Lakeside Chautauqua welcomes a diverse range of keynote speakers to Hoover Auditorium this summer aimed at inspiring community learning and discussion. With topics spanning from nature and sports to religious life and politics, these weekly speakers are nationally recognized and experts in their field.
Dr. Robert Putnam | 8 p.m., Tuesday, June 20
American political scientist and educator Dr. Robert Putnam returns to Lakeside for a lecture discussing and signing his most recent book, The Upswing: How America Came Together a Century Ago and How We Can Do It Again.
Putnam is the Peter and Isabel Malkin Professor of Public Policy at Harvard University, having retired from active teaching in May 2018. Raised in Port Clinton, he was educated at Swarthmore, Oxford and Yale. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, a Fellow of the British Academy and past president of the American Political Science Association. He has received several distinguished awards, including the National Humanities Medal, the nation’s highest honor for contributions to the humanities, awarded by President Barack Obama in 2013.
Putnam has written 15 books, including the best-selling Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community and Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis. In his most recent book, The Upswing: How America Came Together a Century Ago and How We Can Do It Again, released in October 2020, Putnam analyzes a remarkable confluence of trends that brought us from an “I” society to a “We” society and then back again.
Dr. Adam Met | 8 p.m., Tuesday, June 27
Join Dr. Adam Met, writer, activist and bassist for the multi-platinum band AJR, as he speaks in Hoover Auditorium. Met’s interests bridge the worlds of music, sustainability, law, academia, policy, marketing and technology.
As the bassist for AJR, he has traveled the world on sold-out tours, achieved platinum certifications and recorded a repertoire of music that has garnered more than 2.5 billion streams worldwide. As the founder and Executive Director of Sustainable Partners, Inc., Met leads a nonprofit that addresses climate change systems through media, academic research fellowships and incentive-based initiatives. Met has worked with the EPA, the Department of Energy and The White House on innovative renewable energy policy, as well as the UN Development Programme as a development advocate.
Following his keynote lecture, teens are invited for a special Meet & Greet at the Underground (Teen Center) from 10 p.m. to 11 p.m.. Registration is $3 and limited to 50 attendees.
Dr. Kathryn Sullivan | 7:30 p.m., Wednesday, July 5
Join legendary NASA astronaut Dr. Kathryn Sullivan for a lecture and signing of her bestselling biography Handprints of Hubble. Sullivan is a geologist, astronaut and oceanographer who was the first American woman to walk in space and the first woman to dive to the Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench (the deepest part of the Earth’s oceans). She flew on three shuttle missions, including the mission that deployed the Hubble Space Telescope.
Sullivan served as Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Administrator in the Obama administration, as well as being appointed by President George W. Bush to the National Science Board. She was the inaugural Director of the Battelle Center for Math and Science Education Policy in the John Glenn School of Public Affairs at The Ohio State University and former President and CEO of Ohio’s Center of Science and Industry.
Dr. Jemar Tisby | 8 p.m., Tuesday, July 11
Join Dr. Jemar Tisby for his lecture where he will discuss his perspectives on faith, history and activism. Tisby received his degree from the University of Notre Dame, after which he became a corps member with Teach for America. He later went on to earn his Master of Divinity degree from Reformed Theological Seminary (RTS) in Jackson, Mississippi, and began to take on a much more public voice in speaking and writing about race and religion, drawing from personal experiences to do so. While at RTS, he worked at an intentionally muti-racial Presbyterian Church and started the Reformed African American Network as wells as the African American Leadership Initiative.
Wanting to make space for Black people at the white, Reformed and Evangelical table, Tisby earned a PhD in History from the University of Mississippi and began working for the Center for Antiracist Research at Boston University. There, he realized his real passion was writing, challenging and encouraging the nation and the church to be a racially and ethnically inclusive community, and now works to write and create content that can help move everybody forward in the journey toward racial justice.
Steve Hartman | 8 p.m., Tuesday, July 18
Join Steve Hartman, Emmy Award-winning “CBS Evening News” contributor and longtime Lakesider, for his keynote presentation this summer as he shares some of his favorite stories of youth who have made a big difference in the world.
Hartman travels the country for his weekly feature, “On the Road,” airing Fridays on “CBS Evening News” and repeats on “CBS Sunday Morning.” He is also known for his award-winning series, “Everybody Has a Story.” In this series, Hartman would throw a dart at a map and choose an interview subject from the local phone book. The series was also upped to a global scale in 2010 with “Everybody in the World Has a Story,” beginning with an astronaut at the International Space Station.
Hartman developed his passion for human interest stories while he was a feature reporter for a CBS station in Los Angeles. Hartman also worked as a columnist for “60 Minutes Wednesday” and was a correspondent for two primetime CBS News shows, “Public Eye with Bryant Gumbel” and “Coast to Coast.”
Scott Simon | 8 p.m., Tuesday, July 25
Lakeside welcomes Scott Simon, one of America’s most admired writers and broadcasters as a keynote speaker. Simon is the host of “Weekend Edition Saturday” and is one of the hosts of NPR’s morning news podcast “Up First.” He has reported from all 50 states, five continents and covered 10 wars. His books have chronicled war and peace, sports and art, and tragedy and comedy. In addition, Simon has won every major award in broadcasting, including Peabody, Emmy, Columbia-DuPont, Ohio State Award, Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award and Sidney Hillman Award. A Chicago native, Simon received the Order of Lincoln from the State of Illinois in 2016, the state’s highest honor.
