MVP Fridays Archive: 2023
Hosted by the institute on Friday afternoons of select home football weekends, MVP Fridays tackle big questions by inviting national leaders, journalists, and writers to speak on questions of meaning, values, and purpose. Each lecture takes place at 4:00 p.m. in the Geddes Hall Andrews Auditorium or Coffee House.
The 2023 Lineup
For the fall 2023 series, MVP Fridays brought to the institute award-winning poet and author Ross Gay, Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist and author Ed Yong, award-winning author Daniel Nayeri, economist Anthony Annett, and moral and political theologian Luke Bretherton. Read more about each speaker below.
Ross Gay: “How can we incite joy?”
Ross Gay spoke on “How can we incite joy?” on September 1 (before the Tennessee State game) in Andrews Auditorium. He was introduced by Johannes Göransson, professor, Department of English. His lecture was co-sponsored by the Black Faculty and Staff Association, Creative Writing Program, and Initiative on Race and Resilience.
Ross Gay is interested in joy.
Ross Gay wants to understand joy.
Ross Gay is curious about joy.
Ross Gay studies joy.
Something like that.
~
Ross Gay is the author of four books of poetry: Against Which; Bringing the Shovel Down; Be Holding, winner of the PEN American Literary Jean Stein Award; and Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude, winner of the 2015 National Book Critics Circle Award and the 2016 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award. His first collection of essays, The Book of Delights, was released in 2019 and was a New York Times bestseller. His new collection of essays, Inciting Joy, was released by Algonquin in October of 2022.
Ed Yong: “Can stories of science create a more empathetic world?”
Ed Yong spoke on “Can stories of science create a more empathetic world?” on September 15 (before the CMU game) in Andrews Auditorium. He was introduced by Tim Weber, associate director, Eck Institute for Global Health. His lecture was sponsored by the College of Science, Eck Institute for Global Health, and Gallivan Program in Journalism, Ethics, and Democracy.
Named “the most important and impactful journalist” of 2020 by Poynter, Pulitzer Prize winner Ed Yong is a science staff writer with The Atlantic. He was awarded journalism’s top honor, the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting, for his crucial coverage of the coronavirus pandemic.
He is the best-selling author of I Contain Multitudes: The Microbes Within Us, a groundbreaking, informative, and entertaining examination of the relationship between animals and microbes. His second book, An Immense World, takes a comprehensive look at the fascinating sensory worlds of animals. A New York Times bestseller, An Immense World is longlisted for the PEN America 2023 Literary Award and has made many Best Books of the Year lists. In addition to The Atlantic, his work has appeared in National Geographic, the New Yorker, Wired, Nature, New Scientist, and Scientific American, among others.
Daniel Nayeri: “Is everything sad untrue?”
Daniel Nayeri spoke on “Is everything sad untrue?” on September 22 (before the Ohio State game) in Andrews Auditorium. He was introduced by Dionne Bremyer, associate professor, Department of English. His lecture was co-sponsored by the Ansari Institute for Global Engagement with Religion, Creative Writing Program, and Initiative on Race and Resilience.
Daniel Nayeri was born in Iran and spent some years as a refugee before immigrating to Oklahoma at age eight with his family. He is the author of several books for young readers, including Everything Sad is Untrue (A True Story), winner of the Michael L. Printz Award, the Christopher Medal, and the Middle Eastern Book Award. He lives in the US with his wife and son.
Anthony Annett: “Can Catholic tradition create a more just economy?”
Anthony Annett spoke on “Can Catholic tradition create a more just economy?” on October 13 (before the USC game) in Andrews Auditorium. He was introduced by Joseph Kaboski, the David F. and Erin M. Seng Foundation Professor, Department of Economics. His lecture was co-sponsored by the Ansari Institute for Global Engagement with Religion, Cushwa Center for the Study of American Catholicism, Department of Economics, Department of Theology, and Mendoza College of Business.
Anthony Annett is a Visiting Scholar at the Center for Sustainable Development, Columbia University. Trained as an economist, he spent two decades at the International Monetary Fund, including as speechwriter to the Managing Director. He has a B.A. and an M.Litt. from Trinity College Dublin and a Ph.D. from Columbia University. He is a member of the College of Fellows of the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology. He is the author of “Cathonomics: How Catholic Tradition Can Create a More Just Economy.”
Luke Bretherton: “Is there a distinctively Christian politics?”
Luke Bretherton spoke on “Is there a distinctively Christian politics?” on October 27 (before the Pittsburgh game) in the Morris Inn, Smith Ballroom. He was introduced by David M. Lantigua, co-Director, Cushwa Center for the Study of American Catholicism. His lecture was co-sponsored by the Cushwa Center for the Study of American Catholicism, Department of Political Science, and Department of Theology.
Luke Bretherton is Robert E. Cushman Distinguished Research Professor of Moral and Political Theology and senior fellow of the Kenan Institute for Ethics at Duke University. Before joining the Duke faculty in 2012, he was reader in Theology & Politics and convener of the Faith & Public Policy Forum at King’s College London. His latest book is Christ and the Common Life: Political Theology and the Case for Democracy (Eerdmans, 2019).
Specific issues addressed in his work include euthanasia and hospice care, debt and usury, fair trade, environmental justice, racism, humanitarianism, the treatment of refugees, interfaith relations, secularism, nationalism, church-state relations, and the church’s involvement in social welfare provision and social movements. Alongside his scholarly work, he writes in the media (including The Guardian, The Times and The Washington Post) on topics related to religion and politics, has worked with a variety of faith-based NGOs, mission agencies, and churches around the world, and has been actively involved over many years in forms of grassroots democratic politics, both in the UK and the US.