Named for David M. Rubenstein, a Duke alumnus, benefactor, and former chair of Duke’s Board of Trustees, this endowed lecture series brings high-profile thought leaders and policy makers to campus each year.
Alice Hill
Powering A Resilient Future November 7, 2022
Energy expert and author Alice Hill's lecture was a kickoff to Energy Week at Duke – coinciding with the beginning of the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 27) in Egypt.
michael sorrell, judy woodruff, and David gergen
The Future of Public Service and Our Democracy: What are the Needs of Our Nation and Our World? April 14, 2022
Michael Sorrell, Judy Woodruff, and David Gergen joined Duke in celebrating 50 years of public policy education and scholarship by discussing the future of public service and our democracy in Penn Pavilion.
DR. JIM YONG KIM
What the World Needs Now: Global Policy Leaders for the Future October 15, 2021
Jim Yong Kim, M.D., Ph.D., is Vice Chairman and Partner at Global Infrastructure Partners, a fund that invests in infrastructure projects across several sectors around the world. From July 2012 to February 2019, Kim served as the 12th President of the World Bank Group. A physician and anthropologist, Kim’s career has revolved around health, education, and improving the lives of the poor. Before joining the World Bank Group, he served as the President of Dartmouth College and held professorships at Harvard Medical School and the Harvard School of Public Health. From 2003 to 2005, Kim served as Director of the World Health Organization’s HIV/AIDS department. In 1987, Kim co-founded Partners In Health, a non-profit medical organization that now works in poor communities on four continents.
PAUL FARMER
Building Capacity is the Path to Global Health Equity February 2020
If the global health community has a rock star, it’s Paul Farmer. A physician and medical anthropologist who is internationally known for his work with people living in poverty, Farmer gave the David Rubenstein lecture in Page Auditorium in conversation with Sanford Associate Professor Manoj Mohanan on Wednesday. A Duke alumnus, Farmer joked that he used to come to Page for rock concerts, and that he and John Bolton would perform a duet later. Farmer flew in from Rwanda, where he has been involved in the establishment of the University of Global Health Equity, which opened last year.
MADELEINE ALBRIGHT
Former Secretary of State Stresses Threats to Democracy, Role of Citizens February 2019
Former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright was both humorous and somber Thursday during a dialogue with Judith Kelley, dean of the Duke Sanford School of Public Policy, about threats to democracy, foreign policy and the responsibilities of citizenship. Describing herself as having attended college “sometime between the invention of the iPad and the discovery of fire,” Albright, 81, delivered the David M. Rubenstein Lecture to a full house in Page Auditorium. She served as secretary of state during the Clinton administration, and was the first woman to serve in that role.
JAMES CLAPPER
Former Director of National Intelligence Warns About World Threats March 2018
James Clapper spoke at the Sanford School of Public Policy about the cyber security challenges facing the United States. Clapper served as director of national intelligence under President Obama between 2010 and 2017, at the Defense Intelligence Agency under President George H.W. Bush, and as director of the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency in President George W. Bush’s administration. Clapper’s lecture, moderated by Peter Feaver, professor of political science and public policy, was the inaugural lecture of the David M. Rubenstein Distinguished Lecture series.