Notable Speakers
▷ See our Speakers Archive on Soundcloud and YouTube
-
Honors Convocation 2018
Professor and Director of the School of Nursing and Caroline F. Rupert Chair of Nursing Vickie Folse, winner of the 2018 Kemp Foundation Award for Teaching Excellence, gave the keynote remarks on April 11, 2018.
-
Founders' Day Convocation 2018
Jeremy McCarter, co-author of Hamilton: The Revolution, spoke on Feb. 21, 2018.
-
President's Convocation 2017
Award-winning author Jelani Cobb spoke about "The Half-Life of Freedom: Race and Justice in America Today," on Sept. 6, 2017.
Watch selected clips:
-
Honors Convocation 2017
Professor of Anthropology Rebecca Gearhart Mafazy, winner of the 2017 Kemp Foundation Award for Teaching Excellence, gave the keynote remarks, “Curiosity and What To Make of It,” at the convocation on April 12, 2017
-
Founders' Day Convocation 2017
Mona Hanna-Attisha, the pediatrician who helped expose the Flint water crisis, gave keynote remarks on Feb. 15, 2017.
-
President’s Convocation 2016
Journalist Jenny Nordberg, author of the Summer Reading selection, The Underground Girls of Kabul, spoke on Sept. 14, 2016.
-
Honors Day 2016
Professor of Physics Linda French, 2016 winner of the Kemp Foundation Award for Teaching Excellence, gave the address, “The Long and Winding Trail.”
-
Founders' Day Convocation 2016
National interfaith leader Eboo Patel gave the keynote address, "Interfaith Leadership: Engaging Faith and Philosophical Diversity in the 21st Century" on Feb. 17, 2016.
-
President's Convocation 2015
Kevin Roose, author of the summer reading selection, The Unlikely Disciple: A Sinner’s Semester at America’s Holiest University, spoke on Sept. 9, 2015.
-
New Student Convocation 2015
Professor of Physics Linda French gave the address, "The Value of Not Having All the Answers."
-
Honors Day 2015
Associate Professor of Political Science Kathleen Montgomery gave the address, "Reflections of an Accidental Political Scientist," on April 8, 2015.
-
Founders' Day 2015
Acclaimed Children’s Illustrator & Author Anita Lobel spoke at the Convocation on Feb. 25, 2015.
-
President's Convocation 2014
Brando Skyhorse, author of the Summer Reading Program selection The Madonnas of Echo Park, spoke on Sept. 3, 2014.
-
New Student Convocation 2014
Associate Professor of Political Science Kathleen Montgomery told new students "YOLO" in her address on Aug. 19, 2014.
-
Commencement 2014
Deanna Jent '84 gave the address, "Story and Truth: The Dionysus Connection," at Commencement for the Class of 2014 on May 4, 2014.
-
Honors Day 2014
Associate Professor of Chemistry Rebecca Roesner gave the address, "The Art and Science of Living in the Present," on April 9, 2014.
-
Founders' Day 2014
Luma Mufleh, head coach of the Fugees Soccer Team – subject of the University's summer reading selection, Outcasts United – spoke at the Founders' Day Convocation on Feb. 19, 2014.
-
Adlai E. Stevenson Memorial Lecture
Journalist and commentator David Brooks delivered the 29th Adlai E. Stevenson Memorial Lecture on Sept. 24, 2013.
Read More -
President's Convocation 2013
Warren St. John, author of the summer reading selection Outcasts United, spoke on Sept. 4, 2013.
Read More -
New Student Convocation 2013
Rebecca Roesner, chair and associate professor of chemistry and winner of the 2014 Kemp Foundation Award for Teaching Excellence, spoke to the Class of 2017 on Aug. 20, 2013.
-
-
Honors Day 2013
Professor of Physics Narendra Jaggi, winner of the 2013 Kemp Foundation Award for Teaching Excellence, gave the remarks at the convocation on April 10, 2013.
-
Founders' Day 2013
Civil War scholar Allen C. Guelzo spoke at the Founders' Day Convocation on Feb. 27, 2013.
