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2024-25 Lyceum Lecture Series

Victoria College’s 2024-25 Lyceum Lecture Series will feature a renowned paleontologist who brought dinosaurs to life in Jurassic Park, a bestselling author who defied adversity to achieve academic success, and an artist who embarked on a cross-country quest to connect with humanity.

The series will begin with famed paleontologist Jack Horner on Friday, November 8, 2024, at 11 a.m. at the Victoria Fine Arts Center. Horner, known for his groundbreaking work in dinosaur research and his role as a technical advisor for the first six Jurassic Park films, will present “The Real Jurassic Park.”

Horner, who is dyslexic, spent seven years at the University of Montana studying geology and paleontology, without receiving a degree. He has since been awarded four honorary doctorates – two in science, one in education and another in humane letters. Horner has authored more than 320 publications, including a dozen popular books.

On Wednesday, March 5, 2025, at 11 a.m., Stephanie Land will continue the series at the Victoria Fine Arts Center. Land will discuss her new book, “Class,” which explores the complexities of social and economic divides in America. She will also reflect on her first book, “Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother's Will to Survive,” which was adapted into a successful Netflix series.

After years of struggling, Land graduated with a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Montana in 2014, and started a career as a freelance writer. Land writes about economic and social justice, domestic abuse, chronic illness and motherhood, and has been published in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian, The Atlantic and The New York Review of Books.

The series will conclude with Imran Nuri on Thursday, April 10, 2025, at 6 p.m. at VC’s Leo J. Welder Center for the Performing Arts. Nuri is an artist based in Chicago who is best known for his photo series and book “Advice From America: Life Advice and Photos of 1,000 Strangers From 48 States.”

Nuri's project stemmed from a personal question: “If I knew I had one year left to live, what would I do?” His answer was to embark on a cross-country journey, living in his car and interviewing 1,000 strangers across the lower 48 states. Through their stories and advice, Nuri sought to understand the essence of life and the things that connect us all. His major conclusion from the journey and strangers is that we have much more in common with one another than the things that tear us apart.

 For more information on the Lyceum Lecture Series, visit VictoriaCollege.edu/Lyceum.