ACLS President Joy Connolly 2025 Speaking Engagements

ACLS President Joy Connolly is a celebrated scholar of ancient Roman rhetoric and political thought and their enduring influence in modernity. She is also a thought leader on the future of the humanities and fostering what we call the “new academy”—where a vibrantly curious professoriate can pursue scholarly inquiry with creativity and a sense of wonder; where collaboration and mentorship are valued; and where faculty are rewarded for their efforts to connect with an emerging generation.

She speaks and writes regularly on these topics and will be featured at the following public events in 2025:

Thursday, April 3
Ranieri Colloquium on Ancient Studies: Reimagining Ancient Worlds: New Stories of the Distant Past
5:00pm “Frameworks and De-Formations of Ancient Worlds

keynote conversation:
Introduction and moderator: John Hopkins (NYU / Institute of Fine Arts)
A conversation with Joy Connolly (American Council of Learned Societies), Oliver Harris (University of Leicester), Dan-el Padilla Peralta (Princeton University), and Josephine Crawley Quinn (University of Cambridge)

Friday, March 7

Discourse: In Action, Theory, and Democracy
Keynote Speaker: “What is the Purpose of Education in a Democratic Society?”
The University of Texas at Austin College of Liberal Arts, Texas Union Ballroom

Discourse is a one-day event, hosted by the College of Liberal Arts at The University of Texas at Austin, dedicated to exploring aspects of the relationship between free speech, civil discourse, democracy, and higher education in America. Through a series of moderated arguments on issues of public significance, featuring some of the nation’s leading scholars and writers, we seek to model what it looks like to engage in democratic debate and discussion in a spirit of openness and collegiality. We’re also hoping to have some fun.

Thursday, April 3, 5:00-7:00 PM EDT

New York University Center for Ancient Studies’ Ranieri Colloquium on Ancient Studies: Reimagining Ancient Worlds: New Stories of the Distant Past
Keynote Conversation: “Frameworks and De-Formations of Ancient Worlds”
NYU Silver Center for Arts & Science, Jurow Lecture Hall

This conference brings together established and emerging leaders in the conversation about how we can rethink the study of the distant past in radical ways. The keynote conversation will feature ACLS President Joy Connolly, Oliver Harris (University of Leicester), Dan-el Padilla Peralta (Princeton University), and Josephine Crawley Quinn (University of Cambridge).

Tuesday, April 8, 9:00 AM-12:30 PM CET

Fiesole Retreat 2025: Learning from the Past, Informing the Future
Session 2: “Through the Lens of the Humanities“

“The humanities” are always in a constant state of reinvention, deconstruction, and crisis. The digital revolution, large upheavals in the global sociopolitical landscape, and too many news stories about universities cutting back, closing down, and “rightsizing” their humanities programs have all made the last quarter-century memorably distracting. What are the humanities today and who are they for? Speakers in this session will draw lessons from this recent past and point to strategies promising success for the decades to come.

Thursday, May 8, 11:00 AM-12:00 PM EDT

Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) Annual Conference for Corporate and Foundation Relations Officers
“Future of Liberal Arts/Humanities Funding“

This annual event brings together more than 300 development professionals, grant writers, officers and prospect researchers to engage in conversation about the challenges in securing external support for our institutions. More information on the panel to come.