Gonzaga University announced this week that its Presidential Speaker Series will two internationally renowned figures to campus as part of Gonzaga’s 125th Anniversary celebration.

Three-time Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author Thomas L. Friedman will speak Sept. 4, and primatologist and conservationist Dr. Jane Goodall will speak April 9.

“These individuals challenge and inspire us with their knowledge and perspectives,” said Gonzaga President Thayne M. McCulloh, in a press release. “In this, Gonzaga’s 125th Anniversary Year, we are interested in how the speakers have encouraged and continue to foster the transformations our world must embrace to prepare for the future.”

Friedman will discuss the how education plays a role in helping the nation become more competitive in a global economy. His lecture will be titled, “That Used to Be Us: A Crucial Time for America and the Role Education Must Play.” Friedman, an Oxford University-educated columnist for The New York Times, has authored six best-selling books, including “The Lexus and the Olive Tree: Understanding Globalization,” which earned the Overseas’ Press Club Award for best foreign policy book. 

In 1960,  Goodall began her half-century, landmark study of chimpanzees at the Gombe Stream Chimpanzee Reserve in what is now Tanzania. Under the tutelage of famed anthropologist Louis Leakey, she witnessed chimpanzees making and using tools — the first of her many significant discoveries that have become foundational to primatological research. Goodall, who earned a Ph.D. in ethology in 1965 from Cambridge University, founded the global Jane Goodall Institute in 1977 to protect chimpanzees and their habitat. Since 1986, she has directed her energy toward educating the public about the connections between humans and primates and the world they share.  She has earned worldwide acclaim for her advocacy work for the environment, animal rights, and humanity. Goodall’s lecture will be titled, “Making a Difference: An Evening with Dr. Jane Goodall” and will focus on what she’s learned about affecting change in the environment and the things she has learned about chimpanzees and humanity.

This marks the third year of Gonzaga’s Presidential Speaker Series initiated by McCulloh. 

Tickets for the Friedman event are available at McCarthey Athletic Center or online via TicketsWest. General admission tickets are $15, seniors $12, and students/educators $10. Tickets for the Goodall lecture will go on sale in January.