Office of Public Lectures @ UW

Click here for lecture transcript: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Jm-sL-Zp0_qkFNgK58akqvI1lyIZjLj7/view?usp=sharing As America's demographic ratios change, new challenges & opportunities for conservation, tech, and public health are evolving. In this talk, internationally renowned urban revitalization strategy consultant and award winning eco-entrepreneur Majora Carter explores the conn...

Click here for lecture transcript: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UvLb7rgOgTSnGmbusbPP8ZU4_0s0u8-i/view?usp=sharing Climate change is one of the most daunting challenges of our time. Americans have diverse and sometime opposing views about global warming, fundamentally shaping the political climate of climate change. In this lecture, Anthony Leiserowitz, Director of the Yale Program on Climate C...

Click here for lecture transcript: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kve1G9TeTfAVXjzXRMrAamE28ZBKbCak/view?usp=sharing While there is greater attention to issues of privilege surrounding student achievement, missing from the debate is how to make achievement more likely. In this talk, Pedro Noguera, Distinguished Professor of Education at the Graduate School of Education and Information Studies at...

Click here for lecture transcript: https://drive.google.com/file/d/11KJoJca7QWFkk43ptKJ_VOJ1rthvquAH/view?usp=sharing The world is awash in bullshit. Pandering politicians, winking advertisers, startup soothsayers, television “experts”, and even some scientists use the news media to promulgate half-truths, misrepresentations and sometimes outright lies. In this talk, UW professors Jevin West and C...

In this talk, Diane Ravitch, Founder and President of the Network for Public Education, shares her thoughts on public education, including why schools should not operate like businesses and how citizens can organize to defend public schools against privatization. This lecture was originally presented on April 24, 2018.

Click here for lecture transcript: https://drive.google.com/file/d/18GGXsx4LypdarVD4b1tNxHwIFCBA6aWN/view?usp=sharing In this talk, David Orr, Professor and Chair of the Environmental Studies Program at Oberlin College, focuses on the revolution in the design professions and its relation to larger issues of climate change, law, and the rights of future generations. This lecture was originally pres...

Click here for lecture transcript: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jHRSM1j2baTg0gUnIBlhS7P55qxkWx0Z/view?usp=sharing Temple Grandin did not talk until she was three-and-a-half years old. Now a prominent author, speaker and advocate for autism and animal behavior, she has been featured in radio, print and film. Today half the cattle in the United States are handled in facilities she designed. In t...

Click here for lecture transcript: https://drive.google.com/file/d/17B1qFZGVRrWuoe4Wtn6XSuYAytPZak61/view?usp=sharing In this talk, Robin DiAngelo will give an overview of the socialization that leads to white fragility and provide the perspectives needed for more constructive cross-racial interactions. This lecture was originally presented on October 26, 2016.  

Click here for lecture transcript: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Z6YpEAogBWehcWiDbMFg5yQnMCrKmTms/view?usp=sharing In this lecture, Jill Cornell Tarter, the Bernard M. Oliver Chair for SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) at the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California, speaks to the importance of investing in long-term endeavors in a world of short-sighted thinking and how lookin...

In 2015, Misty Copeland became the first African American female principal dancer in American Ballet Theatre’s 75-year history. In this talk, hear from this artist, author, entrepreneur and humanitarian about how she broke barriers and her work to inspire young people everywhere. This lecture was originally presented on March 24, 2017.

In this lecture, Seyla Benhabib, Eugene Meyer Professor of Political Science and Philosophy at Yale University, will give an overview of the controversial book, Eichmann in Jerusalem (1963). Although some of Arendt’s claims concerning Eichmann’s personality and activities, as well as her analysis of the Jewish Councils are historically inaccurate, Benhabib will argue that her book leaves us with s...

In discussing the Arctic, we often only hear about the melting ice and challenged wildlife; in this talk, Canadian Inuit human rights activist Sheila Wall-Cloutier tells the potent human story about communities and their journey through rapid social and environmental change towards long term sustainability. This lecture was originally presented on March 11, 2014.

