The Jonathan and Maxine Marshall Distinguished Lecture Series brings nationally known scholars concerned with promoting culture through the humanities and a better understanding of the problems of democracy to Arizona State University.
This annual free public lecture is funded with a gift from Jonathan and Maxine Marshall.
An Evening with Dan-el Padilla Peralta
2024 featured speaker
Tuesday, Oct. 22 at 7 p.m. | Roskind Great Hall (ARM 101)
About the speaker
Padilla is a professor at Princeton University where he specializes in classics, African American studies, Latino studies and Latin America. He came to the United States with his family from the Dominican Republic in 1989 and grew up in New York.
He has written several books including his memoir “Undocumented: A Dominican Boy’s Odyssey from a Homeless Shelter to the Ivy League.” Padilla co-founded Racing the Classics, a two-day conference focused on using and developing theories of race and ethnicity within their field, which recently received $1 million in funding from the Mellon Foundation. He currently sits on the board of the RaceB4Race collective and is the volume co-editor for “The Cambridge History of the African Diaspora.”
Parking information
Visitor parking is available in several lots and parking garages near the venue. All parking fees are the responsibility of event attendees. For a list of parking locations and associated fees, please visit cfo.asu.edu/daily-and-hourly.
| Year | Lecturer | Title |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Eddie Glaude Jr. | Author and political commentator |
| 2022 | Rita Dove | American poet and essayist |
| 2021 | Clint Smith III | #1 New York Times bestselling author |
| 2020 | Colson Whitehead | American novelist |
| 2018 | Claudia Rankine | Award-winning author |
| 2017 | Roger Cohen | Journalist and author |
| 2016 | Amy Goodman | Host and executive producer of Democracy Now! |
| 2015 | Jane Smiley | Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist, essayist and biographer |
| 2014 | Charles Blow | Visual op-ed columnist for The New York Times |
| 2013 | David Walsh | Chief sports writer of the British newspaper The Sunday Times |
| 2012 | Russ Feingold | Former senator, public speaker, educator. |
| 2011 | Nikki Giovanni | World-renowned poet, activist and educator |
| 2010 | Kerry Kennedy | International human rights advocate and author |
| 2009 | Heather Rae | Award-winning Cherokee film director and producer |
| 2008 | Calvin Trillin | Humorist, journalist and author |
| 2007 | Robin Wright | Acclaimed journalist |
| 2006 | Jon Meacham | Managing Editor of Newsweek |
| 2005 | Seymour Hersh | Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist |
| 2004 | Paul Krugman | Professor, Economist, Author and New York Times Columnist |
| 2003-cancelled | Wendy Wasserstein | Playwright |
| 2002 | Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. | Senior attorney, Natural Resources Defense Council |
| 2001-cancelled | Martha Nussbaum | Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics, University of Chicago |
| 2000 | Baruch Blumberg | Director, NASA's Astrobiology Institute |
| 1998 | Martin Marty | Director, Public Religion Project, University of Chicago School of Divinity |
| 1997 | Daniel Goldhagen | Author, “Hitler's Willing Executioners: Ordinary Germans and the Holocaust” |
| 1997 | Arthur Caplan | Director, Center of Bioethics, University of Pennsylvania President, American Association of Bioethics |
| 1996 | Doris Kearns Goodwin | Pulitzer Prize winning historian |
| 1995 | Lester Brown | Founder, WorldWatch Institute |
| 1994 | Thomas Wicker | Former editorial columnist, The New York Times |
| 1993 | Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. | Pulitzer Prize winning historian |