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Distinguished Voices Lecture Series

UNF is proud to partner with the World Affairs Council of Jacksonville to bring distinguished speakers to our campus.

If you have any questions about the lecture series, please contact UNF Events.

For information about other campus events, please search in the online calendar of events.

2024-2025 Lecture Series Schedule

Mon. Nov. 4, 2024

7 p.m. | Adam W. Herbert University Center

General David H. Petraeus. USA (Ret.): "Future of Warfare"

General David H. Petraeus (US Army, Ret.) is a Partner in the global investment firm KKR and Chairman of the KKR Global Institute, which he established in mid-2013. He is also a member of the boards of Optiv and OneStream, a Strategic Advisor for Semperis, the Chairman of the International Advisory Board for Advanced Navigation, a personal venture investor, engaged in various academic endeavors, and co-author with Andrew Roberts of the forthcoming book titled Conflict: The Evolution of Warfare from 1945 to Ukraine.

Prior to joining KKR, General Petraeus served over 37 years in the U.S. military, culminating his career with six consecutive commands as a general officer, five of which were in combat, including command of the Surge in Iraq, command of U.S. Central Command, and command of Coalition Forces in Afghanistan. Following retirement from the military, and after confirmation by the Senate in a vote of 94-0, he served as the Director of the CIA during a period of significant achievements in the war on terror.

General Petraeus has earned numerous awards and decorations, including four Defense Distinguished Service Medals, the Secretary of State’s Distinguished Service Award, the Bronze Star Medal for Valor, two NATO Meritorious Service Medals, the Combat Action Badge, Master Parachutist Wings, and the Ranger Tab.

This event has reached capacity. Visit the link below to join the waitlist.

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Wed. Dec. 4, 2024

7 p.m. | Adam W. Herbert University Center

David Sanger:
"The New Cold Wars"

When readers of the New York Times look to understand the swirling dynamics of wars, diplomacy, cyber conflict and geopolitics, they look for the byline of one of the paper’s most senior correspondents: David E. Sanger, the three-time Pulitzer Prize winner and White House and National Security Correspondent. Over a 40-year career at the Times, Sanger has become known for the depth of his sources in the world of national security, his painstaking reporting and research, and his in-depth investigations into the complex events of our time.

‍And his reach goes far beyond the Times. He is a CNN contributor on national security and politics. He is the bestselling author of four books — The Inheritance, Confront and Conceal, The Perfect Weapon, and, most recently, New Cold Wars: China’s Rise, Russia’s Invasion, and America’s Struggle to Defend the West, which debuted on the New York Times bestseller list. Sanger also teaches national security at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, where the class he conducts with Graham Allison, “Central Challenges in American National Security, Strategy and the Press,’’ is among the most popular at the school.

Tickets open to public in November

Tue. Jan. 21, 2025

7 p.m. | UNF Fine Arts Center

Henry Louis Gates, Jr.:
"Finding Our Global Roots"

Henry Louis Gates, Jr. is the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and Director of the Hutchins Center for African & African American Research at Harvard University. Emmy and Peabody Award-winning filmmaker, literary scholar, journalist, cultural critic, and institution builder, Professor Gates has published numerous books and produced and hosted an array of documentary films. The Black Church (PBS) and Frederick Douglass: In Five Speeches (HBO), which he executive produced, each received Emmy nominations. His latest history series for PBS is Making Black America: Through the Grapevine. Finding Your Roots, Gates's groundbreaking genealogy and genetics series, has completed its ninth season on PBS and will return for a tenth season in 2024.

Gates is a recipient of a number of honorary degrees, including his alma mater, the University of Cambridge. Gates was a member of the first class awarded "genius grants" by the MacArthur Foundation in 1981, and in 1998 he became the first African American scholar to be awarded the National Humanities Medal.

A native of Piedmont, West Virginia, Gates earned his B.A. in History, summa cum laude, from Yale University in 1973, and his M.A. and Ph.D. in English Literature from Clare College at Cambridge in 1979, where he is also an Honorary Fellow. A former chair of the Pulitzer Prize board, he is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and serves on a wide array of boards, including the New York Public Library, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, the Aspen Institute, the Whitney Museum of American Art, Library of America, and The Studio Museum of Harlem. In 2011, his portrait, by Yuqi Wang, was hung in the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. He is a member of the Phi Beta Kappa honor society.

Tickets open to public in December

Tue. Feb. 11, 2025

7 p.m. | Adam W. Herbert University Center

Ethan Mollick:
"From Disruption to Opportunity: Embracing the AI Revolution"

Ethan Mollick is an Associate Professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, where he studies and teaches innovation and entrepreneurship, and also examines the effects of artificial intelligence on work and education. His papers have been published in top journals and his book on AI, Co-Intelligence, is a New York Times bestseller. His research is highly cited by other academics, and has been covered by CNN, The Wall Street Journal, and other leading publications.

In addition to his research and teaching, Ethan is the Co-Director of the Generative AI Lab at Wharton, which builds prototypes and conducts research to discover how AI can help humans thrive while mitigating risks. Prior to his time in academia, Ethan co-founded a startup company, and he advises numerous organizations.

Mollick received his PhD and MBA from MIT’s Sloan School of Management and his bachelor’s degree from Harvard University.

Tickets open to public in January

William Kristol and Heather Cox Richardson Headshots

Tue. Mar. 25, 2025

7 p.m. | Adam W. Herbert University Center

Heather Cox Richardson and William Kristol:
"The Future of Democracy"

For three decades, William Kristol has been a leading participant in American political debates and a

widely respected analyst of American political developments. Having served in senior positions in the

Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush Administrations, Kristol understands government from the inside;

as a professor at the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard University, he has studied American politics

and society from the outside. After serving in the Reagan and George H. W. Bush administrations, Kristol

founded the Weekly Standard in 1995 and edited the influential magazine for over two decades. Now, as

founding director of Defending Democracy Together, an organization dedicated to defending America’s

liberal democratic norms, principles, and institutions, Kristol is in the midst of the national debate on

issues ranging from American foreign policy to the future of the Republican Party and the meaning of

American conservatism. Kristol frequently appears on all the major television talk shows, and also is the

host of the highly regarded video series and podcast, Conversations with Bill Kristol. Kristol received his

undergraduate degree and his Ph. D. from Harvard University.

Heather Cox Richardson is Professor of History at Boston College. She has written about the Civil War,

Reconstruction, the Gilded Age, and the American West in award-winning books whose subjects stretch

from the European settlement of the North American continent to the history of the Republican Party

through the Trump administration. She is the author, most recently, of the best-selling Democracy

Awakening: Notes on the State of America. Jane Mayer has called the book “a vibrant, and essential

history of America's unending, enraging and utterly compelling struggle since its founding to live up to its

own best ideals.” Heather Richardson’s work has appeared in the Washington Post, the New York Times,

and The Guardian, among other outlets. Her nightly newsletter, Letters from an American, reaches over a

million and a half readers.

Tickets open to public in February

If you have a disability or require an accommodation for a lecture, please contact
University Development and Alumni Engagement at (904) 620-4334 five business days before the event to enable us to provide you with the appropriate accommodation.