The President's Lecture Series serves as a marketplace for ideas, featuring renowned speakers who share their knowledge, experience, opinions and accomplishments. Discussing timely topics, the series puts diversity first, offering an international lineup of authors and educators, business innovators and political figures.
The Series presents to the region a platform for equal exchange of dialogue and ideas. It began in 1991 with its first lecturer, James J. Kilpatrick, a controversial journalist in the 1950s against desegregation in Virginia's public schools. Kilpatrick spoke on campus in a traditional lecture format, including a question and answer session, which allowed for a source of lively dialogue and free speech, trademarks of the series. Today, the President's Lecture Series maintains this format and is free and open to the public.
This collection contains information about all of the lectures in the series. Some actual video of the PLS speakers who were taped with a digital video camera (2016-present) and those whose presentations were converted from raw video tape is available, and indicated with a "play" icon. The majority of pre-2016 PLS videos are available on DVD or VHS in the Special Collections & University Archives Department in Perry Library and will be digitally available in the future. Other lectures were not recorded.
Lectures from 2021
Scott Harrison: Founder and CEO of Charity: Water and New York Times Best-Selling Author 
, Scott Harrison
Lectures from 2020
Lectures from 2019
Travis Mills: Retired U.S. Army Staff Sergeant and Recalibrated Warrior, Travis Mills
Tayari Jones: New York Times Best-selling Author and Novelist , Tayari Jones
Bryan Stevenson: Lawyer, Social Justice Activist, Founder and Executive Director of the Equal Justice Initiative, Bryan Stevenson
Claudia Rankine: "An Evening with Claudia Rankine" , Claudia Rankine
Lectures from 2018
Imbolo Mbue: New York Times Bestselling Author and PEN/Faulkner Award Winner , Imbolo Mbue
Michael Lewis: Journalist and Bestselling Author, Michael Lewis
Tamron Hall: Award-Winning Journalist and Host of Deadline Crime , Tamron Hall
Charles Best: DonorsChoose.org. , Charles Best
Michelle Alexander: "US Criminal Justice and Racial Inequity" , Michelle Alexander
Lectures from 2017
Roz Chast: New Yorker Cartoonist and Best-Selling Author , Roz Chast
Adam Braun: Entrepreneur, Author and Philanthropist, Founder & CEO of Pencils of Promise , Adam Braun
Michele Norris: NPR Host and Special Correspondent , Michele Norris
Lectures from 2016
Walter V. Robinson: Pulitzer Prize Recipient Portrayed in the Oscar-winning Film "Spotlight" and Editor at Large at the Boston Globe , Walter V. Robinson
Douglas Brinkley , Douglas Brinkley
Ai-jen Poo: "Who Cares? Preparing for the Elder Boom in a Changing America", Ai-jen Poo
Alan Gross: Sentenced to Five Years in Cuban Prison, Alan Gross
Alicia Garza: Social Activist & Co-Creator #BlackLivesMatter , Alicia Garza
Lectures from 2015
Edwidge Danticat: MacArthur Fellow and Acclaimed Haitian-American Writer , Edwidge Danticat
Birth of an Answer (BOAA): Celebrating 100 Years of African American Creative Responses to Birth of a Nation, Birth of an Answer
Guy Kawasaki: "The Art of Enchantment", Guy Kawasaki
Lectures from 2014
Wes Moore: "The Thin Line Between Happiness and Tragedy", Wes Moore
Chef Jeff Henderson: "If You Can See It, You Can Be It", Jeff Henderson
Amy Cosper: "It's All About What You Do With What You've Got", Amy Cosper
Jose Vargas: "Define American", Jose Vargas
Christine Brennan: "Sports as a Mirror of Our 21st Century Society: Big Money, Big Personalities, Big Stories", Christine Brennan
Mark Moffett: "Adventures Among Ants", Mark Moffett
Robert Edsel: "Monuments Men for the Preservation of Art", Robert Edsel
Lectures from 2013
Sal A. Giunta: Medal of Honor Recipient and Author, "Living with Honor" , Sal Giunta
David W. Titley: "The Evolving Understanding of Climate Risk: The Challenge that Won't Go Away", David W. Titley
Charles Mann: "1493 -- Uncovering the New World Columbus Created", Charles Mann
Greg Gumbel: Emmy Award-Winning Sportscaster, CBS Sports, Greg Gumble
Joseph Nye, Jr.: Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor , Joseph Nye Jr.
