Past Speakers

• Charles Yu, author of Interior Chinatown
• Princess Sarah Culberson

2021-2022

• Peter Harvey
• W. Kamau Bell
• Chris Herren
• Clementine Wamariya, author of The Girl Who Smiled Beads
• Mary Marantz, author of Dirt

2019-2020

• Dr. Duncan Lorimer and Dr. Maura McLaughlin, professors of Physics
• Lilly Ledbetter, namesake of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009
• Tara Westover, author of Educated: A Memoir

2018-2019

• John V. Campo, MDHarold HolzerScott Hamilton KennedyRodney WilliamsNoah Feldman
• Panel Discussion
• Tony Caridi, Moderator
• Nancy Armour, sports columnist, USA TODAY
• Kevin Blackistone, sports columnist, The Washington Post
• Kimberley A. Martin, senior NFL reporter, Yahoo Sports
• Keith Reed, contributing editor, 100 Days in Appalachia
• Etan Thomas, writer, poet, activist, leader and mentor
• George Yancy
• The Future of Higher Education - WVU President's Panel Discussion
• Dr. Robert E. DiClerico, moderator
• Gene A. Budig, 1977-1980
• Diane L. Rinehard, 1985-1986
• Neil S. Bucklew, 1981-1986
• David C. Hardesty Jr. - 1995-2007
• C. Peter Magrath, 2008-2009
• James P. Clements, 2009-2013
• E. Gordon Gee, 1981-1985, 2014-present
• Frankie Tack, MS, AADC, CCS, NCC
• Nadine Strossen
• Wayne and Kelly Maines

2017-2018

• Opioid Crisis in America (Tanner Lecture)
• Petros Levounis, MD, MA, DFASAM
• Journalism on the Frontline (Reed College of Media)
• Mark Landler, The New York Times
• Tara McKelvey, BBC News
• Katherine Skiba, The Chicago Tribune
• Sarah Westwood, Washington Examiner
• Hoppy Kercheval - moderator
• The New Digital Era and the Implications for Education (College of Business and Economics)
• John Chambers, Executive Chairman, Cisco Systems
• Blue Zones: Secrets of a Long Life
• Dan Buettner, National Geographic Fellow and New York Times Best-Selling Author
• An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power
• Documentary featuring former Vice President Al Gore
• The Truth About Global Warming
• Bjorn Lomborg, PhD
• Panel Discussion: Understanding the Opioid Epidemic
• Clay B. Marsh, MD - moderator
• Michael R. Brumage, MD, MPH, FACP, FACPM
• John Deskins, PhD
• Eric Eyre
• Sally L. Hodder, MD
• Ali Rezai, MD
• Frankie Tack MS, AADC, CCS, NCC
• JD Vance, author of Hillbilly Elegy
• Elizabeth Catte, PhD, author of What You Are Getting Wrong About Appalachia
• Alec Ross
• Panel Discussion: Talking Black in America
• Renée Blake, PhD
• Crystal Goode
• Walt Wolfram
• Kirk Hazen, PhD - moderator

2016-2017

• The Dance of Feminism and the Human Rights Globally over the Past 25 Years
• Charlotte Bunch, Founding Director and Senior Scholar at the Center for Women’s Global Leadership, Rutgers University
• Seafood from Slaves: From Investigation to Pulitzer Prize (Reed College of Media)
• Margie Mason, Associated Press Writer
• Esther Htusan, Associated Press Writer
• Robin McDowell, Associated Press Writer
• Martha Mendoza, Associated Press Writer
• Emily Corio - moderator
• Sean McWilliams, PhD, West Virginia University Eberly College of Arts and Sciences
• American Injustice: Mercy, Humanity and Making a Difference
• Bryan Stevenson, author
• Truth and Consequences: Fake News, Filter Bubbles and Democracy
• Emily Corio - moderator
• E lizabeth Cohen, Assistant Professor of Communications Studies, WVU
• Zach Graves, Technology Policy Program Director, R Street Institute
• Paige Lavender, Senior Politics Editor, the Huffington Post
• David Mikkelson, Founder, Snopes.com
• Errin Haines Whack, Urban Affairs Reporter, the Associated Press
• West Virginia and the Industries of the Future
• Alec Ross, New York Times best-selling author & former Senior Advisor for Innovation at the U.S. Department of State