-
President's Convocation 2012
Rebecca Skloot, author of the 2012 Summer Reading Program selection The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, spoke at the President's Convocation on Sept. 12, 2012.
-
Commencement 2012
Awadagin Pratt, an educator, concert pianist and founder of the Dr. T.A.E.C. Pratt Music Foundation, delivered the Commencement address on April 29, 2012.
-
Founders' Day 2012
Activist and Dead Man Walking author Sister Helen Prejean spoke on Feb. 8, 2012.
-
President's Convocation 2011
Ghanaian-British-American philosopher Kwame Anthony Appiah spoke on Aug. 31, 2011.
-
Commencement 2011
Guggenheim Fellow and poet Linda Gregerson spoke to graduates on May 1, 2011.
-
-
-
Commencement 2010
Neurosurgeon Ann Stroink '76 celebrated lifelong learning in her address on May 2, 2010.
Listen or
-
Honors Convocation 2010
Associate Professor of English Wes Chapman, 2010 winner of the Kemp Foundation Award for Teaching Excellence, spoke about the place of happiness in the liberal arts during the Honors Convocation on April 14, 2010.
-
-
President's Convocation 2009
At the President's Convocation on Sept. 9, 2009, humanitarian Greg Mortenson spoke about his mission to promote peace by building schools and training teachers in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
-
New Student Convocation 2009
Associate Professor of English Wes Chapman, 2010 winner of the Kemp Foundation Award for Teaching Excellence, addressed the New Student Convocation on Aug. 18, 2009.
-
Commencement 2009
Howard Fricke '60, retired CEO of Security Benefit Group of Companies, spoke at Commencement on May 3, 2009.
-
Founders' Day 2009
Pulitzer Prize-nominated historian James O. Horton gave an address titled "Abraham Lincoln: Slavery and the Civil War" for Illinois Wesleyan University's annual Founders' Day Convocation on February 18, 2009.
-
President's Convocation 2008
Temple Grandin shared personal insights into the unique ways autistic individuals perceive the world during the President's Convocation on Sept. 10, 2008.
-
First-Year Convocation 2008
McFee Professor of Religion and Humanities Brian Hatcher addressed first-year students in their first Illinois Wesleyan convocation on Aug. 19, 2008.
-
Commencement 2008
Actor Kevin Dunn, who attended Illinois Wesleyan in the '70s, delivered the Commencement address on May 4, 2008.
-
Soul Food Dinner
Journalist and author Roland S. Martin spoke at the Soul Food Dinner on Feb. 24, 2008.
-
Founders' Day 2008
James E. Hansen, Director of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Goddard Institute for Space Studies, encouraged the 2008 Founders' Day audience to take action before irrevocable damage is done to the planet.
-
Stevenson Lecture Series
Acclaimed documentary filmmaker Ken Burns spoke about his recent series on World War II, The War. Burns visited Illinois Wesleyan and Illinois State Universities on Nov. 1, 2007, as part of the Adlai E. Stevenson Lecture Series.
-
President's Convocation 2007
Tracy Kidder, author of the 2007 summer reading selection, Mountains Beyond Mountains, addressed the President's Convocation on Sept. 26, 2007
-
Commencement 2007
Demetria Kalodimos '81, an award-winning news anchor with WSMV Television in Nashville, Tenn., addressed the graduates on May 6, 2007.
-
Honors Convocation 2007
James Sikora, professor of sociology and winner of the 2007 Pantagraph Award for Teaching Excellence, addressed the Honors Convocation on April 18, 2007.
-
Illinois Wesleyan Associates Luncheon
Orion Samuelson, renowned agribusiness director of WGN and Chicago's "Voice of Agriculture" since 1960, spoke at the Illinois Wesleyan Associates Luncheon on April 17, 2007.
-
Commencement 2006
Michael A. Mason '80, Executive Assistant Director for Administration at the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Washington D.C., delivered the Commencement address on Sunday, April 30.
-
Commencement 2005
Greg Poland '77, director of the Mayo Vaccine Research Group, delivered the Commencement address on May 1, 2005.
-
Commencement 2004
Immigration attorney Carlina Tapia-Ruano '77 delivered the Commencement address on May 2, 2004.
