Past Speakers

Taste of Tourism
2022-2023, SpeakersApril 21, 2023

Amitav Ghosh
2022-2023, SpeakersApril 18, 2023 | Acclaimed author, public intellectual

Mona Hanna-Attisha
2022-2023, SpeakersMarch 23, 2023 | Pediatrician, author, activist

Nicholas Christakis
2022-2023, SpeakersMay 18, 2023 | Physician, Sociologist, Director of Yale’s Human Nature Lab

Industrial Animal Agriculture
SpeakersMarch 9, 2023

Radical Wāhine
SpeakersMarch 8, 2023

Ruth Ben-Ghiat
2022-2023, SpeakersMarch 2, 2023 | Historian, MSNBC columnist, author of Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present

Robin Kimmerer
2022-2023, Greatest Hits, SpeakersFebruary 7, 2023 | Botanist, author, enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation

Hawai’i Disaster Prep
2022-2023, SpeakersJanuary 27, 2023

David Turk
2022-2023, SpeakersJanuary 12, 2023 | Deputy Secretary, U.S. Department of Energy

NHPI Health Inequity
2022-2023, SpeakersNovember 11, 2022

Chris Dancy
2022-2023, SpeakersNovember 2, 2022 | Author, entrepreneur, technologist

Noam Chomsky
2022-2023, Greatest Hits, SpeakersOctober 27, 2022 | Linguist, philosopher, public intellectual

Ellen Galinsky
2022-2023, SpeakersOctober 25, 2022 | Author, education researcher, advocate

Giulio Boccaletti
2022-2023, SpeakersOctober 21, 2022 | Physicist, climate scientist, natural resource security specialist

Juli Berwald
2022-2023, SpeakersOctober 19, 2022 | Science writer, ocean expert, marine invertebrate fangirl

Paul Hawken
2022-2023, SpeakersOctober 12, 2022 | Author, advocate & environmental entrepreneur

Seth Godin
2022-2023, SpeakersOctober 5, 2022 | Best-selling author, blogger, entrepreneur

Food Insecurity in Hawaiʻi
2022-2023, SpeakersSeptember 16, 2022

Scaling Up: Hawaiʻi’s Food Future
2022-2023, SpeakersSeptember 8, 2022

Maria Ressa
2021-2022, Greatest Hits, SpeakersJuly 15, 2022 | Co-Founder of Rappler.com and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize

Matthew England
2021-2022, SpeakersJune 21, 2022 | Scientia Professor of Ocean & Climate Dynamics at the UNSW Climate Change Research Centre

Gun Safety in Hawai‘i
SpeakersJune 15, 2022 | A webinar on addressing gun safety in Hawai‘i

Ben Holland
2021-2022, SpeakersMay 31, 2022 | Urban Transportation Manager, Rocky Mountain Institute

Leah Stokes
2021-2022, SpeakersApril 21, 2022 | Energy policy specialist, author of Short Circuiting Policy

Elizabeth Becker
2021-2022, SpeakersApril 21, 2022 | Award-winning journalist and author of Overbooked: The Exploding Business of Travel and Tourism

Frank Luntz
2021-2022, SpeakersMarch 31, 2022 | American political and communications consultant

Matthew Desmond
2021-2022, SpeakersMarch 24, 2022 | Princeton sociologist, MacArthur Genius fellow, and author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning book Evicted

Kevin Roose
2021-2022, SpeakersMarch 3, 2022| New York Times technology columnist and author of Futureproof

Tina Stege
2022-2023, SpeakersFebruary 22, 2022 | Climate Envoy for the Government of the Republic of the Marshall Islands

Sheryl Recinos
2021-2022, SpeakersFebruary 17, 2022 | Physician, youth advocate, author of Hindsight: Coming of Age on the Streets of Hollywood

Paul Farmer
2021-2022, Greatest Hits, SpeakersFebruary 17, 2022 | Harvard physician, co-founder of Partners In Health

Chesa Boudin
2021-2022, SpeakersNovember 18, 2021 | San Francisco’s District Attorney, former public defender, Rhodes scholar

Joy Harjo
2021-2022, Greatest Hits, SpeakersOctober 23, 2021 | Writer and musician of the Mvskoke Nation; U.S. Poet Laureate

Charles Johnson
2021-2022, SpeakersOctober 17, 2021 | Novelist and philosopher; MacArthur Fellow and winner of the National Book Award.

Michael E. Mann
2021-2022, SpeakersOctober 15, 2021| Director of the Earth System Science Center and author of The New Climate War

Kate Raworth
2021-2022, Greatest Hits, SpeakersOctober 7, 2021| Oxford economist and bestselling author of Doughnut Economics

Kim Cobb
2021-2022, SpeakersSeptember 30, 2021 | Oceanographer, Paleoclimatologist, IPCC author, and recipient of the Hans Oeschger Medal

Finding Home
2021-2022, SpeakersSeptember 17, 2021 | A forum on addressing houselessness from the ground up.

