Flexner Lectureship
Established in honor of Mary Flexner, a Bryn Mawr graduate of the class of 1895, the Lectureship has brought some of the world’s best-known humanists to campus for a brief residency.
The College regularly supports a Mary Flexner Lecturer, a leading humanist or humanistic social scientist whose work demonstrates the public value of the humanities. While in residence at Bryn Mawr, lecturers offer a series of presentations that introduce their scholarship and any new developments, host class discussions with undergraduates and graduate students, conduct faculty seminars, and otherwise enrich intellectual life on campus. The College partners with Harvard University Press to disseminate the lecturers’ work through the Harvard University Press’s Mary Flexner Lectureship Series of Bryn Mawr College.
The 2026-2027 Flexner Lectureship Organizing Committee is chaired by Nora Taplin-Kaguru, associate professor of sociology.
The 2026-27 Flexner Lecturer
The 2026-27 Flexner Lectureship
The fall program of the 2026-27 Flexner Lectureship will feature a seminar, “The Political Lives of Angela Davis,” on Thursday, November 12. The seminar will bring together students from two Africana Studies courses and selected faculty members, including members of the planning committee led by Nora Taplin-Kaguru.
In the spring, the College will celebrate Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor’s return to campus with a temporary public art installation by LaVaughn Belle, followed by three Flexner Lectures for the full community scheduled during the period from March 15 through April 2, 2027.
Previous Lecturers
The pioneering Egyptologist James H. Breasted gave the first series of Mary Flexner Lectures in 1928-29, followed in later years by Ralph Vaughan Williams, Arnold Toynbee, Isaiah Berlin, I.A. Richards, Erwin Panofsky, Frank Kermode, Natalie Zemon Davis, Anthony Appiah, Judith Butler, and Bonnie Honig, among others. Read the full list of 41 previous Mary Flexner Lecturers at Bryn Mawr College.
About the Mary Flexner Lectureship
Established in honor of Mary Flexner, a Bryn Mawr graduate of the class of 1895, the Lectureship has brought some of the world's best-known humanists to campus. The pioneering Egyptologist James H. Breasted gave the first series of Mary Flexner Lectures in 1928-29, followed in later years by Ralph Vaughan Williams, Arnold Toynbee, Isaiah Berlin, I.A. Richards, Erwin Panofsky, Frank Kermode, Natalie Zemon Davis, Anthony Appiah, Judith Butler, and Bonnie Honig, among others.
Holders of the Mary Flexner Lecturership typically give a series of talks that introduce their scholarship and present new chapters or developments in that work. While in residence, they engage in seminars and discussions with faculty and with undergraduate and graduate students. Lecturers publish the work they develop during their Flexner residency with Harvard University Press.