YSU announces Skeggs and Thomas Colloquium Lectures
The Internet’s Science Guy and an Olympic Gold Medalist kick-off the 2024-25 Youngstown State University Lecture Series.
The Skeggs Lecture Series presents Hank Green
Hank Green, well known as the Internet’s Science Guy, presents the Youngstown State University Skeggs Lecture 6 p.m., September 26 in Stambaugh Auditorium.
With a combined social media following of over 20 million people, he’s somehow done it mostly with educational content, sharing his excitement about everything from microbes to supernovae.
Green is also a bestselling science fiction novelist, an astute observer and critic of online media and the co-founder and CEO of Complexly, which produces SciShow, Crash Course and nearly a dozen other educational YouTube channels.
Recently, Green created “The Awesome Socks Club” a charity sock subscription that has over 60,000 paying subscribers and donates more than one million dollars to charity every year.
All of this began when he and his brother, novelist John Green, began making YouTube videos in 2007. Not many of those early creators are still at it a decade and a half later, but the brothers seem perpetually able to find success in whatever new platform arises. Along the way, they started VidCon, the largest convention for people who create online video, as well as Subbable, a crowd-funding platform for creators that was acquired by Patreon.
Green loves to speak on science and science communication, education, online video creation, the influencer industry, the societal costs and benefits of social media, running small creative businesses, creative business models and you probably shouldn’t get him started on pelicans.
The lecture is free and open to the public, but tickets are required. Tickets are now available online on the Stambaugh Auditorium website, or at the DeYor Performing Arts Center Box Office 260 West Federal Street in Youngstown. For more information, call 330-941-2136 or email jmleviseur@ysu.edu.
The Thomas Colloquium Lecture Series presents Venus Williams
One of the most accomplished and inspiring women in the history of sports, tennis champion Venus Williams presents Youngstown State University’s Thomas Colloquium Lecture Series 7 p.m., October 23 in Beeghly Center on the YSU campus.
Throughout her career, Williams has earned seven Grand Slam Singles Titles, 14 Grand Slam Doubles Titles, two Grand Slam Mixed Doubles Titles, five Wimbledon championships and four Olympic gold medals.
Beginning at age 14, Williams quickly took the world of tennis by storm rising to the top-ranked position and breaking countless records. Encouraged by her mother to explore her creative side, Williams enrolled in fashion school and parlayed her fine-tuned business acumen with her healthy competitive spirit into two successful design ventures. After obtaining an Interior Decorator certification, Williams founded V Starr, a full-service commercial and residential design firm. Williams then earned an Associate’s Degree in Fashion Design, and later, a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration. She partnered with Credo Beauty to debut an award-winning line of clean, mineral-based products. Her entrepreneurship in the health and beauty space also includes her role as Chief Brand Officer to Asutra and creator of the plant-based protein company, Happy Viking. Sticking to her entrepreneurial spirit, Williams and her sister, Serena, became the first female African Americans to have a stake in an NFL franchise after joining the ownership group of the Miami Dolphins.
Williams is the author of two books: her motivational book, "Come to Win" which reached No. 5 on the New York Times Best Sellers list and "Strive", released in 2024, an inspiring and innovative guide on how to live your best life. Williams served as Executive Producer on the Academy Award-winning biopic King Richard, which detailed the influence her father and coach had on her childhood and careers.
Throughout her career, Williams has been an advocate for equality. UNESCO, the United Nations’ cultural organization, titled her as the first “Promoter of Gender Equality." Williams led the fight to make Wimbledon award women players the same pay as their male counterparts. She also launched an awareness initiative called the #PrivilegeTax to bring attention to the wage inequality and to encourage women to address the issue on a grassroots level.
Williams' achievements have merited her accolades, including being honored as Variety’s “Power of Women”, Glamour Magazine’s ‘Woman of the Year,’ CARE Impact Award for Gender Equality, ESPN’s ‘WTA Player of the Year,’ and Forbes’ ‘Celebrity 100’ among others.
The lecture is free and open to the public, but tickets are required. Tickets will be available starting Monday, September 16. Tickets are available on a first-come, first-served basis and can be picked up at the YSU Athletic Ticket Office located on the North end of Stambaugh Stadium. The Ticket Office is easily accessible near the F-80 parking lot, which is along Fifth Avenue. Parking spaces just outside the doors are designated specifically for Ticket Office patrons. For a GPS, use 577 Fifth Ave., Youngstown, OH 44502.
For more information, please contact jmleviseur@ysu.edu or 330-941-2136.