2025 Hill Stops
More than 100 experts, performers, writers, and artists visit Hamilton each year — and that’s in addition to the dozens of alumni who return to offer students career-related advice. To give you an idea of the breadth and variety of topics covered by campus guests, here’s a sampling from 2024-25.
Zoe Boekelheide, associate professor of physics, Lafayette College •
Science Seminar, “Elongation of a Ferrofluid Droplet Near a Permanent Magnet: A Tidal or Magnetic Energy Effect?”Alesha Bond, the Nancy Akers and J. Mason Wallace Assistant Professor of Psychology, Davidson College • Psychology Talk, “Races, Faces, and the Decisions We Make”
Emmy Award-winning saxophonist and NPR Tiny Desk guest Braxton Cook •
Led a conversation about his music and career, and performed with Hamilton’s Jazz EnsembleAmanda Daflos ’00, executive director, Bloomberg Center for Public Innovation at Johns Hopkins University; Heather Hage ’02, president and CEO, Griffiss Institute • “Public Innovation & Economic Development,” a discussion at the intersection of government, public innovation, and economic development
Jacob Davidson ’15, post-doctoral researcher, National Institute of Standards and Technology • Science Talk, “Quantum Networking Hardware Two Ways: Quantum Repeaters and Quantum Transducers”
Hasia Diner, the Paul S. and Sylvia Steinberg Professor of American Jewish History and Professor of Hebrew and Judaic Studies, New York University •
Delivered inaugural lecture of Hamilton’s Jewish Studies Program, “The Jews’ Many Places in America”FCC Organ Trio • Fresh off a world tour, Pat Faherty (guitar) and Tim Carman ’11 (drums) joined with Ken Clark to bring instrumental blues and jazz to Hamilton
Debbie Felton, professor of classics, University of Massachusetts Amherst • Talk, “Ghost Stories from Ancient Greece and Rome”
Ashley Finley, vice president of research and senior advisor to the president, American Association of Colleges & Universities •
Crossroads Event, “Academic Freedom and Civil Discourse in Higher Education: A Discussion of Findings and Recommendations from a National Study”
Juan Gilbert, chair of the Computer & Information Science & Engineering Department, University of Florida •
Presented the 2025 James S. Plant Distinguished Scientist Lecture, “Computing for Social Good: Changing the World with Technology Innovations”
Rapper and Singer Flo Rida •
2025 Class & Charter Day concert headlinerAnnette Gordon-Reed, the Carl M. Loeb University Professor, Harvard Law School; Heather Mac Donald, the Thomas W. Smith Fellow, Manhattan Institute; Michael Grygiel ’79, co-chair of Greenberg Traurig, LLP’s national media and entertainment litigation group • Common Ground Panel Discussion, “The Demise of Race Conscious Admissions: The Supreme Court’s 2023 Decision on Affirmative Action”
Oneida Indian Nation Representative and Turning Stone Enterprises CEO Ray Halbritter •
Offered a welcome to the Oneida Indian Nation’s ancestral and sovereign lands to new students at the 2024 Convocation and addressed seniors at the 2025 Baccalaureate ceremonyCanadian and Anishinaabe filmmaker Lisa Jackson • Spoke on a Filmmaker’s Panel as part of four-day Indigenous Film Festival hosted by Hamilton
Will Kaback ’20, senior editor and communications lead at Tangle News •
Discussion, “Untangling media bias: Why the news has lost our trust (and why they deserved it)”Ukranian musician Anna Kalashnik • Traditional songs performed on the bandura, the national musical instrument of Ukraine
Mithila artist Shalinee Kumari; Professor of Anthropology Emerita at Syracuse University Susan Wadley • “Mithila painting from India” included a discussion of the history and current trends of the traditional folk art and a hands-on workshop on basic Mithila painting techniques.
