Presentations
Dr. Walker is an award-winning instructor of First Amendment and human rights law at Rutgers University-Camden, where he serves as a Lecturer II, Honors College faculty fellow, and public humanities fellow. Listed below are invited talks he made on the topics of U.S. law, human rights, and higher education.
U.S. Law
Oct 2023 Education Law Symposium: Religious Freedom in Education and Beyond, University of Dayton School of Law, Dayton, OH.
Sept 2022 First Amendment Voice: Religious Freedom Symposium. National Constitution Center, Philadelphia, PA.
Sept 2022 Religion & Society event. Aspen Institute, Washington, DC.
June 2022 Legal Principles of Religious Freedom. Brigham Young University, Global Diplomacy and Journalism Program, New York, NY.
May 2022 Religious and Legal Literacy in Public Education. Social Studies Chat Network, Twitter Discussion Forum.
August 2021 Religious and Cultural Literacy. Panelist, America Indivisible, Webinar
June 2021 Keynote: Unveiling Freedom. The Dedication of an Official State Historical Marker, Hysong v. Gallitzin School District, the Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission and the Sisters of St. Joseph of Baden, Gallitzin, Pennsylvania.
April 2021 Education in the 21st Century: Evaluation, Engagement, and the COVID-19 Pandemic. Roundtable Chair, American Educational Research Association, Virtual Conference.
Nov. 2020 Protect not Promote: Walking the Fine Line of Religious Expression in Public Schools [Paper Session]. Education Law Association, Virtual Conference.
April 2020 No Aid to Religion Laws: The Origins and Legal Developments of Education Funding [Paper Session]. American Educational Research Association, San Francisco, CA, Virtual Conference.
April 2020 Pennsylvania’s 125-Year Ban on Teachers’ Religious Garb [Roundtable Session]. American Educational Research Association, San Francisco, CA, Virtual Conference.
April 2019 Religion and Postsecondary Education. Panel Chair, Religion and Education SIG, American Educational Research Association, Toronto, Canada
Nov. 2018 Public Understanding of Religion Committee, featuring The Oxford Handbook of Religion and American Education. Annual meeting, American Academy of Religion, Denver, CO.
Nov. 2018 Award presenter at Advancing America to Justice, Annual convention, Muslim Public Affairs Council, Long Beach, CA.
Oct. 2018 Guest lecturer on Bans on Teachers’ Religious Garb. University of California Santa Barbara, CA.
Oct. 2018 Oxford University Press reception, featuring The Oxford Handbook of Religion and American Education. Annual meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, Las Vegas, NV.
Mar. 2018 Religion and Political Contempt, keynote for annual symposium at University of Mary Washington, Fredericksburg, VA.
Nov. 2017 Religious Liberty, “Bridging the Divide: Religion, Race, Politics,” Muslim Public Affairs Council, Los Angeles, CA. Featured on C-SPAN.
Oct. 2017 Religious Liberty Continuing Legal Education Panel: Economic Impact of Religious Liberty. J. Reuben Clark Law Society, Washington, DC.
Sept. 2017 Panelist for the Michael Triplett Series Erased: Religion & News Media. National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association, Philadelphia, PA.
Aug. 2017 Keynote: A Nation of Religious Minorities, Virginia Theological Seminary, Alexandria, VA.
June 2017 Colonizing America, Constituting America, Reconstructing America, Diversifying America, Religious Liberty Boot Camp, Washington, DC.
June 2017 Religious Freedom: Still Protected? Panel Moderator, The Seminar, senior communications & public affairs executives, The Breakers, Palm Beach, FL.
June 2017 Religious Liberty & Military Chaplains, United States Coast Guard, Washington, D.C.
June 2017 Liberty: A Shield or Sword?, Secular Coalition, Washington, DC.
Mar. 2017 A Nation of Religious Minorities, Religious Freedom Center, Washington, DC.
Oct. 2016 Constitutional Protections for Religious Minorities. Muslim speakers training conference sponsored by the American Muslim Institution, Gaithersburg, MD.
