Goshen College announces 2025-26 lecture series

Goshen College will host five lectures in its 2025-26 lecture series, as part of its ongoing effort to bring a wide variety of speakers to campus. The series includes two lectures in the fall semester and three in the spring, all of which will be livestreamed and free and open to the public.

Fall Semester

Beechy Peace, Justice and Reconciliation Lecture

Valarie Kaur
Founder of the Revolutionary Love Project
Also Featuring: Qais Essar
Afghan-American Composer & Instrumentalist
Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2025 – 7 p.m. – Umble Center

Valarie Kaur is a civil rights leader, lawyer, filmmaker and founder of the Revolutionary Love Project, known for her message of love as a force for justice. For more than two decades, she has led campaigns against hate violence, mass incarceration and injustice, while inspiring millions through speeches, books and many initiatives. Rooted in her Sikh faith and vision of the “sage-warrior,” she continues to call people toward building a multiracial democracy grounded in revolutionary love. More information is available on her website.

Qais Essar is an acclaimed Afghan-American composer, instrumentalist and producer. Renowned for his mastery of the rabab — the national instrument of Afghanistan — Essar blends traditional Afghan and Indian classical music with contemporary genres, crafting a unique fusion that bridges ancient and modern sounds.

Umble Master Class in Speech and Theatre

Dan Charles, science writer & audio producer
and Brigid McCarthy, audio producer & editor
“Is Radio Coming Full Circle?”
Tuesday, October 21, 2025 – 7 p.m. – Umble Center

Brigid McCarthy, longtime producer and editor, and Dan Charles, science writer and audio producer, worked at NPR during its boom years, as the public radio network grew into a major media operation. More recently, they stepped into podcasting, a free-for-all world where almost anyone, from the New York Times to an individual producer, can report the news or tell stories online and compete with traditional radio stations. They’ll discuss the changes they’ve experienced in how we listen — and what remains the same.

Spring Semester

Eric Yake Kenagy Visiting Artist

Isaac Scott
Ceramic Artist, Photographer, and Educator
Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026 – 7 p.m. – Rieth Recital Hall

Isaac Scott is a Philadelphia-based ceramic artist, photographer, and educator, originally from Madison, WI. Scott works mainly with ceramics and photography, mediums which best allow him to interpret and elaborate upon current political and cultural events. Scott’s photographs of the 2020 Uprising in Philadelphia were featured in the June 22, 2020 issue of The New Yorker. He is represented by Lucy Lacoste Gallery in Concord, MA, where Mouros, his solo exhibition, took place in 2023. Scott’s ceramic work has been exhibited around the country, and he recently earned a prestigious fellowship from the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts.

Goshen College Conference on Religion and Science

Dr. Wesley J. Wildman
Professor of Philosophy, Theology, and Ethics, and of Computing and Data Sciences, Boston University
March 6-8, 2026

Dr. Wesley Wildman is a scholar, educator, and nonprofit leader whose work spans philosophy of religion, philosophical theology, ethics, religion and science, and computational social science. He serves as Professor in Boston University’s School of Theology and Faculty of Computing and Data Sciences, where he teaches AI ethics and trains students in computational methods. Author of a six-volume series in religious philosophy and numerous other publications, he also co-founded the journal Religion, Brain & Behavior. As Executive Director of the Just Horizons Alliance, he leads interdisciplinary projects addressing pressing social challenges through research, technology, and expansive spiritual vision.

Yoder Public Affairs Lecture

Dr. Robert Fatton Jr.
Professor of Politics, Emeritus, University of Virginia
“Haiti’s Unending Crises and Struggles: The Hellish 21st Century”
Tuesday, April 7, 2026 – 7 p.m. – Umble Center

Robert Fatton Jr. is the Ambassador Henry J. Taylor and Mrs. Marion R. Taylor Emeritus Professor of Politics at the University of Virginia. He taught for over 40 years at the university, while also holding various administrative positions. Fatton is the author of a large number of articles and books on the political economies of Sub-Saharan Africa and Haiti, and has won multiple awards — including the “Lifetime Achievement Award” from the Haitian Studies Association — for his decades-long studies of Haiti.