Speakers

The Ashbrook Center hosts a number of speakers annually as part of the Ashbrook Scholar Program. Two to three times every semester, the Center, through its Major Issues Lecture Series, sponsors a luncheon lecture in which the Ashbrook Scholars and the public meet some of today’s most renowned public figures and scholars. At all Ashbrook events, Ashbrook Scholars are encouraged to ask tough questions and get straight answers during a private, hour-long, off-the-record seminar with the speaker after the public lecture.

Previous speakers in the Major Issues Lecture Series include former Ohio Governor John Kasich, Newt Gingrich, Jonah Goldberg, Chris Stirewalt, Harvey Mansfield, Kathleen Parker, and many more.

One of the highlights of the Ashbrook Scholars’ year is the John M. Ashbrook Memorial Dinner. Not only do the Ashbrook Scholars attend the gala dinner and reception, but, as with the Major Issues Lecture Series, they also participate in a private discussion with the speaker. Previous keynote speakers include Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Margaret Thatcher, Benjamin Netanyahu, Clarence Thomas, Mitt Romney, and Mike Pence.

In addition to our luncheon lectures and the Memorial Dinner, the Center hosts a series of academic seminars for Ashbrook Scholars and the Ashland University community known as Ashbrook Colloquia. Each semester, the series features two to three leading scholars from across the disciplines who discuss their latest book or work. Our speakers are invited to present an overview of their topic in order to initiate a discussion that will follow for an hour or more.

Former topics include “The Closing of the Muslim Mind,” “Theodore Roosevelt, the Progressive Party, and the Transformation of American Democracy,” “The Great Difficulty of Framing: Slavery and the Constitutional Convention,” and “Frederick Douglass: The Original Audacity of Hope.”