The College of Arts and Sciences presents the Fall 2026 Sir Run Run Shaw Lecture Series, which kicks off on Thursday, September 24, with two lectures: “1.5; or, on the necessity of the humanities in nihilistic times,” featuring Jarrett Zigon, University of Virginia; and “Visible Ink: The Art of Black Women’s Literary Biography,” featuring Dana Williams, Howard University. The series continues on Friday, September 25, with“Molecular Strategies for Assembling and Disassembling Polymer Networks and Using Them in Medical Devices,” featuring Matthew Becker, Duke University.
The Fall 2026 series includes:
5; or, on the necessity of the humanities in nihilistic times with Jarrett Zigon, University of Virginia
Thursday, September 24, 4 pm, Harriman Hall 214
Presented by the Department of Philosophy
Visible Ink: The Art of Black Women’s Literary Biography with Dana Williams, Howard University
Thursday, September 24, 5:30 pm, Humanities 1006
Part of the Toni Morrison: Editorial Legacy, and Literary and Artistic Freedom Conference. Co-sponsored by the departments of Africana Studies; Art; Creative Writing, Film, and Television; English; History; Writing and Rhetoric; and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies; Digital Humanities Research Lab; FAHSS; Humanities Institute; Provost’s Office; Graduate School; University Libraries; Center for Changing Systems of Power
Molecular Strategies for Assembling and Disassembling Polymer Networks and Using Them in Medical Devices with Matthew L. Becker, Duke University
Friday, September 25, 3:45 pm, Javits Lecture Hall 111
Presented by the Department of Chemistry
Memorials, Museums, and Architecture in the Post-9/11 Era with Marita Sturken, New York University
Wednesday, October 14, 12:30 pm, E. Ann Kaplan Humanities Lecture Hall – Humanities 1008
Presented by the Humanities Institute. Part of the “In the Shadows of the Twin Towers” yearlong commemoration marking the 25th anniversary of 9/11.
Economy and Language Vitality with Salikoko S. Mufwene, University of Chicago
Friday, October 16, 9:30 am, Humanities 1006
Presented by the College of Arts and Sciences’ Center for Multilingual and Intercultural Communication. Part of the MIC 2026 Language, Sustainability, and AI Symposium.
About the Series
Sir Run Run Shaw was an entertainment mogul and philanthropist who, in the 1960s and 1970s, presided over East Asia’s largest movie studio and produced hundreds of popular movies. In 1985, the Shaw Foundation Hong Kong Limited made a gift of HK$1 million to the College of Arts and Sciences through the stewardship of CN Yang, Einstein Professor of Physics, and President Marburger. This gift was used to establish the Sir Run Run Shaw Endowment, one of the earliest endowments established by the Stony Brook Foundation. The endowment proceeds support lectures in the College of Arts and Sciences.
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