Distinguished Lecture Series
The Realizing the Dream Distinguished Lecture Series showcases diverse perspectives on topics of injustice, human equality and social justice.
Previous Lecturers
Dr. David Satcher
16th Surgeon General of the United States
Wil Haygood
biographer, author, and reporter
Dr. Asa Gordon
retired NASA astrodynamicist, civil rights advocate
Dr. Jonathan L. Walton
social ethicist and scholar of religions
Bryan Stevenson
executive director, Equal Justice Initiative
Julissa Arce
civil rights advocate
Dr. Gina Athena Ulysse
Haitian scholar and performance artist
Dr. Linda Beito and Dr. David Beito
Stillman College and UA scholars respectively
Rev. Samuel “Billy” Kyles
Memphis minister with Dr. King when he was assassinated
Dr. K.P.S. Kamath
physician and mental health lecturer
Alice Walker
novelist
Dr. Christian Davenport
Maryland-College Park senior researcher
Dr. Gary Orfield
Harvard University civil rights scholar
Dr. Paul Schulte
occupational safety and health authority
Dr. Michael Eric Dyson
University of Pennsylvania humanities professor
Rev. James M. Lawson
civil rights activist
Dr. Stephanie Luce
University of Massachusetts at Amherst economics professor
Dr. Bernice Johnson Reagon
Grammy Award-winning singer
Dr. William Darity and Cary C. Boshamer
UNC-Chapel Hill and Duke University scholars, respectively
Dr. Linda Reed
University of Houston professor
Mary Stanton
activist and author
Susana Almanza
environmentalist
Dorothy Turner
human rights and justice advocate
Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth
civil rights pioneer