CURRENT SEASON
2024-2025
Tuesday, October 22, 2024
Debbie Antonelli (Moderator), Lawrence R. (“Bubba”) Cunningham, Dr. James J. (‘Jim”) Phillips
Panel discussion: “The State of Play in the NCAA”
Debbie Antonelli is a 1986 graduate of N.C. State where she was a three-year starter on the women’s basketball team under legendary coach Kay Yow. In 2021, she was inducted into the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame and in 2022 into the national Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame. She is now entering her 30th year in sports broadcasting and is a two-time Emmy award winner and Gracie Award recipient for broadcast. She covers college basketball for ESPN, CBS, Raycom, and Westwood One and has broadcast in the WNBA since its inception in 1996, including the last 21 years with the Indiana Fever and Charlotte Sting. She spent the first eight years of her career in college athletic departments as Director of Marketing at Kentucky and Ohio State.
Bubba Cunningham became the Athletic Director at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill in 2011 after serving as athletic director at the University of Tulsa from 2005-2011 and at Ball State University from 2002-2005. At Carolina, he oversees an athletic department for a school that consistently ranks among the top not only in national titles won, runner-up finishes, and NACDA Learfield Directors’ Cup placement, but in student-athlete graduation rate, academic achievement and community service. The Department also partners with the UNC Sport Administration Graduate Program, which is ranked third globally by the 2023 Sports Business Post Graduate Course Rankings.
​
Jim Phillips, one of the leading voices across the college sports landscape, began his tenure as Atlantic Coast Conference Commissioner in August 2021. The fifth commissioner in the history of the ACC, he has more than three decades of experience in NCAA Division 1 athletics, a track record of tremendous achievement, a vision for the future of intercollegiate athletics, and a passion for helping student athletes achieve impact and success in competition in the classroom and in their communities. He served as part of the 28-member NCAA Constitution Review Committee formed to identify the core principles that define college sports and propose a new governance model that allows for quicker change without sacrifice to broader values while reaffirming or redefining those values. For the 2024-25 academic year, Jim Phillips serves as President of the Collegiate Commissioners Association.
Tuesday, November 12, 2024
Dr. Valerie Hillings
“Art, Nature, and People: Inspiring Joy and Connection at the North Carolina Museum of Art”
Currently, Director of the North Carolina Museum of Art, Dr. Valerie Hillings received her B.A. in art history from Duke University and her M.A. and Ph.D. in art history from the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University. From 2004-2018, she held progressively senior positions for the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Foundation, working on projects for museums throughout its global constellation and with partner institutions in Australia, Europe, and the Middle East. As Director of the NCMA, she completed a vision plan for its 164-acre Ann and Jim Goodnight Museum Park that reflects the Museum’s dedication to stewardship, sustainability, and environmental resilience as well as its commitment to connection with nature for current and future generations.
Tuesday, January 21, 2025
Dr. Katy O’Brien
“The Thinking and Talking Brain: Communication, Connection, and Mental Health after Brain Injury and Concussion”
A native of Southern Pines and 1994 graduate of Pinecrest High School, Dr. Katy O’Brien received her M.A. in Communication Disorders from Appalachian State University in 2008 and her Ph.D. in Language and Hearing Sciences from the University of Minnesota in 2016. She also holds a graduate certificate in Pre-Professional Speech Language Pathology (CCC-SLP). She is a Senior Scientific Advisor with the Courage Kenny Rehabilitation Institute at Allina Health in Minneapolis, as well as an adjunct associate professor at the University of Georgia in the Department of Communication Sciences and Special Education. With expertise in cognitive and communication changes after brain injury and vast clinical experience with people with traumatic brain injury across the spectrum of recovery, Dr. O’Brien is the past Chair of the Brain Injury Association of Georgia, a member of the Academy of Neurological Communication Disorders and Sciences, and a member of the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine, serving as faculty for their Cognitive Rehabilitation Training as well as the Neuroplasticity and Rehabilitation Treatment Specification System Task Forces.
Tuesday, February 18, 2025
Adam Feldman
“Everyone’s a Critic”
Adam Feldman is the National Theater and Dance Editor and chief theater critic at Time Out New York, where he has been on staff since 2003. He covers Broadway, Off Broadway, and Off-Off Broadway, as well as cabaret, dance shows and other events of interest in New York City. Adam Feldman is the President of the New York Drama Critics’ Circle, a position he has held since 2005. In 2024, he received the Friend of Off Broadway Award from the Off Broadway Alliance. Among other publications, he has written for Canada’s Globe and Mail and National Post as well as for Out, Show Business, and Broadway.com. He was a regular co-host of the Public Television show “Theater Talk and Theater: All the Moving Parts,” and served as the contributing Broadway editor for the Theater World book series. A graduate of Harvard University, he lives in Greenwich Village where he “dabbles in piano-bar singing on a more-than-regular basis.”​​
Tuesday, April 29, 2025
National Geographic Live – bringing Explorers from the field live on stage.
Dr. Jess Cramp
“The Untold Story of Sharks”
National Geographic Explorer Jess Cramp is a shark researcher who specializes in conservation policy and engaging communities in the management of their ocean. Dr. Cramp completed her Ph.D. at James Cook University in Australia. She co-championed a grassroots campaign that resulted in formation of the Cook Islands Shark Sanctuary in 2012, an area exceeding 770,000 square miles. In 2015, she was named a National Geographic Emerging Explorer and in 2017 was awarded a National Geographic grant on “Evaluating the Effectiveness of Large-Scale Marine Reserves on Highly Migratory Sharks.” She is the founder and executive director of Sharks Pacific, a non-profit organization that conducts research, outreach, and advocacy throughout the Pacific Islands region. Widely published in numerous scientific journals, Dr. Cramp was named an AAAS If/Then Ambassador, a program created by the American Association for the Advancement of Science to bring together 125 women from different science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) careers to serve as role models for middle school girls, and in 2020 was featured as part of the IfThenSheCan – The Exhibit – an exhibit of 3-D printed statues of prominent AAAS If/Then Ambassadors.