Malcolm Gladwell, author of The Tipping Point: How Little Things Make a Big Difference, (2000), Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking (2005), and Outliers: The Story of Success (2008) all number one New York Times bestsellers, will be the debut speaker of the 2010 – 2011 George T. Hunter Lecture Series on October 5, 7 p.m., at the Roland Hayes Concert Hall located inside the Fine Arts Center on the UTC campus.
All lectures in the series are free and open to the public.
Seating is limited and is available on a first-come first-served basis. Overflow rooms with live streaming video of the lecture will be provided in the Dorothy Hackett Ward Theater in the Fine Arts Center, Grote Hall Room 129, the Benwood Auditorium and the Card Auditorium both in the Engineering, Computer Science and Math Building.
The third annual George T. Hunter Lecture Series is sponsored by the Benwood Foundation in partnership with The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, the Ochs Center, and CreateHere.
Gladwell will be the arts and culture speaker for this year’s George T. Hunter Lecture Series. The title of his speech is “Overconfidence and the Diseases of Experts.” Following Gladwell’s lecture, he will be speaking to UTC students, CreateHere fellows and other community leaders.
“We are delighted to bring Malcolm Gladwell to Chattanooga and to UTC,” said Corinne Allen, Executive Director of the Benwood Foundation.
“Malcolm Gladwell coming to our University will be an opportunity for students to hear and interact with one of our great modern thinkers.” said Dr. Roger Brown, Chancellor of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. “This is another wonderful example of the partnership that has brought so many national leaders to our city.”
By bringing leading national voices like Malcolm Gladwell and prior speakers such as Doris Kearns Goodwin, David Brooks and Madeleine Albright to Chattanooga, the Benwood Foundation hopes to promote discussion of important issues to our country and the nation.
About Gladwell:
Malcolm Gladwell has been a staff writer with The New Yorker magazine since 1996. His 1999 profile of Ron Popeil won a National Magazine Award, and in 2005 he was named one of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People. His latest book, “What the Dog Saw” (2009) is a compilation of stories published in The New Yorker.
From 1987 to 1996, he was a reporter with The Washington Post, where he covered business, science, and then served as the newspaper’s New York City bureau chief. He graduated from the University of Toronto, Trinity College, with a degree in history. He was born in England, grew up in rural Ontario, and now lives in New York City.
Following Gladwell’s lecture on October 5, the remaining speakers of the 2010 – 2011 George T. Hunter Lecture series will be Newark Mayor Cory Booker; Geoffrey Canada, CEO of the Harlem Children’s Zone; and international environmental scholar, Dr. Vandana Shiva.
Mayor Cory Booker, November 18th, 2010 – Community Building Speaker: Booker has begun work on realizing a bold vision for the city. Newark’s mission is to set a national standard for urban transformation by marshalling its resources to achieve security, economic abundance and an environment that is nurturing and empowering for individuals and families. Booker and his administration have made meaningful strides towards achieving the City’s mission. On April 1, 2010, the City of Newark experienced its first homicide-free month in more than forty years and was recognized in July 2008 for leading the nation among large cities for reductions in shootings and murders, achieving decreases of more than 40% reductions in both categories. Radical transformation of the Newark Police Department under Mayor Booker’s leadership, together with the deployment of over 100 surveillance cameras throughout City, has led to Newark setting the nationwide pace for crime reduction. In May, Booker was re-elected to a second term.
Geoffrey Canada, February 15th, 2011 – Education Speaker: In his 20-plus years with Harlem Children’s Zone, Inc., Canada has become nationally recognized for his pioneering work helping children and families in Harlem and as a passionate advocate for education reform. Launched in 1997, the Harlem Children’s Zone targets 100 blocks in Central Harlem with a comprehensive range of services for children and parents from birth through college. According to the New York Times Magazine, “The objective is to create a safety net woven so tightly that children in the neighborhood just can’t slip through.” In October 2005, Canada was named one of “America’s Best Leaders” by U.S. News and World Report. The Harlem Children’s Zone is the model for the U.S. Department of Education’s Promise Neighborhoods program.
Dr. Vandana Shiva, April 26th, 2011 – Environment Speaker: Born in India, Vandana Shiva is a world-renowned environmental leader and thinker. Director of the Research Foundation on Science, Technology, and Ecology, she is the author of many books, including Water Wars: Pollution, Profits, and Privatization. Shiva is a leader in the International Forum on Globalization and has addressed the World Trade Organization summit in Seattle, as well as the recent World Economic Forum in Melbourne. Time magazine recognized Shiva as an environmental hero, and Asia Week has called her one of the five most powerful communicators in Asia. Shiva is a recipient of Global 500 Award of the United Nations and Earth Day International Award. She has also received the Alternative Nobel Prize Right Livelihood Award and is a member of the Order of the Golden Ark.
For more information, visit www.benwood.org .
