Stanley Stone Distinguished Lecture Series

About the Stanley P. Stone Distinguished Lecture Series

Stanley P. Stone
Stanley P. Stone (CGS’64, Questrom’66)

The Stanley P. Stone Distinguished Lecture Series brings notable, inspiring speakers to the College of General Studies (CGS), inviting the CGS and BU community to broaden their educational experience related to one of the College’s academic division areas: humanities, social science, natural sciences, or rhetoric. Lecture topic areas span the genres, from environmental change and violent conflict to the biology of viruses and public health; from racism in the U.S. to musical theatre and the American urban experience; from the evolution of goodness to American foreign policy. Instituted in 1989, the College is grateful to offer this enriching experience on an annual basis, made possible by the generosity of Stanley P. Stone (CGS’64, Questrom’66).

This year’s event:

The AI Mirror: How to Reclaim Our Humanity in an Age of Machine Thinking with Professor Shannon Vallor

February 25, 2026 | 5 p.m. EST
Jacob Sleeper Auditorium, College of General Studies
Register here

As this year’s Stanley P. Stone lecturer, Professor Shannon Vallor presents The AI Mirror: How to Reclaim Our Humanity in an Age of Machine Thinking. Professor Vallor holds the Baillie Gifford Chair in the Ethics of Data and Artificial Intelligence at the Edinburgh Futures Institute (EFI) at the University of Edinburgh, where she is also appointed in Philosophy. She currently co-directs EFI’s Centre for Technomoral Futures and the UK’s BRAID (Bridging Responsible AI Divides) program. Professor Vallor’s research explores how AI and data science reshape human character and capabilities.

Accessibility

If you have a disability (including but not limited to learning or attention, mental health, concussion, vision, mobility, hearing, physical or other health related), require communication access services for the deaf or hard of hearing, or believe that you require a reasonable accommodation for another reason, please contact the College of General Studies at cgsdean@bu.edu by January 29, to discuss your needs.

Previous speakers include:

  • Political activist Colombe Cahen-Salvador
  • Historian and teacher Nwando Achebe
  • Climate justice activist Jacqueline Patterson
  • Voting rights activist Cliff Albright
  • Award-winning artist Lynda Barry
  • Global health advocate Paul Farmer
  • Journalist and expert on liberal democracies Yascha Mounk
  • Award-winning author Dr. Emily Bernard
  • Jacob Holdt, author of American Pictures
  • Civil rights activist and attorney J.L. Chestnut, Racism in the U.S.
  • American trial attorney, novelist, and former mayor of Beverly Hills Robert Tanenbaum, American Identity: Law Literature
  • Ugandan academic, author and political commentator Mahmood Mamdani, Good Muslim, Bad Muslim: As a Guide to Understanding Politics
  • “Father of sociobiology”, “Father of biodiversity” and two-time Pulitzer Prize winner E.O. Wilson, On the Common Ground Between the Humanities and the Sciences
  • British actress and BAFTA award-winner Miriam Margoyles (Professor Sprout in Harry Potter), Dicken’s Women
  • American physicist, author of the international bestseller Einstein’s Dreams, and social entrepreneur Dr. Alan Lightman
  • British public intellectual and literary theorist Terry Eagleton, The Death of Criticism
  • Irish American activist and author of All Souls and Easter Rising Michael Patrick MacDonald