NEWS
NORMAN, OKLA. – The University of Oklahoma announced today three renowned speakers who will be visiting OU’s Norman campus over the 2024-25 academic year. OU will host two Presidential Speakers Series dinner events. Doris Kearns Goodwin will present “Leadership: In Turbulent Times” on Sept. 5. On Feb. 26, OU will host “An Evening of Perspective with Peggy Noonan.” To conclude OU’s observance of Free Speech Week, Greg Lukianoff will present a keynote address, “Free Speech and Cancel Culture,” on Oct. 22.
“We’re delighted to bring these renowned experts in American history and politics to the University of Oklahoma,” said OU President Joseph Harroz Jr. “These events will serve as a testament to the power of civility, respect and democracy in shaping our collective future.”
Fall 2024 Presidential Speakers Series Dinner
6 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024
Oklahoma Memorial Union Ballroom, 900 Asp Ave., Norman
Author, presidential historian and public speaker Doris Kearns Goodwin will present “Leadership: In Turbulent Times.”
Goodwin’s books include the critically acclaimed and New York Times bestselling Leadership: In Turbulent Times, which incorporates her five decades of scholarship studying Presidents Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson. Her work also inspired the History Channel’s miniseries events Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt and FDR, which Goodwin executive produced through her production company, Pastimes Productions, Inc.
Goodwin was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in history for No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front in World War II. Her Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln was awarded the Lincoln Prize and was, in part, the basis for Steven Spielberg’s highly acclaimed film Lincoln. She is well known for her appearances and commentary on television and is seen frequently in documentaries, television news, cable networks and late-night talk shows.
Spring 2025 Presidential Speakers Series Dinner
6 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2025
Oklahoma Memorial Union Ballroom, 900 Asp Ave., Norman
Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist and best-selling author Peggy Noonan will join Harroz for the Spring 2024 Presidential Speakers Series dinner, “An Evening of Perspective with Peggy Noonan.”
Noonan is the author of nine books on American politics, history and culture, including the bestsellers What I Saw at the Revolution and When Character Was King. She received a Pulitzer Prize for Political Commentary for her coverage of the 2016 presidential election. She is a longtime columnist for the Wall Street Journal, where her weekly column, Declarations, has run since 2000. She is one of 10 historians and writers who contributed essays on the American presidency for the book Character Above All. Noonan’s essays have appeared in TIME, Newsweek, The Washington Post, and other publications, and she frequently provides political commentary on television.
Noonan was a special assistant and speechwriter for President Ronald Reagan. In 2010, she was given the Award for Media Excellence by the living recipients of the Congressional Medal of Honor; the following year, she was chosen as Columnist of the Year by The Week. In November 2016, the New York Public Library named her one of the city’s Literary Lions. She has been a fellow at Harvard University’s Institute of Politics and has taught in the history department at Yale University.
Fall 2024 Free Speech Week Keynote
3 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024
Oklahoma Memorial Union, Associates Room, 900 Asp Ave., Norman
Closing a week of events celebrating freedom of speech, attorney, bestselling author, and the president and CEO of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, Greg Lukianoff will deliver a keynote address titled “Free Speech and Cancel Culture.”
Lukianoff is the author of Unlearning Liberty: Campus Censorship and the End of American Debate, Freedom From Speech, and FIRE’s Guide to Free Speech on Campus. He co-authored The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure with Jonathan Haidt and The Canceling of the American Mind: Cancel Culture Undermines Trust and Threatens Us All—But There Is a Solution with Rikki Schlott.
Lukianoff is an executive producer of Can We Take a Joke?, a feature-length documentary released in 2015 that explores the collision between comedy, censorship and outrage culture, both on and off campus, and for the award-winning feature-length film released in 2020, Mighty Ira: A Civil Liberties Story, about the life and career of former ACLU Executive Director Ira Glasser.
Lukianoff has been published in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, The Boston Globe, and numerous other publications. He frequently appears on TV shows and radio programs, including the CBS Evening News, The Today Show, and NPR’s Morning Edition. In 2008, he became the first-ever recipient of the Playboy Foundation’s Freedom of Expression Award, and he has testified before both the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives about free speech issues on America’s college campuses.
Limited seating for the fall events is available by reservation to OU students, faculty, staff and alumni. Overflow seating will be available to the public. For reservations, more information and accommodations, email universityevents@ou.edu or call (405) 325-1701. RSVP information for the Presidential Speakers Series Dinner with Peggy Noonan will be available in Spring 2025.
More information about the events is available at ou.edu/president/speakerseries and ou.edu/freespeechweek.
About the University of Oklahoma
Founded in 1890, the University of Oklahoma is a public research university located in Norman, Oklahoma. As the state’s flagship university, OU serves the educational, cultural, economic and health care needs of the state, region and nation. OU was named the state’s highest-ranking university in U.S. News & World Report’s most recent Best Colleges list. For more information about the university, visit ou.edu.
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