Chautauqua Lecture Series

Chautauqua Lecture Series

3 Seasons

Ideas and opinions are exchanged in an open, challenging atmosphere, and Chautauqua's knowledgeable audiences have the opportunity to participate in question-and-answer sessions at the conclusion of the lectures.

About Chautauqua Institution: Chautauqua Institution is a community on the shores of Chautauqua Lake in southwestern New York state that comes alive each summer with a unique mix of fine and performing arts, lectures, interfaith worship and programs, and recreational activities. As a community, we celebrate, encourage and study the arts and treat them as integral to all of learning, and we convene the critical conversations of the day to advance understanding through civil dialogue. CHQ Assembly is the online expression of Chautauqua Institution's mission.

Subscribe Share
Chautauqua Lecture Series
  • How COVID-19 is Reshaping Our World

    Episode 1

    Originally broadcast at 10:45 a.m. EDT Friday, July 10, 2020.

    Derek Thompson discusses what life might look like after this moment’s most disruptive unseen force, the novel coronavirus.

    Thompson is a staff writer at The Atlantic, where he writes on economics, technology and the media. He is al...

  • Reformation of Policing and Systemic Racism

    Episode 2

    Originally broadcast at 10:45 a.m. EDT Monday, July 6, 2020.

    Cedric Alexander joins Michael Hill in conversation on the need for police reform in the U.S.

    Alexander served over four decades in law enforcement and public service, Cedric Alexander is the former Chief of Police in DeKalb County, G...

  • How the Constitution Will Endure

    Episode 3

    Originally broadcast at 10:45 a.m. EDT Friday, August 21, 2020.

    Prominent public historian Jon Meacham shares his reflections on our founding document’s lasting power.

    Meacham is a presidential historian and Pulitzer Prize-winning author. A contributing editor at Time, Meacham is the author of ...

  • Does the Deep State Exist?

    Episode 4

    Originally broadcast at 3:30 p.m. EDT Wednesday, July 8, 2020.

    David Rohde presents his latest book about the existence of a “Deep State” in government agencies.

    Rohde’s book, In Deep: The FBI, The CIA, and the Truth about America's “Deep State,” is a non-partisan investigation addressing cons...

  • The Ocean and the Climate: How to Save Both

    Episode 5

    Originally broadcast at 10:45 a.m. EDT Tuesday, June 30, 2020.

    Ocean Conservancy’s Janis Searles Jones and George Leonard discuss how the world’s oceans are getting hotter, becoming more acidic, losing oxygen and getting bigger. The duo explain how the ocean is threatened by climate change and w...

  • Drafted Into the Meme Wars

    Episode 6

    Originally broadcast at 10:45 a.m. EDT Thursday, July 9, 2020.

    Joan Donovan shares her research on internet and media influence and the effects of widespread misinformation.

    Donovan is the director and lead researcher of the Technology and Social Change Research Project at the Shorenstein Cent...

  • The Tech Boom, Backlash, and Boomerang

    Episode 7

    Originally broadcast at 10:45 a.m. EDT Monday, July 20, 2020.

    Nick Thompson on technological and ethical developments in Silicon Valley.

    Thompson, is the editor-in-chief of Wired, is the first person to know and investigate new developments out of Silicon Valley as they unfold. As a champion o...

  • The Fourth Battle for the Constitution

    Episode 8

    Originally broadcast at 10:45 EDT Monday, August 17, 2020.

    Jeffrey Rosen discusses the “Fourth Battle for the Constitution” in this current political moment.

    Rosen is the president and CEO for the National Constitution Center, a nonpartisan nonprofit organization whose mission is to educate th...

  • The Woman’s Hour

    Episode 9

    Originally broadcast at 10:45 a.m. EDT Monday, July 27, 2020.

    Elaine Weiss on the 19th Amendment and the Women’s right to vote 100 years later.

    Elaine Weiss is an award-winning journalist who authored The Woman’s Hour: The Great Fight to Win the Vote, an account of one of the greatest politica...

  • How the Black List Revives Dead Scripts

    Episode 10

    Originally broadcast at 10:45 a.m. EDT Wednesday, July 8, 2020.

    Franklin Leonard has been supporting screenwriters and bringing to light screenplays that otherwise would have remained shelved.

    Leonard founded and is CEO of the Black List, a well-known force in Hollywood for finding the best un...

  • Mind, Matter and Our Search for Meaning in an Evolving Universe

    Episode 11

    Originally broadcast at 10:45 a.m. EDT Monday, August 10, 2020.

    Brian Greene details how mankind got to this point and where it’s heading.

    One of the world’s leading theoretical physicists, Greene’s most recent book "Until the End of Time: Mind, Matter, and Our Search for Meaning in an Evolvin...

