President's Lecture Series
Initiated by former Clark president John Bassett, the President's Lecture Series was established in 2002. The series consists of several lectures each year by eminent speakers in the sciences, arts, humanities and international relations. Lectures, which are free and open to the public, are sponsored by Clark University's Higgins School of Humanities.
For more information, please call (508) 793-7320.
2011 Lectures
October 4, 2011
"That's Not What I Wanted to Hear!"
Evidence-Based Medicine and Our Hard Choices
4 P.M. in Razzo Hall
Dr. Gruman's expertise draws from a wealth of experience, including her own treatment for four cancer diagnoses, as well as surveys, peer-reviewed research, and interviews with patients and caregivers. From this rich foundation, she shared how she advocates for policies and practices to help people overcome the challenges they face in finding good care.
Press release | Watch the lecture »
2010
February 26, 2010
Laura Nader, Professor of Anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley
"Energy, Environment, and the Commons: the specialist and the generalist"
press release
October 18, 2010
Nicholas Carr, writer
"The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains"
press release
2009
September 24, 2009
Kevin R. Johnson, expert on immigration, race and civil rights law
"Opening the Floodgates: Why America Needs to Rethink Its Borders and Immigration Laws,"
Johnson lecture [video 44:37] |
press release
November 21, 2009
Sander Gilman, Distinguished Professor of Liberal Arts and Sciences and Director of the Program
in Psychoanalytical Studies and the Health Sciences Humanities Initiative at Emory University
"Electrotherapy Then and Now: Psychoanalysis and Contemporary Treatments in Psychiatry"
2008
January 22, 2008
David W. Orr, renowned scholar of environmental politics and design
"Some Like it Hot . . . But Lots More Don't; The Changing Climate of U.S. Politics."
Orr lecture [video 1:36:37] |
press release
September 18, 2008
Lewis Hyde, poet, essayist, translator, and cultural critic
"Culture as Commonwealth; Why Art & Ideas Should Be Held In Common"
Hyde lecture [video 1:14:14]
October 14, 2008
T. Alexander Aleinikoff, Dean of the Georgetown University Law Center and Executive Vice President of Georgetown University
"Global Law in the U.S. Legal System: Friend or Foe?"
press release
November 13, 2008
Michael Dukakis, former Governor of Massachusetts
"Reality-Based Leadership: Putting Ideas Into Action"
Dukakis lecture [video 1:05:08] |
press release
2007
March 21, 2007
Dr. Ellen Condliffe Lagemann, Charles Warren Professor of History of American Education at
Harvard University
"Education and Public Enterprise: A Necessary Relationship?"
Lagemann lecture [video 53:30] |
press release
April 26, 2007
Dr. Frank Wilczek, Herman Feshbach Professor of Physics at MIT and Nobel Prize recipient
"Putting It All Together"
Wilczek lecture [video 1:13:09] |
press release
September 10, 2007
John Holdren, Teresa and John Heinz Professor of Environmental Policy and
Director of the Program on Science, Technology, and Public Policy at the Kennedy School
of Government, Harvard University, and President and Director of the Woods Hole Research Center
"Science, Technology and the Sustainability Challenge."
Holdren lecture [video 1:10:16] |
press release
October 1, 2007
Anne Fadiman, Francis Writer in Residence at Yale University
"The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down"
press release
2006
Oct. 3, 2006
Tracy Kidder, Pulitzer Prize-wining author
"Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World."
Kidder lecture [video 68:00] |
press release
2005
April 6, 2005
Alice Rivlin, Ph.D., Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution
"Fiscal Sanity: Why it Matters and How to Restore It."
April 28, 2005
Randolph M. Nesse, M.D, Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry at University of Michigan; Research Professor for the Research Center for Group Dynamics, Institute for Social Research; Director, ISR Evolution and Human Adaptation Program.
"Darwinian Medicine: Why isn't the body better designed?"
Nesse lecture [video 55:00]
Oct. 17, 2005
Joseph Wilson, former ambassador
"The Politics of Truth: Inside the Lies that Led to War and Betrayed My Wife's CIA Identity."
press release
2004
March 25, 2004
Professor Philip Morgan, Johns Hopkins University
"The Early Caribbean and the Atlantic World: A Microcosmic View."
September 14, 2004
Robert Pinsky, former Poet Laureate, Professor of Creative Writing at Boston University
Poetry reading to kick off the Worcester Poetry Fall Festival
2003
February 4, 2003
Andrei Kozyrev, Boris Yeltsin's foreign minister (1991-1996) and deputy in the Russian Parliament
"Putin's Foreign Policy—Has Russia Joined the West?"
March 27, 2003
Edward Hirsch, President of the Guggenheim Foundation, award-winning poet, and MacArthur Fellow
Inaugurated the Higgins Modern Poetry Series by reading some of his poetry and discussing the poet's craft.
Hirsch lecture [video 62:00]
September 24, 2003
Charles Dunbar, ambassador
"Squaring the Circle: U.S. Policy in the Middle East."
November 4, 2003
Lawrence M. Krauss, Ambrose Swasey Professor of Physics, Professor of Astronomy and Chair of the Physics Department at Case Western Reserve University
"Einstein's Biggest Blunder? A Cosmic Mystery Story."
2002
November 6, 2002
Stuart Eizenstat, deputy secretary of the treasury during the Clinton Administration; former ambassador to the European Union
"Imperfect Justice: Looted Assets, Slave Labor, and the Unfinished Business of World War II"