This academic year’s Kopan Endowment Lecture was held on May 15, 2026, at DePaul’s now-defunct Art Museum. The lecture, “Decolonial Cracks and Pedagogies of Praxis: Reflections on Re-Existence and the Relational Making of ‘Truth,’ ‘Reality,’ and Life-Worlds,” brought out an over-capacity audience to hear internationally renowned decolonial theorist, educator, and scholar Dr. Catherine E. Walsh speak. Walsh talked about how decolonial pedagogies rooted in re-existence pave the way toward finding truths, relationality and meaning in the face of historical erasure.

Faculty, students and those from the broader DePaul and Chicago academic community attended the standing-room only event.

The day before the lecture, Walsh participated in a student-centered conversation that gave graduate and undergraduates the chance to engage with Walsh and her work directly. They discussed theory and praxis, educational transformation, community knowledge, and decolonial forms of worldmaking.

The events were a collaboration between the College of Education and Department of Philosophy, Department of African and Black Diaspora Studies, Center for Black Diaspora Studies, Department of Latin American and Latino Studies, Department of International Studies, Department of Political Science, Department of Women and Gender Studies, Peace, Justice and Conflict Studies, Critical Race Studies, the DePaul Humanities Center, and Loyola University Chicago’s Center for Engaged Learning, Teaching, and Scholarship.

College of Education Professor Stephen Haymes helped coordinate the events and welcomed Walsh to DePaul in his role overseeing the Kopan Lecture series, a series that has meant much to him.

"On a personal note, I feel a particularly meaningful connection to the legacy of Dr. Andrew T. Kopan,” Professor Haymes wrote. "As an educational philosopher and senior faculty member, Dr. Kopan was part of the faculty interview process that brought me to DePaul University at the time of his retirement in 1994. I remain deeply grateful for his role in helping shape my own journey at DePaul and view my stewardship of the Kopan Endowed Lecture Series as both an honor and a continuation of the intellectual and educational commitments that he helped cultivate within the College of Education and DePaul University community.”