Jill Biden Headlines Penn State Distinguished Speaker Series

Penn State’s Student Programming Association on Tuesday announced its lineup for the 2017-2018 Distinguished Speaker Series, including Michael Sam, Jill Biden, a diversity panel including Noor Tagouri, Sonia Nazario, and Brian Mosteller, and W. Kamau Bell.

Students are being offered an opportunity to vote through an online survey for an additional speaker for the spring semester.

Ticket availability dates have been announced for Sam’s appearance, but others will be announced at a later date.

The speaker line up is as follows:

Michael Sam —  8 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 26 at Heritage Hall, HUB-Robeson Center

Michael Sam was a University of Missouri football star who was ready for the 2014 NFL draft when he came out as gay during an ESPN interview and was almost sidelined for it. He’s now a pioneer for the LGBTQ community. Tickets to see Sam’s lecture will be available to students beginning Sept. 12. Any remaining tickets will become available to the public one week later on Sept. 19. 

Jill Biden — 8 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 10 at Eisenhower Auditorium

Jill Biden, wife of former Vice President Joe Biden, will speak on the launch of the Biden Foundation and her commitment to strengthening the middle class, protecting women and children against violence, and supporting community colleges and military families. Dr. Biden is a full-time English professor at a community college in Northern Virginia and will also highlight the importance of community colleges to America’s future.

Diversity on a College Campus Panel — 8 p.m. Tuesday, March 20 at Alumni Hall, HUB-Robeson Center

The Discussion of Diversity on a College Campus panel will feature Noor Tagouri, Sonia Nazario, and Brian Mosteller. Tagouri was the first woman ever to wear a hijab in a Playboy issue, Nazario wrote the Pulitzer Prize-winning Enrique’s Journey, her story of a Honduran boy’s struggle to find his mother in the United States, and Mosteller served behind-the-scenes during the Obama administration before former Vice President Joe Biden officiated  a marriage ceremony for him and his partner.

W. Kamau Bell — 8 p.m. Tuesday, April 3 in Alumni Hall, HUB-Robeson Center

W. Kamau Bell travels the country as host of the CNN documentary series “United Shades of America.” He’s previously been star of the thought-provoking one-man show “The W. Kamau Bell Curve: Ending Racism in About an Hour” and widely-praised FX comedy series, “Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell.”