This semester, The Forum is presenting Brian Baumgartner at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 13 in the Schofield Auditorium. Baumgartner is most known for his role as Kevin Malone in the hit NBC show, “The Office.”
Coordinator for Activities, Involvement and Leadership (AIL) Joann Martin said her role in The Forum is to help coordinate and guide the committee but is a non-voting member.
Martin said it was decided last year for Baumgartner to come, and even though Martin wasn’t on the committee, she did not think it was too hard to agree on him presenting.
“Baumgartner, Kevin from ‘The Office’ is uniting, I would say, across the generations,” Martin said. “I can’t imagine the discussion was too difficult around him as a speaker. He was right in our budget line.”
The UW-Eau Claire website titled the event: “An Evening with Brian Baumgartner: Everything the Office, Question-and-Answer and Conversations about the NBC Emmy-Winning Series.”
Fourth-year theatre, liberal arts and English creative writing student Lucy Jacobson said that as a fan of “The Office,” she cannot wait for the event, looking forward to hearing from someone who has a similar career she wants to go into.
Martin said students should expect the event to be like other guest presenters partnered with a faculty member, asking questions in a typical question-and-answer style for students at the end.
“It’s going to be a kind of fireside chat,” Martin said. “We’re going to have a faculty staff member up there on stage to co-facilitate with him. That faculty staff member … will come with prepared questions. Ideally, the person we’re talking with is a really, really big fan so that they know a lot about the show and the nuances of (Baumgartner’s) humor.”
Jacobson said “The Office” is one of her favorite shows because of many aspects.
“It has a great balance of heart and humor, and once it hits its stride, it has some of the best sitcom writing I’ve seen — and I say this as both a theatre and English major,” Jacobson said. “The whole cast has such great chemistry, and it’s truly just a fun show to watch.”
Jacobson said she was excited to learn that Baumgartner had worked as the artistic director of hidden theatre at the Guthrie in Minneapolis, Minnesota and was inspired and excited as someone who wants to work in theatre.
Martin said she encourages students to take advantage of The Forum, as she really loved the opportunity she had when looking back at events she attended as a student.
The next Forum event will be at 7:30 p.m. on March 5, 2026, at the Schofield Auditorium, with Pulitzer Prize and Peabody Award-winning investigative journalist Connie Walker.
Boggess can be reached at [email protected].
