Navin Narayan Memorial Lecture
In 2000, Kalman and Kusuma Narayan endowed The Navin Narayan Memorial Lecture in honor of their late son, Social Studies concentrator, Navin Narayan.
Narayan was a remarkable and accomplished young man. From age 14, he worked with the Red Cross, rising to chair one of its national committees and advising then-director Elizabeth Dole. As a concentrator, Narayan conducted field work in India for his senior thesis, graduating summa cum laude, winning a Rhodes Scholarship, and gaining admission to Harvard Medical School.
In addition to this endowed Lecture, the American Red Cross established the Navin Narayan Scholarship which is granted "to exceptional graduating high school seniors who show high academic competence and ambition, longevity and dedication to the American Red Cross, and leadership in their respective positions."
Past lectures:
2025-26
Sankar Muthu
Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Chicago
“Enlightenment Diagnoses of Global Oppression: On the 'Dystopia of Self-Hatred'”
2024-25
Jo Guldi
Professor of Quantitative Methods, Emory University
“History for a Changing Planet: Long-term and Short-term Perspectives on How to Protect the Planet”
2023-24
Kenzie Bok
Administrator/CEO of the Boston Housing Authority
"Justice in Housing: Theory and Practice"
2022-23
Brad DeLong
Professor of Economics, UC Berkeley
"Social Theory for the 21st Century"
2019-20
Sarah Lewis
Associate Professor of History of Art and Architecture and African and African American Studies, Harvard University
"Race and the American Landscape: Visual Tactics of the Stand Your Ground Era"