Civic Martial Arts: Preparing to Lead in a Polarized America

Join us for a lecture from Simon Greer , a nationally recognized bridge builder and social entrepreneur with 30+ years on the front lines of America’s most polarized conflicts. A serial nonprofit founder who has launched seven successful organizations, he leads Cambridge Heath Ventures and co-created Courageous Conversations and Bridging the Gap, initiatives that help students, leaders, and communities navigate division. He has convened dialogues from college campuses to the Middle East to America’s prisons, earning a MidSouth Emmy Award for producing The North Carolina Listening Project. He taught at UNC Chapel Hill as an honorary scholar and is now a Senior Fellow at Harvard’s Kennedy School, where he co-instructs Arguing Israel and Palestine. Greer believes our future depends on our ability to talk to each other across our differences. Part of the Kennedy Center's fall 2026 lecture series, "Religion, Identity, and Public Life." Sponsored by the Kennedy Center for International Studies and the Richard L. Evans Chair of Religious Understanding.