Lecture series returns to campus in person for the first time since the pandemic, with talks on a variety of topics designed to complement classroom instruction and engage students.

SAN MARCOS — During two days of lectures by experts from Palomar College and beyond, students and guests heard presentations on October 18-19 about the war in Ukraine, elections, the U.S. Supreme Court, Title IX law and more.

In years past, the Political Economy Days lecture series has been held semi-annually, but this month’s lectures were the first held in person since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020.

And, for the first time, all sessions were streamed online for those who could not attend.

“At Palomar, we have spent the last two and a half years adapting to new realities and making use of the latest technology to reach students in creative ways,” said Superintendent/President Dr. Star Rivera-Lacey. “Political Economy Days is a fantastic example of going above and beyond to support the learning of diverse and current concepts at Palomar College.”

Organizers said it was good to be back on campus after the hiatus.

“The last Political Economy program we had in person was exactly three years ago, in the fall of 2019, and during the pandemic we held two all-Zoom programs, in the spring of 2021 and spring of 2022,” said Peter Bowman, Prof. Peter Bowman, a Political Economy Days co-organizer.

Bowman said this semester’s live-streamed sessions will be made available to the public online in the weeks to come.

“These are topics of great importance to our world, and they were presented to our students in this engaging forum, so I’m very pleased with the contribution we’re making with Political Economy Days,” said Bowman.

“I’ve already had requests from faculty, as well as students, to release the recordings of all of our sessions,” he added, “and I think we’re going to see a lot more people engaging with this content as recorded sessions after the fact.”