GESCHKE LECTURE SERIES
As Nantucket’s public library, the Nantucket Atheneum has a long history of providing services and programs to the island’s year-round and summer residents. During the library’s 183 years of service, a central part of its mission has been to bring to the island distinguished lecturers, including our earliest speakers – Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and Frederick Douglass.
In accordance with this long-standing tradition, the Geschke Lecture Series was created as a result of a National Endowment for the Humanities Challenge grant awarded to the Atheneum in 2003, a significant donation from the Geschke Foundation and the ongoing support of many library donors. Starting in the summer of 2005, the Geschke Lecture Series has brought speakers to Nantucket to inform and challenge our audiences with current critical ideas and issues.
You can purchase tickets for the Geschke Lectures 2024 here.
(International Correspondence)
Reporting from Ukraine, with strong contacts in Kyiv, Perdue regularly moderates sessions with Russian dissidents. She was poisoned within the last year and barely survived. Aside: Mitzi is a self described, “library person to the core,” and penned a 2005 article for the American Library Association (ALA) Journal about libraries as a resource for those dealing with substance abuse.
MAX HOLMES
(Environment)
- Holmes is leading Woodwell Climate during a period of rapid growth—more than 130 staff around the world are working on projects in over 20 countries, conducting science for solutions at the nexus of climate, people and nature.
- Holmes is a sought-after speaker at venues ranging from TEDx to Davos to Mountainfilm, and quoted by top news outlets including The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Boston Globe, and The Independent.
- He previously served as director of the U.S. National Science Foundation’s Arctic Systems Science Program, was elected National Fellow of the Explorers Club in 2015, and served on the 2022 Earthshot Prize host committee.
- Holmes is also a widely cited earth scientist who has co-founded and led multiple large river research networks, including Science on the Fly, an initiative that unites the fly-fishing and science communities to study and protect rivers around the world.
DR. JONATHAN KOPPELL
(Equal access to education)
Dr. Jonathan Koppell: As President of Montclair State University, Koppell advocates for the role of universities as engines of public good that bring enormous value to their communities and the nation. He demonstrates the importance of fostering deep community partnerships, and illustrates the role that higher ed plays in ensuring a diverse leadership pipeline in America. Yet he doesn’t shy away from the critics, speaking to the need for higher education to embrace its shortcomings and to evolve, rather than defend the status quo.
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Montclair State University is New Jersey’s second largest higher education institution. Montclair is a rare bird, a majority-minority and Hispanic-Serving Institution that is also emerging among the top tier of US doctoral research universities. It is ranked as one of the nation’s leading engines for social mobility based on its ability to integrate access, excellence and student success.
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Since joining in 2021, Koppell has overseen record enrollment and retention, strategic re-imagination of colleges, and deepened community relationships to make a true difference in the region. This commitment was exemplified by Koppell’s decision to intervene when Bloomfield College, New Jersey’s only Predominantly-Black Institution, faced imminent closure. Montclair successfully engineered Bloomfield’s stabilization and merger into Montclair and is now establishing a model for a differentiated liberal arts college within a public university.
- He serves on the boards of several nonprofit organizations and has been a visiting scholar at the Brookings Institution, a Markle Fellow at the New America Foundation and a Fulbright Lecturer in Shanghai, China.
Janet Steinmayer will be interviewing Jonathan Koppell.
Janet is the President of Lesley University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, a private university focused on supporting the professions of education, mental health and art and design through partnerships with the organizations that employ these practitioners. Prior to that, she was the President of Mitchell College in New London, CT, a private college with a skills-based curriculum and community partnerships designed to make higher education accessible and relevant to students who might not otherwise reach their potential through formal education.
She started her career as a corporate lawyer in New York, served as General Counsel for Trans World Airlines and later served as CEO of Centerplate, one of the largest American hospitality companies serving NFL, MLB and other major league sports and convention center clients throughout North America.
Janet is a graduate of Bryn Mawr College, where she served on the Board of Trustees for 21 years, and the University of Chicago Law School. She is a Trustee Emerita of the Southport School and has served on the Board of many other organizations, including the National Center for Learning Disabilities, the Fairfield County and Cambridge Community Foundations, the Lyman-Allyn Art Museum and the Pequot Chapel.
(Author/Art)
From the best-selling author of Cork Dork, comes a discussion of Bosker’s latest book, a New York Times bestseller, Get the Picture, a mind-bending journey among the inspired artists and obsessive art fiends who taught me how to see. Kirkus Reviews describes her work as “Immersive reporting along the lines of George Plimpton or Barbara Ehrenreich with her own blend of relentless curiosity, bottomless energy, and a gift for clever formulations that recalls Oscar Wilde . . . [Get the Picture] could not be more fun. A delightful book on an inspiring topic by a writer who could make dust sparkle.”
