Distinguished Speakers
Marymount’s proximity to our nation’s capital enables the University to bring notable leaders to speak at University-wide lectures, give in-class presentations, talk with students at informal gatherings, or address Commencement ceremonies.
The Most Reverend Desmond Tutu, Archbishop Emeritus of Cape Town, South Africa, General Colin Powell (USA, Ret.), and White House journalist Helen Thomas are among those who have addressed Marymount students.
Distinguished Visiting Professor
The Distinguished Visiting Professor Colloquium Series is a University wide program that brings prominent speakers throughout the academic year to Marymount’s campus.
The primary goal of the Series is to enrich the intellectual life of the academic community. The program provides opportunities for Marymount faculty and students to interact with individuals who have significant influence in a wide array of fields.
Distinguished Visiting Professors offer first-hand insights into the worlds of finance, technology, government, health care, the media, and more. Their presentations enable the members of Marymount’s academic community to become more attuned to the challenges and opportunities prevalent in diverse areas of endeavor. Through the Series, the University’s faculty and students engage in substantive dialogue with leaders who shape and influence our world.
All Distinguished Visiting Professors are listed with their roles at the time of their presentations.
Bill Milliken
School of Education and Human Services Lecturer
Youth Advocate and Founder of Communities in Schools, Inc.
Eileen O’Grady, PhD, RN, NP-BC
Malek School of Health Professions Lecturer
Certified Nurse Practitioner and Wellness Coach
John F. Haught
Senior Fellow, Science and Religion
Woodstock Theological Center, Georgetown University
Stephen J. Suomi
Chief of the Laboratory of Comparative Ethology
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health
David Seiders
Chief Economist and Senior Staff Vice President
National Association of Home Builders
James Axtell
Kenan Professor of Humanities
College of William and Mary
William H. Rauckhorst, Ph.D.
Energy Ethics Expert
Professor of Physics, Miami University (Ohio)
Thomas A. Shippey
Medieval Scholar and Tolkien Expert
Walter J. Ong Chair of Humanities, Saint Louis University
Marybeth Brown
Professor of Physical Therapy
University of Missouri – Columbia
John A. Allison IV
Chairman and CEO
BB&T Corporation
Amitai Etzioni
Director
Institute for Communitarian Policy Studies,
The George Washington University
Rita Colwell
Former Director
National Science Foundation
Vinton G. Cerf
Senior Vice President for Architecture and Technology
WorldCom
John J. McDonnell, Jr.
Chairman and CEO
Transaction Network Services, Inc.
The Honorable William T. Coleman
Senior Partner and the Senior Counselor
O’Melveny and Myers, LLP
Former Secretary, U.S. Department of Transportation
Mario Morino
Chairman, The Morino Institute and Venture Philanthrophy Partners
Special Partner, General Atlantic Partners
Frederick W. Smith
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
FedEx Corporation
Bishop Joseph M. Sullivan, D.D.
Auxiliary Bishop, Diocese of Brooklyn
Executive Vice President, Board of Trustees
Catholic Charities of Brooklyn
William E. Conway, Jr.
Founding Partner and Managing Director
The Carlyle Group
Joseph E. Robert, Jr.
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
J.E. Robert Companies
Rajendra Singh
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Telcom Ventures, LLC
Cokie Roberts
ABC News Chief Congressional Analyst
Correspondent, This Week with Sam Donaldson and Cokie Roberts
Michael Hegarty
President and Chief Operating Officer
The Equitable Life Assurance Society
Dana Mead
Chairman and CEO
Tenneco
Olza M. Nicely
President and Chief Executive Officer
GEICO
Rose Marie Bravo
CEO
Burberry
H. Brian Thompson
Chairman and CEO
LCI International, Inc.
Frederic V. Malek
Chairman
Thayer Capital Partners
Edward D. Miller
Senior Vice Chairman
The Chase Manhattan Corporation
Mark R. Warner
Managing Director
Columbia Capital Corporation
William J. Bennett
Co-Director
Empower America
Barry J. Fitzpatrick
Chairman and CEO
First Virginia Banks, Inc.