Donald Shoup
2021-2022, SpeakersAugust 18, 2021 | UCLA professor; expert on parking, liveable cities & the environment

KAREN MEECH
2020–2021, SpeakersJune 25, 2021 | Astronomer and astrobiologist, expert on comets and habitable worlds, and Interim Director UH Institute for Astronomy

Teen Vaccine Forum
SpeakersMay 21, 2021 | Hawai’i teens get answers on vaccine science, safety, and ethics for young people.

Rebecca Diamond
2020–2021, Speakers May 11, 2021 | Stanford economist, expert in housing and inequality

Ariella Aïsha Azoulay
2020–2021, Speakers April 23, 2021 | Professor of Modern Culture and Media at Brown University, author of Potential History: Unlearning Imperialism

Dan Hicks
2020–2021, Speakers 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
2020–2021, SpeakersApril 22, 2021 | Former Governor of Hawai‘i

Helen Zia
2020–2021, Greatest Hits, SpeakersApril 12, 2021 | Author of Last Boat out of Shanghai and Asian American Dreams

Eugene Richardson
2020–2021, Speakers March 24, 2021 | Harvard physician & anthropologist, author of Epidemic Illusions

UH Vaccine Forum
2020–2021, SpeakersJanuary 20, 2021 | Vaccine Science, Safety & Society

Vivek Murthy
2020–2021, Greatest Hits, SpeakersJanuary 6, 2021 | Co-Chair of Biden's Covid-19 Advisory Board and former Surgeon General

Eric Topol
2020–2021, Greatest Hits, Speakers December 17, 2020 | Cardiologist, research scientist, and bestselling author

Allison Hedge Coke
2019–2020, Speakers December 16, 2020 | Award-winning poet and author of Dog Road Woman, Blood Run, and Burn

John Barry
2020–2021, Speakers November 12, 2020 | Tulane professor of public health and bestselling author

Edward Glaeser
2020–2021, Speakers October 21, 2020 | Harvard economist and a former director of the Taubman Center

RBG — Life & Legacy
2020–2021, Speakers October 2, 2020 | A forum to celebrate the life and legacy of Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Alicia Garza
2020–2021, Greatest Hits, Speakers September 24, 2020 | Co-founder of the Black Lives Matter and Dan and Maggie Inouye Distinguished Chair in Democratic Ideals

Paul Butler
2020–2021, SpeakersSeptember 9, 2020 | Georgetown law professor and the author of Chokehold: Policing Black Men.

Ellen Carol Dubois
2020–2021, SpeakersAugust 27, 2020 | Acclaimed UCLA historian and author of Suffrage: Women's Long Battle for the Vote

Matthew Desmond
2020–2021, SpeakersJuly 28, 2020 | Princeton sociologist, MacArthur Genius fellow, and author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning book Evicted

Michael Bennett
2020–2021, Greatest Hits, SpeakersJune 17, 2020 | Defensive end with the New England Patriots and author of Things That Make White People Uncomfortable

Robert Waldinger
2019–2020, SpeakersMarch 12, 2020 | Renowned psychiatrist, Zen priest, and director of the Harvard Study of Adult Development

Rachel Louise Snyder
2019–2020, SpeakersMarch 9, 2020 | Investigative journalist and author of No Visible Bruises: What We Don’t Know About Domestic Violence Can Kill Us

Tim Wu
2019–2020, SpeakersFebruary 20, 2020 | The New York Times columnist and author of The Attention Merchants and The Curse of Bigness

David King
2019–2020, SpeakersFebruary 5, 2020 | Cambridge Professor Emeritus, UK Scientific Adviser

Lita M. Proctor
2019–2020, SpeakersJanuary 23, 2020 | Inaugural Coordinator of the NIH’s $215 million Human Microbiome Project

David Wallace-Wells
2019–2020, SpeakersJanuary 14, 2020 | Deputy Editor at New York magazine and author of The Uninhabitable Earth

Noura Erakat
2019–2020, SpeakersNovember 6, 2019 | Author of Justice for Some: Law and in the Question of Palestine

Mark Hixon
2019–2020, SpeakersOctober 3, 2019 | Hsiao Endowed Chair in Marine Biology

Viet Thanh Nguyen
2019–2020, SpeakersSeptember 19, 2019 | Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist and MacArthur genius fellow

Andy Fisher
2019–2020, SpeakersSeptember 12, 2019 | Food security and justice advocate, author of Big Hunger

Priyamvada Natarajan
2018-2019, Greatest Hits, SpeakersMay 2, 2019 | Professor of Astronomy and Physics at Yale and the author of Mapping the Heavens

Marcus Rediker
2018-2019, Speakers May 1, 2019 | Historian, award-winning author, and Dan and Maggie Inouye Chair in Democratic Ideals

Marielena Hincapié
2018-2019, SpeakersApril 26, 2019 | Executive Director of the National Immigration Law Center

Peter Linebaugh
2018-2019, SpeakersApril 17, 2019 | Historian, award-winning author

Thomas Laqueur
2018-2019, SpeakersApril 3, 2019 | Cultural theorist and author of The Work of the Dead

Sheena Iyengar
2018-2019, Greatest Hits, SpeakersMarch 14, 2019 | Social psychologist

David Cole
2018-2019, Greatest Hits, SpeakersFebruary 28, 2019 | National Legal Director of the American Civil Liberties Union

Kaitlyn Yang
2018-2019, SpeakersFebruary 26, 2019 | Visual Effects Supervisor, Alpha Studios

Ellis Henican
2018-2019, SpeakersJanuary 30, 2019 | Ellis Henican is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and prolific, bestselling author.