  • UN75 and the Future of International Cooperation

    Episode 12

    Originally broadcast at 10:45 a.m. EDT Tuesday, August 25, 2020.

    Fabrizio Hochschild on global inequalities, pandemic, mental health, polarization and 75 years of the United Nations.

    "I think empathy will be a key skill and a growing skill in a world of greater polarization.”

    The Under-Secr...

  • Close The Gaps Forever

    Episode 13

    Originally broadcast at 10:45 a.m. EDT Tuesday, July 28, 2020.

    Kimberly Churches will discuss gender equity through a past, present and future lens.

    Churches is the chief executive officer of the American Association of University Women and is a leading voice in advancing equity for women and...

  • The State of the American Education System

    Episode 14

    Originally broadcast at 10:45 a.m. EDT Tuesday, August 4, 2020.

    Sir Ken Robinson looks at the state of education in the U.S.

    Robinson is an internationally recognized leader in the development of education, creativity and innovation, who works with governments, education systems, international...

  • Digital Responsibility in the Tech World

    Episode 15

    Originally broadcast at 10:45 a.m. EDT Friday, July 24, 2020.

    Michael Sandel caps off a weeklong topic of “The Ethics of Tech” with a Socratic talk on morals within the tech world.

    Sandel is a Harvard political philosopher and bestselling author. He co-teaches a Harvard course titled, “Tech E...

  • Humanizing Technology with AI

    Episode 16

    Originally broadcast at 10:45 a.m. EDT Tuesday, July 21, 2020.

    Rana el Kaliouby believes devices and technologies that once separated humans will bring them together.

    El Kaliouby is the co-founder and CEO of Affectiva, an emotion recognition software analysis company. She is a computer scienti...

  • What Has Worked in Reforming Mississippi's Education System

    Episode 17

    Originally broadcast at 10:45 a.m. EDT Friday, August 7, 2020.

    Carey Wright closes out Week Six dedicated to “Rebuilding Education.”

    Wright has served as State Superintendent of Education for Mississippi since 2013. Under her leadership, Mississippi has initiated aggressive education reforms t...

  • The Geopolitics of Climate Change and the Environment

    Episode 18

    Originally broadcast at 10:45 a.m. EDT Friday, July 3, 2020.

    Dr. Geoffrey Kemp and Amb. Barbara Bodine examine the geopolitics of environmental issues in the Middle East and why the situation is so dire.

    Bodine previously served as the U.S. ambassador to the Republic of Yemen from 1997 to 2001...

  • Preserving History In Real Time

    Episode 19

    Originally broadcast at 10:45 a.m. EDT Friday, July 17, 2020.

    Aaron Bryant on bringing out the humanity of objects and the rapid response collection of current events.

    “History happens right before our eyes.”

    Aaron Bryant is a museum curator at the National Museum of African American History...

  • Fostering Bold and Transformational Education Reform

    Episode 20

    Originally broadcast at 10:45 a.m. EDT Wednesday, August 5, 2020.

    Jeb Bush on the work being done by ExcelinEd to foster bold and transformational education reform.

    Bush was the 43rd governor of the state of Florida, serving from 1999 through 2007, and was most recently a candidate for the Rep...

  • How to Use This Anniversary to ‘Remember, Reflect and Recommit'

    Episode 21

    Originally broadcast at 10:45 a.m. EDT Friday, July 31, 2020.

    Barbara Mikulski reviews lessons learned since the ratification of the 19th Amendment.

    Mikulski, former U.S. Senator from Maryland, is the longest-serving woman in the history of Congress and a lifelong public servant and champion o...

  • Arts and Social Justice

    Episode 22

    Originally broadcast at 10:45 a.m. EDT Tuesday, July 14, 2020.

    Darren Walker details empathy, arts and social justice philanthropy in a time of civil unrest.

    He explains how it’s all key to changing the country. “What are we willing to give up?”

    Walker is president of the Ford Foundation, an...

  • On the Work Toward Passage and Enactment of the Equal Rights Amendment

    Episode 23

    Originally broadcast at 10:45 a.m. EDT Thursday, July 30, 2020.

    Carol Jenkins is Co-President and CEO of the ERA Coalition and the Fund for Women’s Equality, sister organizations dedicated to the passage and enactment of the Equal Rights Amendment. The Coalition is comprised of over 100 organiza...

  • Presentation & Interactive Program with Michael Sandel

    Episode 24

    Originally broadcast at 7 p.m. EDT Monday, September 14, 2020.

    The Chautauqua-cherished teacher and author rejoins CHQ Assembly to discuss his new book, "The Tyranny of Merit: What's Become of the Common Good?" (publication date Sept. 15), which he briefly outlined at the end of his Q-and-A with...