Pierce Past Lectures

2023: Ross Gay - An Evening with Ross Gay
2023: Rita Moreno - An Evening with Rita Moreno
2022: Melissa Harris-Perry - "What Just Happened? And What Will Happen Next? Examining American Democracy in an Uncertain Moment"
2022: Tayari Jones - We Are All Witnesses To History: Socially Engaged Living as an Inspiration to Writers
2021: Viet Thanh Nguyen - Refugees, Language, and the Meaning of "America"
2021: Masha Gessen - Surviving Autocracy: Reckoning and Recovery
2020: Colson Whitehead - An Evening with Colson Whitehead, Jr.
2020: H.R. McMaster - An Evening with Lt. General H.R. McMaster
2019: The Hon. Jed S. Rakoff - "Big Problems With Our Criminal Justice System—and How To Fix Them"
2019: Nikki Giovanni - "A conversation with Nikki Giovanni"
2018: Valerie Jarrett - "A conversation with Valerie Jarrett"
2018: Robert Gates - "A conversation with Dr. Robert Gates"
2017: N. Scott Momaday - "The Crisis of Identity Facing Native Americans and Indigenous Peoples"
2017: Roz Chast - "An Evening with Roz Chast"
2016: Leonard Pitts Jr. - "An Evening With Leonard Pitts"
2016: Marlon James - "The Books That Made Me Write Books"
2016: Eric H. Holder Jr. - "Principled Leadership: The Courage to Face Challenge"
2015: Edwidge Danticat - "Create Dangerously"
2014: Henry Louis Gates Jr. - "Genealogy and Genetics"
2014: E.J. Dionne - "Our Divided Political Heart: The Battle for the American Idea in an Age of Discontent"
2013: Junot Díaz - "An Evening With a Pulitzer Prize and New York Times Bestselling Author"
2013: Wole Soyinka - "Writing for Freedom"
2012: Robert Reich - "The Global Economy and the Future of Everything National"
2012: Carlos Fuentes - "From Law to Literature: A Personal Journey"
2011: Kay Redfield Jamison - "Minds on Fire: Mood Disorders and Creativity"
2011: Spike Lee - "America Through My Lens"
2009: Sherman Alexie - "Without Reservations: An Urban Indian’s Comic, Poetic, and Highly Irreverent Look at the World"
2009: Suzan-Lori Parks - "An Evening with Suzan-Lori Parks"
2008: Twyla Tharp - "The Creative Habit"
2008: Cory Booker - "An Evening with Cory Booker"
2007: David Brooks - "How Does Being American Shape Us?"
2007: Philip Glass - "An Evening with Philip Glass"
2006: Cornel West - "Democracy Matters"
2006: Edward Albee - "Improvisation and the Creative Mind"
2005: Fareed Zakaria - "The Future of Freedom"
2005: Nina Totenberg - "The Supreme Court and Its Impact on You"
2004: Robert Pinsky - "Poetry in the World"
2004: Terry Tempest Wiliams - "The Open Space of Democracy"
2003: Anna Deavere Smith - "Snapshots: Glimpses of America in Change"
2003: David Halberstam - "The Children: The Unique Courage and Faith of Ordinary Citizens to Change America "
2002: Thomas Friedman - "Global Economy and American Foreign Policy"