June 17, 1980 - Writer, photographer and artist Gordon Parks speaking at Our Creative Community conference at the Spring Hill Center in Wayzata, Minnesota. Parks address was titled “Universality in Art.” Subjects of speech included his time in Minnesota, race issues, the Civil Rights movement, and education.
June 28, 1980 - Dr. Frances Hill, professor of government at the University of Texas at Austin, speaking at the second annual Farm Women's Forum in Rochester, Minnesota. Hill’s address was about the changes in the roles and lives of farm women, based on her interviews with over one hundred Midwestern farm women. These changes include the demise of the family farm, and secondly, a change in women's personal rights.
July 15, 1980 - Mary Zimmeth Schomaker, author of the book "The Women's Guide to Re-entry Employment," speaking to North Dakota extension homemakers at North Dakota State University. Schomaker's book is a step-by-step guide for finding a job, with such advice as how to line up references, how to fill out job applications, and how to develop good interviewing skills.
July 15, 1980 - MPR’s Tom Meersman reports on English as a Second Language (ESL) school programs in the Twin Cities. Teachers work with refugee students from varied background languages, including Hmong, Cambodian, Thai, Laotian, and Vietnamese.
August 16, 1980 - Marvin Mitchelson, a California divorce attorney, speaking at main branch of the Minneapolis Public Library as part of the Minneapolis Public Library's series on justice. Address was titled "Alimony/Palimony: How to Heal a Broken Heart". In speech, Mitchelson criticizes a Minnesota law passed last session dealing with living-together relationships outside of marriage. He accuses the bill's author, Senator Jack Davies, of being a chauvinist. After speech, Mitchelson answers audience questions. Mitchelson who, in the Marvin vs. Marvin case, established that, in a "living together relationship", each member of that couple has definite rights to property. That, even if there is no written agreement between the two parties. The settlements in such cases have come to be called palimony.
August 23, 1980 - Dr. Ack speaking at the annual luncheon of the Mental Health Association of Minnesota held at St. Thomas College in Saint Paul. Ack, a champion of children's rights, addressed several child related issues in his talk, including child abuse, and what he believes are the negative effects of day care.
August 27, 1980 - Stewart Udall, former U.S. congressman and founder of an environmental consulting firm called Overview, speaking at a symposium on the future held at Mankato State University. Udall’s address was on ecology and energy across the country, as well as practicing law in Washington, D.C. Udall served U.S. Interior Secretary under Presidents Kennedy and Johnson.
October 27, 1980 - Carole Simpson, NBC News correspondent, speaking at the Freedom Fund banquet of the Duluth Branch NAACP at the College of St. Scholastica in Duluth. Simpson shares personal insight into the career of a successful Black American. Simpson's Capitol Hill assignments have included the environment, education, welfare, women's rights, transportation, housing and child care - what she describes as "a real potpourri of people issues".
November 1, 1980 - John W. Gardner, former Health, Education and Welfare (HEW) secretary and Common Cause founder speaking about American politics. Gardner shares six key leadership topics.
November 29, 1980 - Calvin Bradford, Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs professor, speaks on the neighborhood movement, from its definition to the struggle between national and local control.