The Pullias Lectures
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation President and CEO Dr. Stacie Bloom Gives Inspiring Pullias Lecture
Dr. Stacie Bloom served as the speaker for the 47th Pullias Lecture on Tuesday, April 7, 2026 at the University of Southern California (USC).
"Strategic Philanthropy in Higher Education: Investing in Research, Innovation and Institutions," was Dr. Bloom's Lecture topic. She provided the audience of more than 125 attendees a historical overview of private and governmental philanthropy and investments in science and higher education, as well as offering insights on surviving — and thriving — in the current funding climate.
Learn More About Dr. Stacie Bloom:
Dr. Stacie Bloom is the eighth President and CEO of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, assuming the role in January 2026. A distinguished scientist and administrator, she transitioned to the Foundation following a transformative tenure at New York University (NYU), where she served as the Chief Research Officer, Vice Provost, and Vice Chancellor for Global Research and Innovation.
In this role at NYU, Dr. Bloom was a primary architect of the university's rapid ascent as a global research powerhouse. She was instrumental in fostering interdisciplinary collaboration, expanding the university’s global research footprint, and spearheading major initiatives such as New York State’s Empire AI collaboration. Her faculty-centered approach focused on providing researchers with the infrastructure and resources necessary to turn innovative ideas into scientific breakthroughs. Prior to her university-wide leadership roles, Dr. Bloom played a pivotal role at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine, overseeing Policy and Administration. In this capacity, she aligned strategy and drove performance across basic science and clinical departments. Her tenure at the medical center began in 2011 when she was recruited as the inaugural Executive Director of the NYU Neuroscience Institute.
Before her leadership roles at NYU, Dr. Bloom built a versatile career at the intersection of scientific research, policy, and communications. She served as the Vice President and Scientific Director for the New York Academy of Sciences and held editorial positions at Nature Medicine and the Journal of Clinical Investigation.
Dr. Bloom’s academic foundation is rooted in neurobiology and cell biology. She earned her B.A. in Psychology from the University of Delaware and her Ph.D. in Cell Biology from Georgetown University. She furthered her expertise as a postdoctoral fellow at The Rockefeller University in the laboratory of Nobel laureate Dr. Paul Greengard, where her research focused on the neurobiological underpinnings of disease. Throughout her career, she has been a vocal advocate for mentorship and public engagement with science, earning recognition from the Society for Neuroscience for her dedication to training the next generation of researchers.
As President and CEO of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Dr. Bloom is tasked with stewarding the organization’s legacy of funding original research, sustaining the Foundation's history of excellence, and ensuring that its grants continue to empower researchers to pursue creative and innovative scholarship, expand opportunity and access to scientific training and careers, leverage the use of new technologies to strengthen research, and deepen the public’s engagement with science and technology.
2025 | 46th Pullias Lecture
State University of New York (SUNY) Chancellor John B. King, Jr., in conversation with USC Rossier Dean Pedro A. Noguera and Pullias Center Co-director Adrianna Kezar — “Higher Education: Engine of Democracy, Security & Upward Mobility”
2024
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.
