Mini-lecture event showcases ‘best of’ Harvard University

The Harvard Graduate Student Government (HGSG) hosts its third annual Lectures that Last event on April 9. The TED talk-style event features a professor from each of the 12 graduate schools for a 10-minute sketch of their research or teaching.

Begun in 2012, Lectures that Last came from a vision to showcase the diverse intellectual pursuits of the faculties across different graduate Schools on one stage. In spite of quick planning that inaugural year, it was a well-attended success and has turned into one of HGSG’s (formerly the Harvard Graduate Council) major events. This year, about 1,000 students are expected to attend.

The topics covered at are as unique and varied as the professors that present them. Professors were chosen via online nomination in January from students at their respective graduate school. This year, 400 students made over 2,000 nominations.

Chosen professors have complete freedom to pick the topic they deem most important. This year, professors include Miguel Hernan (HSPH),  Bjorn Olson (HMS), Brittany Seymour (HSDM), Sergio Imparato (HES), Tina Grotzer (HGSE), Timothy McCarthy (HKS), Roy Gordon (GSAS), and Josh Margolis (HBS), among others.

“The event is unique in its breadth,” notes Leon Liu, a PhD student at Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, co-chair of the event, and HGSG’s VP, Communications. “Most seminars and conferences that go on at Harvard focus on one topic or field, and often within just one graduate school. Lectures That Last brings together all the graduate schools in wide cross-disciplinary engagement.” Event planners hope that the audience is exposed, educated and enlightened to new ideas outside of their own disciplines, and inspired to think beyond traditional boundaries, Liu added.

Tickets are free to students and will go on sale on March 31. For more information, please visit the site or contact communications@hgc.harvard.edu.

— Elizabeth Anderson