Past Speakers

Maria Ressa

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July 15, 2022 | Co-Founder of Rappler.com and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize

Matthew England

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June 21, 2022 | Scientia Professor of Ocean & Climate Dynamics at the UNSW Climate Change Research Centre
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Gun Safety in Hawai‘i

June 15, 2022 | A webinar on addressing gun safety in Hawai‘i

Ben Holland

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May 31, 2022 | Urban Transportation Manager, Rocky Mountain Institute

Leah Stokes

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April 21, 2022 | Energy policy specialist, author of Short Circuiting Policy

Elizabeth Becker

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April 21, 2022 | Award-winning journalist and author of Overbooked: The Exploding Business of Travel and Tourism

Frank Luntz

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March 31, 2022 | American political and communications consultant

Matthew Desmond

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March 24, 2022 | Princeton sociologist, MacArthur Genius fellow, and author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning book Evicted

Kevin Roose

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March 3, 2022| New York Times technology columnist and author of Futureproof

Sheryl Recinos

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February 17, 2022 | Physician, youth advocate, author of Hindsight: Coming of Age on the Streets of Hollywood

Paul Farmer

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February 17, 2022 | Harvard physician, co-founder of Partners In Health
CHESA BOUDIN

Chesa Boudin

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November 18, 2021 | San Francisco’s District Attorney, former public defender, Rhodes scholar
Joy HArjo headshot

Joy Harjo

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October 23, 2021 | Writer and musician of the Mvskoke Nation; U.S. Poet Laureate

Charles Johnson

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October 17, 2021 | Novelist and philosopher; MacArthur Fellow and winner of the National Book Award.
Michael Mann headshot

Michael E. Mann

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October 15, 2021| Director of the Earth System Science Center and author of The New Climate War

Kate Raworth

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October 7, 2021| Oxford economist and bestselling author of Doughnut Economics
kim cobb

Kim Cobb

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September 30, 2021 | Oceanographer, Paleoclimatologist, IPCC author, and recipient of the Hans Oeschger Medal
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Finding Home

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September 17, 2021 | A forum on addressing houselessness from the ground up.

Donald Shoup

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August 18, 2021 | UCLA professor; expert on parking, liveable cities & the environment
Karen Meech

KAREN MEECH

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June 25, 2021 | Astronomer and astrobiologist, expert on comets and habitable worlds, and Interim Director UH Institute for Astronomy

Teen Vaccine Forum

May 21, 2021 | Hawai’i teens get answers on vaccine science, safety, and ethics for young people.
Rebecca Diamond

Rebecca Diamond

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May 11, 2021 | Stanford economist, expert in housing and inequality
Ariella Aisha Azoulay headshot

Ariella Aïsha Azoulay

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April 23, 2021 | Professor of Modern Culture and Media at Brown University, author of Potential History: Unlearning Imperialism
Dan Hicks headshot

Dan Hicks

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April 23, 2021 | Professor of Contemporary Archaeology at the University of Oxford, author of The Brutish Museums: The Benin Bronzes, Colonial Violence and Cultural Restitution
David Y. Ige

David Y. Ige

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April 22, 2021 | Governor, State of Hawai‘i

Helen Zia

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April 12, 2021 | Author of Last Boat out of Shanghai and Asian American Dreams

Eugene Richardson

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March 24, 2021 | Harvard physician & anthropologist, author of Epidemic Illusions
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UH Vaccine Forum

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January 20, 2021 | Vaccine Science, Safety & Society

Vivek Murthy

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January 6, 2021 | Co-Chair of Biden's Covid-19 Advisory Board and former Surgeon General

Eric Topol

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December 17, 2020 | Cardiologist, research scientist, and bestselling author

Allison Hedge Coke

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December 16, 2020 | Award-winning poet and author of Dog Road Woman, Blood Run, and Burn

John Barry

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November 12, 2020 | Tulane professor of public health and bestselling author

Edward Glaeser

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October 21, 2020 | Harvard economist and a former director of the Taubman Center

RBG — Life & Legacy

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October 2, 2020 | A forum to celebrate the life and legacy of Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Alicia Garza

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September 24, 2020 | Co-founder of the Black Lives Matter and Dan and Maggie Inouye Distinguished Chair in Democratic Ideals

Paul Butler

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September 9, 2020 | Georgetown law professor and the author of Chokehold: Policing Black Men.

Ellen Carol Dubois

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August 27, 2020 | Acclaimed UCLA historian and author of Suffrage: Women's Long Battle for the Vote

Matthew Desmond

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July 28, 2020 | Princeton sociologist, MacArthur Genius fellow, and author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning book Evicted

Michael Bennett

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June 17, 2020 | Defensive end with the New England Patriots and author of Things That Make White People Uncomfortable
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Robert Waldinger

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March 12, 2020 | Renowned psychiatrist, Zen priest, and director of the Harvard Study of Adult Development
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Rachel Louise Snyder

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March 9, 2020 | Investigative journalist and author of No Visible Bruises: What We Don’t Know About Domestic Violence Can Kill Us
Tim Wu

Tim Wu

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February 20, 2020 | The New York Times columnist and author of The Attention Merchants and The Curse of Bigness

David King

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February 5, 2020 | Cambridge Professor Emeritus, UK Scientific Adviser
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Lita M. Proctor

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January 23, 2020 | Inaugural Coordinator of the NIH’s $215 million Human Microbiome Project
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David Wallace-Wells

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January 14, 2020 | Deputy Editor at New York magazine and author of The Uninhabitable Earth
noura erakat portrait

Noura Erakat

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November 6, 2019 | Author of Justice for Some: Law and in the Question of Palestine
Mark Hixon

Mark Hixon

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October 3, 2019 | Hsiao Endowed Chair in Marine Biology

