Speaker Series

The Center offers an annual speaker series featuring leaders from academia and the public and private sectors on a range of topics relating to diversity and inclusion. Speakers for the 2021-22 academic year are:

• Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. [October 13, 2021] Watch the recording.
• Jennifer Richeson, Yale social psychologist and expert on political and psychological dynamics of increasing racial and ethnic diversity. [November 11, 2021] Watch the recording.
• Katy Milkman, Wharton professor and author of How to Change: The Science of Getting from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be (2021). [February 15, 2022] Watch the recording.
• Nancy Leong, University of Denver law professor and author of Identity Capitalists: The Powerful Insiders Who Exploit Diversity to Maintain Inequality (2021). [April 5, 2022] Watch the recording.

Sponsors

The Center is grateful for the support of our speaker series sponsors.  This year's sponsors are:

• Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton;
• Cravath, Swaine & Moore;
• Davis Polk & Wardwell;
• DLA Piper;
• Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson;
• Latham & Watkins;
• Microsoft;
• Morgan Stanley;
• Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison;
• Sullivan & Cromwell;
• Thomson Reuters,
• Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz;
• Weil, Gotshal & Manges; and
• White & Case

If you are interested in becoming a sponsor of the Center’s speaker series, please contact David Glasgow at david.glasgow@nyu.edu. 

Past Speakers

Speakers for the 2016-17 academic year were:

• Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court [November 10, 2016]. Read about the event.
• Brian Welle, Director of People Analytics at Google [February 15, 2017]. 
• Iris Bohnet, Professor of Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School and author of What Works: Gender Equality By Design (2016) [March 2, 2017]. Read about the event.
• Sherrilyn Ifill, President and Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund [April 21, 2017]. Read about the event. Watch the recording.

Speakers for the 2017-18 academic year were:

• Arlie Russell Hochschild, Professor Emerita at UC Berkeley Sociology Department and author of Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right (2016) [November 6, 2017]. Read about the event.
• Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court [February 5, 2018]. Watch the video.
• Chris Hayes, Emmy Award-winning host of All In with Chris Hayes on MSNBC and author of A Colony in a Nation (2017) [March 22, 2018]. Watch the video.
• Mahzarin Banaji, Richard Clarke Cabot Professor of Social Ethics at Harvard University and author (with Anthony Greenwald) of Blindspot: Hidden Biases of Good People (2013) [April 12, 2018].

Speakers for the 2018-19 academic year were:

• Chai Feldblum, Commissioner at Equal Employment Opportunity Commission [September 12, 2018]. Watch the video.
• Julie Fink, Managing Partner at Kaplan Hecker & Fink [October 17, 2018]. Watch the video.
• Lauren Rivera, Professor at Kellogg School of Management and author of Pedigree: How Elite Students Get Elite Jobs (2015) [March 5, 2019]. Watch the video.
• Jeremy Bailenson, founding director of Stanford University's Virtual Human Interaction Lab [April 4, 2019]. Watch the video.

Speakers for 2019-20 academic year were:

• Kwame Anthony Appiah, Professor of Philosophy and Law at NYU School of Law [September 26, 2019]. Watch the video.
• Katherine Phillips, Reuben Mark Professor of Organizational Character at Columbia Business School, and Director of the Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. Center for Leadership & Ethics at Columbia Business School [October 29, 2019]. Watch the video.
• Dolly Chugh, Associate Professor of Management and Organizations at NYU Stern School of Business and author of The Person You Mean To Be: How Good People Fight Bias (2018) [February 20, 2020]. Watch the video.

Speakers for the 2020-21 academic year are:

• Pamela Newkirk, Professor of Journalism at NYU Arthur Carter Journalism Institute and author of Diversity, Inc.: The Failed Promise of a Billion-Dollar Business (2019) [September 17, 2020]. Read about the event. Watch the video.
• John Sides, and Michael Tesler, authors of Identity Crisis: The 2016 Presidential Campaign and the Battle for the Meaning of America (2018) [October 8, 2020]. Watch the recording.
• Robin Ely, Harvard Business School professor and renowned organizational behavior scholar on issues of gender inequality and work/family narratives. [October 27, 2020] Watch the recording.
• Jill Filipovic (JD '08). [April 8, 2021]. Watch the recording.