SIU’s Morton-Kenney Lecture hosts MacArthur Foundation president, philanthropy leader

October 16, 2024

CARBONDALE, Ill. - John Palfrey, president of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and a national leader in philanthropy, will present the fall 2024 Morton-Kenney Public Affairs Lecture at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 22, at the Varsity Theater.

The lecture is free and open to the public. A reception is set for 5 p.m. in the Varsity Center lobby, 418 S. Illinois Ave. The lecture is hosted by the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute and the political science program within the School of Anthropology, Political Science and Sociology within the College of Liberal Arts. Pre-registration is not required but encouraged.

Palfrey will discuss with John Shaw, the institute's director, the challenges and opportunities confronting philanthropy and a major initiative to bolster local news organizations across the country. He will also discuss the MacArthur Foundation's work in a number of areas, including nuclear security, climate change and criminal justice reform.

"John Palfrey is a remarkable and inspiring leader," Shaw said. "He is a respected educator, author, legal scholar and innovator with a deep expertise in how media is changing learning and education at all levels."

An initiative Palfrey leads is Press Forward, which seeks to raise $1 billion over five years to strengthen news coverage in the U.S.

Palfrey participated in a virtual discussion with the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute earlier this year.

The Chicago-based MacArthur Foundation has assets of nearly $8 billion and is one of the most influential and respected foundations in the world, Shaw said. It has offices in Chicago, New Delhi, and Abuja, Nigeria.

Palfrey has an undergraduate degree from Harvard College, a graduate degree from the University of Cambridge and a law degree from Harvard Law School.

He is the author, co-author or editor of 10 books, including "The Connected Parent: An Expert Guide to Parenting in a Digital World," "Safe Spaces, Brave Spaces: Diversity and Free Expression in Education" and "Born Digital: How Children Grow Up in a Digital Age."

Before becoming the MacArthur Foundation president in 2019, he was the head of school at Phillips Academy Andover. Palfrey has been a law professor and vice dean at Harvard Law School and the founding president of the board of directors of the Digital Public Library of America. He served on the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation board for more than a decade, including six years as board chair.

The Morton-Kenney Public Affairs Lecture Series is presented in the spring and fall of each academic year. The late Jerome Mileur, an SIU alumnus, established the series in 1995 in honor of two of his political science professors - Ward Morton and David Kenney - who inspired him as a student. Originally from Murphysboro, Mileur was a professor emeritus in political science at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst.

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