The Artistic Director, Choreographer, and Co-Founder of Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company, in this lecture, Bill T. Jones will discuss the four-year creation process of the Analogy Trilogy; examine the hidden unities, poetry and the universal connectivity in creating art during this era of fractious political conversations; and consider the potential heroism found in hope and belief in the future....

Celebrated as one of our nation's leading public intellectuals by the Atlantic Monthly, as well as one of Utne Reader's 100 Visionaries Who Could Change Your Life, bell hooks (nee Gloria Watkins) is a charismatic speaker who is considered as one of the leading public intellectuals of her generation. hooks is known as a feminist thinker whose writings cover a broad range of topics on gend...

News correspondent and journalist Maria Hinojosa has spent decades reporting on immigration and the treatment of immigrants – both documented and undocumented – by law enforcement organizations. In this lecture, she will give powerful witness to the routine denial of due process to immigrants and its effect on our broader society. This lecture was originally presented on November 1, 2017.

Click here for lecture transcript: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1h0Em3f2HOl06sfMZazUrlxmxZPSKkLdy/view?usp=sharing A devoted activist and writer, Gloria Steinem is undeniably one of the most important voices of the modern feminist movement. The founder of Ms. Magazine , Steinem's name is synonymous with the advancement of women's social equality in America and throughout the world. Th...

Click here for lecture transcript: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PgxTuWPrqR536IcI_WNmkhvmHILiQ2RJ/view?usp=sharing An academic, attorney, and political activist, Lawrence Lessig has held faculty positions Stanford University, Harvard University, and the University of Chicago. In this talk, Lessig discusses the similarities between Google in 2008 and Microsoft in 1998. This lecture was originall...

Click here for lecture transcript: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wyn4oBv-XtbWgFgJYFvUCGrgjdWKNInt/view?usp=sharing Amy Tan is the author of several bestselling novels, including "The Joy Luck Club," which was adapted into a feature film. She is also the author of two children's books, "The Moon Lady" and "Sagwa, The Chinese Siamese Cat." She's currently w...

Click here for lecture transcript: https://drive.google.com/file/d/17XxmKEucnwS59CD885BiKZfobsRwvo1s/view?usp=sharing Noam Chomsky, Institute Professor, Department of Linguistics and Philosophy, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has written and lectured widely on linguistics, philosophy, intellectual history, contemporary issues, international affairs and U.S. foreign policy. This lecture was...

Many look to “the school” as the great equalizer, a meritocracy where equal opportunity is realized. For communities of color, this is often far from the truth. Throughout history, each time communities of color have made progress toward equal educational opportunity, a major societal pushback has caused the loss of gains that appeared won. In this talk, Joy Williamson-Lott looks to history to sho...

Click here for lecture transcript: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kjog2qyO6K8kuV0biMo-povsPFZiSC6d/view?usp=sharing Racism not only burdens people of color, but also benefits white Americans in every realm. In this lecture, Tim Wise, who is among the most prominent anti-racist writers and educators in the United States, shares how racial privilege impedes progressive social change for all — and...

How to Raise an Adult Click here for lecture transcript: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1asqn7EsowZoEvYZUnwPGMExJnbId5dCd/view?usp=sharing Julie Lythcott-Haims is the author of the New York Times best-selling book How to Raise an Adult: Break Free of the Overparenting Trap and Prepare Your Kid for Success (2015) and Real American: A Memoir (2017). She is deeply interested in what prevents people...

Data can be a powerful tool for fighting systemic racism and police violence. In this lecture, Sam Sinyangwe will present strategies for using data to support organizing campaigns focused on equity and justice in the United States. Sinyangwe is a policy analyst and data scientist who works with communities of color to fight systemic racism through cutting-edge policies and strategies. Sinyangwe ha...