Distinguished Lecture Series
The Institute for Advancing American Values sponsors and presents Boise State University’s Distinguished Lecture Series. Twice a year, the Series brings eminent speakers to Boise State from the realm of politics, academics, and humanitarian activism to promote the discussion of important issues.
Spring 2024 Speaker
“The Meltdown of the University and Ideas for Rebuilding it” A Discussion with Jonathan Haidt.
7 p.m., March 13, 2024. Morrison Center. Free and open to the public.
Jonathan Haidt is a social psychologist at New York University’s Stern School of Business. Haidt’s research examines the intuitive foundations of morality, and how morality varies across cultural and political divisions. Haidt is the author of The Happiness Hypothesis (2006) and of the New York Times bestsellers The Righteous Mind (2012) and The Coddling of the American Mind (2018, with Greg Lukianoff). Since 2018 he has been studying the contributions of social media to the decline of teen mental health and the rise of political dysfunction.
Distinguished Lecture Series Debrief
3:00p.m., Wednesday, March 27, 2024. Bishop Barnwell, Student Union
The DLS Debrief is an opportunity for the campus community to discuss their reactions to and thoughts about Jonathan Haidt’s lecture “The Meltdown of the University and Ideas for Rebuilding it”.
Previous Speakers
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Kwame Anthony Appiah
Author and International Affairs Expert
October 13, 2022 -
Danielle Allen
James Bryant Conant University Professor at Harvard University
April 14, 2022 -
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H.R. McMaster
Former Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs
March 2, 2020 -
Ta-Nehisi Coates
Best-selling author, recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship, and writer in residence at NYU’s Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute
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Nikole Hannah-Jones
American investigative journalist known for her coverage of civil rights in the United States
April 8, 2019 -
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Werner Herzog
Award-winning screenwriter, film director, author, and actor
April 9, 2018 -
Azar Nafisi
Iranian-American bestselling author
September 25, 2017 -
Sarah Lewis
Bestselling Author and Assistant Professor at Harvard University
April 17, 2017 -
David Brooks
Political analyst and columnist for The New York Times
September 27, 2016 -
Carl Wieman
Nobel Prize-Winning Physicist and Professor of the Graduate School of Education at Stanford University
April 14, 2016 -
Julia Gillard
Former Prime Minister of Australia, Minister for Education, Employment and Workplace Relations and Social Inclusion, public speaker, and member of the United Nations Security Council
October 5, 2015 -
Margaret Atwood
Literary influence, Booker Prize winner, and distinguished author of poetry, children’s literature, fiction, and non-fiction
April 8, 2015 -
Sir Salman Rushdie
Distinguished author, public intellectual, and free-speech proponent
Nov. 20, 2014 -
Richard Heinzl
Founder of the first North American chapter of Doctors Without Borders
April 8, 2014 -
Jonathan Spence
The world’s foremost authority on Chinese civilization and the role of history in shaping modern China
October 3, 2013 -
Louis Menand
Pulitzer Prize-winning author and scholar of American studies
April 18, 2013 -
Steven Pinker
Cognitive scientist one of the world’s foremost writers on language, mind and human nature
October 4, 2012 -
Susan Solomon
Climate scientist internationally recognized as a leader in atmospheric science, 2007 Nobel Laureate, and Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
March 6, 2012 -
Raj Patel
Award-winning writer, food activist and academic
October 6, 2011 -
Martha Nussbaum
Philosopher and author of Fragility of Goodness and Cultivating Humanity: A Classic Defense of Reform in Liberal Education
March 10, 2011 -
Jody Williams
Humanitarian and Nobel Laureate
December 1, 2010 -
Steve Fainaru
Winner of the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for international reporting and author of Big Boy Rules: America’s Mercenaries Fighting in Iraq
February 16, 2010 -
William McDonough
Internationally renowned designer and one of the primary proponents and shapers of what he and his partners call “The Next Industrial Revolution”
April 16, 2008 -
Louis Sullivan
Former secretary of health and human services under President George H.W. Bush
October 16, 2007 -
Hans Blix
Former chief UN weapons inspector in Iraq and author of Disarming Iraq
March 12, 2007 -
Jonathan Kozol
Public education advocate, author and winner of the National Book Award for Death at an Early Age
October 10, 2006 -
Joseph Stiglitz
Winner of the 2001 Nobel Prize in Economics and bestselling author of Globalization and Its Discontents
April 12, 2006 -
Seymour Hersh
Investigative reporter who won the Pulitzer Prize for exposing the My Lai Massacre in Vietnam. He is the author of Chain of Command: The Road from 9/11 to Abu Ghraib and other books
February 13, 2006 -
Karen Armstrong
Religion scholar and author who wrote A History of God, The Battle for God, the memoir The Spiral Staircase and a number of other well-received books
October 4, 2005 -
Christopher Hogwood
Internationally acclaimed conductor and musicologist
March 15, 2005 -
E.O. Wilson
World-renowned biologist and two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize
April 14, 2004 -
Mary Robinson
President of Ireland from 1990-1997 and U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights from 1997-2002
October 19, 2004 -
Michael Cunningham
Author who won the Pulitzer Prize and the PEN/Faulkner Award for The Hours
October 9, 2003 -
Lech Walesa
Former president of Poland and winner of the 1983 Nobel Prize for Peace
October 2, 2002 -
Horst Stormer
Winner of the 1998 Nobel Prize in Physics
April 25, 2002 -
Jose Ramos-Horta
Winner of the 1996 Nobel Prize for Peace for “his sustained efforts to hinder the oppression of a small people” in his homeland of East Timor
October 9, 2001 -
Terry Waite
Humanitarian and hostage negotiator
April 10, 2001