Guests Enlighten and Enthrall Campus

Temple Grandin

Joe Nocera

Every year, Montclair State University hosts various high-profile guests from diverse backgrounds to share their research, art and other achievements with the campus community. This past fall, the University welcomed renowned authors, Temple Grandin and Luis Alberto Urrea, to campus. Grandin, an autism advocate, spoke about her life on the spectrum. Urrea read excerpts from his novel The Hummingbird’s Daughter and discussed researching and writing the 2013 Montclair Book, The Devil’s Highway. In October, Montclair State hosted Governor Chris Christie and alumna State Senator Barbara Buono in a televised gubernatorial debate (see story page 7). In November, Joe Nocera, a columnist for The New York Times, was featured in the School of Communication and Media’s Colloquium Series, discussing his experience covering misdeeds at financial institutions. MacArthur “Genius” Award-winning choreographer Bill T. Jones returned to campus in November to coach dance students who will perform his work in the April Danceworks concert. Kahane Cooperman, co-executive producer of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, also visited as part of the School of Communication and Media’s Colloquium Series. In December, Kristine Johnson of CBS 2 News visited when she won Montclair State’s 2013 Allen B. DuMont Broadcaster of the Year Award. In February, James Clementi, whose brother Tyler’s suicide at Rutgers put a national spotlight on bullying, was the keynote speaker for the Week of Unity.