Timothy and Sharon Ubben Lecturers

The history of the Ubben Lecture Series includes 26 years of speeches and class visits from some of the world's most recognized scholars, leaders and artists.

Ubben Lecture Series Archives 1986-2013
Jane Goodall Primatologist, Ethologist, Anthropologist and UN Messenger of Peace April 17, 2013	Carl Bernstein Pulitzer Prize-Winning Journalist & Author February 13, 2013	Candy Crowley CNN Chief Political Correspondent September 25, 2012	Leymah Gbowee Activist and 2011 Nobel Peace Prize Recipient February 15, 2012
Bill Clinton The 42nd President of the United States, Founder of the William J. Clinton Foundation November 18, 2011	Jimmy Wales and Nicholas Carr Wikipedia Founder; Author of The Shallows March 30, 2011	Lee Hamilton '52 Former Congressman and Veteran Statesman March 15, 2011	Oscar Arias Former President of Costa Rica and Nobel Peace Prize Recipient December 8, 2010
Rebecca Skloot Author, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks September 10, 2010	F.W. de Klerk Former President of South Africa and Nobel Peace Prize Winner May 7, 2010	Jason Reitman Award-Winning Director and Screenwriter March 15, 2010	Steven Levitt Economist and Co-Author of SuperFreakonomics November 30, 2009
Howard Dean and Karl Rove Former Governor and DNC Chair; Former Senior Adviser to President George W. Bush September 11, 2009	Jane Pauley Award-Winning Journalist April 17, 2009	Todd Rundgren Music and Technology Pioneer April 8, 2009	David Plouffe Obama 2008 Campaign Manager February 2, 2009
Greg Mortenson Author of Three Cups of Tea November 13, 2008	Tony Blair Former Prime Minister of Great Britain March 3, 2008	Frank Warren PostSecret Founder November 26, 2007	Ralph Nader Consumer Advocate & Presidential Candidate September 27, 2007
Jim Alling '83 President, Starbucks USA March 13, 2007	Mitch Albom Best-Selling Author and Sportswriter November 13, 2006	E.O. Wilson Biologist and Pulitzer-Prize Winning Author November 8, 2006	Charles Fishman Author, The Wal-Mart Effect April 18, 2006
Mikhail Gorbachev Former Soviet Leader and Nobel Laureate October 27, 2005	Naomi Wolf Author and Feminist September 21, 2005	Paul Rusesabagina Real-Life Hero of Hotel Rwanda April 25, 2005	Liz Murray "Homeless to Harvard" April 6, 2005
Peyton Manning 2003 NFL Co-MVP October 26, 2004	Sen. Richard G. Lugar Chair, Senate Foreign Relations Committee October 25, 2004	Ambassador L. Paul Bremer III Former Presidential Envoy to Iraq September 16, 2004	William S. Cohen Former Defense Secretary, Senator & Congressman April 22, 2004
Eric Schlosser Author and Investigative Journalist November 11, 2003	Paul A. Volcker Former Federal Reserve Chairman October 8, 2003	Gen. Wesley K. Clark (Ret.) Presidential Candidate and Military Analyst September 23, 2003	Spike Lee Director, Producer and Writer April 3, 2003
Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield Founders of "Ben & Jerry's" Ice Cream November 18, 2002	Mike Krzyzewski Head Basketball Coach, Duke University September 12, 2002	Harry Belafonte Entertainer and Human Rights Activist September 7, 2002	David McCullough Pulitzer Prize-Winning Author, Historian and Television Host March 18, 2002
Robert Gates Former CIA Director December 3, 2001	Robert H. Waterston, M.D., Ph.D. Director of the Genome Sequencing Center, Washington University November 15, 2001	John Major Former British Prime Minister October 29, 2001	Burton Lee Gerber Retired CIA Officer March 22, 2001
