Convocation Calendar - Fall 2025
(information is subject to change - visit
this site frequently for the most up-to-date information)
Students who attend 12 Convocations in one academic year will have one hour of “A” figured into their grade point average and noted on their transcript, thereby boosting their GPA. Students who do not attend 12 Convocations will remain unaffected.
For more information on the Convocation policy, please refer to
CentreNet (Academic Affairs > Convocations) or the Convocation Manager, Katie Murphy (katie.murphy@centre.edu).
For reminders about upcoming events, check the Convocations Page on CentreNet or follow on Instagram (@centreconvocations).
How to Think Critically and Make the Most Out of College
Tuesday, September 9, 2025 | 7:00pm – Young Hall Auditorium (NOT open to the public)
This convocation with Dr. Louis Newman, author of "How to Think Critically in College." Intentionally scheduled for the start of academic year, let this convocation help you start it off right and make the most out of your college experience. From 2016 - 2022, Newman served as the Dean of Academic Advising and Associate Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education at Stanford University. From 1983 - 2016, he was on the faculty of Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota, where he is now the John M. and Elizabeth W. Musser Professor of Religious Studies, emeritus. During his tenure at Carleton, he also served as the Humphrey Doermann Professor of Liberal Learning and the Director of the Perlman Center for Learning and Teaching (2010-13) and as Associate Dean of the College and Director of Advising at Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota (2013-16). A founding scholar in the field of Jewish Ethics, Dr. Newman has dedicated the past fifteen years to helping liberal arts students get the most out of their college experience.
Constitution Day: What the Constitution Means Today
Wednesday, September 10, 2025 | 7:30pm – Vahlkamp (open to the public)
"What the Constitution Means Today"—The Constitution and what it means are central to many of our contemporary policy debates. Come hear how two Kentucky Supreme Court Justices, Chief Justice Debra Lambert and Deputy Chief Justice Robert Conley, work to apply the Constitution in our modern society, the tools they use to interpret it, how they decide difficult cases, and how the Kentucky Constitution differs from the federal Constitution. The Kentucky Supreme Court is hearing oral arguments at Centre, and this convocation is an excellent opportunity to learn more about how the Court works.
Whitney/Strong: A Survivor’s Story and Life’s Work (D&I)
Wednesday, September 17, 2025 | 7:30pm – Young Hall Auditorium (open to the public)
Whitney Austin is co-founder and executive director of the Whitney/Strong Organization. Austin was shot 12 times as she entered the Fifth Third Bank headquarters in Cincinnati on September 6, 2018. Since then, Austin has dedicated her life to preventing gun violence through data-driven, responsible gun ownership solutions. Under her leadership, Whitney/Strong has spearheaded various initiatives, including securing the first Kentucky General Assembly hearing on a gun safety measure to curb suicide and mass violence in over a decade with a bipartisan coalition of Kentucky State Senators. Moreover, she helped lead the distribution of over 12,000 gun locks with the American Academy of Pediatrics and the National Shooting Sports Foundation. Whitney/Strong has facilitated over 300 evidence-based trainings to prevent gun violence in the communities that see it most. Whitney will share her story, discuss bipartisan legislative successes and challenges, and the value of educational efforts.
The Blues of Achilles
Tuesday, September 23, 2025 | 7:30pm – Weisiger Theatre (open to the public)
Chicago-based musician Joe Goodkin performs his song cycle, The Blues of Achilles, adapted from Homer’s Iliad, an epic poem about the Trojan War and the Greek hero, Achilles. Sung from the perspective of Achilles, Priam, Patroklus, Briseis, Helen, Andromache, and more, Joe’s first-person songs capture the horror, grief, and love that permeate the Iliad and the combat experience. Joe’s songs are steeped in ancient and modern war literature as well as interviews and his experiences playing music at VA hospitals as part of recreational therapy for veterans experiencing PTSD and other related war traumas.
