Lectures, offered in person in Annapolis and Santa Fe and online, are free and open to the public

Annapolis, MD/Santa Fe, NM [June 3, 2026] — The St. John’s College Graduate Institute has announced its summer lecture series. On Wednesdays throughout the summer, the college offers presentations by members of the faculty and visiting scholars from notable universities across the country. Lectures will be held in person on the college’s campuses in Annapolis, Maryland, and Santa Fe, New Mexico. They are free and open to the public; seating is available on a first-come, first-served basis. Each lecture will also be posted on the college’s YouTube channel.

The full schedule can be viewed at sjc.edu/summer-lecture-series. To learn about other events at St. John’s College, see the Events Calendar.

The lectures on the Annapolis campus will be held at St. John’s College, McDowell Hall, 60 College Avenue, Annapolis, Md., 21401., at 7:30 p.m. ET. In conjunction with the 250th anniversary of the United States, the theme for the Annapolis summer lecture series is “Thinking about America at St. John’s College.” Annapolis lectures will premiere on YouTube on Wednesdays at 7:30 p.m. ET/9:30 p.m. MT.

“When Stringfellow Barr and Scott Buchanan began the New Program in 1937, they described the school as ‘deeply rooted in the American tradition.’ So deeply rooted, in fact, that they claimed that the ‘fundamental and inviolable principles’ of the St. John’s charter were ‘recognizably principles also of the Declaration of Independence,’” says Brendan Boyle, Associate Dean for Graduate Programs in Annapolis.

“‘Thinking About America at St. John’s College’ probes this striking and surprising claim: In what sense is St. John’s not just rooted in the American tradition but its embodiment? How does the pursuit of liberal learning support the vision of political liberty articulated in the Declaration, a document whose 250th anniversary we will celebrate this summer?” Boyle asks.

“In the course of tackling questions like these, the summer lecture series will also investigate which American texts have established themselves as indispensable components of a liberal education—and which might in the future—while asking whether the study of a single national tradition, even one’s own, is, in fact, compatible with liberal education.”

The Annapolis lectures are:

• June 10: “Where to Begin a Study of American Thought?” — Jonathan Badger, Janet Dougherty, and Rob Mass

• June 17: “St. John’s College in America” — Dan Harrell

• June 24: All-College Seminar on Edgar Allan Poe — All members of the St. John’s and Annapolis community are welcome to join this all-college seminar on Poe’s “The Man of the Crowd.” Seminars will last approximately an hour and a half and are in-person only. Participants should read the short story to prepare for the discussion.

• July 1: “Must the World be Completely Determined? Dewey’s ‘Frontier’ Metaphysics” — Khafiz Kerimov

• July 8: “The Man Who Knew Nothing: Hitchcock’s America” — Nicholas Bellinson

• July 15: “The Spirit of American Music” — André​​​​​ Barbera

• July 22: “What is the White Whale?” — Zena Hitz

• July 29: “‘Another Kind of Clay:’ The Many Beginnings of Blood Meridian” — Lee Goldsmith

The lectures on the Santa Fe campus will be held at St. John’s College, Junior Common Room, Peterson Student Center, 1160 Camino de Cruz Blanca, Santa Fe, NM 87505, at 4:15 p.m. MT. Santa Fe lectures will premiere on YouTube on Fridays at 7 p.m. MT/5 p.m. ET.

“The Graduate Institute is proud to offer this series of lectures free to our students, alumni, and friends,” says David Carl, Associate Dean for the Graduate Programs in Santa Fe. “While classes at St. John’s generally proceed through discussion among students, the lectures provide an opportunity for participants to hear an extended account from someone with considerable learning.”

The Santa Fe lectures are:

• June 24: “George Eliot’s Beautiful Atheistic Religiousness” – Richard McCombs

• July 1: “On the Origin of the Great Books Program at St. John’s College” – David Levine

• July 8: Sociologist Musa al-Gharbi will present a lecture

• July 15: Panel Discussion on the New Middle Eastern Classics Program

• July 22: “Václav Havel and Jan Patočka: To Live (and Die) in Truth” – David Satran

• July 29: “Equity, Justice, and the Rule of Law” – Nick Gooding

The St. John’s College Graduate Institute offers Master of Arts degrees in Western, Eastern, and Middle Eastern classics. Courses may be completed over the summer or during convenient evening hours in the fall and spring. Applications are currently being accepted for the Fall 2026 and Spring 2027. For more details and to apply, visit sjc.edu/academic-programs/graduate.

ABOUT ST. JOHN’S COLLEGE

In an age of political division and digital distraction, St. John’s College offers the education America needs. Through close reading of 200 great books across 3,000 years—from Plato to Toni Morrison, Augustine to Charles Darwin, Euclid to Albert Einstein—students wrestle with the deepest questions of law, justice, freedom, and human good. At a time when many institutions chase trends, St. John’s returns to first principles. The third-oldest college in America, with campuses in Annapolis, Maryland, and Santa Fe, New Mexico, St. John’s is a refuge for civic renewal, civil discourse, and intellectual courage. Learn more about our undergraduate, graduate, and lifelong learning programs at sjc.edu.

“St. John’s is a high-achieving angel hovering over the landscape of American higher education” —Los Angeles Times

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MEDIA CONTACT: Sara Luell, Senior Director of Communications and Operations, sara.luell(at)sjc.edu