Common Hour
Spring 2025 • Thursdays at 11:30 a.m.
Common Hour enables the Franklin & Marshall College and Lancaster communities to gather
for culturally and academically enriching events at midday on Thursdays during the
academic year. This opportunity to engage in a campus-wide dialogue originates with
Common Hour and then extends beyond the confines of that time into classrooms, house
commons, dining halls and beyond. These are vital international, national, local and
institutional issues that are relevant to all.
JANUARY 23
Mindset Matters: The Power of College to Activate Lifelong Growth
Dan Porterfield, President and CEO, Aspen Institute, and former President of F&M
FEBRUARY 6
Ocean Conservation for the 21st Century: Can Marine-Protected Areas Work?
Elizabeth DeSanto, Associate Professor of Environmental Studies at F&M
FEBRUARY 20
RECKONING WITH LANCASTER / MUELLER FELLOW LECTURE
The Rediscovery of America
Ned Blackhawk, the Howard R. Lamar Professor of History and American Studies Yale
University, and Faculty Coordinator, Yale Group for the Study of Native America
FEBRUARY 27
Beyond Ideology: Prospects for Peace in the Middle East
Dennis Ross, William Davidson Distinguished Fellow, Washington Institute for Near
East Policy, and former Ambassador in the State Department
MARCH 6
Academic Repression and the Liberal Arts
Maura Finkelstein, Writer, Ethnographer, and former Associate Professor of Anthropology
MARCH 27
Sun Ra: Afrofuturism and Archaeology
William R. Caraher, Associate Professor, History & American Indian Studies, University
of North Dakota
APRIL 10
Abortion Pills: The New Legal Battleground
Rachel Rebouche, Kean Family Dean of Temple University's Beasley School of Law and
the Peter J. Liacouras Professor of Law, Temple University
APRIL 24
Life Continues: Lessons from a Dictatorship
Derek Peterson, Ali Mazrui Collegiate Professor of History and African Studies, University
of Michigan
Watch Online
Can't make it to Common Hour in person? We record some of our Common Hour events and make them available for you to watch whenever you're able.
View Events from 2024-25 »Curious to see Common Hour events from previous years?