The Vara Summit Series

The Vara Summit Series

Experience becomes learning when it is designed to travel.

The Vara Summit Series gives faculty and learners access to experienced practitioners whose knowledge is rarely available through textbooks alone.

Universities can use the Summit Series to bring carefully selected live speakers, recorded interviews, professional perspectives, and real-world experience into an existing course.

Expert Voices. Real Perspectives. A More Capable Tomorrow. Curated conversations with leaders, practitioners, and scholars on the issues shaping our world — paired with resources, discussion, and assessments to turn insight into capability. A learner watches six speakers on a laptop video call. Below, four points: Expert voices, from government, industry, academia, and civil society. Curated learning: readings, videos, discussion prompts, and assessments. Real-world insights: connect theory to practice and build practical judgment. More capable graduates: greater depth, broader reach, expanded perspectives.

The Learning Package

More than a guest lecture.

Each Summit Series experience is supported by a designed learning package that may include:

  • A speaker biography
  • A description of the speaker’s organization, agency, profession, or field
  • Historical and professional context
  • Curated readings, documents, and videos
  • Questions to prepare learners for the session
  • A live conversation or recorded interview
  • Post-session discussion and reflection activities
  • Faculty guidance for integrating the experience into a course

For Universities and Educators

Bring the Summit Series to your course.

Tell Vara what your learners are studying and what perspective or experience would strengthen the course. We will explore an existing Summit Series experience or identify a practitioner whose knowledge fits the educational need.

Discuss a Summit Series Experience

For Practitioners

What to Share

  • What was your experience?
  • What did you learn?
  • Why should the next generation need to know or understand it?

Vara is built on the belief that extraordinary knowledge does not live only in textbooks, classrooms, or institutions. It lives in the experience of people who have made difficult decisions, solved real problems, led others, failed, adapted, and learned.

Security Notice

Do not submit classified information, Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI), or any proprietary, privileged, sensitive, or otherwise restricted material. Submit only information that you are authorized to share publicly.

If you already have a recording: an unlisted YouTube or Vimeo link, or a shared Drive file. A link is the most reliable way to send us a video.

Or upload directly (optional, under 64MB)

How would you like to contribute?