The Distinguished Speakers' Series, which is sponsored by the Institute for the Humanities through the support of the College of Arts & Sciences, Office of Research, and Office of the Provost hosts reputable scholars, writers, and artists from the state, region, nation, and world. The Distinguished Speakers' Series provides the community with the opportunity of not only hearing outstanding lectures, readings, and presentations, but actually meeting scholars and artists who are recognized as the best in their fields. The speakers IH hosts have set the standard and continue to forge new knowledge for everyone's benefit and enjoyment. While many of our guests have busy schedules and travel worldwide, IH has been very fortunate thus far in establishing a reputation for offering an attactive venue for speakers. IH will continue to cultivate relationships with scholars and artists from around the world in order to make MSU one of their frequently visited communities.

In the spring of 2005, IH introduced its Distinguished Speakers' Series by hosting two scholars from England: Ms. Leonie Frieda of London and author of Catherine de Medici: Renaissance Queen of France; and, Dr. Jeremy Black, Distinguished Professor of History at University of Exeter and author of over fifty books including The British Seaborne Empire.

Both lectures, given in the John Grisham Room, were well received and attended by university and community people from Starkville, Columbus, West Point, and Jackson, and were followed by a reception.

 Arthur Herman, author of several books, including To Rule the Waves: How the British Navy Shaped the Modern World which was nominated for the prestigious Mountbatten Prize in Naval History, was educated at the University of Wisconsin and Johns Hopkins University where his doctoral dissertation won the Brittingham Prize. He spoke on November 16th to an audience of around seventy five people from the community.

Edward Hirsch, President of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, read from his poetry on April 11th, 4th floor, Swalm Building to an audience of around 70. Edward Hirsch was born in Chicago in 1950 and educated at Grinnell College and the University of Pennsylvania, where he received a Ph.D. in folklore. He is the author of six books of poems including Wild Gratitude (1986), which received the National Book Critics Circle Award and For the Sleepwalkers (1981), which received the Lavan Younger Poets Award from The Academy of American Poets and the Delmore Schwartz Memorial Award from New York University. He has received fellowships from the Guggenheim and MacArthur foundations, an Ingram Merrill Foundation Award, a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, the Rome Prize from the American Academy in Rome, and a Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Writers' Award. He has been a professor of English at Wayne State University and the University of Houston.

Philip Jenkins, Distinguished Professor of Religious Studies and History Penn State University, delivered his lecture, “The Next Christendom: Globalization and the Transformation of Christianity” Thursday February 23, 2006 to an audience of 120 people. A native of Wales, he earned a Ph.D. from Cambridge University in 1978. Since 1979, Professor Jenkins has published eighteen books, approximately a hundred book chapters and refereed articles, and a hundred book reviews. Professor Jenkins' book, The Next Christendom, won the 2002 Theologos award of the Association of Theological Booksellers, for the year's Best Academic Book. It also won the 2003 Christianity Today Book Award for the best book in the category of "Christianity and Culture."

Last Modified May 4, 2006
College of Arts & Sciences