UB announces lineup for 2024-25 Distinguished Speakers Series

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The University at Buffalo’s Distinguished Speakers Series returns for 2024-25 with a lineup of engaging, inspiring and entertaining speakers.

The season will feature:

• Presidential historian and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jon Meacham.
• Nobel Laureate, United Nations Goodwill Ambassador and bestselling author Nadia Murad.
• American Ballet Theatre principal dancer, philanthropist and New York Times bestselling author Misty Copeland.
• Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin.

All events take place at 7 p.m. in the Mainstage Theatre in the Center for the Arts, North Campus.

“From the page to the world’s stage, the remarkable speakers in our 2024-25 season are helping us understand how the past shapes the future, championing fundamental rights and using their celebrity to positively impact people’s lives,” said President Satish K. Tripathi. “We are delighted to welcome each of them to the University at Buffalo for an evening of candid conversation, critical insights and inspired perspectives.”

The series kicks off on Oct. 16 with an appearance by presidential historian Jon Meacham.

One of America's most prominent public intellectuals and a skilled orator with a depth of knowledge about politics, religion and current affairs, Meacham has the unique ability to bring history to life and offer historical context to current events and issues impacting our daily lives.

He is the author of numerous New York Times bestsellers, including “Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush,” “Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power,” “Franklin and Winston,” “American Gospel,” “And There Was Light: Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle” and “American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House,” which won a Pulitzer Prize.

Other bestsellers include “Songs of America,” a celebration of the music that helped shape a nation; “The Soul of America: The Battle for Our Better Angels,” which examines the present moment in American politics and life by looking back at critical times in U.S. history when hope overcame division and fear; and “His Truth Is Marching On: John Lewis and the Power of Hope,” a portrait of civil rights icon and longtime U.S. congressman John Lewis.

He is a co-author of “Impeachment: An American History,” which reveals the complicated motives behind the three impeachments in U.S. history. His latest book, “The Call to Serve,” honors the 100th anniversary of George H.W. Bush’s birth and is an illuminating portrait of a man who was more than his politics.

Nobel Laureate Nadia Murad will take the stage on Nov. 14.

Murad is a leading advocate for survivors of genocide and sexual violence. Her New York Times bestselling memoir, “The Last Girl: My Story of Captivity, and My Fight Against the Islamic State,” is a harrowing account of the genocide against the Yazidi ethno-religious minority in Iraq and Murad’s imprisonment by the so-called Islamic State (ISIS).

Much of Murad’s advocacy work is focused on raising awareness of the systemic use of sexual violence as a weapon of war and the genocide against the Yazidi people. In 2016, Murad became the first UN Office of Drugs and Crime Goodwill Ambassador for the Dignity of Survivors of Human Trafficking. That year, she was also awarded the Council of Europe Václav Havel Award for Human Rights and the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought.

In 2018, she won the Nobel Peace Prize alongside Denis Mukwege for their effort to end the use of sexual violence in conflict. In 2019, Murad was appointed a U.N. Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Advocate.

As a member of France’s Gender Advisory Council, Murad advocated G7 member states adopt legislation that protects and promotes women’s rights. She worked with the German Mission to the United Nations to pass U.N. Security Council Resolution 2467, which expands the U.N.’s commitments to end sexual violence in conflict. Murad was also a driving force behind the drafting and passing of U.N. Security Council Resolution 2379, which established the United Nations Investigative Team (UNITAD) to Promote Accountability for Crimes Committed by Da’esh/ISIS.

Bestselling author and philanthropist Misty Copeland will visit UB on Feb. 12 as the university’s 49th Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Commemoration keynote speaker. 

The first Black woman to be promoted to the position of principal dancer in the 75-year history of the American Ballet Theatre, Copeland has performed some of the most iconic classical ballet roles, including Odette/Odile in “Swan Lake,” Juliet in “Romeo and Juliet,” “Giselle,” “Manon,” “Coppelia,” Kitri in “Don Quixote” and “Firebird,” to name a few.

An avid philanthropist, Copeland is an ambassador of the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, of which she is also an alumna, and of MindLeaps, an arts education program based in Rwanda that helps young people get off the streets and into an academic setting to help enhance their lives.

In 2022, she launched The Misty Copeland Foundation; its first signature program, BE BOLD, aims to bring greater diversity, equity and inclusion to dance, especially ballet.

Copeland is The New York Times bestselling author of “Life in Motion,” “Ballerina Body” and “Black Ballerinas,” as well as a picture book titled “Bunheads.” She is also the author of the award-winning children’s picture book “Firebird.” Copeland’s newest book, “The Wind at My Back,” in tribute to her late mentor and friend, pioneering ballerina Raven Wilkinson, was published in November 2022.

She received the Spingarn Medal, the NAACP’s highest honor, in 2021.

This year’s series will conclude on March 13 with an appearance by Buffalo Bills safety and sudden cardiac arrest survivor Damar Hamlin.

A champion both on and off the field, Hamlin has left an indelible mark through his remarkable journey of resilience and philanthropy following his recovery from the sudden cardiac arrest he experienced on Jan. 2, 2023, during a Monday Night Football game against the Cincinnati Bengals. He required CPR and the use of an automated external defibrillator (AED) on the field before he was taken in an ambulance to University of Cincinnati Medical Center.

Since then, Hamlin has become a dedicated advocate for increasing awareness of CPR training and AED access. He launched the CPR Tour, a groundbreaking initiative through his Chasing M’s Foundation, that has equipped more than 1,200 individuals with lifesaving skills, provided 170 AEDs to communities in need and catalyzed legislative change in 12 states.

This year, the foundation plans to expand the CPR Tour to five U.S. cities and internationally to Europe, Asia and Africa.

Hamlin and his foundation have extended their impact beyond the CPR Tour through various other initiatives, including football clinics, back-to-school drives, an annual toy drive, Thanksgiving drives, and health and wellness programs.

Hamlin is the recipient of numerous accolades, among them the 2023 Pro Football Writers Association’s George Halas Award recognizing the NFL player, coach or staff member who overcomes the most adversity to succeed, the Comeback Player of the Year, the NFL Players Association’s 2023 Alan Page Community Award and the 2023 Ed Block Courage Award.

Those who held 2023-24 series subscriptions (all events as a package) will receive an email about how to renew their subscriptions for 2024-25. Those who would like to purchase new series subscriptions may do so beginning at noon on Aug 28. Individual event tickets will be available for purchase beginning at noon on Sept. 5. Both new subscriptions and individual event ticket orders may be placed through Ticketmaster or in-person at the UB Center for the Arts Ticket Office.

Information on how UB students may access tickets will be provided online before each event.

UB’s Distinguished Speakers Series has been bringing the world to UB audiences for more than 36 years.

The 2024-25 series is presented by the Donald L. Davis Lectureship Fund. Series sponsors include The Buffalo News; Inspire Dental Group; the James Fenton Lecture Foundation; UB College of Arts and Sciences; UB Graduate Student Association; and WGRZ.

Speaker and ticket information can be found on the Distinguished Speakers Series website.