UB Distinguished Speakers Series announces 2012-13 schedule

AMHERST - The University at Buffalo has announced the schedule for its 26th annual Distinguished Speakers Series, which will run from Sept. 20 through April 27 at 8 p.m. in Alumni Arena and the Center for the Arts on the UB North Campus.

This year’s speakers have written bestselling -- and sometimes provocative -- books; been cited for corporate excellence, and received a Grammy Award, an Emmy Award, the American Comedy Award, the O. Henry Award, the Library of Congress Living Legend Medal, and have been included in Time Magazine’s “100 Most Influential Scientists and Thinkers” and Newsweek’s “100 Americans for the Next Century.”

Conservative political and cultural commentator David Brooks will open the series on Sept. 20 in the UB Center for the Arts, followed on Oct. 10 by former First Lady Laura Bush in Alumni Arena and by social entrepreneur Blake Mycoskie, founder of TOMS shoes and the man behind the growing One for One movement, on Nov. 15 in Alumni Arena.

In addition, bestselling novelist and social commentator Walter Mosley will present the keynote address at UB’s 37th annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Commemoration Event on Feb. 28 in the Center for the Arts.

The Graduate Student Choice Speaker, world-renowned cognitive scientist and author Steven Pinker, will appear on March 27 in the Center for the Arts.

The 2012-13 series will close on April 27 in Alumni Arena with the Undergraduate Student Choice Speaker, actor, comedian, playwright, producer and musician Steve Martin.  

UB President Satish K. Tripathi calls this year’s lineup of speakers “truly world-class educators, leading public figures at the vanguard of 21st century arts and culture, science and global policy. We are delighted to have the opportunity to bring their voices to our university and our community through this series.”

Dennis Black, UB vice president for university life and services, notes that a key feature of the Distinguished Speakers Series remains “exchange.”

“The series not only offers a lecture platform, but an opportunity for audience interaction with speakers through the question-and-answer session that follows each talk,” he says.

“This year it will reflect what UB is all about: citizenship, service, diversity, discovery and a little bit of fun,” says Black, “and in bringing leading voices in key areas of concern and opportunity to our community for our collective consideration, the series serves its original intentions well.”