The Honorable Jack F. Kemp
Former Secretary, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
Warren E. Buffett
Chairman and CEO
Berkshire Hathaway, Inc.
John J. Curley
Chairman, President, and CEO
Gannett Company, Inc.
Lawrence T. Babbio, Esq.
President and COO
Bell Atlantic Corporation
Senator J. William Fulbright
Former United States Senator
J. Willard Marriott, Jr.
Chairman and President
Marriott International Corporation, Inc.
Allen E. Murray
Chairman and CEO
Mobil Corporation
Norma T. Pace
President and CEO
Economic Consulting and Planning
Chairman, Board of Governors
U.S. Postal Service
William A. Schreyer
Chairman and CEO
Merrill Lynch & Company
Frank A. Bennack, Jr.
President and CEO
The Hearst Corporation
James O. Edwards
Chairman and CEO
ICF Kaiser International, Inc.
Thomas S. Johnson
Former President
Manufacturers Hanover Corporation
John F. McGillicuddy
Chairman and CEO
Chemical Banking Corporation
Diane Ravitch
Assistant Secretary for Education
U.S. Department of Education
Charles O. Rossotti
Chairman and CEO
American Management Systems
Frederic V. Salerno
Vice Chairman
NYNEX Corporation
Lawrence M. Small
President
Federal National Mortgage Association
Preston Robert Tisch
Chairman and Co-CEO
Loews Corporation
Celestino Beltran
President and CEO
Comprehensive Technologies International
J. Peter Grace
Chairman and CEO
W.R. Grace and Company
Lawrence A. Kudlow
Senior Managing Director and Chief Economist
The Bear Stearns Company, Inc.
The Honorable Antonia Novello
Surgeon General of the United States
The Honorable Maxwell M. Rabb
Former U.S. Ambassador to Italy
E. John Rosenwald, Jr.
Vice Chairman
The Bear Stearns Company, Inc.
Marymount Ethics Award
The Marymount University Ethics Award recognizes individuals who have made an outstanding contribution to the pursuit and support of ethics in their fields. Recipients are publicly recognized and invited to speak about the importance they attach to fostering ethical value systems.
2017
Sara Ganim
Correspondent for CNN and Pulitzer Prize Winner (2012)
Honored for her courageous work in reporting difficult and unpopular stories in advocacy of the truth.
2015
Sr. Simone Campbell, SSS
Executive Director of NETWORK, a Catholic lobby organization, which, in accordance with the Catholic Social Justice tradition, acts to create a society that promotes justice and the dignity of all in the shared abundance of God’s creation.
Honored for all her work on behalf of the marginalized and oppressed.
2014
Peter Phan, Ph.D.
The Ellacuria Professor of Catholic Social Thought in the Department of Theology at Georgetown University.
Honored for his service to the church and the academy in crossing borders of race, religion, and immigration status.
2013
Bradley Myles
Executive director and CEO of Polaris Project, an organization that combats human trafficking
Honored for his work to bring modern slavery into the light, where it can be eradicated, and survivors can reclaim their lives
2011
Richard E. Grant
MD, professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at Case Western Reserve University Medical School, Cleveland, OH.
Honored for his uncompromising commitment to the ethical practice of medicine, his compassionate service to those in need, and his groundbreaking leadership that has opened doors for underrepresented minorities to pursue careers in orthopaedic surgery.
2008
Sr. Helen Prejean
CSJ, anti-death penalty activist and author, Dead Man Walking: An Eyewitness Account of the Death Penalty in the United States
2006
Carol R. Taylor
RN, MSN, PhD, director of the Georgetown University Center for Clinical Bioethics
Honored for her leadership in health care ethics and her passion to “make health care work.”
2005
Ben Bradlee
Vice president at large for The Washington Post
Honored for his distinguished career of journalistic accomplishment and his commitment to the profession’s highest ethical standards. Throughout his career, Mr. Bradlee has been willing to make tough decisions, based on his conviction that journalists have a duty to find the truth and keep the public informed.
