President's Speaker Series

March 2025

Award-winning, best-selling author of "Sitting Pretty: The View from My Ordinary Resilient Disabled Body"

Dr. Rebekah Taussig will challenge everything you think you know about disability as she invites us into her experience of living in a body that looks and moves differently than most. A storyteller at heart with a great sense of humor, Dr. Taussig invites us to think bigger and more critically about who has a seat at the table and the barriers that bar others from inclusion.

October 2024

Co-Author of "How to Steal a Presidential Election"

Lawrence Lessig is a professor at Harvard Law School and an activist with a focus on institutional corruption. In this discussion, Lessig addresses the threats we might expect in the 2024 election and reflects on the nature of the challenges created by our unique—and increasingly troubled—Electoral College system. He identifies the risks we should track and what reforms we might see both before and after this election cycle. Lessig will be available after the program for a book signing until noon.

April 2024

Bridging Divides with Curiosity and Conversation

Journalist, author and bridge builder Mónica Guzmán believes that curiosity in conversation can help resolve tensions people are feeling as the 2024 election season approaches. Guzmán’s book is touted as a personal guide to communicating with curiosity, learning from personal interactions and finding common ground with those who have differing political views. 

October 2023

Generation ME

Dr. Twenge, professor of psychology at San Diego State University, discusses the latest research on mental health trends for teens and young adults and the actions needed to counter the rise in depression, anxiety, self-harm and suicide in this group. 

Twenge is the author of over 180 scientific publications and seven books, including “Generations: The Real Differences between Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, Boomers and Silents – and What They Mean for America’s Future” and “iGen: Why Today’s Super-Connected Kids Are Growing Up Less Rebellious, More Tolerant, Less Happy – and Completely Unprepared for Adulthood.” 

March 2023

What Would You Do?
Words of Wisdom about Doing the Right Thing

A lifetime of “never taking no for an answer” took John Quiñones from migrant farm work and poverty to more than 30 years at ABC News, the anchor desk at 20/20 and Primetime and seven national Emmy awards for his reporting over the years. As host and creator of "What Would You Do?", the highly-rated, hidden camera ethical dilemma newsmagazine now in its 14th season, Quiñones has literally become “the face of doing the right thing” to millions of fans.

October 2022

ACTION: A discussion about race, history, politics and culture in America

A staff writer for The New Yorker, Dr. Jelani Cobb is an expert on how race, politics, history and popular culture intersect in America. Cobb is also the author of the highly-acclaimed book "The Substance of Hope: Barack Obama and the Paradox of Progress." As the preeminent voice on these matters, Cobb eloquently explores how the past looms in our contemporary societal landscape and how we can collectively push towards a more equitable America.

February 2022

Environmental Summit: Climate Change and How It Impacts Us

Elizabeth Kolbert is a journalist, author and visiting fellow at Williams College. She is best known for her Pulitzer Prize-winning book, “The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History,” and as an observer and commentator on environmentalism for The New Yorker magazine.

Jennifer Atkinson is an author and associate professor of environmental humanities at the University of Washington, Bothell. Her seminars on eco-grief and climate anxiety have been featured nationwide. She hosts a podcast, "Facing It," that provides tools to channel eco-anxiety into action.

October 2021

The Dangers of Propaganda and Misinformation

Claire Wardle is co-founder of First Draft, a nonprofit organization focused on research and practices that address misinformation found online. She has a doctorate in communications from the University of Pennsylvania. Over the past decade, Wardle has been a fellow for TED, a research fellow for the Shorenstein Center for Media, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard University’s Kennedy School, a research director for the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia University and head of social media for the United Nations Refugee Agency.

Note: Unfortunately, we had a technical complication so a section of the presentation was cut off.

February 2021

A Virtual Discussion About Rethinking Mental Health

Ben Nemtin and his three childhood friends started The Buried Life in 2006. They made a list of “100 things to do before you die” and for every list item they accomplished, they helped a stranger cross something off their bucket list. Since then, they have published a New York Times best-selling book, made a TV show based on their project and crossed off 91 of 100 dreams. Ben and his friends are currently filming "The Buried Life" documentary film.

View Ben Nemtin's complete presentation on Zoom.

October 2020

A Virtual Discussion About this Year's Presidential Election

Award-winning journalist and NPR national political correspondent Mara Liasson can be regularly heard on NPR’s Morning Edition and All Things Considered. She is covering her eighth presidential election this year, providing extensive coverage of the candidates and issues in both the presidential and congressional races. Her reporting can be heard on Delta College Public Radio – 90.1 FM.

Prior to her current assignment, Liasson was NPR’s White House correspondent for all eight years of the Clinton administration. She is a three-time recipient of the White House Correspondents’ Association’s Merriman Smith Award and a graduate of Brown University, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in American history.

February 2020

Reflections: The Life and Times of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Jim Lucas has received acclaim across the nation for his stirring and dramatic recitations and interpretive readings depicting the life and times of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. His movie and television credits include appearances in "Head of State," "Ladder 49," "National Treasure" (1 and 2), "Something The Lord Made," "The West Wing," "The District," "24" and "The Wire."

Lucas is currently co-starring in the critically acclaimed play "The Meeting," a powerful drama about the lives, philosophies and times of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X.

October 2019

Charged: The New Movement to Transform American Prosecution and End Mass Incarceration

Emily Bazelon sheds vital light on the enormous and oft-misused power of the American judicial system in shaping our society. Her new book "Charged," which debuted on the New York Times’ bestseller list, provides a bracing investigation of a criminal justice system with unchecked power, and the remarkable efforts being made to address and reform the national crisis that mass incarceration represents.

February 2019

Helping Different Kinds of Minds Solve Problems and the Way I See It: A Personal Look at Autism & Asperger's

Temple Grandin, Ph.D., is the most accomplished and well-known adult with autism in the world. Time Magazine listed Temple in the Time 100, an annual list of the most influential people in the world. She was also the subject of the Emmy Award winning, semi-biographical film Temple Grandin.

Dr. Grandin became a prominent author and speaker on both autism and animal behavior. Today she is a professor of Animal Science at Colorado State University. She also has a successful career consulting on both livestock handling equipment design and animal welfare.

View Dr. Grandin's complete presentation on Delta College Public Broadcasting.