This series is open to the public free of charge and no admission tickets are required. Programs begin at 7:30 p.m. in Dodd Auditorium in George Washington Hall. Each lecture concludes with an audience Q&A session with the speaker and a book-signing.
In partnership with the University Bookstore, selected titles related to the topic are available for purchase in the Dodd foyer the night of the lecture. Additional suggested readings related to the Great Lives topics are available at the Central Rappahannock Regional Library
For further information, contact the Office of University Events and Conferencing information line at 540-654-1065.
The lineup for the 2018 season appears below.
| Date | Lecture | Speaker | Media |
|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Lecture | Speaker | Media |
| Jan. 18 | Jonas Salk | Charlotte DeCroes Jacobs | Video |
| Jan. 25 | Women Code Breakers of World War II | Liza Mundy | Video |
| Jan. 30 | Dale Carnegie CANCELED – Brian Jones will lecture on Jim Henson, creator of the Muppets | Brian Jay Jones | Video |
| Feb. 1 | Lawmen and Outlaws of the Old West | Tom Clavin | Video |
| Feb. 6 | The Women Soldiers of World War I | Elizabeth Cobbs | Video |
| Feb. 8 | Nikola Tesla | W. Bernard Carlson | Video |
| Feb. 13 | The Tuskegee Airmen | J. Todd Moye | Video |
| Feb. 15 | Sam Phillips | Peter Guralnick. Video recording of this topic is not available. | |
| Feb. 22 | Ernest Hemingway & John Dos Passos | James McGrath Morris | Video |
| Feb. 27 | George Orwell | Michael Shelden | Video |
| Mar. 1 | Prince Charles | Sally Bedell Smith | Video |
| Mar. 13 | Coco Chanel | Rhonda K. Garelick | Video |
| Mar. 15 | The Dust Bowl Girls | Lydia Reeder | Video |
| Mar. 20 | Richard Nixon | John A. Farrell | Video |
| Mar. 27 | Ansel Adams | Mary Street Alinder | Video |
| Mar. 29 | Pauli Murray & Eleanor Roosevelt | Patricia Bell-Scott | Video |
| Apr. 10 | Warren Buffett | Alice Schroeder | Video |
| Apr. 17 | Napoleon | Jeremy Black |