Events

Join us as we hear from renowned lecturers and guest speakers, view creative works by filmmakers, and celebrate leaders in the fields of media, film and journalism. Our recurring events include the Estlow Center's Anvil of Freedom Lecture, the Margolin Distinguished Lecture, the Marsico Visiting Scholars series, the InShort Film Showcase, and the Wolzien Visiting Professor Lecture.

MFJS Building
Laura Frank

Annual Wolzien Lecture: Thursday, February 13, 2025

"Local Journalism, Higher Education, and the Future of Democracy"

The 2025 Wolzien Lecture, endowed by DU graduates Tom and Valerie Wolzien, occurred on Thursday, February 13. This year's lecture was delivered by Laura Frank, Visiting Professor in the Practice at the Department of Media, Film and Journalism Studies (MFJS) at the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (CAHSS). She is a Denver native, veteran journalist and Executive Director of the Colorado News Collaborative (COlab) This year’s lecture, "Local Journalism, Higher Education & the Future of Democracy," explored how colleges and their students can play a key role in addressing the challenges that are overwhelming local newsrooms and threatening democracy.

Read more about this year's lecturer.

"We have a window of opportunity at the local level, where neighbors can still talk to each another, and where 3 out of 4 people still trust their local news organization." 

- Laura Frank, Wolzien Visiting Professor

Margolin lecture

Morton L. Margolin Distinguished Lecture

Beginning in 2015, the Morton L. Margolin Distinguished Lecture has been given each year in honor of renowned Colorado business journalist Morton Margolin. During his distinguished 35-year career as a journalist with the Rocky Mountain News and the Colorado Business Magazine that he co-founded, Margolin received many awards, including a nomination for the Pulitzer Prize. His series of news stories exposing controversial U.S. reclamation projects in the Riverton, Wyo., area in 1952 won him that nomination.

Prior to the Morton L. Margolin Distinguished Lecture Series, the University of Denver School of Communication and the Denver College of Business presented the prestigious Morton Margolin Prize recognizing Distinguished Business Reporting in Colorado from 1980 until 2008. A group of Margolin's friends established the award following his death in 1978 to recognize his career as a business journalist for local publications, including the Rocky Mountain News and Colorado Business Magazine.