Assembly series

Nobel laureate Kip Thorne will visit Washington University to deliver a public talk on Thursday, Nov. 7. Thorne’s work in theoretical physics examines gravitational waves, the Big Bang and what these phenomena tell us about the dynamics of the universe.

Washington University has hosted luminaries who have inspired and challenged us. Alumni and faculty recall their memories of hearing three notable speakers on campus.

Nadine Strossen, author of the Common Reading Program selection “Hate: Why We Should Resist It with Free Speech, Not Censorship,” will deliver the keynote address at “Reflections: Unity, Social Justice, and Peace,” an annual event celebrating the start of the academic year at Washington University. The event begins at 4 p.m. Monday, Aug. 26, in Graham Chapel. 

Washington University’s Assembly Series will feature prominent authors and experts covering topics seeking to find solutions to some of society’s toughest challenges. The lecture lineup opens Feb. 21 with Michael Pollan and concludes April 17 with Michael Barbaro and a panel on the “fake news” culture.

Brittany Ferrell, a social justice activist, nurse and Olin Fellow, emerged as a leader of the protest movement after Michael Brown’s shooting in Ferguson and co-founded Millennial Activists United. Her activism shifted her career plans to studying public health.

First-year student Nick Massenburg-Abraham was not familiar with this year’s Common Reading Program selection “Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress” or its author, Dai Sijie. But he does know something about the novel’s central theme: loss. He transformed this personal experiences into the musical composition “Reflections in D Major,”  which won the grand prize for the Common Reading Program contest.

Good stories feed us universal truths and instruct us on how to live more fully in this world. This fall, the Assembly Series is presenting many gifted storytellers. The series launches Sept. 12 with author, poet and alum Qiu Xiaolong.

For nearly three decades, the Weltin Lecture Fund has enabled the Religious Studies Program and Assembly Series to bring renowned scholars of religion to the university. In spring 2018, Elaine Pagels delivered the lecture, sharing her riveting discoveries on art and politics in the Book of Revelation.

The late Edward G. Weltin Sr. was so beloved that that a group of his former students honored him by establishing an endowed lecture fund bearing his name.

The spring 2018 Assembly Series programs will run the gamut from national economic policy to the Book of Revelation. Fiscal policy expert David Wessel will lead off with a Jan. 31 lecture examining the economic landscape a year into the Trump presidency.