The Annual Otis Lecture

Inaugurated in 1996, the annual Otis Lecture features a prominent speaker who visits the campus for a short residency, meeting with students and faculty, especially in environmental studies, to share their interests and discuss topics of concern.

Past Otis Lecturers

  • 1996: Max Oelschlaeger, author of The Idea of Wilderness.
  • 1997: Arlene Blum, pioneer woman mountain climber, author of Annapurna, A Woman’s Place.
  • 1998: Terry Tempest Williams, author of Refuge.
  • 1999: Barry Lopez, author of Arctic Dreams.
  • 2000: Richard Nelson, author of The Island Within.
  • 2001: Gary Paul Nabhan, author of Coming Home to Eat: The Pleasure and Politics of Local Foods.
  • 2003: Pattiann Rogers, author of The Dream of the Marsh Wren.
  • 2004: Franklin Burroughs
  • 2005: William J. Cronon
  • 2006: Mary Oliver, Poet
  • 2007: Agnes Denes, Environmental Artist
  • 2008: Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma
  • 2009: Scott Momaday
  • 2010: Sandra Steingraber, author of Living Downstream An Ecologist Looks at Cancer and the Environment
  • 2011: Camille Dungy, poet, author
  • 2012: Chris Jordan, photographer
  • 2013:  Ruben Martinez, “Desert America: Politics and Contemplation on the Mythic American Landscape
  • 2014:  Mike Hulme, “Climate Change: What’s Virtue Got To Do With It?”
  • 2015:  Jennifer Baichwal, film maker
  • 2016:  Elizabeth Kolbert, author of “The Sixth Extinction”
  • 2017:  James Workman, journalist, author, and essayist
  • 2018:  Elizabeth Rush, educator and author
  • 2019:  Ross Gay, educator and author
  • 2021:  Winona LaDuke, rural development economist, activist, and author
  • 2022:  Carolyn Finney, author of “Black Faces, White Spaces”
  • 2023:  Nancy Campbell:  Poet, essayist, and book printer who has written extensively about the polar regions and ice