Arts & Sciences Lecture Series
Join us for one of our annual lectures, highlighting scholarship across the College and the entire academic world
The Arts & Sciences Lecture Series at Boston University celebrates bold ideas and interdisciplinary dialogue through three signature events: the Howard Zinn Memorial Lecture, honoring the progressive legacy of historian and activist Howard Zinn; the Silas Peirce Lecture, fostering community across disciplines with thought-provoking discussions; and the Gitner Family Lecture, spotlighting leaders whose work addresses issues of broad significance. Together, these lectures embody the spirit of Arts × Sciences—a multiplier of knowledge and possibilities.
Next Up!
Silas Peirce Lecture
Reporting in an Age of Disappearance:
Investigative Reporting on Systems Built to Erase
Speaker: Sarah Stillman, staff writer at The New Yorker and professor at Yale
Tuesday, February 10, 2026
6:00 – 7:30 pm
Center for Computing & Data Sciences, 1750
For more than a decade, Sarah Stillman has reported for The New Yorker on the human toll of profiteering — in prisons, jails, immigration detention facilities, and beyond. In her Silas Pierce lecture, she will explore the role that traditional investigative reporting can play in unearthing injustice, while also confronting its limits in a rapidly-shifting media landscape. As information ecosystems grow more siloed—and misinformation more pervasive — Stillman argues that new models of reporting are urgently needed: work that is more collaborative, experimental, and expansive in how it reaches diverse audiences.
Drawing on recent reporting about the Trump Administration’s mass deportations, Stillman will share her interviews with individuals subjected to ICE’s secretive “third-country deportation” program—an effort to deport people to high-risk countries with which they have no prior ties. The lecture asks how investigative journalism can adapt not only to expose hard-won truths in this fast-moving moment, but also, to sustain themin public memory, in the historical record, and in the lives of the people most affected.
About the Speaker
About the Arts & Sciences Lecture Series
The Howard Zinn Memorial Lecture was established in 2008 to be a stimulating and energizing memorial to the progressive political values of Professor Howard Zinn (1922–2010), a historian, author, professor, playwright, mentor, and activist whose writings changed the lives of BU students and readers around the world. Zinn taught in the College of Arts & Sciences’ political science department for 24 years, from 1964 to 1988, and wrote dozens of books, including A People’s History of the United States. The Howard Zinn Memorial Lecture is made possible by the Zinn Lecture Fund, thanks to a generous gift from Alex MacDonald, Esq. (CAS’72), and his late wife Maureen A. Strafford, MD (MED’76).
The Silas Peirce Lecture, reintroduced in 2014, is designed to foster a sense of community among faculty, students, and alumni across multiple disciplines and colleges. Named after Silas Peirce (1860-1922), a prominent Boston businessman and philanthropist who served as treasurer and trustee of Boston University, the lecture honors Peirce’s legacy and deep roots in the Boston area. The lecture is open to all fields of inquiry across the liberal arts and sciences and designed to represent diverse disciplines over the years. The Silas Peirce fund, established by his heirs, ensures the continuation of these special lectures, which aim to bring together the academic community through engaging and thought-provoking discussions.
The Gerald and Deanne Gitner Family College of Arts & Sciences Lecture
The Gerald and Deanne Gitner Family College of Arts & Sciences Lecture, held annually in the fall, is designed to highlight thought leaders in any field, whose teaching, research, or service address topics of major importance for the broad interest and benefit of the BU community. The Gitner Lecture is made possible by Gerald Gitner (CAS’66) and his wife, Deanne, who have long been generous and engaged members of the Boston University community. Gitner, who graduated from the college with a degree in history, is a Trustee Emeritus of BU and a current member of the CAS Dean’s Advisory Board and the Pardee School for Global Studies Dean’s Advisory Board.