WTAMU’s Distinguished Lecture Series (DLS) was created in 2007 to enhance education in the classroom. A portion of the student activity fee funds the series, and committee members strive to select speakers who appeal to a broad spectrum of the student body. The mission of the Distinguished Lecture Series is to invite persons of national prominence to the WTAMU campus in order to expose our students to some of the most important issues of our times.
In addition to offering funding support for visits by subject-matter experts to expand the work of our colleges and departments, the Distinguished Lecture Series at WT has brought world reknown guests to campus through the years to inspire and enlighten students, faculty and the community. Topics are varied, and guest speakers have included Dr. Temple Grandin, Astronaut Mark Kelly, Humans of New York founder Brandon Stanton, President Bill Clinton, Maya Angelou, Astronaut Sally Ride, Steve Burns of "Blue's Clues," actress and author Anna Deavere Smith, and author George Saunders.
Spring 2025 Events
Photo courtesy of The Wilson Center
Benjamin H. Johnson
“Texas: An American History”
Date: Wednesday, March 5
Time: 6:00 p.m.
Location: Hazlewood Room at the Panhandle Plains Historical Museum
Event managed by Dr. Tim Bowman, Department of History
When Americans turn on their laptops, play video games, go to church, vote, eat TexMex, buy groceries, listen to music, grill steaks, or watch football, they are paying tribute to Texas. Johnson shines new light on why Texas has had such a powerful influence on U.S. history.
Elisa Gonzalez
Poetry Workshop & Poetry Reading
Date: Thursday & Friday, March 27-28
Time: 7 p.m. on March 27; 12:30 p.m. & 6:30 p.m. on March 28
Location: Gonzalez will be featured as part of the Texas Poets’ Corner spring event at 7 p.m. on March 27 in the Texas Poets' Corner (2nd floor of Cornette Library).
On Friday, March 28, Gonzalez will lead a poetry workshop at 12:30 p.m. in Classroom Center 316 and will present a poetry reading at 6:30 p.m. in the Blackburn Room (2nd floor of Cornette Library).
Event managed by Dr. Matthew Harrison, Department of English, Philosophy, and Modern Languages
Elisa Gonzalez is a poet, essayist, and fiction writer. Her work appears in The New Yorker, The Paris Review, and elsewhere. A graduate of Yale University and the New York University MFA program, she has received fellowships from the Norman Mailer Center, Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, Rolex Foundation, and U.S. Fulbright Program. She is the recipient of a Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers’ Award, an Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and a Whiting Award. Her debut poetry collection, Grand Tour, published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, was named one of the best books of 2023 by The New Yorker. FSG will also bring out her novel, The Awakenings, and a nonfiction book, Strangers on Earth.
Łukasz Jan Korporowicz
“Sophisticated Legal Tradition? On the relation between common, canon and civil law (once again)”
Date: April 3
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Location: Thunder Room at the JBK
Event managed by Dr. Brasington, Department of History
Dr hab. Łukasz Jan Korporowicz is a University Professor of Law and the Director of the Centre for Anglo-American Legal Tradition at the University of Lodz (Poland). He is a lawyer and canon lawyer. He studied law at the University of Lodz, where he obtained a master degree (2010). Later, he continued his legal education at the same University where he obtained his doctorate (2015), and upon evaluation of his research activity he obtained his habilitation degree (2020). In the meantime, he studied canon law at the University of Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski in Warsaw, where he obtained canonical licentiate / master degree (2016). He is the author and editor of nearly 80 scientific works, including books, edited collections, and numerous articles published worldwide. His main field of research is the English legal history and reception of Roman law. In addition, his expertise includes also the history of legal education and legal profession, medieval canon law, and American legal history. His research method is predominantly focused on comparative and global legal history approaches. In the past, he used to be involved in the academic administration as a Vice Dean for Research (2021-2023) and Vice Rector for Research (2023-2024).
The Center for the Study of the American West Garry L. Nall Lecture in Western Studies featuring Christian Wallace
Date: April 10
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Location: Legacy Hall
Event managed by Dr. Alex Hunt and CSAW
Christian Wallace is a screenwriter and journalist. He is a native of Andrews, in West Texas, where he grew up amongst cotton farmers, roughnecks, and cowboys. He got his undergraduate degree at Texas State University and his MA in writing from the University of Galway in Ireland. Wallace has been a staff writer for Texas Monthly. His podcast "Boomtown" was made into the Taylor Sheridan series "Land Man."
