Humanities Symposium

Humanities Symposium Lecture

• Date: February 18, 2027
• Location: Parmer Hall, Calvin and Janet High Center for Worship and Performing Arts
• Time: 7:00 pm 
• Cost: Free tickets are required for this event. To reserve, please contact Messiah University Box Office at 717-691-6036 option #1 or online at messiah.edu/tickets.

Michael S. Roth: "Higher Education and American Culture: Hope for the Future?"

Since becoming president of Wesleyan University in 2007, Michael S. Roth ’78 has overseen numerous improvements to the physical campus, including the soon to be completed life sciences building, as well as the launch of interdisciplinary programs focused on such areas as public life, creative writing and criticism, the environment, film, East Asian studies, integrative sciences, education studies, science and technology, and design and engineering. An intellectual historian with a love of the classroom, he teaches Wesleyan undergraduates each semester and also offers courses online. 

Author of numerous publications centered on how people make sense of the past, his last three books (all published by Yale University Press) have focused on liberal education, the most recent being The Student, A Short History (2023). His Beyond the University: Why Liberal Education Matters (2014), was recognized with the Association of American Colleges & Universities’ Frederic W. Ness award for a book that best illuminates the goals and practices of a contemporary liberal education. His 2019 book, Safe Enough Spaces: A Pragmatist’s Approach to Inclusion, Free Speech, and Political Correctness, addresses some of the most contentious issues in American higher education—including affirmative action, safe spaces, and questions of free speech. Roth regularly publishes essays, book reviews, and commentaries in the national media and scholarly journals. An outspoken defender of the value of colleges and universities and their importance to democracy, he was given the PEN/Benenson Courage Award in 2025 for standing up against governmental assaults on higher education.

Symposium Schedule