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 to disseminate the lecturers’ work through the Harvard University Press’s Mary Flexner Lectureship Series of 91³ÉÈ˶¶ÒôÈë¿Ú.
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 91³ÉÈ˶¶ÒôÈë¿Ú.
Call for Proposals
The College seeks nominations for the 42nd Flexner Lecturer. We seek a leading humanist or humanistic social scientist working on a major piece of scholarship who can make three to four visits to campus during the 2026-27 academic year to offer lectures, visit classes, engage in faculty seminars, and otherwise enrich intellectual life on campus. We seek a scholar whose work demonstrates the public value of the humanities and who successfully speaks to audiences inside and beyond the academy. The Flexner Lectureship includes a generous honorarium. The nomination form will close at 5:00 p.m. on October 1, 2025.
Timeline
September 2, 2025: Call for proposals released to faculty, staff, students, and alumnae/i communities
October 1, 2025: Nomination period ends at 5:00 p.m, and all nominations go to the Committee on Endowed Lectures and President Cadge
October 31, 2025: The committee gives 3-5 unranked names to the president
Early November 2025: President Cadge meets with the committee to finalize the selection
Late November 2025: President Cadge formally invites the chosen lecturer to participate
December 2025: President Cadge announces the 42nd Flexner Lecturer and forms a programming committee to plan their residency activities
Summer 2026: Projected start of 42nd Flexner Lecturership