I regularly encourage my students to attend public lectures and to submit summary reports for extra credit. Encouraging students to attend lectures and other public events given by internationally and nationally-known speakers helps to broaden their understanding and contextualize important issues.
Some notable speakers whom I have heard at MU include Dr. Cornel West in January 2010, and the Rev. Jessie Jackson in January 2012. I have attended presidential stump talks from candidates like Hillary Clinton in 2008 and Newt Gingrich in April 2012. I have also attended talks given by leading sport business experts such as Stephen A. Smith in 2013 and Greg Gumbel in 2015. I sat beside and enjoyed a lunchtime conversation with diversity expert Jane Elliot in 2017.
