Business leaders, world-renowned historians, influential advocates for public health and the environment and three Pulitzer Prize-winners are set to visit UGA this fall as part of the Signature Lecture series.
“The Signature Lectures designation underscores the rich and varied array of speakers coming to campus each semester,” said Meg Amstutz, associate provost for academic programs. “Through this targeted collection of lectures,I hope faculty can more easily review lecture offerings early in the semester and encourage students to take advantage of these unique academic opportunities. These speakers are excited to talk to our students.”
Many of the lectures are supported by endowments, while others honor notable figures and milestones in the university’s history. Signature Lectures are designated at the beginning of each semester by the Office of Academic Programs. The fall 2015 Signature Lectures lineup includes:
• University Lecture-Bob Inglis, executive director of the Energy and Enterprise Initiative at George Mason University, will give the University Lecture Sept. 15 at 3:30 p.m. in the Chapel. A former South Carolina congressman, Inglis will discuss “The Climate Conscience of a Conservative.” Inglis also is a co-founder of the Energy and Enterprise Initiative, which promotes free-enterprise solutions to climate challenges.
• Constitution Day at UGA-Jack Rakove, the William Robertson Coe Professor of History and American Studies and a professor of political science and law at Stanford University, will discuss “What did the Constitution Originally Mean?: Two Interpretations” Sept. 17 at 2 p.m. in the Chapel. Rakove is the author and editor of several books related to the founding of America, including Original Meanings: Politics and Ideas in the Making of the Constitution, for which he won the Pulitzer Prize.
• Mason Public Leadership Lecture-Daniel P. Amos, chairman and CEO of Aflac, and A.D. “Pete” Correll, chairman emeritus of Georgia-Pacific, will deliver the lecture Sept. 18 at 10 a.m. in the auditorium of the Richard B. Russell Building Special Collections Libraries. Amos, who earned his bachelor’s degree in business administration from UGA in 1973, has served as CEO of Aflac since 1990 and chairman since 2001. Correll, who earned his bachelor’s degree in business administration from UGA in 1963, retired as CEO of Georgia-Pacific and has dedicated his life to public service.
• College of Public Health 10th Anniversary Lecture-Georges C. Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association, will discuss “Becoming the Healthiest Nation: A Public Health Approach” Sept. 24 at 5 p.m. in George Hall on the Health Sciences Campus. Benjamin is one of the nation’s most influential physician leaders and leads the American Public Health Association’s push to make the U.S. the healthiest nation in one generation.
• Delta Visiting Chair for Global Understanding Lecture-Alice Walker, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Color Purple, will deliver the lecture “Standing in Georgia, Writing to the World” Oct. 14 at 3:30 p.m. in the Chapel. A native of Eatonton, Walker is the author of seven novels. She is the first African-American woman to win the Pulitzer Prize.
• University Lecture-Deborah Lipstadt, the Dorot Professor of Modern Jewish History and Holocaust Studies at Emory University, will discuss “The Holocaust: An American Understanding 1945-2015” Oct. 22 at 3:30 p.m. in the Chapel. Lipstadt was appointed by Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama to successive terms on the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council. A BBC film adaptation of her 2006 book History on Trial: My Day in Court with a Holocaust Denier is in development.
• Peabody Smithgall Lecture-Henry Louis Gates Jr., the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and director of the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard University, will discuss “Genealogy, Genetics and Race” Oct. 26 at 3 p.m. at the Morton Theatre. A celebrated scholar and Peabody winner, Gates has created 13 documentary films and authored 16 books and scores of articles.
• Georgia Writers Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony-Taylor Branch, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author, and writer Janisse Ray will deliver the lecture “Reflections on a Writer’s Life” Nov. 9 at 10:30 a.m. in the auditorium of the special collections libraries. Branch is an author and historian best known for his award-winning trilogy America in the King Years. Ray is an environmental activist and poet known for Ecology of a Cracker Childhood. Writers Vereen Bell and Paul Hemphill will be honored posthumously.