Mark Plotkin: Ethnobotonist and Social Entrepreneur, Mark Plotkin
Lectures from 2012
Mark Emmert: "Are College Sports Broken?", Mark Emmert
Rebecca Costa: Sociobiologist, Biologist, Historian and Author of The Watchman's Rattle, Rebecca Costa
Dustin Lance Black: Academy-Award Winning Screenwriter, Director, Film and Television Producer, Dustin Lance Black
Jean-Michel Cousteau: Marine Explorer, Environmental Activist, Educator and Filmmaker, Jean-Michel Cousteau
Immaculee Ilibagiza: "Left to Tell: A Story of Peace, Hope and Forgiveness", Immaculee Ilibagiza
Lectures from 2011
Greg Mortensen: Humanitarian and Best-Selling Author of Three Cups of Tea, Greg Mortensen
Lectures from 2009
Mark Bowden: Correspondent, Journalist, Screenwriter, Teacher and Author of Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War, Mark Bowden
Jonathan Kozol: "In Praise of a Beautiful Profession: Educators Working in the Front Lines of the Public Schools", Jonathan Kozol
Richard Dreyfuss: A Conversation with Richard Dreyfuss, Richard Dreyfuss
Lectures from 2008
Frank DeFord: "Sports: The Hype and the Hoopla" , Frank DeFord
Kim Phuc: Icon of the Vietnam War, Kim Phuc
Betty Williams: "Creating Safe Havens for the World's Children", Betty Williams
Mia Farrow: "With Knowledge Comes Responsibility: The Darfur Crisis" , Mia Farrow
Lectures from 2007
Tim Flannery: "The Weather Makers: How Man is Changing the Climate and What It Means for Life on Earth", Tim Flannery
Reza Aslan: Iranian-American Writer, Professor of Creative Writing, Reza Aslan
Jaap Doek: "Reducing Global Violence: The Role of Protecting Children", Jaap Doek
Lectures from 2006
Jon Meacham: "Franklin and Winston: Leadership Lessons for Today", Jon Meacham
Elie Wiesel: "An Afternoon with Elie Wiesel", Elie Wiesel
Terry Waite: "Iraq, Guantanamo and Human Rights" , Terry Waite
Lectures from 2005
Louise Leakey: "Origins and Evolution: In Search of How We Became Human", Louise Leakey
Susan Landry: "Creating Family and School Environments that Support Cognitive Development of Young Children", Susan Landry
Garrison Keillor: "An Evening with Garrison Keillor", Garrison Keillor
Lectures from 2004
Shashi Tharoor: "From Midnight to Millennium: Democracy and Identity in Today's India", Shashi Tharoor
Richard Rodriguez: "Brown: The Last Discovery of America", Richard Rodriguez
Robert Evans: "Family Matters: How Schools Can Cope with The Crisis in Childrearing", Robert Evans
Harry Greene: "Darwin, Kant and Biodiversity" , Harry Greene
Rory Kennedy: "The Camera Doesn't Lie: Social Change Through Documentary Film Making", Rory Kennedy
Gail Buckley: "Black America at War: From George Washington to George Bush" , Gail Buckley
Coleman Barks and Jonathan Kramer: "Rumi's Work with Community", Coleman Barks and Jonathan Kramer
Lectures from 2003
Norma Field: "Japanese Women's Pursuit of Global Justice", Norma Field
Sarah Vowell: "A Partly Cloudy Patriot: An Evening with Sarah Vowell", Sarah Vowell
Jill Conway: "When Memory Speaks" , Jill Conway
Kerry Kennedy: "Speak Truth to Power", Kerry Kennedy
Randall L. Kennedy: "Nigger: The Strange Career of a Troublesome Word", Randall L. Kennedy
Lectures from 2002
Carol Etherington: "Childhood Interrupted by War and Disaster", Carol Etherington
Susan Sontag: "The World as India", Susan Sontag
Gordon Shaw: "The Music-Math Causal Connection", Gordon Shaw
Natalie Zemon Davis: "Braided Histories: Jews, Africans and Philosophies in 18th-Century Suriname" , Natalie Zemon Davis
Richard C. Holbrooke: "AIDS: The Humanitarian Crisis", Richard C. Holbrooke
Janet Reno: "The Legal Profession as Problem Solvers and Peacemakers", Janet Reno
Mae Jemison: "An Evening with Mae Jemison", Mae Jemison
Gregory Pence and Nigel M. Cameron: "Cloning Debate", Gregory Pence and Nigel M. Cameron
Lectures from 2001
Michael Bérubé: "Disability and Democracy", Michael Bérubé
Edward Albee: "The Playwright vs. The Theater", Edward Albee
Gen. Wesley Clark: "Waging Modern War", Wesley K. Clark
Capital Steps: "The Lighter Side of Politics", Capital Steps
Sarah Weddington: "Some Leaders are Born Women", Sarah Weddington
Jon Entine and Kenneth Shropshire: "Taboo: Why Black Athletes Dominate Sports and Why We're Afraid to Talk About It", Jon Entine and Kenneth L. Shropshire
Stephanie Gutmann: "The Kinder, Gentler Military: Can It Fight?", Stephanie Gutmann
Lectures from 2000
Dwight Duncan and Richard Mohr: "Who Should be Allowed to Marry: The Same Sex Debate", Dwight G. Duncan and Richard D. Mohr
Ernest Gaines: "Gaines on Gaines", Ernest J. Gaines
Óscar Arias Sánchez: Nobel Peace Prize Winner, Former President of Costa Rica: "The Struggle for Peace in the New Millennium", Óscar Arias Sánchez
David Horowitz: "The Art of Political War", David Horowitz
Naomi Wolf: "Ethical Leadership for the 21st Century", Naomi Wolf
Shay Banks-Young and Julia Jefferson Westerinen: "The Affairs of Race in America: A Conversation in Black & White", Shay Banks-Young and Julia Jefferson-Westerinen
Robert Zubrin: "The Case for Mars", Robert Zubrin
Lectures from 1999
Greta van Susteren: "Looking at the News Through the Eyes of the Law", Greta van Susteren
Dr. Patch Adams: "Passion and Persistence: Following Your Dream", Patch Adams
Barbara Ehrenreich: "Blood Rites: A New Evolutionary Perspective on Violence", Barbara Ehrenreich
John Lewis Gaddis: "The Post-Cold War World", John Lewis Gaddis
Dr. M. Joycelyn Elders: "Healthcare in the 21st Century", M. Joycelyn Elders
Nat Hentoff: "Are There Any Limits to Free Speech?", Nat Hentoff
Kati Marton: "Wallenberg: Missing Hero", Kati Marton
Lectures from 1998
Rev. Al Sharpton: "Social Justice for the 21st Century", Al Sharpton