In addition to serving as a contributing writer at The Atlantic, Bosker has written for publications such as The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Food & Wine, The Guardian, and The New Republic. Her writing has been anthologized in the Best American Travel Writing and recognized with awards from the International Association of Culinary Professionals, the Society of Professional Journalists, the Society of American Business Editors and Writers, the Association of Food Journalists, and the MFK Fisher Awards, as well as shortlisted for The Gerald Loeb Awards, the William Saroyan International Prize for Writing, the Deadline Club Awards, among others.
in conversation with Anne Finucane
Nantucket summer resident Clara Bingham’s new book, THE MOVEMENT: How Women’s Liberation Transformed America 1963-1973 (Atria/One Signal; July 30, 2024) is an oral history of the integral decade that launched the modern feminist movement. In it, she assembles the stories and people at the front of the feminist crusade – Bella Abzug, Shirley Chisholm, RBG, Gloria Steinem, Alice Walker, Billie Jean King, Betty Friedan, the Janes, and much more. It is an important and extensive work – Lynn Sherr calls it an ‘invaluable living history’ and Lesley Stahl says “It’s a joy. It’s for those of us who remember… and for younger people to learn about.”
Clara has spoken about her past two books at the Atheneum – Witness to the Revolution (August 2016) and Class Action (summer 2003), and wrote many chapters of THE MOVEMENT in the Atheneum reading room.
- Bingham’s second book, Class Action: The Landmark Case that Changed Sexual Harassment Law, which she co-wrote with Laura Leedy Gansler (Doubleday 2002), was adapted into the 2005 feature film North Country (Warner Bros.) staring Charlize Theron and Francis McDormand. Both actresses received Oscar nominations for their roles in the film. Class Action tells the harrowing story of a group of female taconite miners in northern Minnesota who become the first women ever to sue a company as a “class” or a group, for sexual harassment. Class Action was a Los Angeles Times best book of the year and won the AAUW Speaking Out for Justice Award.
- Bingham is also the author of Women on the Hill: Challenging the Culture of Congress (Times Books 1997), which chronicles the lives of four female members of the 103rd Congress following the 1992 “Year of the Woman” elections.
- As a Washington, D.C. correspondent for Newsweek from 1989 to 1993, Bingham covered the George H. W. Bush White House leading up to and during the 1992 presidential election. Her freelance writing has appeared in publications including Vanity Fair, The Guardian, The Daily Beast, Ms., Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, Talk, Glamour, The Washington Monthly, and United Press International, the wire service for which she wrote as a stringer from Papua New Guinea. Bingham also worked as a press secretary on the Michael Dukakis 1988 Democratic presidential campaign.
- An expose about the Air Force Academy rape scandal that Bingham wrote for Vanity Fair earned her the 2004 Exceptional Merit in Media Award (EMMA) given by the National Women’s Political Caucus, and was anthologized in the Best American Crime Writing 2004 Edition. Bingham also produced a documentary that exposed the ravages of mountain top removal coal mining in Appalachia. The Last Mountain premiered at the Sundance Film festival in 2011, screened in theaters in over 60 cities, and won the International Documentary Association’s Pare Lorentz Award.
- Bingham graduated from Harvard University in 1985 with a degree in History and Literature. In college, she raced on the varsity alpine ski team and served as co-news editor of the the Harvard Independent. She lives in Brooklyn, New York with her husband.
PIERA RICCIO
(AI in the Arts)
Riccio will explore the cultural, social, and artistic possibilities of AI. Riccio is a PhD candidate at ELLIS Alicante, focusing on the effect that social media has on the lives of women and the way they are perceived in the social media cultural ecosystem. Riccio holds a bachelor’s degree in Cinema and Media Engineering (2018, Politecnico di Torino), a Master’s degree in ICT for Smart Societies (2021, Politecnico di Torino), and a Master’s degree in Data Science and Engineering (2021, Télécom Paris – EURECOM). In 2020, she was an affiliate at Metalab (at) Harvard. In 2021, she was a research assistant at the Oslo Metropolitan University.
Previous Geschke Lectures
2023:
Mike Barnicle (Journalism and Democracy), Dr. Susan Natali (Climate Crisis and the Arctic), Stephen Schwarzman (Finance), Michael Suarez (Education), Dr. Aruni Bhatnagar (Nature, Health and Aging)
2022:
Tracy Edwards: “Maiden Full Circle.” The Future of Nuclear Energy: Panel Discussion. Daniel Yergin and Angela Stent: “Turbulent World: Russia, Ukraine and Energy in Crisis.” New England Aquarium, Seaside Conversation: Sharks, Sea Turtles & Whales
2021:
George Friedman, author of The Storm Before the Calm; Theodore R. Johnson, author of When the Stars Begin to Fall; Ken Auletta, writer for The New Yorker & Robert Williams, former president and CEO of National Public Broadcasting and National Public Media; Neurosurgeon Neal Kassell & John Grisham, best-seller novelist; Sylvia Earle National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence.