Ibogaine: A Conversation with W. Bryan Hubbard
Tuesday, September 30, 2025 | 7:00pm – Weisiger (open to the public)
W. Bryan Hubbard is a seasoned leader and advocate committed to creating, reforming, and improving human systems to accelerate progress for all. From leading the Kentucky Opioid Abatement Advisory Commission to driving reforms in disability policy, child support enforcement, Medicaid systems, and judicial responses to mental health and substance use issues, Bryan’s work reflects a deep passion for positive change. In June 2025, Bryan became the inaugural Chief Executive Officer of Americans for Ibogaine. AFI is a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing public education and awareness about ibogaine as a potential therapeutic option for brain injuries, substance use disorders and co-occurring mental health conditions. Raised in Virginia’s coalfields, Bryan is the proud grandson of two grade-school-educated coal miners—a heritage that fuels his enduring commitment to uplifting communities and advancing equitable solutions.
Building Tomorrow: Trans Advocacy and Visionary Communities (D&I)
Thursday, October 2, 2025 | 7:00pm – Ewen (NOT open to the public)
Current U.S. policies are rolling back protections for transgender people, with bans on gender-affirming care, restrictions on identification, and limits on military service. States remain divided: Colorado expands protections, while Texas, Ohio, and Kentucky enact restrictive laws on healthcare, bathrooms, and legal recognition. What does the future hold for trans communities, and how can they be supported within a human rights framework? How do we build communities where everyone is seen, valued, and celebrated? Join us for an inspiring conversation with Mx Yaffa—an acclaimed disabled, autistic, trans, queer, Muslim, and Indigenous Palestinian activist recognized for transformative work on displacement, decolonization, and equity. Mx Yaffa will share how trans communities are building sustainable organizations, creating mutual aid networks, and developing leadership pipelines to ensure lasting impact. This talk highlights the creativity, resilience, and brilliance of trans-led activism while offering actionable insights for an equitable future. Queerled. Community-centered. Future-focused.
Valentin Kovalev (D&I)
Friday, October 3, 2025 | 7:30pm – Weisiger Theatre (open to the public)
From his sold-out Carnegie Hall debut to his significant international solo career, Valentin Kovalev is elevating the saxophone’s voice in classical music. Kovalev recently took home first place in the 2024 Concert Artists Guild Louis and Susal Meisel Competition and is the winner of many other prestigious international competitions, including the Naumburg Foundation’s 2022 Saxophone Competition. With a unique style developed after studying in Russia, France and the United States, this eclectic performer presents a program that juxtaposes repertoire for the classical saxophone with contemporary music, including works by Bach, Schumann, Cockroft, Bartók and Piazzolla.
Beyond the Glass Ceiling: Networks that Shape Women in STEM (D&I)
Tuesday, October 14, 2025 | 7:00pm – Young Hall Auditorium (open to the public)
Princess Allotey ’21 returns to Centre to share her journey from Centre College to pursuing a joint Ph.D. in Statistics & Data Science and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University. In this convocation, she will reflect on the networks, relationships, and resources that supported her success—both on campus and beyond. Students will have the opportunity to learn strategies for building connections at Centre and carrying them forward into graduate study and future careers. “Beyond the Glass Ceiling: Networks that Shape Women in STEM” also serves as a space for community building, especially for women in STEM fields. The event will highlight how mentorship, collaboration, and support systems not only foster individual growth but also create pathways to greater achievement.
Justice John Marshall Harlan at Centre: Past, Present and Future (D&I)
Thursday, October 16, 2025 | 7:30pm – Young Hall Auditorium (open to the public)
As Centre prepares for the dedication of a statue honoring one of our most distinguished alumni, Justice John Marshall Harlan, class of 1850, join us for a discussion with Harlan biographer Peter Canellos. Canellos’s acclaimed book, The Great Dissenter: The Story of John Marshall Harlan, America’s Judicial Hero, traces Harlan’s remarkable life and legacy—from his Kentucky upbringing and service in the Civil War to his decades on the Supreme Court. The book highlights Harlan’s lonely but courageous dissents on civil rights cases, particularly his dissent in Plessy v. Ferguson, which provided the legal roadmap for dismantling segregation. Canellos is managing editor for enterprise at POLITICO, overseeing the site’s magazine, investigative journalism, and major projects. He has also been POLITICO’s executive editor, overseeing the newsroom during the 2016 presidential coverage, and the editorial page editor of The Boston Globe. This discussion will be moderated by Judge Benjamin Beaton ‘03.
