The host of an NPR program will be featured as a speaker in Missouri State University’s upcoming Public Affairs Conference.
Scott Tong, a co-host of “Here and Now” produced by NPR and WBUR, will speak at 12:30 p.m. on Sept. 26. His presentation includes questions from the audience.
Along with co-hosts Robin Young and Deepa Fernandes, Tong leads a live program that offers deep dives into breaking issues. WBUR is based out of Boston.
Tong is a veteran public radio journalist who spent 16 years at American Public Media’s Marketplace as Shanghai bureau chief and senior correspondent. He joined “Here and Now” as co-host in 2021.
He has also reported from more than a dozen countries, such as Venezuela, Burma, Ethiopia and Japan. Tong has covered issues that include international adoption practices in China, labor conditions in brick manufacturing plants and environmental controversies in the United States.
Other speakers in conference
Brooke Shields was announced in June as the Public Affairs Conference’s keynote speaker. Tong joins a lineup of plenary speakers that includes:
- Tucker Bryant, an innovation strategist and poet who became a lead product marketing manager at Google. He will lead a program called “The Self and the Connected Community.”
- Ray Suarez, host of NPR program “On Shifting Ground” and a correspondent and anchor for “The PBS NewsHour.” He will lead a program called “The New Secular America.”
- Wesley J. Watkins, a music professor and founder of the Jazz and Democracy Project. He will lead a program called “In the Key of E Pluribus Unum: Individual Freedom and the Greater Good on the Jazz Bandstand.”
The speakers appear under the theme of this year’s conference, “Between the One and the Many: Considering Community and Individualism.” Intended to analyze the tension between individuals and community groups, the conference will look at both sides of a recurring discussion in American culture.
Over the last few years, this debate between individual rights and communal responsibilities has been at the heart of disagreements about public health, responses to poverty and inequality, environmental issues and economic challenges.
The conference is scheduled for Sept. 23 to 26, and also includes film showings and streaming discussions.