2015-2016

• Max Brooks, author of World War Z
• Diversity is a Way of Life (Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion)
• Justin Brown, MA, founder, Diversity Awareness Program
• America's New Manufacturing
• Eric A. Spiegel, President and CEO, Siemens Corporation, USA
• The Culture Wars of the 80's and 90's
• Michael Bérubé, Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of Literature and Director of the Institute for the Arts and Humanities, Pennsylvania State University
• Healthy Brain Aging: What You Can Do Now
• Charles F. Reynolds II, MD, UPMC Endowed Professor in Geriatric Psychiatry Director, Advanced Center for Interventions and Services Research in Late Life Depression Prevention and Hartford Center of Excellence in Geriatric Psychiatry Director, Aging Institute of UPMC Senior Services and the University of Pittsburgh
• Beyond the Hype and Headlines: The 2016 Elections Matter More Than You Think
• Michael Tomasky - moderator, Special Correspondent for the Daily Beast and Editor of Democracy: A Journal of Ideas
• Jamelle Bouis, Chief Political Correspondent, Slate
• Ezra Klein, Editor-in-Chief, Vox
• Paige Lavender, Senior Politics Editor, Huffington Post
• Mercedes Schlapp, Co-founder of Cove Strategies, TV political commentator and former White House spokesperson under President George W. Bush
• America's Opiate Epidemic
• Sam Quinones, journalist and author, in conversation with John Temple, Professor, West Virginia University Reed College of Media
• Fractured Spaces: Deconstructing Photo Narratives from Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan
• Lois Raimondo, The Shott Chair of Journalism, West Virginia University Reed College of Media

Spring 2015

• Marcel Drimer
• Holocaust Survivor
• Barbara Kellerman
• James McGregor, Burns Lecturer in Leadership Center for Public Leadership
• Toms River: A Story of Science and Salvation
• Dan Fagin, Environmental Journalist

Fall 2014

• November 2014
• Stuart Yudofsky, MD, Chairman of the department of psychiatry, Baylor College of Medicine and Houston Methodist Hospital
• Get the Picture: A Personal History of Photojournalism
• John G. Morris, Photo Editor, Life Magazine
• September 2014
• Chuck D, Music Artist

Spring 2014

• An Evening with Robert Edsel
• Robert Edsel, Author
• The BRAIN Initiative: Computers, Connectomes and the Emergence of Technology
• Paul Holcomb, Neuroscience PhD Student, Dr. George Spirou lab at West Virginia University
• Free Angela and All Political Prisoners
• Angela Davis, Distinguished Professor Emerita, University of California, Santa Cruz

Fall 2013

• Aspiring to Greatness: West Virginia University since WWII
• Ronald Lewis, West Virginia University Professor Emeritus, Department of History
• The End: Nuru's Vision for a World without Poverty
• Jake Harriman, Founder and CEO, Nuru International

Spring 2013

• Switch
• Scott W. Tinker, Director of the Bureau of Economic Geology a t the University of Texas at Austin and the co-producer the film “Switch”

Fall 2012

• Human Rights Campaign
• Candace Gingrich-Jones, Associate Director, Youth and Campus Outreach
• The End of Illness
• David B. Agus, MD, Pioneering Cancer Doctor, Biomedical Researcher; NY Times Best Selling Author
• Globalization and the Lessons of Leadership
• Jeffrey R. Immelt, Chairman and CEO, General Electric

