The Hall Family Speaker Series

Created in 2019, The Hall Family Speaker Series invites thought leaders to Rivers to share their research, writing, or activism in the realm of civic and community engagement. While their interests and topics are diverse, what they have in common is a desire to positively influence public life and to inspire the students and adults in our community to use their own positive influence here on campus and in the wider world.


Monday, March 4, 2024
Sonia Nazario

Sonia Nazario is an award-winning journalist whose stories have tackled some of this country’s most intractable problems, including hunger, drug addiction, and immigration. She is best known for "Enrique's Journey," her Los Angeles Times series about a Honduran boy’s struggle to find his mother in the U.S. The series won the Pulitzer Prize for feature writing in 2003 and was later turned into a best-selling book. Nazario’s human-rights efforts have also earned her numerous awards. A graduate of Williams College, she has a master’s degree in Latin American studies from the University of California, Berkeley. Nazario, who grew up in Kansas and in Argentina, began her career at the Wall Street Journal and later joined the Los Angeles Times. She is at work on her second book.

Past Speakers

Friday, April 28, 2023
Dr. Marisa Franco
 

A professor, psychologist, leading expert on human connection, and New York Times bestselling author, Dr. Marisa Franco speaks frequently on the topic of fostering belonging and improving mental health. The author of Platonic: How the Science of Attachment Can Help You Make—and Keep—Friends, she has studied connection internationally through a National Institute of Health grant. Her presentations challenge audiences with fresh evidence-based ideas about connection while giving them practical tools they can implement immediately. Dr. Franco received a BS from New York University and a PhD in counseling psychology from the University of Maryland.
Monday, April 11, 2022
Yair Rosenberg


About:
Yair Rosenberg is a writer at The Atlantic, where he covers the intersection of politics, culture and religion. His work has also appeared in the New York Times, Washington PostWall Street Journal, and The Guardian, and his writings have received awards from the Religion Newswriters Association and the Harvard Center for Jewish Studies. He has covered everything from national elections in America and Israel, to observant Jews in baseball, to the translation of Harry Potter into Yiddish, and in his spare time, composes original Jewish music and creates bots that troll anti-Semites on Twitter. His latest project, Anti-Semitism, Explained, a Youtube video series tackles the biggest questions about anti-Jewish prejudice.


October 21, 2021
Dr. Jamil Zaki: On Empathy
A professor of psychology at Stanford University and the director of the Stanford Social Neuroscience Lab. Using tools from psychology and neuroscience, he and his colleagues examine how empathy works and how people can learn to empathize more effectively.

(www.warforkindness.com)


October 3, 2020
Eric Liu: Citizenship and Political Empowerment
Co-founder and CEO of Citizen University, which works to build a culture of powerful and responsible citizenship in the United States.

(www.citizenuniversity.us)
333 Winter Street Weston, MA 02493
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