Aug. 2016 Constitutional Approaches to Teaching about Religions in Public Schools, World Religions Summer Institute, Georgetown University’s Center for Contemporary Arab Studies, Washington, DC.
July 2016 Religious Literacy in a Plural Age, Harvard Divinity School, Cambridge, MA.
June 2016 Religious Liberty in American Education, Montgomery County Public Schools teacher training, Washington, DC.
April 2016 Frameworks for Teaching about Religion in Public Schools. A plenary talk at education conference sponsored by the Prospect High School, Chicago, IL.
April 2016 First Amendment Schools: Promoting Religious Literacy and Religious Liberty in American Public Schools. Roundtable presentation, American Education Research Association. Annual meeting, Washington, DC.
March 2016 Justice Scalia, Religious Freedom and the Future of the Supreme Court. Co-moderator of panel for the Religious Freedom Center, Washington, DC.
March 2016 Religious Freedom Seminar for the National Capital Semester for Seminarians, Wesley Theological School, Washington, DC.
Apr. 2015 Religion and the Founding of the American Republic, Church/State Tour, Bridging Voices conference, Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
May 2014 Religion, Secularism, Pluralism, and Democracy. Law and Society Association. Annual meeting, Minneapolis, MN.
May 2014 Rites v. Rights: Legal Exemptions for Ritual Circumcision. Law and Society Association. Annual meeting, Minneapolis, MN.
Apr. 2014 Legal Issues in Faith-Based Education. American Education Research Association. Annual meeting, Philadelphia, PA.
Nov. 2013 Theolegal Marriage, American Academy of Religion. Baltimore, MD.
Nov. 2013 Bans on Religious Garb. Poster presentation, Education Law Association. Annual meeting, Westminster, CO.
Oct. 2013 Teaching Legal Research & Analysis in Religious Studies, Illinois State University, Normal, IL.
Aug. 2013 God Told Me So: Exemptions for Ritual Circumcision? American Political Science Association, Annual meeting, Chicago, IL.
May 2013 Unveiling Freedom: Bans on Teachers’ Religious Garb. Law and Society Association, Annual meeting, Boston, MA.
April 2013 God v. Sebelius: How the Shield of Liberty Became a Sword. Annual Church/State Symposium, sponsored by the Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, hosted by the National Constitution Center, Philadelphia, PA.
March 2013 Experiments with the Moral Imagination: Religious Ethics without Dogma. American Academy of Religion, Mid-Atlantic Religion & Ethics Section. Regional meeting: Baltimore, MD.
Feb. 2013 Bible in Public Schools: 50 Years Later. Columbia Law School, NY, NY.
April 2012 Whose God Rules? University of Pennsylvania Law School, Philadelphia, PA.
Oct. 2012 Bible in Public Schools: 50 Years Later (2012) Harvard Divinity School, Cambridge, MA.
Oct. 2012 Whose God Rules? Is the United States a Secular Nation or a Theolegal Democracy? Harvard Law School, Cambridge, MA.
April 2011 Theolegal Democracy. Americans United Church/State Symposium, National Constitution Center, Philadelphia, PA.
April 2005 Poverty Truth Commission. Grant writer for national forum funded by Columbia University President and Provost’s Fund and the Teachers College President’s Grant for Diversity and Community Initiatives.
April 2003 Religious Education During Times of War. Grant writer and host of public forum funded by Columbia University President and Provost’s Fund, Teachers College President’s Grant for Diversity Initiatives, Society for Jewish Educators.
Human Rights
Nov. 2018 Educational Promises and Legal Parameters of Religious Literacy Pedagogies, paper presentation. Special interest group: Religion & Public Schools: International Perspectives Unit, American Academy of Religion, Denver, CO.
Oct. 2017 Religious Literacy & Religious Liberty as Security Strategies. Society of the Scientific Study of Religion, Washington, DC.
July 2017 Religious Liberty & Religious Literacy, Religious Freedom Annual Review, BYU Law, International Center for Law and Religion Studies, Provo, Utah.
