Memorial Lecture

Upcoming Ostrom Memorial Lecture

Past Memorial Lectures

The tenth annual Ostrom Memorial Lecture was presented April 11 by Dr. Monica White: “Freedom Farming: Agriculture Resistance and Institution Building”

Dr. Monica M. White is the Distinguished Chair of Integrated Environmental Studies (2021-25), associate professor of Environmental Justice at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and past president of the Board of Directors for the Detroit Black Community Food Security Network. She is the first Black woman to earn tenure in both the College of Agricultural Life Sciences (established 1889) and the Nelson Institute of Environmental Studies (established 1970), to which she is jointly appointed. As the founding director of the Office of Environmental Justice and Engagement (OEJ) at UW-Madison, Dr. White works toward bridging the gap between the university and the broader community by connecting faculty and students to community-based organizations that are working in areas of environmental/food/land justice toward their mutual benefit. She is also an Andrew Carnegie Fellow for 2022-2024 and holds a joint appointment in the Department of Community and Environmental Sociology and the Nelson Institute of Environmental Studies.

The ninth annual Ostrom Memorial Lecture was unfortunately canceled. 

 

The eighth annual Ostrom Memorial Lecture was presented October 25 by Scott Gehlbach: “Governing the Autocracy: The Nature of Institutions for Authoritarian Rule”

"For most of human history, most people have lived in autocracies. The success of this form of governance is grounded in formal and informal institutions that coordinate the behavior of elites and citizens in support of the regime. In recent years, a broad research project spanning the social sciences has shed new light on these institutions. This lecture surveys this work."

Archived live stream

The seventh annual Ostrom Memorial Lecture was presented October 1, virtually via Zoom by Frank van Laerhoven: “Governing the Commons, 30 Years Later—An Inventory of Good Advice for Commoners”

"The puzzle addressed in Governing the Commons doesn’t appear all that complex: How can groups of people best govern a shared resource, sustainably? Since 1990, an enormous amount of energy that has been poured into answering this question. How has this spinoff research helped commoners to make better decisions? How can we proceed to further improve our service to the people for whom we are doing this?"

Archived live stream

This event was also part of World Commons Week as the North American Keynote Webinar.

The sixth annual Ostrom Memorial Lecture was presented by Doc Searls on Wednesday October 9, at the Maurer School of Law Moot Court Room 123.

"The Internet is a worldwide commons without model or precedent in human history and experience. And now it is being enclosed by corporate and government giants—and by our own mental models. In this lecture, Doc will explore how and why this enclosure is happening, the risks to all the commons the Internet supports, and what we can do to keep it free and open."

Archived live stream

The fifth annual Ostrom Memorial Lecture was presented by Professor Milton L. Mueller, Georgia Institute of Technology School of Public Policy, on October 3, 2018. (See related story in News at IU, September 27.) Held at the Maurer School of Law, Professor Mueller’s lecture focused on “Sovereignty and Cyberspace: Institutions and Internet Governance.”

Paper 

The fourth annual Ostrom Memorial Lecture was presented by Professor Margaret Levi, the Sara Miller McCune Director of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS), professor of political science, and senior fellow of the Woods Institute for the Environment, Stanford University, on October 11, 2017. (See related story in News at IU, October 10.) Held at the Global and International Studies Building Auditorium, Professor Levi’s lecture focused on “Creating a Commons in a Whitewater World.”

Archived live stream Part 1    Part 2

The third annual Ostrom Memorial Lecture was presented by Professor Kenneth Shepsle, George Markham Professor of Government, Harvard University, on April 12, 2017. (See related story in News at IU, April 7.) Held at the Indiana Memorial Union, Professor Shepsle's lecture focused on “Rule Breaking and Political Imagination.” 

Archived live stream

The second annual Ostrom Memorial Lecture was presented by Professor Gary D. Libecap, Bren School of Environmental Science & Management and Department of Economics, University of California, Santa Barbara, on February 10, 2016. Held at the Maurer School of Law, Professor Libecap’s lecture focused on “Environmental Externalities and Coasean Exchange.”

Archived live stream

The inaugural Ostrom Memorial Lecture was presented by Professor Barry Weingast, Ward C. Krebs Family Professor of Political Science, Stanford University, and senior fellow, Hoover Institution, on February 11, 2015. Held at the Maurer School of Law, Professor Weingast’s lecture focused on “The Violence Trap: Why Democracy and Rule of Law Fail in the Developing World.”

Archived live stream