Athens, Ga. – Business leaders, world-renowned historians, influential advocates for public health and the environment and three Pulitzer Prize winners are set to visit the University of Georgia 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.
For more information about Signature Lectures at UGA, go to http://t.uga.edu/1AP.
The Fall 2015 Signature Lectures are listed below.
Bob Inglis, executive director of the Energy and Enterprise Initiative, George Mason University
“The Climate Conscience of a Conservative”
A University Lecture
Sept. 15, 3:30 p.m., Chapel
Inglis is a former South Carolina congressman and co-founder of the Energy and Enterprise Initiative, which promotes free-enterprise solutions to climate challenges.
Sponsored by the Division of Biological Sciences, College of Engineering, College of Public Health, Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, Georgia Initiative for Climate and Society, Odum School of Ecology and the School of Public and International Affairs
Jack Rakove, the William Robertson Coe Professor of History and American Studies and professor of political science and law, Stanford University
“What did the Constitution Originally Mean?: Two Interpretations”
Constitution Day at UGA
Sept. 17, 2 p.m., Chapel
Rakove is author and editor of several books related to the founding of America, including “Original Meanings: Politics and Ideas in the Making of the Constitution.”
Sponsored by the School of Public and International Affairs and the Law School
Daniel P. Amos, chairman and CEO, Aflac
A.D. “Pete” Correll, chairman emeritus, Georgia-Pacific
The Mason Public Leadership Lecture
Sept. 18, 10 a.m., Richard B. Russell Building Special Collections Libraries Auditorium
Amos, who earned his Bachelor of Business Administration degree from UGA in 1973, has served as CEO of Aflac since 1990 and chairman since 2001. Correll, who earned his Bachelor of Business Administration degree from UGA in 1963, retired as CEO of Georgia-Pacific and has dedicated his life to public service.
Sponsored by the Terry College of Business and supported by a contribution from Terry alumnus and lawyer Keith Mason
Georges C. Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association
“Becoming the Healthiest Nation: A Public Health Approach”
College of Public Health 10th Anniversary Lecture
Sept. 24, 5 p.m., George Hall, 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 America the healthiest nation in one generation.
Sponsored by the College of Public Health on the occasion of its 10th anniversary
Alice Walker, Pulitzer Prize-winning author
“Standing in Georgia, Writing to the World”
Delta Visiting Chair for Global Understanding Lecture
Oct. 14, 3:30 pm, UGA Chapel
A native of Eatonton, Walker is the author of seven novels, including “The Color Purple,” for which she became the first African-American woman to win the Pulitzer Prize.
Sponsored by the Willson Center for Humanities and Arts in partnership with the Institute for African American Studies
Deborah Lipstadt, Dorot Professor of Modern Jewish History and Holocaust Studies, Emory University
“The Holocaust: An American Understanding 1945-2015”
A University Lecture
Oct. 22, 3:30 p.m., Chapel
Lipstadt was appointed by Presidents Clinton and 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 currently in development.
Sponsored by the Office of the President and Office of the Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost
Henry Louis Gates Jr., Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and director of the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research, Harvard University
“Genealogy, Genetics and Race”
The 2015 Peabody-Smithgall Lecture
Oct. 26, 3 p.m., Morton Theatre, downtown Athens
Gates, a celebrated scholar and Peabody winner, has created 13 documentary films and authored 16 books and scores of articles.
Presented by the Peabody Awards and sponsored by the Morton Theatre Corporation, UGA Institute for African American Studies and the Willson Center for Humanities and Arts
Taylor Branch, Pulitzer Prize-winning American author and public speaker; and Janisse Ray, writer, naturalist and activist
“Reflections on a Writer’s Life”
Georgia Writers Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony
Nov. 9, 10:30 a.m., Russell Special Collections Building Auditorium
Branch is an American 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 at the induction ceremony.
Sponsored by the University of Georgia Libraries