Renewal Information

2013-14 Bryan Series renewal packages were mailed the week of April 15-19. If you have not received your renewal package by April 25, please contact Suzanne Sullivan at thebryanseries@guilford.edu or by calling 336-316-2852. The priority deadline for renewal orders is May 17, 2013.

New subscriptions will go on sale after June 1, if available.

Robert Gates

Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2013, War Memorial Auditorium

Robert Gates was the 22nd U.S. Secretary of Defense from 2006-11, and during his career he served eight different presidents in various roles. He is the only Defense Secretary to be asked to remain in that office by a newly-elected president. Gates joined the Central Intelligence Agency in 1966 and became the only career officer to rise from entry-level employee to director. He was the president of Texas A&M University for four years. A native of Kansas, he received a bachelor's degree from the College of William & Mary, a master's degree in history from Indiana University and a doctorate in Russian and Soviet history from Georgetown University. He was a second lieutenant in the U.S Air Force. President Barack Obama awarded Gates the Presidential Medal of Freedom, America's highest civilian honor.

Robert Ballard

Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2013, War Memorial Auditorium

Best known for his 1985 discovery of the Titanic shipwreck, Robert Ballard is a veteran of more than 125 expeditions, many in search of lost ships and ancient artifacts. He is founder and president of the Institute for Exploration in Mystic, Conn., and professor and director of the Institute for Archaeological Oceanography at the University of Rhode Island. Ballard has tracked down numerous significant shipwrecks, including the German battleship Bismark, the U.S. aircraft carrier Yorktown and John F. Kennedy’s boat, PT-109. A native of Kansas, Ballard has a Ph.D. in marine geology and geophysics from the University of Rhode Island. He received the National Geographic Society’s Hubbard Medal for "extraordinary accomplishments in coaxing secrets from the world’s oceans and engaging students in the wonder of science."

Elizabeth Alexander

Tuesday, March 4, 2014, War Memorial Auditorium

A pivotal figure in contemporary American poetry, Elizabeth Alexander was the fourth poet to compose and deliver a poem at a presidential inauguration, “Praise Song for the Day,” in 2009. She has published five books of poems including American Sublime (2005), which was one of three finalists for the Pulitzer Prize and an American Library Association “Notable Book of the Year.” Alexander is the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, two Pushcart Prizes and a Guggenheim fellowship, among other awards and honors. A graduate of Sidwell Friends School, Yale University and Boston University, she holds a Ph.D. in English from the University of Pennsylvania. She has been the chair of Yale’s Department of African American Studies since July 2009.

Itzhak Perlman

Thursday, Feb. 13, 2014, War Memorial Auditorium

Itzhak Perlman is regarded as one of the preeminent violinists of the 20th and early 21st centuries worldwide. Born in Israel in 1945, he completed his initial training at the Academy of Music in Tel Aviv. He came to New York City and was propelled into the international arena with an appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1958. Following his studies at the Juilliard School, he won the prestigious Leventritt Competition, which led to a burgeoning worldwide career. Since then, he has appeared with every major orchestra and in recitals and festivals around the world. In addition to performing, he is a conductor and instructor of master classes. He is the recipient of four Grammy Awards, four Emmy Awards and the Kennedy Center Honors. Perlman contracted polio at the age of four and is devoted to causes of the disabled.

Lara Logan

Tuesday, April 8, 2014, War Memorial Auditorium

Chief foreign affairs correspondent for CBS News since 2006, Lara Logan became a correspondent for 60 Minutes that same year. She reports regularly for the CBS Evening News and appears on The Early Show and Face the Nation. She joined CBS in 2002 as a correspondent and contributor to 60 Minutes II. Since her days as a young print reporter in her native South Africa, she has confronted the harsh and dangerous realities of war, conflict and global change. She has received two Emmy Awards as well as awards for international investigative reporting and enterprise reporting. Logan earned a degree in commerce from the University of Natal (South Africa) as well as a diploma in French language, culture and history from the Universite de L'Alliance Francaise in Paris.

Steve Kroft

Tuesday, April 8, 2014, War Memorial Auditorium

Steve Kroft has been a correspondent for 60 Minutes since May 1989, having joined the network in 1980. He is the only 60 Minutes correspondent to win two Peabody Awards in the same year, bringing his total number of television’s most prestigious award to five. He is also a recipient of two Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University silver batons and 11 Emmy awards, including a Lifetime Achievement Emmy for his body of work. Before joining 60 Minutes, he was a principal correspondent on the CBS News magazine West 57th and a foreign correspondent for CBS News based in the London bureau. An Indiana native, he graduated from Syracuse University and earned a master’s degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.