Dartmouth Celebrates America at 250
Dartmouth is marking the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence during the 2025-26 academic year with a series of events, exhibits, and programs looking back to history and forward to the future. The Rockefeller Center and Dartmouth Dialogues have launched a lecture series, Law and Democracy: The United States at 250, which is bringing policy leaders, legal scholars, and analysts from across the political spectrum to campus. The Hood Museum of Art is also presenting a slate of exhibitions that address significant moments and themes in American art and culture.
Law and Democracy: The United States at 250
A New York Times opinion page columnist and host of the Ezra Klein Show, Klein will be joined in conversation by Heather Gerken, 11th President of the Ford Foundation and Sterling Professor Emeritus of Law at Yale Law School, and Russell Muirhead, Robert Clements Professor of Democracy and Politics and co-director of the Political Economy Project.
Join us for a conversation with Mimi Rocah, former District Attorney for Westchester County, New York, adjunct professor of law, Fordham School of Law; Joyce White Vance, former U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama, Distinguished Professor of the Practice of Law, Alabama Law; and Dahlia Lithwick, contributing analyst at MSNBC and Senior Editor at Slate Magazine.
Join us for a conversation with Stephen Macedo, the Laurance S. Rockefeller Professor of Politics and the University Center for Human Values at Princeton University, and Frances Lee, professor of politics and public affairs at Princeton University.
Please join us for a conversation with Silvia Foster-Frau, national investigative reporter for The Washington Post.
Join us for a conversation with Jeff Rosen, CEO emeritus of the National Constitution Center, on the historical context and original intention of the phrase “the pursuit of happiness.”
Join us for a conversation with Maggie Blackhawk, Moses H. Grossman Professor of Law at the NYU School of Law.
Join us for a conversation with Laurie Santos, the Chandrika and Ranjan Tandon Professor of Psychology at Yale University and host of The Happiness Lab podcast.
Join us for a conversation with Annette Gordon-Reed ’81, a Montgomery Fellow and the Carl M. Loeb University Professor and Professor of History at Harvard. The event begins at 5 p.m. in Filene Auditorium.
No registration required.
Join us for a conversation with Bob Bauer, former White House counsel under President Barack Obama, and Jack Goldsmith, former Assistant Attorney General, Office of Legal Counsel.
Join us for a conversation with Dan Gilbert, Edgar Pierce Professor of Psychology at Harvard University.
This series is cosponsored by the Nelson A. Rockefeller Center for Public Policy at Dartmouth, Dartmouth Dialogues, the Office of the Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, and the Office of the Associate Dean for the Social Sciences. Read more about the series.
Hopkins Center for the Arts
Reconstructing
April 2-3, 2026
Don’t miss a pre-show talk with the artists.
April 29, 2026
Building an Academic Art Collection in America
Through February 27, 2027
December 13, 2025–November 7, 2026
History, Myth, and Propaganda
Through August 8, 2026
Abstraction in the United States
Through March 20, 2027
Slavery and Its Afterlives
December 20, 2025–July 11, 2026
January 10–July 25, 2026
Artistic Constructions of America, 1790–1940
February 7–August 29, 2026
Work in the United States
July 25–November 7, 2026
Asian American Art in Conversation
August 22–November 28, 2026
Past Events
The Kentucky Democrat urges politicians to listen closely to everyday concerns.
The conversation was moderated by Russell Muirhead, Robert Clements Professor of Democracy and Politics and Co-Director, Political Economy Project.
The California Democrat also calls for a vote on the war with Iran.
The former transportation secretary speaks at Dartmouth’s “Law and Democracy” series.
Four top journalists talk about adapting to constant changes in the media industry.
David French and Sarah Isgur discuss the Supreme Court, law, and American democracy.
The New Hampshire lawmaker tells students “all is not lost” despite turmoil.
Compromise is not “a dirty word,” says the former Republican governor of Maryland.
Richard Norton Smith says the job has “radically changed” over the decades.
The Kentucky Republican weighs in on tariffs and the shutdown.
The former ambassador and Marine combat officer warns of tech competition with China.
The former governor of Pennsylvania also says find common ground.
Kathleen Kingsbury participates in Dartmouth’s Law and Democracy Series.