Dean's Distinguished Lecture Series
2024–25 Dean's Distinguished Lecture in the Humanities
“Left and Right Wokeness: The Challenge of Modernity”
presented by
John H. McWhorter, PhD
Associate Professor of Slavic Languages
Columbia University
Monday, October 27, 2025 at 4 p.m.
Vagelos Education Center
104 Haven Ave., Room 401
Reception to follow in the Milstein Family Lobby, first floor
This activity has been approved for AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™
Biography
John H. McWhorter, PhD
Dr. John McWhorter is associate professor of Slavic languages and teaches linguistics, core curriculum (philosophy and music history) and American Studies at Columbia University. He specializes in language change and language contact, and is the author of “The Missing Spanish Creoles, Language Simplicity and Complexity,” and “The Creole Debate”. He has written extensively on issues related to linguistics, race, and other topics for Time, The New York Times, CNN, the Wall Street Journal, The New Republic and elsewhere, and has been a contributing editor at The Atlantic. For the general public he is the author of “The Power of Babel, Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue”, “The Language Hoax, Words on the Move, Talking Back, Talking Black”, and other books, including “Nine Nasty Words” and “Woke Racism”, both of which were New York Times bestsellers. He hosts the Lexicon Valley language podcast, has authored six audiovisual sets on language for the Great Courses company, and has written weekly for The New York Times since 2021.
Dr. McWhorter received his BA from Rutgers University, his MA from New York University and his PhD from Stanford University.
Past Distinguished Lecturers in the Humanities
2023–24 Samuel K. Roberts
2021–22 Carol Backer
2020–21 Farah Jasmine Griffin
2018–19 Randi Hutter Epstein
2017–18 Kellie Jones
2016–17 Rita Charon
2015–16 Amale Andraos
2014–15 Brian Greene
2013–14 Pamela H. Smith
2012–13 Mark C. Taylor
2011–12 Sylvia Nasar
2007–08 David Freedberg
2005–06 Andrew Delbanco
2003–04 Jonathan Cole
2002–03 Jeffrey Sachs
2001–02 Eric Foner
2000–01 Edward W. Said
1999–2000 Robert E. Pollack
1998–99 Kenneth Jackson
1997–98 Jack Greenberg
1996–97 George Rupp
1995–96 David N. Cannadine
1994–95 Simon A. Schama
1993–94 James H. Beck
1992–93 Osborn Elliott
1991–92 Henry F. Graf
1990–91 Fred Friendly
1989–90 Howard Shanet
1988–89 Zbigniew Brzezinski
1987–88 Louis Henkin
1986–87 Barbara Aronstein Black
1985–86 Robert Merton
1984–85 Edith Porada
1983–84 David Rothman
1982–83 Harriet Zuckerman
1981–82 Fritz Stern