Janet Mock
2018-2019, Greatest Hits, SpeakersFall 2018 Commencement | author, TV personality and one of the nation’s most important advocates for transgender rights

Richard Tedlow
2018-2019, SpeakersSeptember 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
2017-2018, Greatest Hits, SpeakersSpring 2018 Commencement | First Asian American 4-star general and former Secretary for Veteran's Affairs

Martha Nussbaum
2017-2018, SpeakersFall 2017 Commencement | Endowed University of Chicago professor of philosophy and law and prolific author.

Marcus Eriksen
2018-2019, SpeakersAugust 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
2017-2018, SpeakersMarch 16, 2018 | Director of Stanford's Woods Institute and leading author of IPCC climate reports

Ove Hoegh-Guldberg
2017-2018, SpeakersMarch 3, 2018 | Renowned coral reef scientist and director of the Global Change Institute

Lonnie Bunch
2017-2018, SpeakersFebruary 27, 2018 | Founding Director of the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture

Walter Echo-Hawk
2017-2018, SpeakersFebruary 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
2017-2018, SpeakersJanuary 25, 2018 | MIT Astrophysicist and expert in Earth-like exoplanets

Michael Roth
2017-2018, SpeakersJanuary 16, 2018 | President of Wesleyen University and advocate for liberal education

Chris Eyre
2017-2018, SpeakersNovember 13, 2017 | Award-winning Native American filmmaker

Vivek Murthy
2016–2017, SpeakersMay 13, 2017 | Surgeon General of the United States

Ai-jen Poo
2016–2017, Greatest Hits, SpeakersMarch 22, 2017 | Director, National Domestic Workers Alliance, MacArthur fellow, author of The Age of Dignity (2015).

Douglas Abrams
2016–2017, SpeakersMarch 16, 2017 | Novelist, literary agent, co-author of The Book of Joy

Rachel Carleton Abrams
2016–2017, SpeakersMarch 16, 2017 | Family physician

Corey Robin
2016–2017, SpeakersFebruary 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
2016–2017, SpeakersFebruary 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
2015–2016, SpeakersJuly 6, 2016 | Academic dean of Harvard’s Kennedy School.

Angela Y. Davis
2015–2016, Greatest Hits, SpeakersApril 8, 2016 | Scholar, author, activist

Mark Bittman
2015–2016, Greatest Hits, SpeakersFebruary 18, 2016 | New York Times food writer, author of twenty books, including How to Cook Everything (1998).

Marcelo Suárez-Orozco
2015–2016, SpeakersJanuary 20, 2016 | Wasserman Dean of Education, UCLA, author of twenty-six books, member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Sam Kass
2013–2015, SpeakersSpring 2015 Commencement | NBC News analyst, Director, Let’s Move!, White House Senior Advisor for Nutrition Policy (2009-2014).

Heather Thompson
2013–2015, SpeakersMarch 2, 2015 | University of Michigan historian and author of bestseller Blood in the Water

Stephanie Coontz
2012–2013, SpeakersDecember 5, 2013 | Director of Research and Public Education for the Council on Contemporary Families, author of Marriage, A New History

Jose Antonio Vargas
2013–2015, Greatest Hits, SpeakersFall 2013 Commencement | Pulitzer prize-winning journalist, Founder and CEO, Define American

Van Jones
2011–2012, Greatest Hits, Speakers March 19, 2012 | CNN commentator, White House green jobs advisor (2009), author of Rebuild the Dream (2012).

Joseph Stiglitz
2011–2012, Greatest Hits, SpeakersMarch 14, 2012 | Nobel laureate, University Professor of Economics at Columbia

Theda Skocpol
2012–2013, SpeakersMarch 12, 2013 | Harvard Professor of Government, Johan Skytte Prize winner, member National Academy of Sciences

Tyrone Hayes
2012–2013, SpeakersDecember 17, 2012 | Professor of Integrative Biology, UC Berkeley, New Yorker profile subject

Martha Minow
2011–2012, Speakers June 12, 2012 | Harvard Law School, Vice-Chair, U.S. Legal Services Corporation

Janny Scott
2011–2012, SpeakersMay 8, 2012 | Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times reporter, author of A Singular Woman

Mike Devine
2011–2012, SpeakersDecember 2011 | Director of the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum

Sharon Fawcett
2011–2012, SpeakersSeptember 23-26, 2011 | Assistant Archivist of the United States