Skip to main content

Fowler Public Affairs Lecture Series

The Fowler Public Affairs Lecture Series serves as an open forum on public affairs. In additional to classroom sessions with Roanoke College students, guest lecturers give public addresses, free of charge, to the community.

Since its initiation in 1983, the program has brought to campus such political luminaries as former presidents Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford; former U.N. ambassador Jeane Kirkpatrick; former Supreme Court justice Sandra Day O'Connor; former secretaries of state Henry Kissinger and Lawrence Eagleburger; civil rights leaders Julian Bond and Andrew Young; former governors Michael Dukakis, Charles Robb, and Ann Richards; former CIA director Stansfield Turner; former West German chancellor Helmut Schmidt; former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto; and former Polish President Lech Walesa.

Jon Meacham giving a speech

In addition to the public servants listed above, visiting Fowler scholars have included urban affairs columnist William Raspberry; educator and former commissioner of education Earnest Boyer; economist and author Walter Williams; activist for the homeless Rev. John Steinbruck; Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Ellen Goodman; journalist and publisher William Buckley, Jr.; Princeton University professors and authorities on women in public life, Cecilia Rouse, Christine Stansell and Carol Swain; broadcast columnist Daniel Schorr; political columnist James Kilpatrick; economics scholar and former presidential advisor on inflation Alfred Kahn; author Alex Haley; and University of Virginia political analyst Larry Sabato.

Jen Psaki and Howard Kurtz giving a lecture

Alternative Program Formats

Fowler professors may serve in a variety of ways including:

  • Course consultants-providing a minimum of three College lectures, complementing a particular course or curriculum;

  • Adjunct professors-teaching a semester-long course;

  • Visiting professors-teaching one or more courses, while participation in other scholarly activities; or

  • Research consultants-performing scholarly investigations, yet available for course consultation and other educational activities.

Suggestions for speaker or request for information about this program are welcome and may be
directed to:
Timothy Isaacs
(540) 375-5776
Bast Hall 228