Musicians Showcase – Fall 2025
Sunday, October 19, 2025 | 3:00pm – Newlin Hall (open to the public)
The Centre College Music Program presents a variety of student musicians, ensembles, and singers as they come together to showcase their wide range of talents.
Women in Kentucky Government
Tuesday, October 21, 2025 | 7:30pm – Young Hall Auditorium (NOT open to the public)
Women make up 50.4% of Kentucky's population, but they only hold 30% of seats in state government. This bipartisan panel of women brings years of experience as state representatives, senators, and officers. Together, they will tell the stories of their journeys to Frankfort, including the successes and challenges along the way. This talk will also explore the invaluable role of women in leadership and what the future holds for women in government.
Caity Gyorgy
Saturday, October 25, 2025 | 7:30pm – Weisiger (open to the public)
Get ready for a night of dazzling vocals and irresistible swing with Caity Gyorgy, a three-time JUNO Award-winning Canadian vocalist known for her impeccable bebop and charm. She has taken the stage at jazz clubs and festivals throughout Canada, Mexico, Japan and the United States, collaborating and recording with renowned musicians such as Christine Jensen, Pat LaBarbera, Jocelyn Gould, Ira Coleman, Bryn Roberts and Joe LaBarbera, to name a few. In March 2025, Hello! How Are You? became Gyorgy’s third Juno Award-winning album, this time for Vocal Jazz Album of the Year. She is also an avid writer and composer, writing songs in the style of The Great American Songbook. Her compositions have won multiple awards, including the Grand Prize in the jazz category of the 2021 John Lennon Songwriting Contest.
The Realities of Harm Reduction (D&I)
Tuesday, October 28, 2025 | 7:00pm – Vahlkamp Theatre (open to the public)
Ra’Shann Martin is the executive director of St John Center, a homeless shelter in Louisville on a mission to address the barriers to housing and self-sufficiency. St John Center believes in providing dignity, usefulness and advocacy to the people they service in the greater Jefferson County area. Ra’Shann will discuss how harm reduction plays an integrative role in their mission.
“A Legacy of Adaptation: Cherokee Language Shift and Revitalization” (D&I)
Thursday, October 30, 2025 | 7:00pm – Young Hall Auditorium (open to the public)
Today there are roughly two hundred first-language Cherokee speakers among the seventeen thousand citizens of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in North Carolina. In 2019 the United Keetoowah Band, the Cherokee Nation, and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians declared a state of emergency for the Cherokee language. Eastern Band Cherokee citizen and linguistics professor Benjamin Frey chronicles his odyssey of being introduced to the Cherokee language with trepidation as a young adult and his eventual work revitalizing the Cherokee language in a Cherokee way. Frey explores the institutional, economic, and social factors that drove the language shift from Cherokee to English. He also examines the intricacies of language and relationships, the impact of trauma, and the quest for joy and healing within the community. Frey uses storytelling to discuss the Cherokee language, its grammatical components, and its embedded cultural ideologies alongside its interactions with broader American society.
Centre Symphony Orchestra – Halloween Concert 2025
Friday, October 31, 2025 | 7:30pm – Newlin Hall (open to the public)
The Centre Symphony Orchestra is a staple of the Centre experience, and a truly impressive performance to behold. It's comprised of Centre students, along with a sprinkling of professional guest artists, and conducted by our very own Dr. Robert Seebacher.
Centre College Choirs – Fall 2025
Wednesday, November 5, 2025 | 7:30pm – Newlin Hall (open to the public)
This performance features Centre Singers, an auditioned group of highly refined singers, and College Choir, a diverse, large, and talented group of students, staff, faculty, and community members. Both groups will sing a variety of songs, both classical and contemporary. This concert will be conducted by Sam Scheibe, the Visiting Instructor of Music and Interim Director of Choral Ensembles and Voice.
