The Pullias Lectures
The 46th Pullias Lecture, April 7, 2025
The 46th Pullias Lecture Featuring Dr. John B. King, Jr.
“Higher Education: Engine of Democracy, Security & Upward Mobility” the topic for lunchtime event at the USC Hotel ballroom in Los Angeles.
Dr. John B. King, Jr., the Chancellor of the State University of New York (SUNY) system, is the featured speaker for this year’s 46th Pullias Lecture. The title of his talk is “Higher Education: Engine of Democracy, Security and Upward Mobility,” and will focus on the role that higher education plays in our society.
Registration is now closed.
In conversation with USC Rossier School of Education Dean Pedro Noguera and Pullias Center Director Adrianna Kezar, Chancellor King, who previously served as the United States Secretary of Education under President Barack Obama, will share his views on the ways that higher education can uphold democracy, ensure security and lead to upward mobility.
Learn More About Chancellor King:
John B. King, Jr. is the 15th Chancellor of the State University of New York (SUNY), the largest comprehensive system of public higher education in the United States. As Chancellor, King and the SUNY Board of Trustees have established four pillars to guide SUNY's progress: student success; research and scholarship; diversity, equity, and inclusion; and economic development and upward mobility. In fall of 2023, the System saw its first overall enrollment increase in a decade and hired approximately 700 faculty members across all disciplines at SUNY’s State-operated campuses.
Before being appointed SUNY Chancellor, King served as president of The Education Trust, a national civil rights nonprofit, and Professor of the Practice at the University of Maryland College Park. Prior to this, Chancellor King served in President Barack Obama's cabinet as the 10th U.S. Secretary of Education. Upon tapping him to lead the U.S. Department of Education, President Obama called Chancellor King "an exceptionally talented educator," citing his commitment to "preparing every child for success," and his lifelong dedication to public education as a teacher, principal, and leader of schools and school systems.
His service in Washington, D.C. followed Chancellor King's tenure as New York State's first African American and first Puerto Rican Education Commissioner, a role in which he oversaw all elementary and secondary schools, as well as public, independent, and proprietary colleges and universities, professional licensure, libraries, museums, and numerous other educational institutions.
Chancellor King holds a Bachelor of Arts in government from Harvard University, a J.D. from Yale Law School, as well as both a Master of Arts in the teaching of social studies and a doctorate in education from Teachers College at Columbia University.
2024 | 45th Pullias Lecture
Panelists Eddie Cole, Liliana Garces, Royel Johnson and moderator USC Rossier Dean Pedro Noguera — "Understanding and Navigating an Increasingly Hostile DEI Environment in Higher Education"
2023
Dr. Shirley M. Malcom, Senior Advisor and Director of SEA Change at the American Association for the Advancement of Science "No Equity Without Systemic Change: My Personal Journey."
2022
Eloy Ortiz Oakley, Chancellor of the California Community Colleges
“Equity in Higher Education in a Post-Pandemic World: The Way Forward Cannot Replicate the Past."
2020
Tia Brown McNair, Vice President in the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Student Success, Association of American Colleges and Universities and Kaiwipunikauikawēkiu Lipe, Native Hawaiian Affairs Specialist, University of Hawaiʻi Mānoa Advancing Racial Equity through Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation (TRHT) Campus Centers
2010 - 2019
2019 | 41st Pullias Lecture
William G. Tierney, Founding Director, USC Pullias Center for Higher Education
“Higher Education for Democracy”
2018 | 40th Pullias Lecture
Sarita E. Brown, President, Excelencia in Education
“Pursuing Equity in Higher Education Using a Latino Lens”
2017 | 39th Pullias Lecture
Amartya Sen, Professor of Economics and Philosophy, Harvard University
“Professors and Their Masters: Challenges to Academic Freedom in the Contemporary World”
2016 | 38th Pullias Lecture
Freeman Hrabowski, President of UMBC (The University of Maryland, Baltimore County)
“Transforming American Higher Education: A 50-year Experiment and its Lessons for the Future”
2015 | 37th Pullias Lecture
Janet Napolitano, President of the University of California
“A Trifecta for the Future: Higher Education, California, and Innovation”
2014 | 36th Pullias Lecture
Daphne Koller, Professor in Computer Science at Stanford University
“The Online Revolution: Education for Everyone”
2013 | 35th Pullias Lecture
Nancy L. Zimpher, Chancellor of the State University of New York
“Universities as Engines of Economic Growth and Educational Success”
2012 | 34th Pullias Lecture
Clayton M. Christensen, Kim B. Clark Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School
“The Innovative University: Changing the DNA of Higher Education from the Inside Out”
2011 | 33rd Pullias Lecture
James Paul Gee, Mary Lou Fulton Presidential Professor of Literacy Studies, Division of Curriculum & Instruction
Arizona State University Mary Lou Fulton College of Education.
