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Distinguished Scholars

Each spring, the College of Liberal Arts engages a speaker for the Distinguished Scholars presentation aimed at drawing attention to one or more of the disciplines within the liberal arts, to appeal to the general public and to faculty and students by illustrating high intellectual achievement. Programs are of general humanistic appeal with interdisciplinary topics. The speaker is asked to make one public presentation and one presentation to students.

Recent Presentation


Distinguished Scholar

Wednesday, February 26, 2025 
1 p.m. | Kleymeyer Hall 

professional portrait of Distinguished Scholar D. Vesna DimitrieskaWe will welcome Dr. Vesna Dimitrieska, Director of Global Education Initiatives at Indiana University Bloomington, on Wednesday, February 26, 2025, as part of our annual Distinguished Scholar speaker series. 

"My work focuses on expanding the world language programs in K-12 education across Indiana as well as internationalizing P-16 education. My research interests include language teacher cognition, language teacher identity, reflective practices of teacher educators, as well as instructional practices and professional development of language teachers in foreign/second language contexts and dual language immersion programs," says Dimitrieska. 

Watch here

Series Coordinator

Getting here

Kleymeyer Hall is located in the lower level of the Liberal Arts Center, next to the McCutchan Art Gallery, on the west side of the campus.

Past Presentations


2023-2024

Dr. Pilar Egüez Guevara, is an Ecuadorian cultural anthropologist, writer and award-winning filmmaker. Over the past 20 years she has lived, worked and carried out research and community-based projects in and about Ecuador, Argentina, Brazil, Cuba and Japan. She is co-founder and director of Comidas que Curan (Foods that Heal), an independent food education and media company dedicated to researching and promoting traditional foods and knowledge through ethnographic research and film. Her award-winning documentaries have been screened in three different languages across North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia. Through her research, public speaking and films, she amplifies the voices of older men and women who are the bearers of traditional knowledge about food and medicine in Latin America. She has brought this work to communities in Ecuador through filmmaking and research education projects, as well as to US college students in the United States through film screenings and lectures. She is a published author and speaks internationally on topics ranging from cultural history, food heritage, health, nutrition and conflict transformation. She is currently lecturer at the Anthropology Department of University of Massachusetts Amherst. Learn more at http://www.comidasquecuran.org.

2022-2023

George Ironstrack will present Neepwaantiinki 'Partners in Learning' - the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma and Miami University

2021-2022

Marisa Kwiatkowski and Tim Evans will discuss the USA Gymnastics’ sexual abuse scandal, including how they exposed Larry Nassar’s sexual abuse and USA Gymnastics’ negligence in failing to protect its gymnasts from a serial sexual predator.

Presentation: "An Evening with Marisa Kwiatkowski and Tim Evans - Reporters Who Helped Expose Larry Nassar and USA Gymnastics." See the presentation.

2017-2018

Dr. Alida Merlo from the Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice.

Presentation: "Criminal Justice Policy Reform: How the Court Transformed Juvenile Justice"

2014-2015

Dr. Sean Safforddirector of the Master of Public Affairs Program and associate professor of economic sociology at Sciences Po in Paris

2013-2014

Dr. John Corvino, chair of the Philosophy Department at Wayne State University

2012-2013

Terry Schreiber, director of Tony-nominated play K2, The Trip Back Down on Broadway

2011-2012

Dr. W. Robert Connor, Senior Advisor, The Teagle Foundation

2010-2011

Barbara Rosenwein, Professor of History at Loyola University in Chicago, Illinois

2009-2010

Alan Cheuse, National Public Radio’s “Voice of Books” and professor of English at George Mason University, teaching in their Creative Writing Program

2008-2009

Dr. Roy F. Fox, Professor of English Education at the University of Missouri-Columbia

2007-2008

John David Mooney, an artist, who is the founder and artistic director of the John David Mooney Foundation

2006-2007

Dr. S. Ravi Rajan, Associate Professor of Environmental Studies and Provost of College Eight at the University of California, Santa Cruz

2005-2006

Dr. Nancy Tuana, Professor of Philosophy and Women's Studies, Penn State University

2004-2005

Dr. Alan Dawley, Professor of History at the College of New Jersey

2003-2004

Dr. Wolfgang Mieder, professor of German and Folklore at the University of Vermont

2002-2003

Dr. Judy C. Pearson, professor of communication, director of the doctoral program, and associate dean of the college of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences at North Dakota State University

2001-2002

E. Ethelbert Miller, Poet and Humanities Lecturer

2000-2001

E. Mark Cummings, Notre Dame

1999-2000

Judy Chicago, Feminist, Artist

1998-1999

William Corsaro, IU Sociologist

1997-1998

Francis Fukuyama, George Mason U. Political Scientist

1994-1995

Jonathan Brown, Historian at the U. of Texas

1993-1994

Uwe Timm, German author and Screenwriter

1991-1992

Tony Jones, School of the Chicago Art Institute

1990-1991

Dale Van Etta, Investigative Reporter

1989-1990

Nikki Giovanni, Poet

1988-1989

Richard Cohen, Columnist

1987-1988

Allan Bloom, Philosopher

1986-1987

Karl Haas, Musician, Broadcaster

1985-1986

John Ciardi, Poet

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College of Liberal Arts

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