Gale Anne Hurd, CEO of Valhalla Entertainment; Will Packer, Emmy-nominated producer; Jeff Stepakoff, executive director, Georgia Film Academy; and Lee Thomas, division director of the film, music and digital entertainment division at the Georgia Department of Economic Development will present “Hollywood South: The New $9.5 Billion Georgia Industry.”

Shirley Brice Heath, Marjorie Bailey Professor of English and Dramatic Literature and Professor of Linguistics, emerita, at Stanford University will present “The Arts as Brick and Mortar of Community Building” as the 2018 Aralee Strange Lecture.  Heath is a linguistic anthropologist whose research focuses on learning through sustained experience in art and/or science as well as across various environments. She has written several books and publications on her work with community building as well as directed and produced short documentaries on the topic.

Charlayne Hunter-Gault, award-winning journalist and alumna, will present “Giving Voice to the Voiceless” as this year's Holmes-Hunter Lecture. One of the namesakes of UGA’s Holmes-Hunter Academic Building and the annual Holmes-Hunter Lecture, Hunter-Gault was one of the first two African-American students to enroll at UGA.

Michelle Asha Cooper, president of the Institute for Higher Education Policy, will present “Tackling Postsecondary Challenges Today.”  Cooper has served as the deputy director for the Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance at the U.S. Department of Education. She also provides commentary to various media outlets including NPR, FOX News, the Washington Post and C-SPAN. Cooper is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Aspen Institute Presidential Fellowship and the Center for Nonprofit Advancement’s EXCEL (Excellence in Chief Executive Leadership) award.

Qui is a poet, literary translator and crime novelist. He will present a lecture entitled, “A Chinese Cop in the Global Age.” His critically acclaimed Inspector Chen series —which is set in Shanghai, China, in the 1990s—has been published in 20 languages and has sold over 2 million copies worldwide. Qui’s novel “Death of a Red Heroine” won the Anthony Award for best novel in 2001.

Sponsored by the Department of Comparative Literature and the Willson Center for Humanities and Arts

Georgia Athletic Association Distinguished Professor Marshall Shepherd will present this year's Founder's Day Lecture entitled: “The Challenges of Communicating Science to Non-Scientists.” A leading international expert in weather, climate and remote sensing, Shepherd is director of UGA’s Atmospheric Sciences Program. He serves as host of The Weather Channel’s Sunday talk show “Weather Geeks” and as a contributor to Forbes magazine. Shepherd served as president of the American Meteorological Society in 2013 and is the recipient of the society’s 2018 Helmut E. Landsberg Award.

The Naumburg Trio takes its name from the famous Naumburg Competion, which is among the most prestigious of all international Classical music competitions. The members of the trio are all Naumburg winners. Pianist Gilles Vonsattel, who took the honors in 2002, has become a familiar figure in Athens with his recital performances and concerts with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. David Require, cello, won in 2008. Violinist Frank Huang, who won in 2003, is now the concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic.

Helen S. Lanier Distinguished Professor of English Jed Rasula is pleased to present poet Will Alexander for a reading.  This event is possible thanks to a Willson Center Short-Term Visiting Fellowship and support from the Creative Writing Program. 

“Oxygen-dependent Glycosylation Regulates the Ubiquitin/Proteasome System in Toxoplasma and other Protists,” Dr. Christopher M. West, Professor and Head of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Georgia.

Will Alexander works in multiple genres. In addition to being a poet, he is also a novelist, essayist, aphorist, playwright, philosopher, visual artist and pianist. His books include Asia and Haiti, The Sri Lankan Loxodrome, and Compression and Purity. Alexander has taught at many colleges and universities, including the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics, the University of California, and Hofstra University, among others.