Building Bridges and Community Day: Diversity & Inclusion
Thursday, November 6, 2025 | 12:00pm – Multiple Campus Locations (open to the public)
Building Bridges and Community Day is one of Centre’s signature annual events, designed to bring together students, faculty, staff, alumni, trustees, and community members in an intentional celebration of differences, access, and belonging. This campus-wide day of engagement invites us to pause our regular routines and embrace the opportunity to listen, learn, and connect across differences. Since its inception, the purpose of this day has been to highlight the remarkable variety of voices, identities, and experiences represented by the nearly 2,000 people who make up our lively and energetic campus community. Whether in classrooms, residence halls, athletic fields, or performance spaces, Centre thrives because of its diversity of thought, culture, and lived experience. Building Bridges and Community Day creates space for us to recognize, honor, and deepen those connections. In recognition of the importance of this occasion, academic classes will follow a truncated schedule and campus offices will close early, allowing the entire community to fully participate. Programming is carefully crafted to provide a wide range of experiences that both challenge and inspire participants.
- Opening Session in Newlin Hall - The day begins with a community-wide session in Newlin Hall, setting the tone for our shared experience. This session will feature a keynote reflection, performances, and framing remarks that call us into collective responsibility for building bridges across differences.
- Campus-Wide Experiences - Following the opening, participants are invited to engage in sessions and activities held throughout campus. These offerings are designed to meet people where they are, whether through inclusive workshops, structured dialogues, or opportunities for reflection. Some sessions will focus on open forums for sharing personal narratives and exploring differences in perspective. Others will emphasize skill-building, where participants learn together in interactive “bridge” events that combine engagement with practical takeaways.
Together, these opportunities are meant to foster empathy, deepen understanding, and strengthen the sense of belonging that defines the Centre experience. Building Bridges and Community Day is not simply a series of events, it is a call to action, reminding us that each of us plays a role in shaping a community that values dignity, equity, and inclusion. As we gather on November 6, let us commit ourselves to the ongoing work of community-building, both on this day and throughout the year.
Art as/and Justice: A Print-Making Workshop (D&I)
Monday, November 10, 2025 | 7:00pm – Combs Warehouse (Not open to the public)
This convocation will be a hands-on workshop with Jewish artist and activist, Leora Ostroff. Taking inspiration from classical Jewish printmaking and paper-cutting techniques, Ostroff uses print-making not only as a ritual practice but as an activist tool. Participants will learn about the history of Jewish print-making, drawing inspiration from sacred teachings, learn about Ostroff's work and process, and get to try print-making hands-on! As part of the Citizen Power Tools series, Duke introduces advocacy and activism as one of many empowering forms of democratic engagement.
The Arsonists
Thursday, November 13, 2025 | 7:30pm – Weisiger Theatre (open to the public)
“The Arsonists” by Max Frisch
Translation by Allistair Beaton
Directed by Jennifer Goff
November 13-15, 2025 @ 7:30pm
November 16, 2025 @ 2:00pm
Weisiger Theatre
$10 General Admission, $5 Seniors, FREE to Centre Affiliates
*Only 11/13/25 performance will receive a convocation credit.
Gottlieb Biedermann and his wife live a comfortable life, thank you very much. Their one complaint is all this noise about someone setting fires all over the city, and those silly people who keep letting it happen. But when an unexpected visitor takes up residence in the Biedermann home, Gottlieb finds he has some questions like, “who are you?” and “why are you here?” and “what’s up with all the gasoline drums in the attic?” But it might be impolite to ask... A contemporary translation catapults the 1950s absurdist play into vivid, living color, and asks, “If the thought of radical change scares you more than the thought of disaster, what can you do to stop the disaster?” Content notifications: explosions, some mild language
Kentucky Traditional Ensemble – Fall 2025
Monday, November 17, 2025 | 7:00pm – Combs Warehouse (open to the public)
This acoustic band, comprised of Centre student musicians, explores the ballad-singing and string-band traditions of the Appalachians, the bluegrass tradition of Central Kentucky, and more recent music inspired by these traditions.