Simon has hosted many television specials, including PBS’s “State of Mind,” “Voices of Vision” and “Need to Know.” “The Paterson Project” won a national Emmy, as did his two-hour special from the Rio Earth Summit meeting. He has appeared as a guest and commentator on many major networks, including BBC, NBC, CNN and ESPN. Simon has contributed articles to The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times Book Review, The Wall Street Journal, The Sunday Times of London and The Guardian among other publications. He won a James Beard Award for his story, “Conflict Cuisine,” in Gourmet News.
Manu Raju | 7:30 p.m., Saturday, July 29
Lakeside Chautauqua welcomes CNN Chief Congressional Correspondent Manu Raju for a keynote lecture, “In Real Time: Behind the Scenes of Today’s Breaking News in Washington.”
Few of those covering Washington have a closer viewpoint into the up-to-the-minute maneuverings of those shaping the national debate than CNN’s Raju.
From the perspective of a reporter who is on the scene every day to report on developments with consequences that extend far outside the Beltway, Raju offers audiences a candid and sober insight into how the collision of personality and politics in D.C. can impact the lives of millions.
With first-hand stories that will illuminate and entertain, audiences will better understand what goes into generating the types of headlines that serve as the first draft of history. A brief Q&A will follow his keynote presentation.
Tasha Stielstra | 8 p.m., Tuesday, August 1
Tasha Stielstra, co-owner of Nature’s Kennel Dog Sled Adventures in McMillan, Michigan, will discuss her career in a Hoover Auditorium keynote lecture. Stielstra and her husband have been involved in mushing together for over 10 years. Both graduated from Michigan State University, after which Ed was a production supervisor and Tasha was a teacher before deciding to pursue mushing full-time. They now operate a distance racing kennel and a sled dog touring business on Michigan’s Eastern Upper Peninsula.
Both Ed and Tasha have won Marquette’s UP 200 Sled Dog Race, and they pride themselves on the fact that all two hundred of their sled dogs are part of the family. Both have won numerous humanitarian awards for their outstanding dog care. Their dogs are well known not only for their excellent race history and pedigrees but also for their outstanding personalities, visiting with hundreds of adults and children each year.
Jim Tressel | 7:30 p.m., Thursday, August 3
Jim Tressel, former Ohio State University and Youngstown State University football coach will reflect on his life and impressive career path in this keynote lecture.
A native of Northeast Ohio, Tressel graduated from Berea High School in suburban Cleveland in 1971. He earned a bachelor’s degree in education from Baldwin-Wallace College in 1975 and a master’s degree in education from the University of Akron in 1977. He also holds honorary degrees from Youngstown State University (YSU) in 2001 and Baldwin-Wallace in 2003.
Tressel started at YSU in 1986 as head football coach. In 15 years, including six as Executive Director of Intercollegiate Athletics, YSU appeared in the playoffs 10 times and won four national championships. In January 2001, Tressel left YSU to become head football coach at Ohio State University. In 10 seasons, he guided the Buckeyes to the 2002 National Championship and seven Big Ten Championships. After leaving Ohio State, Tressel served as Executive Vice President for Student Success at the University of Akron, and then returned to YSU in 2014 as the school’s ninth president, where he focused on improving student access and worked to increase enrollment and fundraising levels before retiring in February 2023.
Tressel has received many honors, has published two books, has given hundreds of presentations and lectures across the country, and has had extensive involvement in fundraising and philanthropy.
Before his keynote lecture in Hoover Auditorium, a reception and Buckeye tailgate celebration will be held honoring Jim Tressel. Tickets for this event are $50 each, and all proceeds will go to support Lakeside’s Education Endowment.
Dr. Doug Tallamy | 7:30 p.m., Thursday, August 17
Entomologist and author Dr. Doug Tallamy will talk about his many years of research during a keynote lecture. Tallamy is Professor and Chair of the Department of Entomology & Wildlife Ecology at the University of Delaware and co-founder of Homegrown National Park. Chief among his research goals is to better understand the many ways insects interact with plants and how these interactions determine the diversity of animal communities.
Tallamy has authored 97 research publications and has taught insect-related courses for 40 years. His book Bringing Nature Home was awarded the 2008 Silver Medal by the Garden Writers’ Association. Among his awards are the Garden Club of America Margaret Douglas Medal for Conservation, the Tom Dodd, Jr. Award of Excellence, the 2018 AHS B. Y. Morrison Communication Award and the 2019 Cynthia Westcott Scientific Writing Award.
Dr. William Kelso | 8 p.m., Tuesday, August 22
Dr. William Kelso, a Lakeside native and an American archaeologist who directed the Jamestown Rediscovery Project, will give a lecture in Hoover Auditorium. Kelso began working in field archaeology after earning a master’s degree in early American history at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. He then earned a PhD in historical archaeology from Emory University in Atlanta.
Kelso served as commissioner of archaeology from 1971–1979 for the Virginia Historic Landmarks Commission, and he studied historical sites such as colonial farms and plantations along the James River before they were lost to real-estate development. He later was a Research Archaeologist (1979–85) and Director of Archaeology (1986–93) at Monticello, the Virginia home of former U.S. President Thomas Jefferson. As Kelso became an expert on colonial America, he pioneered the use of archaeology to learn about slavery during the period.