2004
The Most Reverend Desmond Mpilo Tutu
Archbishop Emeritus of Cape Town, South Africa; 1984 Nobel Peace Prize recipient
Honored for his lifelong dedication to human rights and human dignity and his efforts to promote understanding and reconciliation in South Africa and around the world.
2003
Charles H. Epps, Jr.
MD, chief of Orthopaedic Surgery at the Howard University College of Medicine for 24 years
Honored for his uncompromising commitment to the ethical practice of medicine, his compassionate service to those in need, and his ground-breaking leadership that opened doors for African-American physicians
2002
Dr. Edmund D. Pellegrino
Noted bioethicist and professor emeritus of Medicine and Medical Ethics at Georgetown University Medical Center
Honored for his vision and leadership in fostering medical ethics
2000
Sir John M. Templeton
Wall Street legend and philanthropist
Honored for his support of initiatives through the Templeton Foundation that promote spiritual and ethical development
1998
Norman R. Augustine
Former chairman and CEO of Lockheed Martin Corporation
Honored for his commitment to business ethics and development of a ground-breaking corporate ethics program at Lockheed Martin
Marya McLaughlin Lecture Series in Media Communications
The Marya McLaughlin Endowed Lectureship in Media Communications honors a well-known CBS News radio and television correspondent, and each year provides Marymount students and faculty with valuable insights and inspiration from journalists of national stature.
Lecturers
David Gelles
A five-time Emmy Award-winning Executive Producer of CNN’s Political Programming. Gelles won four Emmy awards for his work on The Today Show and another for his work on NBC’s documentary, Inside the Obama White House.
Carol Leonnig
An investigative and enterprise journalist at the Washington Post
Pulitzer Prize-winner, Polk Award for Political Reporting recipient, Selden Ring Award for Investigative Reporting recipient
Justin Kenny
Small Footprints Film, Owner
Foreign and defense editor and contributor, PBS Newshour
Emmy Award Winner, Peabody award winner, Marymount graduate
Myron Belkind
Associated Press foreign correspondent and bureau chief
Steven V. Roberts
Nationally known journalist, political analyst, and author
Mark Shields
Syndicated columnist and political analyst, PBS NewsHour
Kathleen McCleery
Deputy Executive Producer, The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer
Gordon Peterson
Anchor of WJLA-TV 7’s News at 6 p.m.
Moderator and producer of Inside Washington
Andrea Roane
Emmy award-winning journalist Co-anchor, W*USA 9 News Now
Bob Steele
Media ethicist and the Nelson Poynter Scholar for Journalism Values at The Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, Florida
Bob Edwards
Host, The Bob Edwards Show, XM Public Radio Former Host, Morning Edition, National Public Radio
Helen Thomas
Washington columnist, Hearst News Service
Bob Levey
Columnist, The Washington Post
Bob Schieffer
Chief Washington Correspondent, CBS News
Anchor/Moderator, Face the Nation
Roger Mudd
Award-winning broadcast journalist
Bisson Lecture in the Humanities
The Bisson Lecture in the Humanities was established in 2009 in honor of Professor Lillian Bisson. A scholar of medieval literature, former director of the graduate program in Humanities, and chair of the Department of Literature and Languages, Professor Bisson retired from Marymount University in 2010 after forty-one years of service.
To recognize Professor Bisson’s passion for the humanities as well as her record of scholarship, teaching, and service, the graduate program in Literature, Language, and the Humanities annually invites a distinguished scholar in the humanities to deliver the Bisson Lecture on a topic of humanistic inquiry.
Past Lecturers
Regie Cabico
Filipino-American poet, public storyteller, and prize-winning spoken word artist whose work has been published in many anthologies, including Aloud: Voices from the Nuyorican Poets Café.
Dorsey Armstrong
Professor of English and Medieval Literature at Purdue University, Lecturer for The Great Courses “King Arthur and the Knights of the Public Humanities: Literature in the Classroom, on Guided Tours, and on Screen.”
