Since 2014, the New Albany Community Foundation has opened important conversations in an open forum that challenges people to open their minds.
Through its annual lecture series, the foundation hosts high-profile speakers to engage the community in a civil exchange of ideas and opinions. Topics are timely, addressing matters from mental health to public affairs.
Each lineup is so diverse as to seem disparate, featuring leaders from politics, business, media, education, entertainment and other industries. This underscores the foundation's mission to foster lifelong learning.
Varying viewpoints will highlight the 2026-27 New Albany Lecture Series, which will begin Sept. 15 with former CIA director Gen. David Petraeus (Ret.) and former U.S. ambassador
to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch. This will be a return appearance for Petraeus, a speaker in the 2017 series.
The discussion on national security will be moderated by Pulitzer Prize winner and New York Times op-ed columnist Bret Stephens.
The new year will bring "America at 250" on Jan. 28, with presidential historian and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Doris Kearns Goodwin and American historian and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Annette Gordon-Reed.
Mark Updegrove, historian, author and chairman and CEO of the LBJ Foundation, will moderate.
The series, to be held at the Jeanne B. McCoy Community Center for the Arts, 100 E. Dublin Granville Road, New Albany, will continue with:
- Feb. 24 - Former Speaker of the U.S. House Paul Ryan and former South Carolina House member Bakari Sellers, moderated by journalist and author Katty Kay. The discussion will cover public policy topics from domestic policy to international affairs.
- March 3 - Author and Harvard educator Arthur Brooks, who writes a weekly column, "How to Build a Life" for The Atlantic, will be interviewed by Pelotonia vice chair and Orli founder Doug Ulman about health and well-being.
- April 20 - New York Times columnist and CNBC "Squawk Box" co-anchor Andrew Ross Sorkin will be interviewed by Rana Foroohar, associate editor of the Financial Times and CNN's global economic analyst. The discussion will focus on the economy.
Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. Aug. 4. Orchestra seats will cost $50; balcony seats will cost $45. Ten percent of the house tickets will be sold at a special event price of $25 for ages 65 and older, veterans, military, teachers and students. See newalbanyfoundation.org for more details.
Contact features and entertainment reporter Belinda M. Paschal at bpaschal@dispatch.com.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: New Albany Lecture Series to offer forum for varying viewpoints
