The University Lecture was established in 1950 to honor members of the Boston University faculty engaged in outstanding research and creative pursuits. University Lecturers represent a vast array of disciplines and research topics, yet they share a common commitment to excellence in scholarly inquiry and discovery. The annual lecture provides an opportunity to highlight the work of a distinguished scholar and engage both the University community and the broader public in the vibrant intellectual life of Boston University.
Each spring, all members of the faculty are invited to make nominations for the subsequent year’s lecturer to the University Lecture Committee. The selection process for the lecture is designed to seek the input of a broad cross-section of the University community.
* Boston University strives to be accessible, inclusive, and diverse in our facilities, programming, and academic offerings. Your experience in this event is important to us. ASL interpreters and Live Captioning Services will be provided.
Recent Lectures
2025-26
Providence, Persistence, and Resilience: The Road to CTE
Presented by Ann McKee
2024-25
Why Not Better and Cheaper? Healthcare and Innovation
Presented by James Rebitzer
2023-24
Unifying Concepts: Critical Race Theory, Academic Freedom of Speech, and Democracy
Presented by Jasmine Gonzalez Rose
2022-23
Making Space for Wonder: In Person and Up Close
Presented by Josephine Halvorson
2021-22
Beneath and Beyond Human: Race and Technology Between Singularities
Presented by Louis Chude-Sokei
2020-21
From Cough to COVID: How Respiratory Infections Produce Problems and Our Bodies Fight Back
Presented by Joseph P. Mizgerd
2019-20
The Quest for Ethical Solutions for the Global Refugee Crisis
Presented by Muhammad Zaman
2018-19
Diversity and Plasticity of Life: A Biologist’s Journey from Embryo Self-Defense to Sexual Behavior
Presented by Karen Warkentin
2017-18
The Liberty to Copy Unpatented Inventions: Potential Collisions with Trademark and Copyright Law
Presented by Wendy Gordon
2016-17
Walden Warming: Climate Change Comes to Thoreau’s Woods
Presented by Richard Primack
2015-16
Sacred Waters: Historical Ecology, Power, and the Soul of the Blue Nile
Presented by James McCann
2014-15
A Bionic Pancreas for Type 1 Diabetes: The Long-Awaited Alternative to the Ever-Elusive Cure
Presented by Edward Damiano
2013-14
The D-Lightful Vitamin D for Health
Presented by Michael Holick
2012-13
The Ponzi Scheme Puzzle: The Stories Behind Some of the Biggest Liars in History
Presented by Tamar Frankel
2011-12
The Wonderful Things of Punt: Excavations at a Pharaonic Harbor on the Red Sea
Presented by Kathryn Bard
2010-11
Not a Note Too Many: Beethoven, McCartney, & Miles 2010
Presented by Jeremy Yudkin
2009-2010
Aeroecology: The Next Frontier
Presented by Thomas H. Kunz
2008-2009
Biology by Design
Presented by James J. Collins
2007-2008
Illusions of Managing History: The Enduring Relevance of Reinhold Niebuhr
Presented by Andrew J. Bacevich
2006-2007
Blood Wedding: The Saint Bartholomew’s Day Massacre in History and Memory
Presented by Barbara Diefendorf
2005-2006
American Bioethics after Nuremberg: Pragmatism, Politics, and Human Rights
Presented by George Annas
2004-2005
Macbeth and the Show of Kings
Presented by William C. Carroll
2003-2004
Crossing the Watershed: Biological and Other Worlds in the Post-Genomic Era
Presented by Charles Delisi