TIAA Distinguished Honors Graduate Lecture

Annually since 2002, the Honors College at the University of Maine has endeavored to host a distinguished Honors graduate for a several day visit. The visit typically includes in- and out-of-class conversations with members of the Honors community as well as other interested students and faculty. The Distinguished Honors Graduate Lecture is the campus-wide highlight of their visit.  Between 2002 and 2008, this initiative was sponsored by TIAA, which returned as a sponsor in 2015.

Emily Cain Distinguished Honors Grad poster

2019-20 TIAA Distinguished Honors Graduate Lecture

Emily Cain ’02H 
Executive Director, EMILY’s List

“The Myth of Electability: What it Really Takes for Women to Win”
September 24, 2019


Past Distinguished Honors Graduate Lectures

2018-19 – Isaac Record ’03H 
Assistant Professor of Practice, Michigan State University’s Lyman Briggs College
“Life, the University and Everything: My Romp Across Disciplines in Pursuit of Answers”
September 27, 2018

2017-18 – Sara Morris ’86H
Managing Director, Stone Coast Fund Services
“Accounting for Happiness: The Rewards of Unlikely Career Choices, and the Lasting Value of Kindness”
September 26, 2017

2016-17 – Mark Pettegrow ’81H
Sculptor
“Fairing the Edge: In Search of Eloquent Form”
September 27, 2016

2015-16 – Mark R. Haskell ’82H 
Partner with the Washington D.C. office of Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, specializing in energy regulatory law.
“Federal Regulation of Oil and Natural Gas: 30 Years of Shifting Regulatory Paradigms, Broken Crystal Balls and Conflicting Policy Priorities”
November 2, 2015

2014-15 – Dr. Amy Benoit Frappier ’99H 
Associate professor at Skidmore College in the Department of Geosciences, serving as Charles Lubin Family Professor for Women in Science
“The Natural Philosophy of Hurricanes in the Anthropocene”
February 2, 2015

2013-14 – Dr. David Bronson ’69H 
President of the Cleveland Clinic
“Healthcare Reform and the Bumpy Road to Universal Access”
November 20, 2013

2012-13 – Kristen Gwinn-Becker ’97H 
Founder and CEO of HistoryIT
“Navigating Entrepreneurship and the Humanities”
October 24, 2012 

2010-11 – Dr. Bruce Stanton ’74H 
Andrew C. Vail Distinguished Professor at Dartmouth Medical School
“Arsenic: A Global Public Health Crisis”
February 23, 2011

2009-10 – Bettina Boxall ’77H 
2009 Pulitzer Prize Winner in Explanatory Reporting
“Please Don’t Tweet Me: Journalism Today”
April 14, 2010

2007-08 – Dr. Bernard Lown ’42H 
Recipient of the 1985 Nobel Peace Prize
“On Global Activism in an Ailing World”
March 26, 2008

2005-06 – Daniel P. Christensen ’77H 
CEO of Hancock Natural Resource Group, President Hancock Timber Resource Group
“Is Change the Only Constant in the World Today?”
24 April 24, 2006

2004-05 – George Z. Singal ’67H 
Chief United States District Judge, District of Maine
“Wandering through the Garden of Eden: How do I get out of here?”
April 11, 2005

2003-04 – Charles V. Stanhope, ’71H 
Director of Development, United States Library of Congress
“Making Sense of the Information Explosion: A View from the World’s Largest Library”
April 12, 2004

2002-03 – Carolyn Reed, ’72H 
Director, Hollings Cancer Research Center, Medical University of South Carolina
“Breaking the Glass Ceiling: Medicine and Beyond”
April 21, 2003

2001-02 – James Tierney, ’69H
Attorney General of Maine, 1980-1990
“Diversity in Maine: An Opportunity”
April 22, 2002