2019:
Kara Swisher, New York Times columnist on technology; Jon Alterman, Director of Middle East Program at Center for Strategic and International Studies; Chris Lee, Hawaii Legislature; Dr. Richard Haass, Council On Foreign Relations and International Politics; Hon. Kevin Rudd, The Asia Society.
2018:
Dr. John Holdren, climate change science expert; Jon B. Alterman, What Do We Remember When We Remember Jerusalem?; Gen. David Petraeus, former director of the Central Intelligence Agency and commanded U.S. and International Security Forces in Afghanistan and Iraq; R. Nicholas Burns, founder of the Future of Diplomacy Project.
2017:
Dr. Jerrold Rosenbaum, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard University Understanding Depression; Robert Traver, Villanova University, Managing Polluntants from Stormwater; Peter Baker & Susan Glasser, New York Times & POLITICO, Current Events & Washington Politics; Richard Haass, National Security Council, A World In Disarray; Panel Discussion: Making A Difference In Africa With Pam Allyn (LitWorld) and Vanessa Kerry (Seed Global Health).
2016:
David Mindell, MIT and author of Our Robots Our Selves; Jay Famiglietti, University of California & NASA, Water Security; Robin Wright Washington Post and the New Yorker, foreign policy; Dr. Wayne Shreffler, Massachusetts General Hospital, food allergies.
2015:
Susan Glasser, POLITICO Editor; Ajay Royan, Mithril Capital Management co-founder; Roz Chast, New Yorker cartoonist; Dr. Rudolph Tanzi, Alzheimer’s disease research.
2014:
Dr. Walter Willett, Harvard University nutritionist; Esther Dyson, chairman of EDventure Holdings and founder of HICcup; Joe Klein, author and TIME Magazine columnist; And, Peter Baker, New York Times White House correspondent.
2013:
David Owen, a New Yorker author ; John Donoghue, a Brown University neuroscientist; Harvard University astronomer Dr. Robert Kirshner ; Maureen Orth, Vanity Fair special correspondent, and Chuck Todd, Chief White House Correspondent for NBC News; and United Nations prosecutor Richard Goldstone.
2012:
Jill Abramson, Executive Editor of the New York Times; Lawrence Lessig, Harvard University Ethics professor and author of Republic, Lost: How Money Corrupts Congress; Panel Discussion on the Economy, moderated by David Gregory, NBC News with Jack Welch, General Electric, Louis V Gerstner, Jr., IBM and Bob Wright, NBC; And, Louis Susman, United States Ambassador to the Court of St. James.
2011:
Ian Frazier, author and New Yorker staff writer; David Gregory NBC moderator of Meet The Press; Richard N. Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations and author of 11 books; and, Joseph Nye, Jr., Dean Emeritus of the Kennedy School, Harvard University.
2010:
Computer technology innovators Chuck Geschke (Adobe) and Bob Metcalfe (3Com); New York Times Columnist and Author Thomas Friedman; Washington Post Columnist and MSNBC Commentator Eugene Robinson; and President of Pew Research Center Andrew Kohut
2009:
Pulitzer-Prize-winning biographer Doris Kearns Goodwin; Presidential Advisor David Gergen; CBS News journalist Lesley Stahl; and Carnegie Corporation President Vartan Gregorian.
2008:
Print and television journalist Mike Barnicle; former Delaware Governor Pete du Pont; NPR journalist Mara Liasson; Washington Post journalist Robin Wright; PBS journalist Gwen Ifill.
2007:
Committee for Economic Development, Charles Kolb; MIT President Dr. Susan Hockfield; Natural Resources Defense Council, Frances Beinecke; Presidential Advisor David Gergen; Project HOPE Dr. John Howe III; Business Week columnists Jack and Suzy Welch.
2006:
National Review journalist Jay Nordlinger; NPR President Kevin Klose; New York Times editor Jill Abramson; Jay Rosen of New York University; CBS News journalist Katie Couric; CBS News anchor Lesley Stahl; NBC News anchor Tim Russert; PBS television host David Brancaccio; Wall Street Journal journalist Daniel Henninger; Concord Monitor photographer Daniel Habib.
2005:
Authors Patricia Ebrey, Nancy Berliner, Jerome Silbergeld, Andrea and Lynde McCormick, Neil Baldwin, David McCullough, Joseph S. Nye, Jr., Father Robert Drinan, and U.S. Senator Bill Frist.