Maria Mancha-Cisneros, assistant professor in the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Michigan State University • Talk, “Illuminating the Multidimensional Contributions of Small-Scale Fisheries”
Designer and artist Bruce Mau, co-founder and CEO of Massive Change Network •
Delivered Hamilton’s 2025 Commencement addressFrances Moore, the Hurlston Presidential Chair in the Department of Environmental Science and Policy, UC Davis • Lecture, “Quantifying the Costs of Climate Change: Theoretical and Scientific Issues and Policy Applications”
Ryan Murelli ’02, professor and chair of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Brooklyn College and The Graduate Center, CUNY • Science Talk, “Game of Tropones: Studies on the Synthesis and Function of Cycloheptatrienones”
Poet Katie Naughton ’08 •
Readings of her work, including selections from The Real Ethereal (Delete Press, 2024)Environmental scientist and author Lauren Oakes • “The Future of Forests and our Lives Connected to Them,” a talk based on the author’s book, Treekeepers: The Race for a Forested Future
Barack Obama, the 44th president of the United States •
Addressed more than 5,000 guests gathered in the Scott Field House for a moderated Q&A session as part of Hamilton’s Sacerdote Great Names Series
Gwen Ottinger, professor in the Department of Politics and Center for Science, Technology, and Society, Drexel University • Talk, “From Open Data to Radical Data Access: How Knowledge Infrastructures Empower Environmental Justice”
Marquis Palmer ’18, senior outreach manager, Common Justice •
Discussion, “Restorative Justice: Rethinking Criminality”Amy Privette Perko, chief executive officer, Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics; Jim Cavale, founder and chairman, Athletes.org; Jeremy Foley, director of athletics emeritus, University of Florida • Common Ground Panel Discussion, “Competing Interests: A Conversation on the Future of College Sports”
Noble nuns from India, Samani Samatva Pragya and Samani Abhay Pragya • “Living Mindfully in the Modern Age: Jain Perspectives on Ecology, Yoga, and Sustainability,” a discussion of mindfulness, insight, and inspiration
Mark Rankin, professor of English, James Madison University • Lecture, “Police Brutality, Catholicism, and the Smuggling of a ‘Pestilent and Seditious Book’ During the Reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558-1603)”
Enrique Garcia Rivera, vice president of artificial intelligence, Bullfrog AI •
Science Talk, “Integrating Latent Space Graphs and Causal Inference for Target Discovery”Hamilton’s Linowitz Visiting Professor of International Affairs and former Deputy Assistant Secretary for South & Southeast Asia Amy Searight; Deputy National Intelligence Officer for East Asia Ben Goldberg; former USAID Assistant Administrator and Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for East Asia R. Michael Schiffer • Panel Discussion, “U.S. Asia Strategy: From Obama to Trump”
Marina Simakova, editor, historian of political thought, and activist from Russia based at the European University Institute in Italy •
Crossroads Discussion, “Keeping Our Word: How to Write Politically in Times of Defeat”
Pamela Smith, the Seth Low Professor of History, Columbia University, and founding director Center for Science and Society • Lecture and Demonstration, “Historians in the Lab and Down the Mines: Experiential Learning in the Making and Knowing Project”
Camila Torres-Castro, assistant professor of Latin American literature and culture, Baruch College/CUNY • Talk, “The World According to Peso Pluma: Corridos Tumbados and the New Contraculture in Mexico”
Robert Tsai, professor of law, Boston University School of Law • Constitution Day Lecture, “The Vigor of Government is Essential to the Security of Liberty”
Sarah Ventre, senior producer of religion and spirituality, NPR •
“Telling News Stories in a Dangerous Time,” reflecting on her work creating true-life stories through audioPulitzer Prize and Peabody Award-Winning Indigenous Journalist Connie Walker • Talk, “Truth Before Reconciliation”
Sofia Won, program director at the labor rights nonprofit China Labor Watch • Presentation, “Deconstructing Barbie’s Feminism: A Study of Working-Class Women in a Mattel Factory and the Precarization of Labor in Global Supply Chains”
