Kennedy Lecture Series and Frontiers in Science Lecture Series announce 2018-19 speakers

The Ohio University Kennedy Lecture Series and Frontiers in Science Lecture Series are honored to bring three exciting events to the Athens campus this year:

• Kennedy Lecture Series Speaker - Molly Hughes, Film Production Designer
• Frontiers in Science Presenters - Cynthia Graber and Nicola Twilley - Podcasting Foodie Scientists, Gastropod
• Kennedy Lecture Series Speaker - Anita Hill - the trailblazing attorney, women’s rights icon, and author

Kennedy Lecture Series

Molly Hughes, production designer, will deliver, "From Out of the Background: Following the Path of a Production Designer."

Monday, Sept. 10, 7:30 p.m., Templeton-Blackburn Alumni Memorial Auditorium. Doors open at 6:30 p.m., free admission and non-ticketed.

Molly Hughes has spent more than a decade working as an art director, most notably in London on the "Harry Potter" franchise films with Academy Award-winning Production Designer Stuart Craig. She also served as an art director on Steven Spielberg’s "War Horse" and as supervising art director on Tony Gilroy’s, "The Bourne Legacy."

Since making the leap to Production Designer in 2012 with director Max Nichols’s "Two Night Stand," starring Miles Teller, she has worked with Oscar-winning directors Amy Berg and Charlie Kaufman, as well as the renowned Norwegian director, Joachim Trier, on his first English language film, "Louder Than Bombs."

Hughes designed the highly acclaimed box office success, "The Fault in Our Stars," for Temple Hill Entertainment and Fox 2000, with director Josh Boone—a collaboration revisited for Boone’s next film, "X-Men: The New Mutants," to be released in summer 2019.

She recently wrapped production on the Walt Disney motion picture, "The One and Only Ivan" (based on Katherine Applegate's Newbery Medal-winning and best-selling novel) with acclaimed theater director Thea Sharrock.

Frontiers in Science Lecture Series

Gastropod: Looking at Food Through the Lens of Science and History featuring Cynthia Graber and Nicola Twilley

Monday, Feb. 11, 2019, 7:30 p.m., Baker University Center Ballroom. Doors open at 6:30 p.m., free admission and non-ticketed

Gastropod is an Innovative podcast that looks at food through the lens of science and history. Co-hosts Cynthia Graber and Nicola Twilley serve up a brand new episode every two weeks.

Cynthia Graber is an award-winning radio producer and print reporter who has covered science, technology, food, agriculture, and any other stories that catch her fancy for more than 15 years.

Nicola Twilley is author of the blog Edible Geography and a contributing writer at the New Yorker. She is deeply obsessed with refrigeration, and is currently writing a book on the topic. She recently explored China’s coldscape for The New York Times Magazine, and, in 2013, she curated an exhibition exploring North America’s spaces of artificial refrigeration with the Center for Land Use Interpretation.

Each episode, the co-hosts look at the hidden history and surprising science behind a different food and/or farming-related topic, from aquaculture to ancient feasts, from cutlery to chile peppers, and from microbes to Malbec. They interview experts, visit labs, fields, and archaeological digs, and generally have lots of fun while discovering new ways to understand the world through food.

Kennedy Lecture Series Speaker

Anita Hill, J.D. will deliver "From Social Movement to Social Impact: Putting an End to Sexual Harassment in the Workplace."

Monday, April 1, 2019, 7:30 p.m., Templeton-Blackburn Alumni Memorial Auditorium. Doors open at 6:30 p.m., free admission and non-ticketed.

Anita Hill is University Professor of Social Policy, Law, and Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies at Brandeis University. She is a women's rights icon and the chair of the Commission on Sexual Harassment and Advancing Equality in the Workplace, which the entertainment industry formed in response to the #MeToo movement. 

In 1991 at the Senate Judiciary confirmation hearing for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, Ms. Hill courageously testified that Justice Thomas had sexually harassed her. 

In the process she inspired a generation of activists to fight sexual harassment and the unequal treatment of women. Anita speaks about how to end sexual harassment by creating positive change within organizations. She offers powerful insight into how women can defend their rights to equal opportunity, and help foster organizational cultures that uphold respect for women and human dignity.

Hill’s latest book, "Reimagining Equality: Stories of Gender, Race and Finding Home" (Beacon Press, 2011) combines the study of commercial and anti-discrimination law with an examination of culture and society to address the 2008 foreclosure crisis and its ongoing impact.

OHIO’s Kennedy Lecture Series was established in 1962 by a gift from OHIO alumni and stalwart supporters Edwin L. and Ruth Kennedy. The Kennedy Lecture Series aims to bring speakers who appeal to a broad cross-section of the OHIO community to the Athens Campus to discuss significant issues in American life.

OHIO’s Frontiers in Science Lecture Series was established in 1991 by a gift from Jeanette Grasselli Brown, an OHIO alumna and former University trustee, and her husband, Glenn R. Brown. The series features scientists who have been recognized for their commitment to share their scientific knowledge with individuals of all ages.

The Kennedy Lecture Series and Frontiers in Science Lecture Series are facilitated by Event Services and a Committee chaired by Judith Rhue. Press inquiries or other questions can be directed to Liz Pahl, pahl@ohio.edu or Judith Rhue, rhue@ohio.edu.