July 2017 Encouraging Moderate Voices: Countering Violent Extremism Online, Seminar for the Delegation from India sponsored by the International Visitor Leadership Program of the U.S. State Department, Washington, DC.
Nov. 2016 Freedom of Religion or Belief: Promoting Peaceful Coexistence Through Human Rights. Panelist for a conference sponsored by the International Development Law Organization and the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Rome, Italy.
Sep. 2016 Religious Freedom and Legal Education. Speaker at meeting of international law and religion associations at the conference of the International Consortium for Law and Religion Studies, “Freedom of for from within Religion.” Oxford, UK.
Aug. 2016 Historical Views of Contemporary Religious Liberty Issues in the United States. Seminar for a delegation from the Middle East sponsored by the International Visitor Leadership Program of the U.S. State Department, Washington, DC.
Aug. 2016 Rights of Religious Minorities in the United States. Seminar for a delegation from Saudi Arabia sponsored by the International Visitor Leadership Program of the U.S. State Department, Washington, DC.
July 2016 Religion and Human Rights, seminar for religious liberty interns, sponsored by the 21st Century Wilberforce Initiative, Washington, DC.
April 2016 Principles of Religious Liberty. 14th Annual Religious Liberty Dinner. Sponsors: International Religious Liberty Association, North American Religious Liberty Association, Liberty Magazine, Seventh-day Adventist Church. Washington, DC.
July 2015 Religious Freedom in the United States. Seminar for delegation from Moldova sponsored by the International Visitor Leadership Program of the U.S. State Department. Washington, DC.
Feb. 2015 Religious Freedom and Foreign Policy Programme. Transatlantic dialogue Bridging Voices conference, British Council. London, United Kingdom.
Mar. 2014 How Can Rule of Law Strategies Promote and Protect the Universal Right to Freedom of Religion or Belief? Co-presented with Lyal S. Sunga at the United Nations Human Rights Council, Geneva, Switzerland.
Sept. 2013 Rites v. Rights: Beyond the Zero-Sum Game. “Promoting Children’s Rights in Europe” conference. Keele University, Staffordshire, UK.
Aug. 2013 Bans on Religious Garb. International Consortium for Law and Religion Studies of the University of Milan’s conference on “Religion, Democracy, and Equality.” Biannual meeting, Richmond, VA.
June 2013 Bans on Religious Garb in Public Schools. International Centre for Education and Democratic Citizenship, “Democratic Citizenship and Human Rights Education” at the University of London, UK.
April 2004 Remembering Rwanda. Coordinator of the international conference for the 10th Anniversary of the Rwanda genocide. Institute for the Study of Genocide and Union Theological Seminary, New York, NY.
Higher Education
April 2006 The National Tuition Endowment Act. Paper presentation, staff briefing for United States Senate, Washington, DC.
March 2006 Ask the Experts. Paper presentation, American Student Association of Community Colleges, Washington DC.
March 2006 Contemporary Student Issues and Policies. Lecture for Professor Glazer-Raymo’s course, Teachers College Columbia University, New York, NY.
Nov. 2005 The Rungless Ladder: Student Financial Aid Crisis. Columbia Univ., NY
Oct. 2005 America’s Tuition Crisis. Minnesota State College Student Assoc., Brainerd, MN.
Sept. 2005 Student Mobilization. Minnesota State College Student Assoc., Washington, DC.
April 2005 The Role of Students in University Governance. Panelist, Grievance Forum moderated by Chaplain Davis, Columbia University, New York, NY.
April 2005 Private Schools and Public Financial Aid. Seven Sisters Presidential Caucus, Barnard College, New York, NY.
March 2005 ROTC at Columbia University. Moderator at Town Hall Forum and presentation for the Columbia University Trustees, Columbia University, New York, NY.
Nov. 2004 Student Movements in Postsecondary Education. Guest lecturer for The American College Student, Teachers CollegeColumbia University, New York, NY.
April 2004 College and University Organization & Administration. Guest lecturer for Professor Hankin, Teachers College Columbia University, NY, NY.