Eve Marie Carson Lecture Series
Former Student Body President Eve Carson started the Distinguished Speakers Series of Student Government in 2007 to be a student run and student selected lecture series. Eve strongly believed in Carolina students, saying, “it’s us — the student body — who make UNC what it is.” She felt that speakers strengthen the values of the student body and equip the students of our university to better serve their communities and the world.
The Distinguished Speakers Series was renamed the Eve Marie Carson Lecture Series in honor of Carson’s legacy. The values set forth for speakers in the series are those to which we, members of the Carolina community, aspire: a strong ability to lead ourselves and others, a commitment to public service, and a proven ability to enact real, positive change in a community.
The Eve Marie Carson Lecture Series was established by UNC Student Government, and the Carolina Women’s Leadership Council became its presenting sponsor in 2010.
Eve Carson 2007, Student Body President UNC-Chapel Hill
2025 Speaker: Liza Roberts
Thursday, February 27, 2025 at 6:00 PM
Sonja Haynes Stone Center
Photo by Anna Routh Barzin
Arts and culture journalist Liza Roberts spent years as a business news reporter at Bloomberg, CBS MarketWatch and CNBC. She first learned of the extraordinary world of visual art in North Carolina as the founding editor and general manager of the award-winning Raleigh-based Walter magazine. She is most recently the author of Art of the State: Celebrating the Visual Art of North Carolina, published by UNC Press in 2022, and continues to write about North Carolina artists in her free bi-monthly newsletter, Dispatches from the Art of the State. Liza will highlight North Carolina art and artists in her lecture.
Liza is a graduate of Hamilton College and has a master’s degree from the Columbia University School of Journalism. She and her husband, Lee H. Roberts, chancellor of UNC-Chapel Hill, have three adult children.
Past Speakers
| Year | Speaker |
|---|---|
| 2024 | Shilpi Somaya Gowda, New York Times best-selling author of Secret Daughter |
| 2022 | Michelle Dorrance, founder and artistic director of award-winning NYC tap dance company, Dorrance Dance |
| 2021 | Karen Parker '65, Award winning journalist and first African American female graduate of Carolina |
| 2020 | Tim Sullivan '85, Former CEO of Ancestry.com and Match.com |
| 2019 | John Grisham, award winning author of The Reckoning |
| 2018 | Kathy Izard, author of The Hundred Story Home and advocate for the homeless |
| 2017 | Sallie Krawcheck '87, CEO and Co-founder of Ellevest |
| 2016 | Rye Barcott ’01, founder of Carolina for Kibera |
| 2015 | Frank Bruni ’86, The New York Times columnist and best-selling author |
| 2014 | Barbara Fredrickson, Kenan Distinguished Professor of Psychology, author of Love 2.0 |
| 2013 | Ping Fu, Chief Strategic Officer of 3D Systems, Inc. and founder of Geomagic |
| 2012 | Jonathan T.M. Reckford ’84, CEO of Habitat for Humanity International |
| 2011 | Robert Gibbs, former White House spokesman |
| 2010 | Mika Brzezinski, journalist and co-host of Morning Joe on MSNBC |
2025 Sponsors