Brigitte Fielder
Assistant Professor of Comparative Literature, University of Wisconsin-Madison “Antislavery Children’s Literature and Twenty-First Century Antiracism”
Jonathan Deiss
Citizen Archivist, National Archives “Using Your Humanities Skills Outside the Establishment”
Marlene Tromp
Professor of English and Women’s Studies, Dean of the New College of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences at Arizona State University “Bloody Murder: Solving Victorian Crimes with Forensics and the Humanities”
Steven Lubar
Professor, American Studies, History, and History of Art and Architecture, Brown University “The Curator Rules”
Peter S. Donaldson
Professor of Literature and Ford Foundation Professor in the Humanities, MIT “Global Shakespeares, Cultural Translation, and the Future of Digital Humanities”
Julie Ellison
Professor of American Culture and English, University of Michigan “Naming the New Public Humanists”
Jesse Alemán
Department of English Language and Literature, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque “Wars of Rebellion: US Hispanic Writings and their American Civil Wars”
Bonnie Wheeler
Department of English, Medieval Studies Program, Southern Methodist University “Humiliation: Reputation Management in the Middle Ages”
Jo Ann H. Moran Cruz
Dean, College of Humanities and Natural Sciences, Loyola University, New Orleans “Reading Dante between the Lines”
The Hubbard Lecture
This lecture series is designed to honor the 50 years of service and commitment Rosemary Hubbard gave to Marymount during her illustrious career as a faculty member. Speakers consist of exemplary alumni of Marymount’s Department of Biology and Physical Sciences programs.
See a complete list of speakers.
The Myhill Lecture
The Myhill lecture is designed to honor the memory of Dr. Elizabeth Myhill, beloved physics professor at Marymount University from 1993-2010. This event, held in conjunction with the Myhill family, recognizes the contributions of women to the fields of physics and astronomy, an area that was important to Dr. Myhill. Past speakers include the following:
2019
Dr. Meredith MacGregor, NSF Astronomy and Astrophysics Post Doctoral Fellow, Department of Terrestrial Magnetism, Carnegie Institution of Washington
2018
Dr. Eleonora Troja, Associate Research Scientist, Department of Astronomy, University of Maryland & NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Astrophysics Science Division
2017
Dr. Heather Archambault, Modeling, Analysis, Predictions, and Projections (MAPP) Program Manager, NOAA Climate Program Office
2016
Dr. Amy Simon, Senior Scientist for Planetary Atmospheres, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
2015
Dr. Jocelyne DiRuggiero, Associate Research Professor, Department of Biology and Department of Earth and Planetary Science, Johns Hopkins University
2014
Dr. Bethany Johns, Assistant Director of Research Policy at Associate of Public and Land Grant Universities & American Institute of Physics
2013
Dr. Lori Glaze, Planetary Science Division Directory, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
2012
Dr. Alycia Weinberger, Staff Scientist, Department of Terrestrial Magnetism, Carnegie Institution of Washington
Visiting Author Series
The Visiting Author Series was established in 2011 in partnership with the Arlington County Public Library’s Arlington Reads initiative. The series is part of the first-year composition program housed in the Department of Literature and Languages. The featured author and his/her works are incorporated into the program curriculum each spring.
Valeria Luiselli (2020)
Los Angeles Times Book Prize and American Book Award winner, author of Tell Me How It Ends: An Essay in Forty Questions
Mary Karr (2019)
New York Times bestseller and PEN/Martha Albrand Award-winning memoir, The Liar’s Club
Katherine Boo (2018)
National Book Award for Nonfiction and Los Angeles Times Book Prize, Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity
Elizabeth Strout (2017)
Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, Olive Kitteridge
Julie Otsuka (2016)
American Library Association’s Alex Award and the Asian American Literary Award, When the Emperor Was Divine
Jesmyn Ward (2015)
Two-time National Book Award winner, author of Men We Reaped
Richard Ford (2014)
Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Sportswriter
Junot Diaz (2013)
Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
Jennifer Egan (2012)
Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, A Visit from the Goon Squad
Tim O’Brien (2011)
National Book Award Winner for his collection of stories, The Things They Carried