Former UC President Dr. Michael V. Drake, Pulitzer-winning journalist Caitlin Dickerson and National Book Award winners Ibram X. Kendi and Masha Gessen will address topical issues including higher education, immigration and authoritarianism
– Added Winter and Spring Events –
Illuminating a wide spectrum of systemic injustice, UCSB Arts & Lectures (A&L) Justice for All programming initiative looks to today’s great minds and creators and to the courageous leaders across the globe who are forging a new path forward. Join us as we learn from those confronting uncomfortable questions, solving difficult problems, and guiding us all toward a more equitable world.
An Evening with Dr. Michael V. Drake in conversation with Susannah Scott on Thursday, January 22 at 7:30 p.m. at UCSB Campbell Hall
Michael V. Drake, M.D., president emeritus of the University of California, reflects on the past, present and future of higher education
Physician, educator and former UC President Michael V. Drake, M.D. explores higher education’s past, present and future through the lenses of UC Santa Barbara, the state of California and the nation. Drawing on decades of leadership, Drake examines how universities can expand access, foster inclusion and strengthen democracy. Following his remarks, he continues the conversation with Dr. Susannah Scott, Distinguished Professor at UC Santa Barbara, Former UC Santa Barbara Academic Senate Chair (2020-2024) and Vice-chair and Chair-elect of the UC systemwide Academic Senate (2025-2027).
Pulitzer Prize-winning Journalist Caitlin Dickerson on Thursday, March 5 at 7:30 p.m. at UCSB Campbell Hall
Dickerson examines the human stories behind immigration policy and government accountability
$20 General Public / FREE for UCSB students (Current student ID required)
Tickets & Info: www.ArtsAndLectures.UCSB.edu or (805) 893-3535
Investigative journalist Caitlin Dickerson has spent more than a decade covering deportation and migration. She received the Pulitzer Prize in 2023 for her reporting on the forcible separation of children from their families at the southwest border. Her work has also earned a Peabody, an Edward R. Murrow award and honors from the National Association of Black Journalists. Deportation, and the threat of it, have affected millions of Americans, including children, over recent decades. A staff writer at The Atlantic and formerly with The New York Times and NPR, Dickerson will illuminate how Immigration and Customs Enforcement carries out its mandate.
National Book Award Winner Ibram X. Kendi discusses his new book Chain of Ideas: The Origins of Our Authoritarian Age, on Tuesday, April 7 at 7:30 p.m. at UCSB Campbell Hall
Kendi’s book traces how “great replacement theory” spread from fringe panic to a defining force in global politics
Historian Ibram X. Kendi is one of the world’s leading scholars of racism and antiracism. As the author of Stamped from the Beginning, he became the youngest winner of the National Book Award for Nonfiction and has been one of TIME’s 100 Most Influential People and a MacArthur Fellow. In his highly anticipated work Chain of Ideas, Kendi traces how “great replacement theory” moved from the margins to a dominant force in global authoritarianism, showing how it erodes democratic norms and outlining how we can confront it and strengthen democracy.
FREE copies of Kendi’s new book, Chain of Ideas, will be available while supplies last (pick up at event, one per household).
National Book Award Winner Masha Gessen will address Politics of the Past, Politics of the Future, on Tuesday, April 14 at 7:30 p.m. at UCSB Campbell Hall
Masha Gessen examines how autocratic tactics such as targeting LGBTQ+ communities and distorting historical memory can migrate across borders and take root in U.S. politics
Tue, Apr 14 | 7:30 PM | Campbell Hall
$20 General Public / FREE for UCSB students (Current student ID required)
Tickets & Info: www.ArtsAndLectures.UCSB.edu or (805) 893-3535
One of our most incisive observers of democracy, Gessen is the author of 11 books, including the National Book Award-winning The Future Is History: How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia. Gessen examines how autocracies “other” vulnerable groups, tracing this tactic in Putin’s Russia and its personal consequences, which caused Gessen to flee to the U.S. a decade ago. Today, Gessen draws a clear throughline to similar currents taking root here. As contemporary autocrats promise a return to an imaginary, safer past, Gessen argues that the antidote to the politics of the past is an inspiring politics of the future. What might that future be, and can we see its early outlines if we look closely?
ABOUT UCSB ARTS & LECTURES
The 2025-2026 season marks UCSB Arts & Lectures’ 66th year of bringing unique, world-class performances, films and lectures to Central Coast and campus audiences. With a mission to “educate, entertain and inspire,” Arts & Lectures is the largest performing arts and public lectures presenter between San Francisco and Los Angeles, beloved by audiences for its award-winning, diverse and innovative programming that deeply enriches lives and extends the intellectual life of the community beyond the classroom. Arts & Lectures’ award-winning Access for ALL educational outreach programs provide rare opportunities for students to meet and learn from visiting artists and speakers. In the 2025-26 season, most of the speakers and performers will participate in master classes, lecture-demonstrations, open rehearsals and classroom discussions at UCSB and in the community.
For tickets or more information, call UCSB Arts & Lectures at (805) 893-3535 or visit www.ArtsAndLectures.UCSB.edu
Justice for All Lead Sponsors: Marcy Carsey, Eva & Yoel Haller, Dick Wolf, and Zegar Family Foundation
Justice for All UCSB Faculty Advisory Committee: Daina Ramey Berry, D. Inés Casillas, Charles Hale, Beth Pruitt, Susannah Scott, Jeffrey Stewart, and Sharon Tettegah
UCSB Arts & Lectures gratefully acknowledges 2025-2026 Season Sponsor Sara Miller McCune.
UCSB Arts & Lectures gratefully acknowledges our Community Partners the Natalie Orfalea Foundation & Lou Buglioli for their generous support of the 2025-2026 season.
