The Gloria Shatto Lecture Series honors the memory of Georgia’s first female college president. Shatto, who served from 1980-1998, believed strongly that there is more to a college education than what can be learned in the classroom. The Shatto Lecture Series honors her vision by bringing to Berry speakers of international renown.
Past Speakers
2025: Chris Thile
Photo by Josh Goleman
Acclaimed Grammy Award-winning mandolinist, singer, songwriter, composer and MacArthur Fellow recipient of the prestigious “Genius Grant,” Chris Thile is a multifaceted musical talent, described by The Guardian as “that rare being: an all-round musician” and hailed by NPR as a “genre-defying musical genius.” Thile is a founding member of the highly influential string bands Punch Brothers and Nickel Creek and has collaborated with countless luminaries from Yo-Yo Ma to Fiona Apple to Brad Mehldau. For four years, Thile hosted public radio favorite Live from Here with Chris Thile (formerly known as A Prairie Home Companion). With his broad outlook, Thile creates a distinctly American canon and a new musical aesthetic for performers and audiences alike, giving the listener “one joyous arc, with the linear melody and vertical harmony blurring into a single web of gossamer beauty” (New York Times).
2023: ARTHUR C. BROOKS
Arthur C. Brooks is the William Henry Bloomberg Professor of the Practice of Public Leadership at the Harvard Kennedy School, and Professor of Management Practice at the Harvard Business School, where he teaches courses on leadership and happiness. He is also a columnist at The Atlantic, where he writes the popular weekly “How to Build a Life” column. Brooks is the author of 12 books, including the 2022 #1 New York Times bestseller From Strength to Strength: Finding Success, Happiness, and Deep Purpose in the Second Half of Life. He speaks to audiences all around the world about human happiness, and works to raise well-being within private companies, universities, public agencies, and community organizations.
2019: Ed Catmull
As the co-founder of Pixar, Ed Catmull is a highly respected figure in the business and creative worlds. Having revolutionized the world of animation and built one of the most innovative and emulated companies on earth, Catmull speaks with great experience and thought about leading creative organizations. He is also the author of “Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration.”
Catmull is former president of Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios, and Disneytoon Studios. For more than 25 years, Pixar has dominated the world of animation, producing 14 consecutive No. 1 box office hits, which have grossed more than $8.7 billion at the worldwide box office to date and won 30 Academy Awards. Catmull himself has been honored with five Academy Awards, including the Gordon E. Sawyer Award, for his lifetime of technical contributions and leadership in the field of computer graphics for the motion picture industry.
2016: Rick Bragg
Bragg is the author of three critically acclaimed and best-selling books, “All Over but the Shoutin’”, “Ava’s Man” and “The Prince of Frogtown.” A native Alabamian, Bragg says he learned to tell stories by listening to the masters, the people of the foothills of the Appalachians. “All Over but the Shoutin’” was Bragg’s first book, the story of his mother who devoted her life to making a better life for her three sons. Bragg’s books have become anthems in his native South, honoring the poor and working people, and have struck a chord with readers everywhere. Currently, Bragg is a professor of writing in the Journalism Department at the University of Alabama, where he teaches Advanced Magazine Writing and Narrative Non-fiction.
2015: Doris Kearns Goodwin
Doris Kearns Goodwin is a world-renowned presidential historian and Pulitzer Prize-winning author.
Goodwin is the author of six critically acclaimed and New York Times best-selling books, including her most recent “The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism.” Goodwin’s award-winning “Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln,” was turned into a box office hit “Lincoln” that grossed $275 million and earned 12 Academy Award® nominations, including an Academy Award for actor Daniel Day-Lewis.
2014: Mary Matalin and James Carville
Mary Matalin, a conservative correspondent, has served presidents Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush. She joined the Bush administration in the first term as assistant to the president and counselor to the vice president. In that capacity, she performed as senior advisor on major initiatives, including national security, homeland security, energy, economic growth and corporate governance policies. She oversaw the vice president’s political and communications departments, advancing administration policies from the Middle East, Europe and across America.
Her husband and political rival, James Carville, is a political commentator and prominent member of the Democratic Party. He was instrumental in Bill Clinton’s presidential victory in 1992 and was honored as campaign manager of the year by the American Association of Political Consultants. He and his wife reside in New Orleans, La., with their two daughters.
Matalin and Carville co-authored the best-selling political campaign book “All's Fair: Love, War, and Running for President” as well as “Love & War: Twenty Years, Three Presidents, Two Daughters And One Louisiana Home.”
2012: Cokie Roberts
Cokie Roberts is a veteran political commentator and senior news analyst for ABC and NPR. She has been inducted into the Broadcasting and Cable Hall of Fame and was cited by the American Women in Radio and Television as one of the 50 greatest women in the history of broadcasting. She has also written a number-one bestseller, “We Are Our Mothers’ Daughters,” an account of women’s roles and relationships throughout American history. Roberts' histories of women in America’s founding era—“Founding Mothers,” published in 2004 and “Ladies of Liberty” in 2008, also became instant bestsellers.
2011: Steve Forbes
Forbes Magazine Editor-in-Chief Steve Forbes is chairman and CEO of Forbes Media and a former Republican presidential candidate. He spoke about his book “How Capitalism Will Save Us.” Under his leadership, Forbes’ company has launched a variety of new publications and businesses. The company’s flagship publication, Forbes, is the nation’s leading business magazine, with a circulation of more than 900,000. Forbes combined with Forbes Asia and the company's licensee editions together reach more than 5.5 million readers.
2010: Ben Carson
Renowned neurosurgeon Dr. Benjamin S. Carson Sr. is perhaps best known for his groundbreaking work with conjoined twins. A man of humble beginnings, he has been lauded as a “living legend” by the Library of Congress and as one of America’s foremost physicians by CNN and TIME magazine. He is also a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, America’s highest civilian honor. He served as a professor of pediatric neurosurgery and director of pediatric surgery at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine for nearly 25 years.
2009: Tony Dungy
Trailblazing football coach and bestselling author Tony Dungy was an NFL head coach for 13 seasons, before retiring in 2009. He made history in 2007 as the first black head coach to lead his team to a Super Bowl victory. In addition to his success on the football field, Dungy also has made a name for himself as an author, reaching No. 1 on the New York Times Best Seller list.
2008: David Brooks
David Brooks is an Op-Ed columnist for The New York Times and a commentator on “PBS NewsHour,” NPR’s “All Things Considered” and NBC’s “Meet the Press.” He is the author of “Bobos in Paradise: The New Upper Class and How They Got There” and “On Paradise Drive: How We Live Now (And Always Have) in the Future Tense.” In March 2011 he came out with his third book, “The Social Animal: The Hidden Sources of Love, Character, and Achievement,” which was a No. 1 New York Times best seller. Mr. Brooks also teaches at Yale University, and is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
2007: Madeleine Albright
Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright was the inaugural speaker for the Gloria Shatto Lecture Series. At the time Dr. Albright was named secretary of state by President Bill Clinton in 1997, she was the highest ranking woman in the history of the U.S. government. Prior to that appointment, she served from 1993-97 as the United States' permanent representative to the United Nations.