Endowed Lectures
Pitzer College hosts a number of endowed lectures throughout the academic year, made possible by generous donations from patrons, donors and alumni. Invited speakers explore topics from a diversity of fields including art, business, science, politics, racial justice and the humanities.
Our Endowed Lectures
The Stephen and Sandra Glass Humanities Lecture Series was established in 2004 through the generosity of Alumna Nancy Bushnell ’69 and her husband, the late David Bushnell, who passed away in 2005. Ms. Bushnell graduated from Pitzer College in 1969 with a humanities degree, and she served as a Pitzer College trustee from 1987 to 2007.
Emeritus Professor Stephen Glass is a founding faculty member of Pitzer College and former John A. McCarthy Professor of Classics. He and his wife, Dr. Sandra Glass, were vital partners in the creation of Pitzer’s campus and in the mentoring of Pitzer students. Known for their stimulating conversation and as being great thinkers in the humanities, this named lecture series permanently links the immeasurable contributions of Steve and Sandy Glass to the history of Pitzer College.
The Glass Humanities Lecture Endowed Fund underwrites the cost to bring leading scholars in the humanities to Pitzer College. These visiting lecturers add vibrant texture to the fabric of campus life through their intellectual and social interactions with students, faculty, the Claremont Colleges community, and the surrounding communities.
Past Lectures
- 2022: Carolina Caycedo, Artist, Spiral for Shared Dreams
- 2021: Ishion Hutchinson, Poet, Little Music a listening
- 2019: Moussa Sene Absa, Director, Niit Nitki
- 2018: Jeffrey C. Stewart, Author and Professor, Cosmopolitanism and Culture: Alain Locke’s Vision of 21st Century America
Watch - 2017: Ariella Azoulay, Plunder: The Transcendental Condition of Modern Art and Community of fabri
The annual Pepper Distinguished Visiting Artist Lecture is made possible by the Murray Pepper and Vicki Reynolds Pepper Distinguished Visiting Artists and Scholars Endowed Fund at Pitzer College. Established in 2007, the fund helps bring critically acclaimed artists and scholars to campus to hold seminars, workshops, public talks, and one-on-one conversations with students. The fund is named after Trustee Emeritus Murray Pepper and Vicki Reynolds Pepper, long-term supporters of the College and the grandparents of David Pepper ’17 and Morgan Pepper ’12.
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Past Lectures
- 2022: Lauren Bon, Bending the River
Watch - 2022: Beatriz Cortez and rafa esparza, In conversation
Watch - 2021: Sadie Barnette, Rodney Barnette, and Ericka Huggins, In conversation
Watch - 2019: Fr. Gregory Boyle, founder, Homeboy Industries, Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion
Watch - 2019: Sesshu Foster and Arturo Ernesto Ramirez, Recent Rupture Radio Hour (The East L.A. Dirigible Tapes)
The Melvin L. Oliver Racial Justice Initiative Speaker Series is part of the College’s efforts to infuse racial justice throughout Pitzer’s academic and campus life while examining the College’s own policies and practices and exploring how Pitzer can be a broader agent of change.
Past Lectures
- 2022: Dr. Deirdre Cooper Owens, Racial Justice Initiative Distinguished Lecture
Watch - 2021: Cecilia Menjívar, UCLA Professor of Sociology, Post-Detention Experiences of Central American Asylum Seekers in the United States
Watch - 2021: Dina Gilio-Whitaker, Environmental Justice in Indian Country
Watch - 2021: Karam Dana, Founding Director, American Muslim Research Institute, The Politics of Belonging and Exclusion: Orientalism and Radicalization of Arabs and Muslims in the US
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Learn More
Visit the Melvin L. Oliver Racial Justice Initiative page for more information and a full archive of past speakers.