Viet Thanh Nguyen

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September 19, 2019 | Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist and MacArthur genius fellow
Andy Fisher

Andy Fisher

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September 12, 2019 | Food security and justice advocate, author of Big Hunger

Priyamvada Natarajan

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May 2, 2019 | Professor of Astronomy and Physics at Yale and the author of Mapping the Heavens
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Marcus Rediker

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May 1, 2019 | Historian, award-winning author, and Dan and Maggie Inouye Chair in Democratic Ideals
Marielena Hincapié

Marielena Hincapié

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April 26, 2019 | Executive Director of the National Immigration Law Center

Peter Linebaugh

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April 17, 2019 | Historian, award-winning author
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Thomas Laqueur

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April 3, 2019 | Cultural theorist and author of The Work of the Dead

Sheena Iyengar

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March 14, 2019 | Social psychologist

David Cole

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February 28, 2019 | National Legal Director of the American Civil Liberties Union
Kaitlyn Yang

Kaitlyn Yang

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February 26, 2019 | Visual Effects Supervisor, Alpha Studios

Ellis Henican

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January 30, 2019 | Ellis Henican is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and prolific, bestselling author.

Janet Mock

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Fall 2018 Commencement | author, TV personality and one of the nation’s most important advocates for transgender rights
Richard Tedlow headshot

Richard Tedlow

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September 25, 2018 | Harvard business professor and faculty member at Apple University, Richard Tedlow is an expert on management decision-making and the history and future of technology

Eric Shinseki

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Spring 2018 Commencement | First Asian American 4-star general and former Secretary for Veteran's Affairs
Endowed University of Chicago professor of philosophy and law and prolific author.

Martha Nussbaum

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Fall 2017 Commencement | Endowed University of Chicago professor of philosophy and law and prolific author.

Marcus Eriksen

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August 29, 2018 | Scientist, environmentalist, and adventurer Marcus Eriksen is one of the world’s leading advocates for cleaning plastic pollution from the oceans.

Christopher Field

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March 16, 2018 | Director of Stanford's Woods Institute and leading author of IPCC climate reports

Ove Hoegh-Guldberg

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March 3, 2018 | Renowned coral reef scientist and director of the Global Change Institute

Lonnie Bunch

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February 27, 2018 | Founding Director of the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture

Walter Echo-Hawk

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February 2, 2018 | Native American attorney and author of In the Courts of the Conqueror: The 10 Worst Indian Law Cases Ever Decided and In the Light of Justice
Sara Seager Headshot

Sara Seager

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January 25, 2018 | MIT Astrophysicist and expert in Earth-like exoplanets

Michael Roth

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January 16, 2018 | President of Wesleyen University and advocate for liberal education

Chris Eyre

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November 13, 2017 | Award-winning Native American filmmaker
Vivek Murthy portrait

Vivek Murthy

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May 13, 2017 | Surgeon General of the United States

Ai-jen Poo

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March 22, 2017 | Director, National Domestic Workers Alliance, MacArthur fellow, author of The Age of Dignity (2015).
Douglas Abrams portrait

Douglas Abrams

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March 16, 2017 | Novelist, literary agent, co-author of The Book of Joy
Corey Robin portrait

Corey Robin

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February 24, 2017 | Essayist, academic, author of The Reactionary Mind — “the book that predicted Trump” (New Yorker) — and Fear: The History of a Political Idea.

Sacha Pfeiffer

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February 17, 2017 | Pulitzer-prize winning reporter on the Boston Globe’s Spotlight team, author of Betrayed: The Crisis in the Catholic Church (2003).
Archon Fung portrait

Archon Fung

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July 6, 2016 | Academic dean of Harvard’s Kennedy School.

Angela Y. Davis

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April 8, 2016 | Scholar, author, activist

Mark Bittman

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February 18, 2016 | New York Times food writer, author of twenty books, including How to Cook Everything (1998).
Marcelo Suárez-Orozco portrait

Marcelo Suárez-Orozco

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January 20, 2016 | Wasserman Dean of Education, UCLA, author of twenty-six books, member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Sam Kass portrait

Sam Kass

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Spring 2015 Commencement | NBC News analyst, Director, Let’s Move!, White House Senior Advisor for Nutrition Policy (2009-2014).
Heather Thompson portrait

Heather Thompson

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March 2, 2015 | University of Michigan historian and author of bestseller Blood in the Water
Stephanie Coontz portrait

Stephanie Coontz

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December 5, 2013 | Director of Research and Public Education for the Council on Contemporary Families, author of Marriage, A New History

Jose Antonio Vargas

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Fall 2013 Commencement | Pulitzer prize-winning journalist, Founder and CEO, Define American

Van Jones

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March 19, 2012 | CNN commentator, White House green jobs advisor (2009), author of Rebuild the Dream (2012).

Joseph Stiglitz

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March 14, 2012 | Nobel laureate, University Professor of Economics at Columbia
Theda Skocpol portrait

Theda Skocpol

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March 12, 2013 | Harvard Professor of Government, Johan Skytte Prize winner, member National Academy of Sciences
Tyrone Hayes portrait

Tyrone Hayes

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December 17, 2012 | Professor of Integrative Biology, UC Berkeley, New Yorker profile subject
Martha Minow portrait

Martha Minow

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June 12, 2012 | Harvard Law School, Vice-Chair, U.S. Legal Services Corporation
Janny Scott portrait

Janny Scott

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May 8, 2012 | Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times reporter, author of A Singular Woman
Mike Devine portrait

Mike Devine

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December 2011 | Director of the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum
Sharon Fawcett portrait

Sharon Fawcett

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September 23-26, 2011 | Assistant Archivist of the United States