The annual Norman Fries Distinguished Lectureship series began in 2001. It is funded by an endowment in honor of the late Norman Fries, the founder of Claxton Poultry. In his more than 50 years of business, Fries built the company from a one-man operation into one of the largest poultry production plants in the United States.
Some of the past Fries Distiguished Lectureship speakers include David Oreck of Oreck Vacuums, South African apartheid author and lecturer Mark Mathabane, NASA director James W. “Jim” Kennedy, author and historian Gordon S. Wood, Nobel prize-winner Dr. William D. Phillips, best-selling author Susan Orlean, and concussion expert Dr. Russell Gore.
Please select a Lectureship year to browse the Digital Commons@Georgia Southern collection.
Browse the contents of Norman Fries Distinguished Lectureship Series (2002-2022):
- 2022- Chris Rustin, Public Health: Past, Present, Future
- 2021- Lawrence W. Sherman, Policing, Violence, and Mental Health: The Case of Domestic Homicide
- 2021 - Gloria Ladson-Billings, Culturally Responsive Pedagogy: Educating Past Pandemics
- 2019 -Carol A. Sawdye, Flourishing in a Digital World
- 2018- Marilyn A. Brown, Enabling the Great Energy Transition: Technology & Policy Challenges and Opportunities
- 2017- Col. Frederick D. Gregory, An Astronaut’s View of Choices, Influences, Contributions and Later Discoveries
- 2016- Frans de Waal, Are We Smart Enough To Know How Smart Animals Are?
- 2015- Russell Gore, Brain Injury and the Limits of Human Performance
- 2014- Susan Orlean, Learning by the Book: A Writer Explores the World of Libraries
- 2013- Adewale Troutman, Health Equity and Social Justice, A Whole New World
- 2012- Richard Arum, Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses
- 2011- Jimmy Dunne, Starting Over: A Ground Zero CEO's Story of Loss, Rejuvenation and Gratitude
- 2010- Dr. William Phillips, Time, Einstein and the Coolest Stuff in the Universe
- 2009- Steven Blair, Physical Inactivity: The Biggest Public Health Problem of the 21st Century
- 2008- Gordon S. Wood, The Americanization of Benjamin Franklin
- 2007- Bert Roughton Jr., Final Edition: The Death of Democracy's Best (Perhaps Only) True Friend.
- 2006- Charles Morris, Journalism in the Digital Age.
- 2005- James W. Kennedy, Space Week
- 2004- Jon Vollmer, Health Care Administration: Today's Decisions for Tomorrow's Challenges
- 2003- Mark Mathabane, Kaffir Boy
- 2002
