University Lecture Series

British novelist asks, “Why Write?”
By Tara Donaldson
March 20, 2012 - 8:49pm
Zadie Smith delivered the second lecture in the spring semester for the annual University Lecture series.

In a floral frock, pink head wrap and black-rimmed glasses covering a third of her face, Zadie Smith is anything but dull.

But the accomplished British novelist -- who still wonders how she manages to draw a crowd -- told a captive audience at Hendricks Chapel Tuesday night that writers’ lectures make her uncomfortable.

You just never know what to do, she said. “You glance around, look at your nails then back at the writer and wonder what she is saying.”

Reclaiming the nation
By Camille Bautista
October 4, 2011 - 11:56pm
The Nation editor Katherine vanden Heuvel advocates for citizens retaking the government at Syracuse University's second University Lecture.

Katrina vanden Heuvel, editor and publisher of The Nation magazine, called for an actively engaged citizenship in today’s political landscape as she spoke to students, faculty and the Syracuse community in the University Lectures series Tuesday.

Audience members in Hendricks Chapel applauded in agreement as vanden Heuvel explored issues of the Tea Party, the corrupting influence of corporate money, President Obama’s current political role and the overarching responsibility of the media.

Engineering with a human face
By Matt Harrigan
November 17, 2010 - 1:00am
Bernard Amadei explains how engineers can help make the world a better place.

On Tuesday evening, Bernard Amadei assured the Hendricks Chapel audience that he came in peace.

The co-founder and president of Engineers Without Borders - USA promised he wouldn’t talk about fancy engineering or explain complex equations. He wanted to speak to the Syracuse University students and faculty about engineering with a human face.

To do good or not, that is the question
By Emily Brandstetter
October 19, 2010 - 5:12pm
Five-time Emmy winner and columnist Randy Cohen discusses ethics in today's society at Hendricks Chapel.

Randy Cohen writes “The Ethicist” column in The New York Times Magazine, but said he is not an expert in ethics and sometimes wonders how he got his job.

But after writing the weekly column for 11 years, he must be doing something right.  

“I was not hired to personify virtue, but rather to analyze it,” Cohen told a Hendricks Chapel audience Tuesday night as part of the University Lectures series.

Presidential politics: The making of a political mastermind
By Christine Mehta
October 12, 2010 - 10:35pm
Kathleen Jamieson takes a hard look at the power of speech and rhetoric in the race for the presidency.

An almost full-house in Hendricks Chapel watched former president Bill Clinton declare once again on the projector screen that he “did not have sexual relations with that woman.” A second later the audience burst into laughter as the word TRANSLATION flashed onto the screen along with, “Bill Clinton does not define sexual ‘contact’ as relations.”

SU's lecture lineup for next year is a goodie
By Erica Sanderson
May 21, 2010 - 2:44pm
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Nicholas D. Kristof and Emmy Award winner Randy Cohen are among the elite group of speakers.

Mark your calendars, because the 2010-2011 Syracuse University Lecture season is a must-see lineup. Nine speakers will make their appearances on campus throughout the academic year for the University Lecture's 10th season.

Two featured speakers are Randy Cohen and Nicholas D. Kristof.

Covering the world
By Jason Gruenauer
March 9, 2010 - 9:01pm
NPR’s Scott Simon talks about journalism, health care and powder blue neckties.

In the fast-paced world of 24-hour news media, National Public Radio’s Scott Simon is concerned that something might be getting lost in translation.

“I get really dissatisfied with bromides by people who have an argument all figured out,” he said, “and therefore present just one side of it.”

Sharing Stories
By Carren Jao
February 24, 2010 - 11:50am
Why stories need to be told and where to find good ones.

There's an African proverb that goes, "It takes a whole village to raise a child" and for one night the Hendricks Chapel became that village.  

Last night, instead of coming home to a nice, warm meal, I squeezed myself in a pew on the balcony of Hendricks Chapel to see Muhammad Yunus talk.  In the course of two hours, he didn't say anything radically different from what I had read of his work, but nevertheless his words re-infected me--and the rest of the audience as well.  

 

Nobel Laureate lends advice
By Erica Sanderson
February 23, 2010 - 9:21pm
Muhammad Yunus shares his vision of "Creating a World Without Poverty" with a receptive Hendricks Chapel crowd.

The man of the hour strolled down the aisle shaking hands and posing for pictures with the astounded crowd as he approached the stage. This scene may sound reminiscent of a Hollywood red carpet or political rally, but the star Tuesday night wasn’t a celebrity — he was an economist.

Muhammad Yunus, a world-renowned Nobel Peace Prize winner, has that effect on people.

Audience members sat elbow-to-elbow in the Hendricks Chapel pews to hear Yunus recall his journey.

Yunus on social business, helping Haiti
By Erica Sanderson
February 23, 2010 - 2:33pm
World-renowned economist and Nobel Peace Prize winner shares how his business model can be utilized for academics and crisis relief.

Muhummad Yunus is changing the world and challenging the status quo one person at a time. Yunus, a 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner, created the Grameen Bank in 1983 to eradicate poverty through micro-lending in his native Bangladesh.

The premise? Give money to poor women to start their own businesses and emerge from poverty by their own hands. Yunus calls this new way of thinking the social business model.