Todd Lecture Series

I need your help. The Todd Lecture Series Committee is seeking input from students, faculty and staff concerning potential speakers for future events. We are already in the process of planning for next year's lectures.

Who would you like to see come to campus and speak? Any suggestions will be considered, and if we are not able to get a proposed speaker to campus as part of the Todd Lecture Series, we may use your idea for a speaker at Commencement. Please email your suggestions to: Toddlectureseries@norwich.edu.

We just held our fourth successful Todd Lecture Series fall event which featured an entertaining conversation with James Carville and Mary Matalin. James, the Democratic political consultant and CNN contributor, and his wife Mary, the Republican political consultant and CNN contributor, kept the discussion lively and topical as they shared their insights on Washington politics and our nation's state of affairs. If you were unable to see James Carville and Mary Matalin, their lecture has been archived at www.nsnsports.net/norwich.

The Todd Lecture Series is named in honor of U.S. Army retired Major General and President Emeritus W. Russell Todd, ‘50, and his wife, Carol, in gratitude for their dedicated service to Norwich University and the Northfield community. Ellen and John Drew, the Todd's daughter and son-in-law, and the Drew Foundation have donated resources to Norwich University for the specific purpose of funding the 10-year lecture series.

With this series, Norwich reaches out to bring important, significant lecturers to the University. The Todd Lecture series is comprised of a main fall lecture, and a series of spring lectures hosted by each academic school.

In our previous fall events we have had inventor, entrepreneur and advocate for science and technology Dean Kaman; former Head of the Government Accountability Office and President and CEO of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation David Walker; and former Commandant of the Coast Guard and national crisis expert ADM Thad Allen.

Spring events have included such notable speakers as environmentalist William McKibben; internationally known theoretical physicist Lawrence Krauss; Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence and Surveillance and Reconnaissance of the US Air Force Lt. Gen. David Deptula; and businessman and author of "In Search of Excellence" Tom Peters.

For the spring 2012 series, the academic schools are already working on an impressive line-up of speakers. Tentatively scheduled guests include Canadian designer Bruce Mau; retired lieutenant general in the Air Force and Air Force Association President Michael Dunn; and the author of this year's freshmen summer reading book, "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks," Rebecca Skloot.

The Todd Lecture Series helps to facilitate the intellectual growth at Norwich University. Listening to diverse topics presented by esteemed speakers can inspire new perspectives and stimulate thought and discussion.

I encourage the entire Norwich community to watch for announcements for future Todd Lecture Series events and plan to attend these important functions.