Landslide: Natural Disasters and Disproportionate Impact on the Poor and Homeless (D&I)
Tuesday, November 18, 2025 | 7:00pm – Vahlkamp Theatre (open to the public)
Flooding, tornados, and even remnants of a hurricane have caused devastation and death in Kentucky and the southeastern portion of the United States in recent months. Natural disasters may indiscriminately hit a location, but the poor and homeless face lingering, particular challenges long after storm subsides. Rev. Dr. Marcia Mount Shoop is a pastor at Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church in Ashville, North Carolina and a Centre College graduate. After Hurricane Helene ravaged western North Carolina last fall, she mobilized her congregation and the larger community to help victims address one of the most significant, long-term problems the storm caused for those living on the margins – help paying rent. In less than four months after Helene struck, Grace Covenant has doled out $3.5 million in rent assistance and about $500,000 in electricity payments, serving hundreds of residents.
Taimane (D&I)
Tuesday, November 18, 2025 | 7:30pm – Weisiger Theatre (open to the public)
Whether delicately finger-picking through Bach or radically ripping through Led Zeppelin, Taimane can morph genres – from classic rock to flamenco – and stretch the ukulele far beyond the familiar melodies of her Hawai’ian homeland. With the fierceness of a rocker and the grace of a dancer, she weaves her own distinctive versions of well-known pieces with original compositions that are as far-ranging as her musical tastes. Taimane, a hapa Sāmoan artist (part indigenous Sāmoan and part Caucasian) born and raised in Hawai‘i, has established herself as an artist-to-watch, wowing audiences and listeners around the world while raking in one accolade after another and garnering a Nā Hōkū Hanohano Award as Favorite Entertainer of the Year in 2019 and 2023. From sold-out shows across the U.S. to Europe, Taimane’s live performances have become must-see events. The same can be said of her videos, which have been viewed well over 50 million times and helped earn Taimane over 500,000 online followers.
Cultivating Creativity, Compassion and Community Through Music and Movement (D&I)
Wednesday, November 19, 2025 | 7:00pm – Weisiger Theatre (open to the public)
Come hear Inouye Six Hands, an ensemble of three sisters and six hands on one piano. As performing artists and practitioners, Mika, Sarah, and Seidi Inouye promote a new genre of music that makes the most of one instrument. In collaboration with their sister (Mei Li), the Inouye Sisters have also developed a unique approach to arts-integrated teaching in K-12 schools in the U.S. The Inouye Sisters will share how their journeys as rural Asian American musicians and educators led them to their approach of using musical movement improvisation and story sharing to cultivate creativity, compassion, and community. This convocation will get you moving, making music, building community, and reimagining your own life journey. Inouye Six Hands (Mika, Sarah, and Seidi) is a trio of pianists and educators that use music and movement to create connection and community around difficult stories and traumatic events. With Masters degrees in piano performance and pedagogy, they have performed in venues such as Assembly Hall at Temple Square in Salt Lake City, the Southwest Arts Recitals Series in Santa Fe, and the Durango Chamber Music Festival. Their programs feature a mix of classical and contemporary pieces, often showcasing new compositions or arrangements for six hands on one piano. A grant from the Music Teachers National Association has supported their ongoing project of researching, performing, and teaching six-hand repertoire. This conversation will be moderated by Dr. Mei Li Inouye, Assistant Professor of Chinese, and Ellen Prusinski, Marlene & David Grissom Associate Professor of Education.
Centre Jazz Ensemble – Fall 2025
Thursday, November 20, 2025 | 7:30pm – Weisiger Theatre (open to the public)
Centre Jazz is an improvisation-centered ensemble, performing jazz standards, blues, funk, soul, contemporary jazz, modal jazz, improvisational rock, and more.
African Drum Ensemble – Fall 2025
Monday, December 1, 2025 | 7:30pm – Weisiger Theatre (open to the public)
Led by Professor Justin Balcor, the African Drum Ensemble concentrates on the percussive music of Ghana and West African countries. The ensemble uses authentic instruments to explore several styles of music that include, but are not limited to, music intended for dance and ritual.
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