Speakers Series

The CHASS Distinguished Speaker Series

The CHASS Distinguished Speaker Series was launched in 2017 and speaks to the Mission of the University and to restorative justice, which is the focus of our Criminal Justice program and one of today’s most important issues. The one-night only lecture is presented annually through a collaborative effort of the departments of English, Criminal Justice and Sociology.

Past speakers have included Devery S. Anderson, author of Emmet Till: The Murder that Shocked the World and Propelled the Civil Rights Movement, Anthony Graves, an exonerated former death row prisoner turned author and advocate of restorative justice, and Pulitzer-Prize winning author Gilbert King, whose three books explore stories of Black leaders, racism and the search for justice in the Civil-Rights-era American South.

The Pierre Fund Speaker Series

The Pierre Fund Speaker Series began in 2001 designed to bring distinguished women scholars of religious studies to campus to address current issues relating to social justice, ecology and globalization. The series is funded by the Pierre Fund Committee of the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word.

Scholars who have been invited include Kwok Pui Lan (“The Challenges of Third World Women’s Theology”); Adele Reinhartz (“‘Let His Blood be on Us’: Portrayals of Jesus’ Passion on Film”); Loretta Devoy, O.P. (“The Eucharist and its Role in a Theology of the Environment"), Maria Cimperman, OSU (“Incarnational Spirituality and the Moral Imagination”), and Dr. Jacqueline Hidalgo, Williams College, ("The Christian Bible as a Text of Migration.")