The Northwest Indiana Sinai Forum line-up for this fall includes CBS Sunday Morning TV journalist David Pogue and astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson among the celebrated speakers for this year.
All the presentations are held at the 1,500-seat Dworkin Student Services Center at the PNW Westville campus on U.S. 421, with the exception of the final lecture event with deGrasse Tyson, which will be held at the Stardust Event Center at Blue Chip Casino, Hotel and Spa in Michigan City.
The Forum’s 72nd season launches at 4 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 14, with “master storyteller and British photographer” Platon presenting “The Power of Unity: Rekindling the Spirit of Optimism.
Operatic baritone Nathan Gunn and renowned pianist Julie Jordan Gunn are featured next at 4 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 5, with their “The Heart of the Matter: A Life Together in Music.”
The end of October welcomes Emmy-winning CBS News Correspondent Pogue, an author and tech expert, discussing “Artificial Intelligence: Ethics and Its Effects on the Healthcare Industry.”
National Security Correspondents and Fox News and NPR contributors Jennifer Griffin and Greg Myre are the co-presenters 4 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 16, speaking about “The Middle East and a Larger Look at Global Security and Diplomacy in a Changing World.”
The season finale presentation is deGrasse Tyson at 4 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 7, with his event titled “Adventures in Science Literacy.”
Tickets: Free for high school and college students; in-person entire series ticket ranges from $195 to $350, with the latter option including reserved seating section and reception with the featured speaker before the event.
For more information, call 855-608-4600 or visit www.pnw.edu/sinai-forum.
Over the past half-century, everyone from Eleanor Roosevelt, Oprah Winfrey, Gloria Steinem, Beverly Sills and Alan Dershowitz to Pearl Bailey, Ralph Nader, Walter Cronkite, Jane Pauley and Dr. Ruth Westheimer have been in the Sinai stage spotlight in Northwest Indiana.
In 2006, Purdue Northwest formed a partnership to assist with underwriting the Sinai Forum to continue the dream of Sylvia Bankoff, who founded the series with her husband Milton in 1953.
The Sinai Forum is a community-based, community-run nonprofit corporation that annually provides more than 1,000 yearly subscribers with the opportunity to hear gathered icons ranging from Nobel Peace Prize recipients, Pulitzer Prize winners and former heads of state to scientists, media celebrities and “movers and shakers” of the past half-century. The forum is designed to provide audiences with a unique opportunity to hear noted speakers and pose questions in a town-hall style format.
The 2025 Sinai season sponsors are the McMillan Family Foundation, Urschel Labs, David and Billie Bankoff, Health Foundation LaPorte, The Times Media Company, John W. Anderson Foundation and Blue Chip Casino, Hotel & Spa.
Nun numbers report
Liz Cloud, in her entertaining stage sister nun guise, performed at Theatre at the Center in Munster on July 20 in the hit comedy one-woman show “Late Nite Catechism” for a nearly sold-out crowd. The show is part of a series of religious comedies from Nuns4Fun Entertainment.
At the end of every Nuns4Fun performance, a collection is taken for the retirement needs of various orders of nuns, and the audience at this performance was very generous, donating $1,662.17. Nuns4Fun president Vicki Quade sent the check amount to Sister Danuta Karwacka, the convent superior at Albertine Home in Hammond, and it’s already been received. To date, almost $4 million has been donated to orders of nuns nationwide through this same audience generosity over the decades.
“Late Nite Catechism,” which was originally planned to be about the lives of the saints, as created by Quade and co-creator Maripat Donovan, has been raising money for retired nuns since the show’s inception.
“Late Nite Catechism” debuted on Memorial Day weekend in 1993 at Chicago’s Live Bait Theatre. After years of calling the now closed Royal George Theatre as the show’s third-floor home, current performances of “Late Nite Catechism” are enjoyed as a touring performance around the country.
For more information, visit https://nuns4fun.com/.
Philip Potempa is a journalist, published author and radio host on WJOB 1230 AM. He can be reached at philpotempa@gmail.com
