Arts and Education Events
Annual Programs
Newcomb Institute is proud to carry on the rich traditions of our endowed lecture series and programs. These events have an established place in the fabric of the campus and the community. Thanks to the continued generosity of our donors, we are pleased to showcase the following events and programs.
The Alberto-Culver Lecture Series
The Alberto-Culver Lecture Series, established by Carol Lavin Bernick (NC ’74), invites distinguished, nationally recognized professional women to campus.
2025 Laura Kelly Bates, Founder and Principal, Brand Verve Consulting
2024 Alandas Dobbins, CEO and founder, Oteka Technologies
2023 Anne McCulloch, EVP, Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary, Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco 2022 Barbara Jones, Founder and CEO, Outshine Talent
2021 Nina Compton, Chef
2019 Angela Rye, Principal and CEO of IMPACT Strategies, and Amanda Zuckerman, co-founder and creative director of Dormify.com
2018 Kate White, author and magazine editor
2017 Kathy Waller, EVP, Chief Financial Officer and President Enabling Services, The Coca-Cola Company
2016 Paula Meyer, corporate boards member
2015 Debora Spar, President of Barnard College
2013 Sylvia Ann Hewlett, CEO of Hewlett Consulting Partners and founder of the Center for Talent Innovation
2012 Sonal Shah, economist and former Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of the first White House Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation
The Florie Gale Arons '50 Poetry Program
Since 1999, the Florie Gale Arons Poetry Program has brought a distinguished poet to campus for a poetry reading and workshop. The program was established by the daughters of Florie Gale Arons (NC ‘50) in 1999 in honor of their mother’s 70th birthday, and family and friends assure that it continues today in her memory.
2025 Patricia Smith
2024 Ada Limón
2023 Franny Choi
2022 Kiki Petrosino
2021 Khadijah Queen
2020 Layli Long Soldier
2019 Morgan Parker
2018 Laura Mullen
2017 Anne Boyer
2016 Jennifer Grotz
2015 Julia Spicher Kasdorf
2014 Tracy K. Smith
2013 Mary Jo Bang
2012 Sharon Olds
2011 Marie Howe
2010 Brenda Hillman
2009 C.D. Wright
2008 Nicole Cooley
2007 Kimiko Hahn
2006 Alice Notley
2005 Toi Derricotte
2004 Natasha Trethewey
2003 Denise Duhamel
2002 Colette Inez
2001 Carole Simmons Oles
2000 Maxine Kumin
1999 Kate Daniels
The Betty Werlein Carter (NC' 31) Lecture
The Betty Werlein Carter (NC’ 31) Lecture, established by the family and friends of the alumna, provides students with information training, experience, contacts and involvement in the public policy arena.
2024 Jakana Thomas, Associate Professor, School of Global Policy and Strategy, UC San Diego
2023 Nadia Brown, Professor of Government, director of the Women’s and Gender Studies Program, and affiliate in the Black Studies department at Georgetown University
2022 Rebecca Campbell, University Distinguished Professor, Ecological/Community Psychology, Michigan State University
2021 Angela Tucker, director Belly of the Beast
2019 Dalton Tiegs and Rebecca Merton, keynote speakers for the third annual Louisiana Sexual Assault Student Activist Conference
2018 Wagatwe Wanjuki, keynote at the second Louisiana Sexual Assault Student Activist Conference
2017 Kelly Knapp (NC ’98), “From Tulane CACTUS to the Supreme Court: A Career Path Into Impact Litigation and Making Social Change.”
2016 Brittney Cooper, Professor, Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Rutgers
2015 Lisa Rice, political strategist
2014 Lynn Paltrow, executive director, National Advocates for Pregnant Women
2013 Jennifer Baumgardner, writer and activist
2012 Lynn Rosenthal, first White House Advisor on Violence Against Women
Adele Ramos Salzer '40 Lecture and Reading Series
The Adele Ramos Salzer ’40 Lecture and Reading Series was created by a donation from this dedicated alumna and volunteer, and has been generously strengthened through gifts in her memory from her family, friends, and classmates. The series supports an annual lecture on topics related to women and higher education.
