The Great Decisions lecture series is a joint venture between The College of Wooster and the local Wayne County community. The purpose of the series is to bring experts on foreign policy and international affairs. Our goal is to contribute to the ongoing education of Wooster students and the broader community. We strive to engage and inform so that we are all better prepared as democratic citizens.

The Geopolitics of the Energy Transition

Dan Scholten is a visiting assistant professor specializing in science, technology, and environmental policy at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota. He is a research associate at Clingendael Institute and a guest lecturer at the University of Stavanger, Norway. Scholten has a Bachelor and Master of Political Science from Radboud University, Nijmegen, an Executive Master of International and European Relations from the University of Amsterdam, and a PhD from Delft University of Technology. He specializes in geopolitics surrounding the energy transition, and aims to contribute to a smooth transition to renewable energy.

Thursday, April 10, 2025, at 7:30p.m., Gault Recital Hall, Scheide Music Center, 525 E. University St., Wooster, Ohio

Film and Q&A with Director: Powerlands

Ivey Camille Manybeads-Tso is the award-winning filmmaker, producer, script-writer, actor. She is the director of Powerlands, which follows a young Navajo filmmaker as she investigates the displacement of Indigenous communities and environmental devastation caused by chemical companies exploiting the land. She studied film at Idyllwild Arts Academy, and is best known for her work on the award-winning short film, In the Footsteps of Yellow Woman.

Thursday, February 20, 2025, at 7:30p.m., Gault Recital Hall, Scheide Music Center, 525 E. University St., Wooster, Ohio

Why Should Christians Care About an Energy Transition?

Jessica Moerman is a climate and environmental scientist with a PhD in Earth and Atmospheric Sciences from the Georgia Institute of Technology. She currently serves as the President and CEO of the Evangelical Environmental Network and is on the Board of the National Association of Evangelicals. In the past, she has held research positions at Johns Hopkins University, the University of Michigan, and the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History and acted as a AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow at the U.S. Department of Energy. Her work surrounds issues related to climate change, pollution, children’s health, the clean energy transition, environmental stewardship, and the intersection of science an faith. Moerman is the co-founding Pastor at her church alongside her husband Chris Moerman.

Tuesday, March 4, 2025, at 7:30p.m., Gault Recital Hall, Scheide Music Center, 525 E. University St., Wooster, Ohio

Global Energy and the Case for Climate Optimism

Chris Turner is a Bestselling journalist and author from Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. He has received an honours Bachelor of Arts in history from Queen’s University, as well as a degree in journalism from Ryerson Polytechnic University in Toronto. Turner’s work has appeared in nearly a dozen publications, including The New Yorker and Time. He is the author of several books, including How to Be a Climate Optimist: Blueprints for a Better World, in which he condenses the first 25 years of the global energy transition into “bite-sized chunks of optimistic reflection and reportage”.

Tuesday, March 11, 2025, at 7:30p.m., Gault Recital Hall, Scheide Music Center, 525 E. University St., Wooster, Ohio