MVP Fridays
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 2026 Lineup
Mark your calendar for our fall 2026 series and check out the confirmed speakers immediately below. See the archive far below for more on previous years’ speakers.
Imbolo Mbue: “Every Story is a Love Story”
Friday, September 18 (Michigan State game)
Mbue is a Cameroonian American New York Times bestselling novelist, short story writer, and author of the novel Every Story is a Love Story, which tells a story of hurt, regret, forgiveness, and healing.
Anand Gopal: “Days of Love and Rage”
Friday, October 9 (Stanford game)
Gopal is an American writer who contributes to The New Yorker and the author of Days of Love and Rage: A Story of Ordinary People Forging a Revolution, a work of narrative nonfiction about a group of revolutionaries who overthrew a dictator.
Christopher Beha: “Why I Am Not an Atheist”
Friday, November 6 (Miami game)
Beha is an American writer, former editor-in-chief of Harper’s Magazine, and author of Why I Am Not an Atheist: The Confessions of a Skeptical Believer.
Susan Choi: Title TBD
Friday, November 13 (Boston College game)
Choi is an American novelist and author of several acclaimed novels, including The Foreign Student, American Woman, and Trust Exercise, which won the National Book Award for Fiction.