Former education reporter walks into a bar – and Profs & Pints is born

Note: This article was originally written in Aug 2023 as a graduate school assignment.

Before he had even attended his sendoff party after being laid-off from his reporting job in 2017, Michigan-native Peter Schmidt walked into the Bier Baron Tavern with the seed of an idea: what if he combined the benefits of an accessible education with the fun of a night out at the bar with friends?

Profs and Pints is a DC-based lecture series in which university faculty members from the region are hosted at bars, cafes, and other recreational spaces to put on university style lectures on a variety of topics. These have included "Folkloric Felines," "Women and the French Revolution," "Crash Course on the Electoral College," and "The Search for Alien Life."

Since its inception in 2017, the lecture series has expanded to nine other cities including Berkeley, California, Nashville, Tennessee, and Richmond, Virginia.

"I firmly believe that minds are malleable," Schmidt said. "We can become better students and better thinkers with work."

On his arrival to D.C. from Michigan, Schmidt found himself craving community in the fast-paced, oftentimes competitive social scene of Washington DC. He wanted to experience a friendly learning atmosphere free of pretension.

As an education reporter, he was dismayed to see the opportunities being denied to students facing poverty, universities with dwindling public support, and educators lacking in resources.

"The system is a mess," he said.

Of the many lectures Schmidt has organized, one in particular stood out: a lecture titled "Consciousness Beyond Death?" by Dr. J. Kim Penberthy, a researcher and professor at the University of Virginia.

In the lecture, the term "terminal lucidity" was discussed -- an unexpected mental clarity just before death in individuals with neurological disorders. Schmidt himself had witnessed his father experience this before passing from Alzheimer's.

"[The lecture] solved a mystery for me personally," he said, adding that his father's illness made him "conscious of the fact that some of our brains have expiration dates” and gave him a new appreciation for the human brain's ability to learn.

When asked about what lies ahead for Profs & Pints, Schmidt stated that he looked forward to new opportunities as the city's social scene returned to more normalcy since 2020. He envisions a future in which Profs and Pints will be in most major cities and college towns, and plans to hire contractors, seek investors, and work towards a more "productive and efficient" business model.

“I’m just forging ahead and hoping for the best," Schmidt said.