Organized by the Institute for European Studies and the Germanic Studies department, the Scandinavian Lecture Series hosts distinguished speakers for public talks on topics related to Scandinavia. The lectures typically cross departmental and disciplinary lines, and are of interest to graduate and undergraduate students, as well as to faculty and community members. Recognizing that Scandinavia is an underrepresented and understudied area, the series aim to highlight it and encourage further engagement.

Previous speakers and topics include, among many:

• Professor Grete Brochmann from the University of Oslo, Norway (Governing Immigration in Advanced Welfare States – The Scandinavian Case)
• Professor Tor Einar Fagerland from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology – Trondheim, Norway (The Bombing of the Government Center in Oslo and the massacre at Utøya Island in Norwegian Memory, 2011-2014)
• Professor Christian Albrekt Larsen from Aalborg University, Denmark (Nationalism in Contemporary Nation States: Imagined Political and Cultural Community)
• Associate professor Tina Askanius from Malmö University, Sweden ("Imagining Sweden: “Sweden” as a lodestar and punching bag for the far-right movements in the US")
• Lori Talcott – an artist from the University of Washington-Seattle
• Patrick Steorn – fashion design researcher from the Center for Fashion Studies at Stockholm University, Sweden