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Page to Podium: Hofheimer Library Launches New Lecture Series
VWU’s Online Student Success Coordinator Grant Williams delivered first lecture on September 10
University News | September 11, 2025
The Hofheimer Library has launched a new initiative this fall—the “Page to Podium Lecture Series”—designed to bring the campus community together for dialogue, discovery, and scholarly exchange. Planned over the past year, the series was created with a vision of restoring the library as a hub for academic life after the disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We were looking for a way to bring people back into the library and see this as a place for scholarly discourse,” said Head Librarian Stephen Leist. “The library is the academic heart of the campus community and we’re happy to invite our community in with this new lecture series.”
To appeal to a wide range of interests, “Page to Podium” will showcase scholarly activity at different academic levels, with lectures offered by faculty, staff, and students across a variety of disciplines.
The series opened with a lecture from Online Student Success Coordinator Grant Williams. His presentation was titled “Ethical Capitalism in a Divided World: Reconciling Profit as a Corporate Social Responsibility.”
Williams argued that capitalism can be a powerful tool for positive social change when businesses integrate ethical practices into their core operations. “Social good and economic liberty don’t need to be at war,” Williams said, “they can go hand in hand.”
As the first in the series, the lecture set the stage for the university community to explore and debate timely topics, fostering an open environment for dialogue and diverse perspectives. Additional lectures are scheduled throughout the fall semester at noon in the library forum, with food and drink welcome.
Mark your calendars for these upcoming lectures:
September 24 – The Power of Puppets; Isaac Fick
October 15 – Wanderers and Would-Be Kings: A Siamese Prince, a Portuguese Priest, and the Fall of Ayutthaya; Dr. Tyler Lehrer
October 22 – The Organ as Propaganda in Nazi Germany, 1933–1945; Stephen Leist
November 5 – Disney’s Menagerie: Animals in Disney Culture; Dr. Kathy Stolley, Dr. Kathy Merlock Jackson, and Dr. Terry Lindvall
The library welcomes additional proposals. “I would encourage anyone who is getting a presentation ready,” Leist said, “for a conference, or if they have a paper that they're really proud of their work on, come present it. Give it a trial run.” Faculty, staff, and students interested in presenting can reach out to Kelsi Dunman, Hofheimer Library’s Outreach & Access Services Librarian.
Learn more about H.C. Hofheimer II Library.