The University of Minnesota's Humphrey School of Public Affairs presented the 2011 Distinguished Carlson Lecture featuring commentator Fareed Zakaria Friday, April 29, 2011 at Ted Mann Concert Hall on the West Bank campus.

Host of Fareed Zakaria GPS on CNN, editor-at-large at TIME, and a regular columnist for the Washington Post, Zakaria is widely respected for his ability to spot economic and political trends around the world. In naming him "one of the 21 most important people of the 21st century," Esquire magazine described him as "the most influential foreign policy advisor of his generation." The lecture was free and open to the public.