Meredith College boasts a long history of distinguished guests who have enhanced our academic environment with their thoughtful commentaries. Our students, faculty and staff—as well as members of the larger Triangle community—all benefit from the challenging and thought-provoking insights shared by these illustrious speakers.

The list of speakers who have come to Meredith encompasses four (soon to be five) Nobel Laureates, former leaders of the United States and Great Britain, a U.S. Supreme Court Justice, U.S. Senators, an internationally-known anthropologist, a Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, award-winning journalists, and social and human rights activists.

In more recent years, the selection of many of our speakers has been guided by Meredith’s campus theme. Frequently the author of the book chosen for our summer reading program has also been a speaker at Meredith, which adds depth to our discussions and enriches our understanding of the topic at hand. This year’s campus theme is Catalysts for Change, and many of our speakers this year will help us consider what it means to be an agent for positive change.

Meredith’s learning environment is also enhanced by a variety of performance and visual art, with offerings that include theatre, dance and music performances as well as art exhibitions.