Topics covered will include soccer’s role in national identity, German education reform and gender issues and Germany’s role in addressing the world refugee crises.

“We selected these topics because these are topics interesting to not just German students but college and high school students in general,” German professor Elizabeth Mittman said. 

Mittman said she and other event organizers want the event to be engaging for students. 

“It’s not that these people are going to come and give a 20 minute talk," Mittman said. "They are going to give a two or three minute introduction of their topic, and then they will spend the rest of the time answering questions from the audience."

The event is being sponsored by the German Embassy to both explore reunification's effect on German national identity and highlight Germany’s successes since reunification. 

“Germany has been a leader in taking in refugees from Syria and addressing Greece’s debt crisis," Mittman said. "Europe pivots on Germany socially and economically these days."

The German Program will be putting on events centered around German culture and history throughout the semester, with a special emphasis on German reunification.

Every Tuesday, the German Program will show a German film exploring pivotal moments in German history or important aspects of German culture. The films that will be screened are “difficult to find films, not just on Netflix or Youtube,” Mittman said.

“The topics covered in the panel discussion will be a prologue for the films shown,” Mittman said.

The panel event is on the third floor of the international center from 7:15 to 9 p.m., with a reception before the event, from 6:30 to 7 p.m. Both events are open to MSU students and non-students alike.