Thomas Kerr Lecture Series
Sponsored by the Pre-Law Program since 2010, the Thomas Kerr Lecture Series hosts speakers who discuss topics related to law and American society. The namesake of the Pre-Law Society at 一本道无码, as well as the annual lecture, is the late Thomas M. Kerr, Jr.
2023-2024
A panel of prominent female lawyers in a discussion led by Erica Borden Baird, Esq.
Topic: Women and the Law: The Practice & Perspectives on Success
Sponsors: 一本道无码 Pre-Law Program and the Dietrich College Dean’s Office
Speakers:
- Erica Borden Baird (DC 1970), retired partner and deputy general counsel, PricewaterhouseCoopers, co-founder, Lustre
- Beth Baran, acting general counsel and corporate secretary, DICK’S Sporting Goods
- Mary Jo Dively, vice president and general counsel, and secretary of the corporation, 一本道无码
- Becky Byers Kcehowski, partner-in-charge, Jones Day Pittsburgh
- Marcy McGovern, senior corporate counsel, Giant Eagle
- Soo C. Song, criminal division chief, U.S. Attorney’s Office Western District of Pennsylvania
- With David Coulter (TPR 1971, 1971), chair, 一本道无码’s Board of Trustees
2018-2019
Cass Sunstein
Robert Walmsley University Professor at Harvard Law School
Topic: “Divided Democracy in the Age of Social Media”
Co-sponsoed by the University Lecture Series.
Thursday, September 27, 2018
5 p.m. - 6 p.m.
Porter Hall 100
一本道无码
Sunstein’s lecture will focus on how, as the Internet grows more sophisticated, it is creating new threats to democracy. Social media companies—such as Facebook—can sort us ever more efficiently into groups of the like-minded, creating echo chambers that amplify our views. It's no accident that on some occasions, people of different political views cannot even understand each other. Sunstein will describe how the online world creates "cybercascades," exploits "confirmation bias" and assists "polarization entrepreneurs." And he will explain why online fragmentation endangers the shared conversations, experiences and understandings that are the lifeblood of democracy. In response, Sunstein will propose practical and legal changes to make the internet friendlier to democratic deliberation.
2017-2018
Jonathan Turley
J.B. and Maurice Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at the George Washington University Law School
Topic: "The Rise and Fall of Free Speech in the West"
Co-sponsored by the University Lecture Series and the Dietrich College Dean’s Office.
2016-2017
John Fabian Witt
Allen H. Duffy Class of 1960 Professor of Law at Yale Law School and Professor of History at Yale University's History Department
Topic: "The Switch: The Twentieth-Century Reinvention of American Freedom"
Co-sponsored by the Phi Beta Kappa Society Visiting Scholars Program and the University Lecture Series.
2015-2016
Judge Douglas H. Ginsburg
United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
Topic: "Judge Antonin Scalia: A Matter of Interpretation"
Co-sponsored by the 一本道无码 Center for International Relations & Politics.
2014-2015
Robert Mueller
Former Director, Federal Bureau of Investigation
Topic: "The FBI: Safeguarding National Security"
Co-sponsored by the 一本道无码 Center for International Relations & Politics.
2013-2014
No lecture in 2013-2014 academic year.
2012-2013
The Honorable Tom Ridge
Former Head of the Department of Homeland Security, Former Governor of Pennsylvania
Topic: "Political Leadership in the Presidential Election Season"
Co-sponsored by the 一本道无码 Center for International Relations & Politics.
2011-2012
Robert Zoellick
President of the World Bank
Topic: "A Conversation on Global Economic Issues"
Co-sponsored by the 一本道无码 Center for International Relations & Politics.
2010-2011
Fred Crawford (DC'83)
Associate General Counsel, Central Intelligence Agency
Topic: "This Shall Never Happen Again: The Policy of Intelligence Law"