast to win both awards in the same year. It also won an Edward R. Murrow Award, an Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award, a National Magazine Award from the American Society of Magazine Editors, and an honourable mention from the Dart Awards for Excellence in Coverage of Trauma. The series was also named one of the best podcasts of the year by The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Esquire, and Vulture and featured in The New York Times, Vogue, and Rolling Stone.

Prior to joining Gimlet Media in 2020, Walker spent nearly two decades as a CBC reporter and host. She created and led the public broadcaster’s Indigenous Unit in 2013 and was part of the team of reporters whose work exposed the crisis of missing or murdered Indigenous women. They were recognized as a finalist of the Michener Award and awarded the RTDNA’s Adrienne Clarkson Award. In 2016, Walker launched the award-winning podcast Missing & Murdered, which exposed audiences to the systemic issues at the root of violence facing Indigenous women and girls.

Walker is a sought-after keynote speaker on the power of storytelling to create empathy and understanding, the importance of meaningful representation, and trauma-informed practices. She has presented to diverse audiences including Seattle Arts & Lectures, Tribeca Film Festival, Swarthmore College, Vancouver Island University, Toronto-Dominion Bank, City of Toronto, TMX Group, and Fogler Rubinoff LLP.