Lectures and Events
Join us as we commemorate the 250th anniversary of Hampden-Sydney‘s founding with special programs, fine arts performances, museum exhibits, field trips, classes, and research projects exploring the historical and intellectual foundations of the College.
2024-2025
Founders Commemoration Speech
Monday, October 28, 2024 at 7pm
Jeffrey Rosen is author of New York Times bestseller, “The Pursuit of Happiness.” Rosen will discuss his examination of what “the pursuit of happiness” meant to our nation’s Founders and how that famous phrase defined their lives and became the foundation of our democracy. Jeffrey Rosen is President and CEO of the National Constitution Center, a professor of law at the George Washington University Law School, and a contributing editor at The Atlantic.
Opening Convocation Keynote Address
Monday, August 26, 2024
The Honorable Robert Hurt ’91 is an American attorney and politician who served as the U.S. representative for Virginia’s 5th congressional district. In his address, he underscored the vital importance of civic virtue and leadership in today’s world, highlighting how knowledge and civility are essential for the formation of good men and good citizens.
Commencement Address
Saturday, May 11, 2024
Cultural and political commentator David Brooks is a columnist for The New York Times and a contributor to The Atlantic. He is a commentator on The PBS Newshour and founder of Weave: the Social Fabric Project. His address outlined six activities that contribute to becoming a good man and a good citizen concluding that the journey to becoming a good man is inextricably linked with being a good citizen. His forthcoming book “How to Know a Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen” will be published in October.
2023-2024
Opening Convocation Address: “The Skills of Freedom”
Monday, August 21, 2023
The Honorable John Charles Thomas, Former Justice of the Virginia Supreme Court and Author of Poetic Justice: A Memoir
Watch the recording on YouTube
Founders Day Lecture: “How Shall We Remember?”
Thursday, November 9, 2023
Christy S. Coleman, executive director of the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation in Williamsburg, VA also serves as a member of the Virginia American Revolution 250 Commission
Watch the recording on YouTube
Ronald L. Heinemann Lecture in the History of the American South
Tuesday, February 27, 2024
Patricia A. Sullivan, William Arthur Fairey II Professor of History at the University of South Carolina draws from her recent book, “Justice Rising,” on Robert F. Kennedy and the civil rights movement. This spring marks the 60th anniversary of Kennedy’s visit to Prince Edward County and his talk at H-SC.
Watch the recording on YouTube
Society of the Cincinnati Visiting Scholar Series
Wednesday, March 20, 2024
7:30-9 PM
Crawley Forum
Professor Jack Fructman of Towson University will deliver a talk on Thomas Paine, with a reception to follow.
Spiritual Founders: John Hampden and Algernon Sydney
Wednesday, April 10, 2024
4:30-5:30 PM
Bortz Library, lecture area
Professor Kenneth Fincham is Professor of Early Modern History at University of Kent at Canterbury. He studied History at Oxford University and completed his Ph.D at University College London.
Sponsored by the Student Museum Board and the Virginia Program at Oxford
Watch the recording on YouTube