“Games, Learning, and the Looming Crisis in Higher Education”
2010 | 32nd Pullias Lecture
Gene D. Block, Jean-Lou Chameau, Michael V. Drake, Steven B. Sample, Chancellor, University of California, Los Angeles| President, California Institute of Technology|Chancellor, University of California, Irvine| President, University of Southern California “The Future of Higher Education: A Southern California Perspective”
2000 - 2009
2009 | 31st Pullias Lecture
C.L. Max Nikias, Ph.D., Executive Vice President and Provost Malcolm R. Currie Chair in Technology and the Humanities, University of Southern California: “Beyond the Ivory Towers: On Tomorrow’s American Research University”
2008 | 30th Pullias Lecture
Amy Gutmann, Ph.D., President, University of Pennsylvania.
“Great Expectations for Higher Education in the 21st Century”
2006 | 29th Pullias Lecture
George D. Kuh, Ph.D., Chancellor’s Professor of Higher Education and Director, Center for Postsecondary Research, Indiana Unviersity, Bloomington “Student Success in College: Puzzle, Pipeline, or Pathway?”
2005 | 28th Pullias Lecture
Sylvia Hurtado, Ph.D., Professor and Director, University of California, Los Angeles “Higher Learning for Citizenship”
2004 | 27th Pullias Lecture
Lloyd Armstrong, Jr., Ph.D., Provost and Senior Vice President, University of Southern California and Douglas Becker, Chairman and CEO, Laureate Education, Inc. “Higher Education and the Global Marketplace: Entrepreneurial Activity in a Dynamic Environment”
2004 | 26th Pullias Lecture
Vincent Tinto, Ph.D., Distinguished Professor of Higher Education, Syracuse University, Walter Allen, Ph.D., Professor of Sociology, Co-director of CHOICES, University of California, Los Angeles and D. Bruce Johnstone, Ph.D., Director, Center for Comparative and Global Studies in Education, State University of New York, Buffalo.
2003 | 25th Pullias Lecture
Donald Kennedy, Ph.D., President Emeritus, Stanford University “Governance and University Policy: Looking Before You Leap”
2002 | 24th Pullias Lecture
Steven B. Sample, Ph.D., Robert C. Packard President’s Chair President, University of Southern California.
2001 | 23rd Pullias Lecture
Karen Symms Gallagher, Ph.D., Emery Stoops and Joyce King Stoops Dean USC Rossier School of Education.
2000 | 22nd Pullias Lecture
Arthur Levine, Ph.D., President, Teachers College.
1990 - 1999
1999 | 21st Pullias Lecture
Charles B. Reed, Ph.D., Chancellor, California State University System.
1998 | 20th Pullias Lecture
Thomas J. Nussbaum, J.D., Chancellor, California Community Colleges.
1997 | 19th Pullias Lecture
Richard C. Atkinson, Ph.D., President, University of California.
1996 | 18th Pullias Lecture
Yolanda T. Moses, Ph.D., President, The City College of New York.
1995 | 17th Pullias Lecture
K. Patricia Cross, Ph.D., Professor, Graduate School of Education, University of California, Berkeley.
1994 | 16th Pullias Lecture
Barry Munitz, Ph.D., Chancellor, California State University.
1993 | 15th Pullias Lecture
Steven B. Sample, Ph.D., Robert C. Packard President’s Chair President, University of Southern California.
1992 | 14th Pullias Lecture
John E. Roueche, Ph.D., Sid W. Richardson Regent’s Chair, University of Texas at Austin.
1991 | 13th Pullias Lecture
John Brooks Slaughter, Ph.D., President, Occidental College
1990 | 12th Pullias Lecture
Ernest L. Boyer, Ph.D., President, The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.
1979 - 1989
1989 | 11th Pullias Lecture
Terrel Bell, Ph.D., Former United States Secretary of Education.
1988 | 10th Pullias Lecture
David P. Gardener, Ph.D., President, University of California.
1987 | 9th Pullias Lecture
James H. Zumberge, Ph.D., President, University of Southern California.
1986 | 8th Pullias Lecture
Terry Sanford, Ph.D., President Emeritus, Duke University.
1985 | 7th Pullias Lecture
K. Patricia Cross, Ph.D., Graduate School of Education, Harvard University.
1984 | 6th Pullias Lecture
Clark Kerr, Ph.D., President Emeritus, University of California.
1983 | 5th Pullias Lecture
W. Ann Reynolds, Ph.D., Chancellor, California State University.
1982 | 4th Pullias Lecture
Dale Parnell, Ed.D., President, American Association of Community Colleges and Junior Colleges.
1981 | 3rd Pullias Lecture
Paul Hadley, Ph.D., Academic Vice President, University of Southern California.
1980 | 2nd Pullias Lecture
Ernest L. Boyer, Ph.D., President, The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.
1979 | 1st Pullias Lecture
Norman Topping, M.D., SC.D., L.L.D., L.H.D., Sid W. Richardson Regent’s Chair, University of Texas at Austin.
