BYU announced the upcoming school year's forum speakers July 20. The lineup includes a former Harvard president and a macroeconomist among other experts in their respective fields. All will speak on the theme 'What it means to be educated.'
The first forum speaker of the school year will be lawyer and political advisor Melody Barnes on Sept. 29. Barnes worked as chief counsel to Senator Ed Kennedy on the Senate Judiciary Committee and the director of the Domestic Policy Council under President Barack Obama.
On Oct. 20, interfaith leader Eboo Patel will address campus. Patel is the founder and president of Interfaith Youth Core and a member of the Department of Homeland Security’s Faith-based Security Advisory Council.
Pakistani native, educator and activist Ziauddin Yousafzai will give the final forum address of Fall Semester. Yousafzai established and ran a school in Pakistan despite violent Taliban resistance and now speaks around the world on the right to education. His daughter, Malala, is among those inspired by her father's activism. Yousafzai will speak on Nov. 17.
Investigative reporter David Epstein will give the first forum address of Winter Semester on Jan. 26, 2021. Epstein's book, 'Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World,' discusses the purpose of general education.
On Feb. 23, 2021, international macroeconomist Dambisa Felicia Moyo will speak. Moyo, who worked at the World Bank for two years and Goldman Sachs for eight, currently serves on the boards of Barclays Bank, the financial services group, Seagate Technology, Chevron Corporation, the global miner Barrick Gold and the 3M Company.
The final forum address of the school year will be given by former Harvard president Drew Faust, a historian and author. She was the first woman to serve as president of Harvard and was ranked by Forbes as the world's 33rd most powerful woman in 2014. She will speak on March 30, 2021.
BYU will announce the mode of delivery for forums as well as the devotional speakers at a later date.