Fall 2024 Past Events
Dr. Thomas E. Brown
12th Annual Helen Piehl Distinguished Lecture:
Understanding ADHD and Its Complications in Children & Adolescents
Date: Thursday, Oct. 10
Time: 8:30 a.m. – 12 p.m.
Location: Alumni Banquet Hall | Webinar
Registration information
Event managed by the Center for Learning Disabilities
Thomas E. Brown, Ph.D
Director of the Brown Clinic for Attention & Related Disorders
Clinical Professor of Psychiatry & Neuroscience
University of California, Riverside School of Medicine
Brown ADHD Clinic Manhattan Beach
Megan Fernandes
Dorothy Patterson Poetry Series
Date: Thursday, Oct. 10
Time: 7 p.m.
Location: FAC Recital Hall
Student Q&A
Date: Friday, Oct. 11
Time: 12:15 p.m.
Location: CC 322
Event managed by Dr. Matthew Harrison, Department of English, Philosophy and Modern Languages
In addition to three books, Fernandes' work is published in The New Yorker, The American Poetry Review, Tin House, Ploughshares, Chicago Review, Boston Review, Rattle, PANK, The Common, Guernica, the Academy of American Poets, and McSweeney’s Internet Tendency. https://www.meganfernandes.com/poems-essays
Clay Jenkinson
Garry L. Nall Lecture in Western Studies:
“The Language of Cottonwoods: A Dialogue on the Plains and Sense of Place”
Date: Thursday, Nov. 7
Time: 7 p.m.
Location: Legacy Hall
Event managed by Dr. Alex Hunt, Center for the Study of the American West
Clay Jenkinson is a humanities scholar, author, and social commentator, devoting most of his career to public humanities programs. As one of the nation’s leading interpreters of Thomas Jefferson and other historical figures, Clay has performed before Supreme Court justices, presidents, 18 state legislatures, and countless public, corporate and student audiences as well as appearing on The Today Show, Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher, The Colbert Report, and CNN. He has dedicated the better part of his life to researching the historical characters that he portrays and to bringing back and defining the “living theatre” of Chautauqua, which also emphasizes education with audience participation to enhance the learning and entertainment experience.
The lecture is free and open to the public, but the event includes special access for subscribers to the Sybil B. Harrington College of Fine Arts and Humanities Sub-Series.
Meme Garcia
"Reclaiming the Bard"
Date: Wednesday, Nov. 13
Time: 7 p.m.
Location: Cornette Library, Blackburn Room
Event managed by Dr. Matthew Harrison, Department of English, Philosophy and Modern Languages
Meme Garcia is an actor, writer, and teacher well known for work on the drama series "house of suenos." Garcia's work focuses on redefining classical texts. Garcia is a member of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.
Spring 2024 Past Events
Kathryn Sydell Pilkington co-founder of Company E
“Creating Connections: Dance, Film, and the Art of Cultural Diplomacy”
Date: Thursday, Jan. 25
Time: 6:00 p.m.
Location: Sybil B. Harrington Fine Arts Complex Recital Hall
Hosted by: Crystal Bertrand, the WT Dance Program within the Department of Art, Theatre, and Dance
Janel Pineda & Sara Uribe, poets
“Dreaming America through Latinx Poetry”
Date: Tuesday, Feb. 6 Discussion on Writing and Poetry
Time: 12:30 p.m.
Location: Blackburn Room of the Cornette Library Poetry Reading
Time: 6:30 p.m.
Location: Sybil B. Harrington Fine Arts Complex Recital Hall
Hosted by: Dr. Andrew Reynolds, the WT Spanish Program within the Department of English, Philosophy, and Modern Languages
Audrey Wright, violinist
"Voices of the Violin” Lecture and Recital
Date: Tuesday, March 26
Time: 7:30 p.m.
Location: Sybil B. Harrington Fine Arts Complex Recital Hall
Hosted by: Evgeny Zvonnikov, WT School of Music
George Saunders, author
Date: Thursday, April 4
Time: 7 p.m.
Location: Legacy Hall
Hosted in partnership with Amarillo College's Creative Mind Lecture Series and the Center for the Study of the American West’s Garry L. Nall Lecture in Western Studies