Silas Peirce Lecture

Please use the form below to nominate potential lecturers for any one of the three Arts & Sciences Lectures.

Nominations should include the name and a brief biographical description of the proposed lecturer, a link to that person’s website, and a brief statement describing the reasons for nominating the speaker, the anticipated topic, and the potential audience. Preference will be given to lectures that will bring our academic community together across multiple disciplines, including possibly across colleges, and that will be of broad interest to faculty, students, and alumni. You are welcome to submit multiple nominations or nominate a speaker for more than one lecture. Speakers for each lecture will be selected by a faculty selection committee.

THE GERALD AND DEANNE GITNER FAMILY CAS LECTURE

About the Lecture: The Gerald and Deanne Gitner Family CAS Lecture profiles a CAS faculty member in any field. It is held in the fall, usually in conjunction with Alumni Weekend. Although in the past this lecture has taken the form of a faculty panel, the preference this year will be on profiling a single CAS faculty member.

About the Gitner Family: Gerald Gitner (CAS ’66) graduated with a B.A. in History, cum laude, and was elected to Phi Alpha Theta, the national history honor society. Additionally, he has an MBA from the Simon School of Business at the University of Rochester, where he is a member of the Simon Advisory Board and was 1984 University awardee for Distinguished Service to the Profession, Member of Collegium of Distinguished Alumni and member of Fairfield Society & Claflin Society. He is a Trustee Emeritus of Boston University (serving as Trustee 1984-1996) and a current member of the CAS Dean’s Advisory Board and the Pardee School for Global Studies Dean’s Advisory Board. Gitner is a principal of Cross Continent Capital LLC, an investment company he co-founded. He serves as Chairman of Global Aero Holdings Ltd. and D. G. Associates, Inc., and has a long and varied career as an executive, including serving as Chairman and CEO Of Trans World Airlines, Inc. and Vice Chairman of Pan American World Airways. This lecture series was established by Gitner and his wife, Deanne. Gitner and his family have long been generous and engaged members of the Boston University community.

THE HOWARD ZINN MEMORIAL LECTURE

About the Lecture: The Howard Zinn Memorial Lecture was established in 2008 to be a stimulating and energizing memorial to the progressive political values Professor Howard Zinn embodied as a writer, teacher, and mentor. Past lecturers have included American journalist and political commentator Bill Moyers, former NYTimes columnist Bob Herbert, and historian David Blight. The lecture typically occurs in the Fall semester.

About Howard Zinn and the Fund: Howard Zinn was an author, a history professor, and a political 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 twenty-four years, from 1964 to 1988. He was a hero of the political left, a consistent and cogent critic of American policies, both domestic and international. He is best known for his 1980 book A People’s History of the United States, which countered the premise that history must be written by and for society’s "winners." A television documentary released in 2009, The People Speak, translated Zinn’s work to the screen for yet another generation of progressive thinkers. The Howard Zinn Memorial Lecture is made possible by a generous gift from Alex MacDonald, Esq. (CAS’72), and his late wife Maureen A. Strafford, MD (MED’76).

THE ANNUAL SILAS PEIRCE LECTURE

About the Lecture: The Annual Silas Peirce Lecture is open to all fields of inquiry covered in the College of Arts & Sciences, and is designed to represent different fields across the years. Given Silas Peirce’s deep roots in the Boston area, topics of special relevance to this region are welcomed. For example, Laura Walls, William P. and Hazel B. White Professor of English, University of Notre Dame, presented on the legacy of Henry David Thoreau in 2019. The lecture is held in the Spring semester, usually in February or March.

About Silas Peirce and the Fund: Silas Peirce (1860-1922) was associated with many businesses and Boston area charitable organizations. The family company, Silas Peirce & Co, which he led, was established by his great uncle in 1815, and the family’s summer home was on property in Scituate, Mass that had been occupied by his family since 1642. Peirce was treasurer of Boston University (1911-1922) and a University Trustee (1899-1922). The Silas Peirce fund was established by Peirce’s heirs with the intention of providing for special lectures at the College. This lecture series was reintroduced at Boston University in 2014 as one of the signature events of the academic calendar, with the intent of bringing the community together across multiple disciplines, including across colleges, through a topic of broad interest to faculty, students, and alumni.

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