Events
2022 Shadwell Speaker Series featuring Ainissa Ramirez
- November 4, 2022
- 6:00pm - 7:00pm
- Foundation Hall
The Jefferson Scholars Foundation and the Shadwell Society present the 9th annual Shadwell Speaker Series featuring science evangelist Ainissa Ramirez. Join us in Foundation Hall at 6 p.m. for Ramirez’s talk, followed by Q&A and a reception at 7 p.m. Through captivating storytelling that draws on her award-winning book The Alchemy of Us: How Humans and Matter Transformed One Another (MIT Press, 2020), Ramirez will reveal the unexpected ways that technology has shaped the human experience.
Ainissa Ramirez is an award-winning scientist and science communicator, who is passionate about getting the general public excited about science. She has written for Forbes, Time, The Atlantic, Scientific American, American Scientist, and Science and has discussed science-related headlines on CBS, CNN, NPR, ESPN, and PBS. She speaks widely on the importance of making science fun and has served as an advisor to the American Film Institute, WGBH/NOVA, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and several science museums.
Age of Jefferson Annual Lecture
- October 27, 2022
- 5:00pm - 6:00pm
- Foundation Hall
The Center for Study of the Age of Jefferson and the Jefferson Scholars Foundation present the 2nd annual Age of Jefferson Lecture featuring Professor Mary Sarah Bilder of Boston College Law School. Join us in Foundation Hall on Thursday, October 27, 2022 at 5 p.m. for Professor Bilder’s talk on her provocative new book, Female Genius: Eliza Harriot and George Washington at the Dawn of the Constitution (University of Virginia Press, 2022), followed by Q&A and a reception at 6 p.m.
In her book, Professor Bilder looks to the 1780s—the Age of the Constitution—to investigate the rise of a radical new idea in the English-speaking world: female genius. She finds the perfect exemplar of this phenomenon in English-born Eliza Harriot Barons O’Connor. This pathbreaking female educator delivered a University of Pennsylvania lecture attended by George Washington as he and other Constitutional Convention delegates gathered in Philadelphia. As the first such public female lecturer, her courageous performance likely inspired the gender-neutral language of the Constitution.
An Evening with Charles L. Evans and Kenneth G. Elzinga
- October 19, 2022
- 6:30pm - 7:30pm
- Foundation Hall
The Jefferson Scholars Foundation invites you to join us in Foundation Hall on Wednesday, October 19, 2022 at 6:30 p.m. for a conversation between Charles L. Evans, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, and Kenneth G. Elzinga, the Robert C. Taylor Professor of Economics at the University of Virginia, followed by Q&A and refreshments at 7:30 p.m.
"Historians and the Public" Conference
- May 27, 2022
- 8:30am - 3:00pm
- Foundation Hall
Governing America in a Global Era and The Center for the Study of the Age of Jefferson, in partnership with the Jefferson Scholars Foundation, present a day-long conference entitled “Historians and the Public,” featuring scholars, authors, historians, and legal experts across a range of fields.
CANCELLED: Keynote Lecture of "Historians and the Public" Conference
- May 26, 2022
- 4:00pm - 5:30pm
- Foundation Hall
Governing America in a Global Era and The Center for the Study of the Age of Jefferson, in partnership with the Jefferson Scholars Foundation, invite you to join Annette Gordon-Reed in Foundation Hall for a talk on her New York Times bestselling book, On Juneteenth (Liveright Publishing, 2021). Annette Gordon-Reed is a Professor of History in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University, the Carl M. Loeb University Professor at Harvard Law School, and an award-winning author of six books.
2022 Shadwell Speaker Series featuring Taylor Branch
- April 8, 2022
- 6:00pm - 7:00pm
- Zoom
The Jefferson Scholars Foundation and the Shadwell Society present the 8th annual Shadwell Speaker Series featuring Taylor Branch, Pulitzer Prize-winning American author and public speaker best known for his landmark trilogy on the civil rights era, America in the King Years.
Crisis in Ukraine: The Origins of the Next War in Europe
- February 22, 2022
- 4:00pm - 5:30pm
- Zoom
Join the Jefferson Scholars Foundation and GAGE for a roundtable discussion about the crisis in Ukraine. William Hitchcock, the Corcoran Professor of History at U.Va., will moderate a discussion between Dr. Mary Sarotte, the Kravis Professor of Historical Studies at Johns Hopkins, and Dr. Serhii Plokhy, the Mykhailo S. Hrushevs’kyi Professor of Ukrainian History at Harvard.
Age of Jefferson Inaugural Lecture
- November 12, 2021
- 4:00pm - 5:30pm
- Zoom
Join historian Andrew O’Shaughnessy for an engaging talk about his latest book, The Illimitable Freedom of the Human Mind: Thomas Jefferson’s Idea of a University. O’Shaughnessy will discuss how Jefferson’s vision anticipated the modern university and profoundly influenced the development of American higher education. The University of Virginia was the most visible apex of what was a much broader educational vision that distinguishes Jefferson as one of the earliest advocates of a public education system.
The Lessons of War: U.S., Afghanistan, and Iraq since 9/11
- October 14, 2021
- 6:00pm - 7:30pm
- Foundation Hall
Sponsored by Governing America in a Global Era (GAGE), this is the first in a series of talks that examine topics around US and the world. Join us for a panel discussion featuring Michael O’Hanlon, Brookings Institute Senior Fellow, and student representatives. Registration is currently closed. Please e-mail us to be added to the waitlist.
Aesthetics in Art & Aesthetics in Time
- May 7, 2021
- 9:30am - 5:00pm
- Zoom
What inspires aesthetic experience? What does it mean to encounter a work of art? How can aesthetic encounters forge ties and create social bonds? What is the relationship between aesthetics and temporality? Eleven scholars from eight universities and colleges will examine these questions and more during this two-day interdisciplinary conference. Read the full schedule here.