Norman J. Ornstein Author, Columnist and CBS Election Analyst November 16, 2000	Samuel E. Mann Methodist Minister, Human Rights Spokesman November 13, 2000	William J. Bennett Former US Secretary of Education March 2, 2000	Andrew Young Former UN Ambassador and Atlanta Mayor March 2, 2000
Julian Bond NAACP Chairman, Civil Rights and Peace Activist February 29, 2000	Oliver Sacks Neurologist and Author, Awakenings, The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat October 28, 1999	Ferid Murad '58 1998 Nobel Laureate in Medicine April 23, 1999	George Gilder Economist, Technology Consultant and Commentator April 16, 1999
Doris Kearns Goodwin Pulitzer-Prize Winning Historian and Best-Selling Author and Commentator February 12, 1999	Alan Simpson Retired US Senator, Attorney and Author November 6, 1998	David R. Gergen Presidential Advisor, Journalist and Political Commentator October 14, 1998	Sam Donaldson Correspondent, ABC News May 8, 1998
Seymour M. Hersh Author, The Dark Side of Camelot December 9, 1997	Jonathan Kozol Educator, Writer and Activist November 12, 1997	Gloria Borger Columnist, US News and World Report, and CBS News Analyst November 5, 1997	Christopher Edley, Jr. Senior Adviser to President Clinton and Author November 5, 1997
Gwen Ifill Correspondent, NBC News October 28, 1997	Roger Wilkins Educator, Writer, NPR Commentator and Activist October 14, 1997	Bill Bradley Former US Senator and Basketball Hall of Famer September 10, 1997	Benazir Bhutto Former Prime Minister of Pakistan May 7, 1997
Sister Helen Prejean Prison Activist and Author of Dead Man Walking April 30, 1997	Dr. David Ho Time Magazine's 1996 Person of the Year, AIDS Researcher April 16, 1997	Shimon Peres Former Prime Minister of Israel and 1994 Nobel Peace Prize Recipient November 11, 1996	H. Ross Perot Business Executive and Presidential Candidate April 29, 1996
Barbara Bush Former First Lady March 20, 1996	James Lovell Former Astronaut and Apollo 13 Commander December 1, 1995	Bob Woodward Pulitzer Prize-Winning Journalist, Assistant Managing Editor, The Washington Post December 2, 1994	General Colin Powell Former Chairman, US Joint Chiefs of Staff November 2, 1994
Lynne Cheney Former Chair, National Endowment for the Humanities October 7, 1994	Ken Burns Emmy Award-Winning Documentary Filmmaker April 8, 1994	George Will Pulitzer Prize-Winning Columnist, Newsweek & The Washington Post March 4, 1994	Allen Neuharth Founder, USA Today December 3, 1993
Brian Mulroney Former Prime Minister of Canada November 18, 1993	David S. Broder Pulitzer Prize-Winning Political Commentator November 12, 1993	Paul Tsongas Former US Senator and Presidential Candidate April 30, 1993	Carl Rowan Journalist and Author April 6, 1993
Leon Lederman Physicist and Nobel Laureate April 2, 1993	Tom Wicker Author, Commentator and Former New York Times Columnist March 12, 1993	Jesse Jackson Civil Rights Leader and Two-Time Presidential Candidate December 3, 1992	William J. Bennett Former US Secretary of Education September 30, 1992
Margaret Thatcher Former Prime Minister of Great Britain April 7, 1992	David R. Brower Environmentalist January 25, 1991	Willy Brandt Former Chancellor of West Germany and Nobel Peace Prize Winner November 2, 1990	Lester C. Thurow Economist and Author March 9, 1990
Elie Wiesel Author and Nobel Peace Prize Winner September 21, 1989	William J. Bennett Former US Secretary of Education October 6, 1988	Zbigniew Brzezinski Former National Security Adviser March 4, 1988	Mary Frances Berry Historian and Member of the US Commission on Civil Rights November 6, 1987
Allan Bloom Philosopher and Author, Closing of the American Mind September 11, 1987	Gov. Richard Lamm (D) Colorado November 5, 1986