Spring 2012

• DonorsChoose.org
• Charles Best, Educator and Founder, DonorsChoose.org
• The Revolution will be Tweeted Panel Discussion
• Andy Carvin, Senior Strategist, National Public Radio's Social Media Desk
• Issandr El Amrani, Cairo-Based Writer, Blogger and Consultant
• Jigar Mehta, Digital Entrepreneur, Video Journalist and Documentary Filmmaker of 18 Days in Egypt
• Nasser Weddady, Civil Rights Outreach Director, American Islamic Congress
• Jillian York, Director of International Freedom of Expression, Electronic Frontier Foundation
• An Evening with Dr. Robert DiClarico
• Robert DiClarico, PhD, Political Science Professor and Presidential Scholar, West Virginia University
• How to Win a Cosmic War
• Reza Aslan, Author and Entrepreneur
• The Dressmaker of Khair Khana
• Gayle Tzemach Lemmon, Author
• More Davids than Goliaths
• Harold Ford, Jr., Author; Former U.S. Congressman

Fall 2011

• A Private Conversation with Jerry West
• Jerry West, Retired NBA Player WVU Alumni
• The Emperor of all Maladies: A Biography of Cancer
• Siddhartha Mukherjee, MD, Author; Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction
• The Land Grant Faith and its Practice
• C. Peter Magrath, PhD, Interim President, State University of New York at Binghamton

Spring 2011

• Unscientific America: How Science Illiteracy Threatens our Future
• Sheril Kirshenbaum, Author; Research Scientist, the Webber Energy Group
• The Front-lines of History: 20 Years of Reporting from Around the World
• Sebastian Junger, Award Winning Journalist and Author 2011; Academy Award Nominee
• Tim Hetherington, Filmmaker and Photojournalist; 2011 Academy Award Nominee
• Come Hell or High Water: Hurricane Katrina and the Color of Disaster
• Michael Eric Dyson, Author
• Innovation
• John Kao, Author and Strategic Advisor
• Einstein's Unfinished Symphony
• Duncan Lorimer, Professor of Astronomy, West Virginia University
• Maura McLaughlin, Professor of Astronomy, West Virginia University

Fall 2010

• An Evening with James Gunn
• James Gunn, Author
• The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
• Rebecca Skloot, Author

Spring 2010

• The Questions
• Debate Team
• Samantha Godbey Moderator
• Want Jobs? Invest in our Universities
• Norman R. Augustine, Chair, Rising Above the Gathering Storm Committee; National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering and I nstitute of Medicine of the National Academies
• The World without Us
• Alan Weisman, Author
• The Peace Caravan Project
• Marla Mossman, Photographer and Artist
• An Evening with Gary Paul Nabhan
• Gary Paul Nabhan, PhD Writer
• Diversity: On TV, Behind the Scenes and in our Lives
• Soledad O'Brien, Acclaimed Special Investigations Correspondent and Host, CNN's In America Documentaries
• An Evening with Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr.
• Henry Louis Gates Jr. PhD, Alphonse Fletcher University Professor, Harvard University; Director, W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research
• Step Out on Nothing: An Evening with Byron Pitts
• Byron Pitts, Author; CBS News Chief National Correspondent and Contributing Correspondent, 60 Minutes

2009

• The Evolution of Mass Communication
• Walter Isaacson, Writer and Journalist
• The Search and Discovery of our Earliest Ancestors
• Meave Leakey, Paleoanthropologist
• Darwin, Complexity, Systems Biology and P4 Medicine
• Leroy Hood, President and Co-founder, ISB; SVP & CSO, Providence St. Joseph Health
• Politics, Policy and Reality: What's Really Going on in Washington
• Gwen Ifill, Moderator and Managing Editor, PBS's "Washington Week"; Co-Anchor and Managing Editor, "PBS NewsHour"
• Hip Hop’s Influence on Law and Culture
• Cornel West, PhD Professor of Philosophy and Christian Practice, Union Theological Seminary
• Free the Poor! The Evolution of Ideas toward Ending Poverty from the Bottom Up
• William Easterly, Professor of Economics, New York University; Co-director, NYU Development Research Institute