2025 Michelle Manno, Associate Provost for Community Enrichment, Northwestern University
2024 “Doing Collaborative Feminist Work: A Conversation with the Editors of Feminist Pedagogy for Teaching Online”
2023 Nancy Niemi, President, Framingham State University
2022 Lisa Wade, Associate Professor of Sociology and GESS, Tulane
2021 Anthony Jack, Radcliffe Fellow, Harvard Radcliffe Institute
2019 Caroline Heldman, Professor, Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies, Occidental College
2018 Susan Komives, Professor, University of Maryland
2017 Robin Ely, Diane Doerge Wilson Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School
2016 Elizabeth Armstrong, Associate Professor of Sociology and Public Affairs, Princeton University
2014 Mary Trigg, Associate Professor of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Rutgers University
2013 Nannerl Keohane, former president Wellesley College and Duke University
2012 Linda Sax, professor of Higher Education in the UCLA School of Education and Information Studies
2010 Lynn Peril, writer
2009 Cheryl Wagner, author, and Dedra Johnson
2008 Monica Edelstein and Martha Ward, authors of A World Full of Women
The Roe v. Wade Lecture and Conceiving Equity Annual Event
Newcomb Institute’s annual Roe v. Wade Lecture commemorates the historic 1973 U. S. Supreme Court decision that recognized abortion as a constitutionally protected right. Every January, Newcomb Institute invites a nationally recognized scholar of reproductive rights to present their latest research. The series has brought to campus scholars from a variety of disciplines, including history, architecture, sociology, and law. The annual lecture is a part of our annual Conceiving Equity Event, and is preceded by a networking reception and poster presentations by Newcomb Institute’s Sexual and Reproductive Rights and Health Interns.
The annual Roe v. Wade Lecture is supported by the Donna and Richard Esteves Fund for Women’s Reproductive Rights and Reproductive Health.
2025 Elizabeth Dias and Lisa Lerer, journalists and authors of The Fall of Roe: The Rise of a New America
2024 Yasmin López, "Territory and Body - Women Leading the Fight for Reproductive Rights in Latin America"
2023 Kimala Price, “Reproductive Justice in a Post-Roe, Post-Dobbs World”
2022 Loretta J. Ross, “Reproductive Justice: Human Rights for the 21st Century”
2021 Diana Greene Foster, “Consequences of Receiving versus Being Denied a Wanted Abortion in the United States”
2020 Monica McLemore, "An Uncertain Future – The Way Forward to Ensure Abortion Care, Access, and Reproductive Justice"
2019 Yana van der Meulen Rodgers, "Women’s Reproductive Health and Economic Empowerment”
2018 J. Shoshanna Ehrlich, "(Re)producing the Maternal Ideal: Abortion Laws and the Romancing of Motherhood"
2017 Kimberly Kelly, “Abortion in the American South: Religion, Race, and Stigma”
2016 Rebecca Kluchin, “Maternal-Fetal Conflict in Post-Roe America”
2015 Lori Brown, “Contested Spaces: Abortion Clinic Design”
2014 Lynn Paltrow, “Interrogating the Differences between ‘Pro-Life,’ and ‘Pro-Lives’”
2013 Wendy Kline, “The Pelvic Instruction Controversy of the 1970s”
The Zale-Kimmerling Writer-In-Residence Program
Each year since 1985, the Zale-Kimmerling Writer-in-Residence Program has brought a renowned woman writer to campus. The Zale-Kimmerling Writer-in-Residence program was established by Dana Zale Gerard (NC ‘85) and made possible by an annual gift from the M.B. and Edna Zale Foundation of Dallas, Texas. In 2010, the program became fully endowed through a gift from Martha McCarty Wells (NC’63) and known as the Zale-Kimmerling Writer-in-Residence program.
2025 Karen Russell
2025 Tayari Jones
2024 Rebecca Makkai
2023 Min Jin Lee
2022 Britt Bennett
2021 Valeria Luiselli
2020 Lauren Groff
2019 N.K. Jemisin
2018 Rebecca Solnit
2017 Meg Wolitzer
2016 Zadie Smith
2015 Danielle Evans
2014 Lorrie Moore 2014 Susan Choi
2013 Aimee Bender
2012 Antonya Nelson
2011 Valerie Martin
2010 Amy Hempel
2009 Clare Messud
2008 Michelle Tea
2007 Elizabeth McCracken
2006 Curtis Sittenfeld
2006 Julie Orringer
2005 Ellen Gilchrist
2004 Mab Segrest
2003 Thisbe Nissen
2002 Joanna Scott
2001 Edwidge Danticat
2000 Jessica Hagedorn
1999 Ann Patchett
1998 Octavia Butler
1997 Deb Margolin
1996 Ellen Bryant Voigt
1995 Dorothy Allison
1994 Lee Smith
1994 Rosellen Brown
1993 Linda Hogan
1992 Sonia Sanchez
1991 Ellen Douglas
1989 E.M. Bronner
1988 Gloria Naylor
1988 Nancy Willard
1987 Carolyn Forche
1986 Alison Lurie
