Liberman Lectures

Several times in each academic year, Shared Learning presents experts from journalism, academia, and other professions who give talks geared towards a literate adult audience. These lectures are free and open to the general public. They are usually scheduled on Friday mornings at 11:15.

February 7, 2025, Lecture

From Prison to Home:
Five Women Share Their Stories

11:15 a.m. at Fellowship Hall, Church of Reconciliation

110 North Elliott Road, Chapel Hill, NC 27514

Joanne Hershfield, Professor emerita, former chair of Women's and Gender Studies, at UNC Chapel Hill, will deliver the February 7, 2025, Liberman Lecture.

In this lecture, Prof. Hershfield provides a brief introduction to her film Benevolence, a

Journey from Prison to Home followed by a screening of this hour-long documentary.

A question-and-answer session will follow the screening.

See this flyer for more information or click here to register. Early registration is encouraged.

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A Bit of History

Individual lectures have been part of Shared Learning for at least forty years. Scholarly lectures were a part of Shared Learning business meetings and ultimately became known as “Friday Lectures.” They were given by Shared Learning members and also by outside speakers, mainly from the UNC campus. For a long time, attending these lectures was limited to Shared Learning members.

Gray Lindgren moved to Chapel Hill in 1999 from Atlanta and became involved in Shared Learning, eventually serving as president of the organization for 2006–2007. He died in 2006 during his term as president. The “Friday Lectures” became public when the Lindgren family bequeathed funds to establish the Lindgren Lecture series in honor of Gray Lindgren. Although the funds from the bequest have long since been spent, we have continued to find willing and able volunteers to share their knowledge and understanding of current topics with us.

Meyer Liberman, a native New Yorker, and his wife and daughter moved to Chapel Hill in 1991. Meyer joined Shared Learning in 1996, attended wonderful classes, moderated some of them, and became an active volunteer in making Shared Learning function and grow. In 2007, he agreed to become Chair of the Lindgren Lectures Committee where he remained until 2023 when he retired from this role. During his term as Chair, Meyer welcomed a new Chair to lead the Lecture Committee. At that point, the Shared Learning Board of Directors voted unanimously to rename the lectures Liberman Lectures in Meyer’s honor.

The COVID crisis of 2019–2021 was a curse and blessing for the lectures. It delayed both the renaming of the series and Meyer’s retirement as Chair, and it also forced us to present some lectures online. While this expanded our audience beyond the geographical confines of the Chapel Hill/Durham/Raleigh area, it unfortunately limited in-person gatherings. In 2024, the new Liberman Lecture series held its first post COVID on-site gathering and formally recognized Meyer’s remarkable service to Shared Learning. Future lectures will be either online or presented in person, depending on the preference of the speaker.