E.O. Wilson Distinguished Lecture Series
The Harvard Club of Birmingham annually selects an individual to celebrate who has made outstanding contributions to advancing knowledge and our culture. This tradition began in 2009 with the selection of Harvard Professor E.O. Wilson, born in Birmingham, Alabama and a world renowned biologist and expert on ants. Other winners to date appear below.
Chef Frank Stitt, 2018 – The Emerging Food Culture of Birmingham and the Influence of Farmers, Pepper Place Farmer’s Market, and Highlands Bar & Grill. Founder, owner, and executive chef of Highlands Bar & Grill, 2018 James Beard Outstanding Restaurant award recipient, Bottega Restaurant, Bottega Café, and Chez Fon Fon. Discussion facilitated by Catherine Sloss Jones, Harvard Loeb Fellow 2008.
Professor James B. McClintock, 2017 – From Penguins to Plankton: The Dramatic Impacts of Climate Change on the Antarctic Peninsula. Endowed University Professor of Polar and Marine Biology, University of Alabama – Birmingham.
Stephen Black, 2016 – The Future of Ethical Citizenship. Director, Center for Ethics and Social Responsibility, The University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa; President and Founder, Impact America and Impact Alabama, Birmingham, Alabama.
Professor Andrew Freear, 2015 – Rural Studio at Twenty. Professor and Director, Auburn’s Rural Studio, Newbern, Alabama.
Reverend Barry Vaughn, 2014 – The Problem of the Color Line: Edgar Gardner Murphy and the Montgomery Conference on Race. Author, Bishops, Bourbons and Big Mules: A History of the Episcopal Church in Alabama and Priest, Christ Church, Las Vegas, Nevada.
Diane McWhorter, 2013 – Back to Birmingham. Pulitzer Prize-winning Author, Carry Me Home, Cambridge, Massachusetts and New York.
Maestro Justin Brown, 2012 – The Role of the Symphony Orchestra in the Life of the City. Principal Conductor and Music Director, Alabama Symphony Orchestra, Birmingham, Alabama.
Bryan Stevenson, 2011 – We Need to Talk About an Injustice. Founder and Executive Director, Equal Justice Initiative, Montgomery, Alabama.
Jamie Shreeve, 2010 – Science from Inside the Yellow Border. Senior Science Editor, National Geographic Magazine.
Professor E.O. Wilson, 2009 – Our Living Heritage: Alabama and the World. Professor Emeritus, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts.