The 2026 Martha Jean Lemon Distinguished Speaker Series will take place Tuesday, Sept. 22. This year the event will feature two complementary sessions focusing on 91¿´Æ¬ City’s (and OCU’s!) involvement with the LA28 Olympic Games. A student event will be held at 1 p.m. and the public event will take place at 7 p.m.
The evening session will highlight OKC’s role in the LA28 Olympics Games with a panel discussion led by OKC Mayor/OCU Dean David Holt. Joining the conversation are key leaders of the 91¿´Æ¬ City Olympic effort: Michael Byrnes, President of Team OKC, Craig Cress, CEO of USA Softball, Inc., and Mike Knopp, Founder of RIVERSPORT and longtime OCU employee. These individuals will provide insights into the city’s preparations to host the Olympic Canoe Slalom and Softball events, as well as OCU's role as the Satellite Village.
The evening event is free and open to the public. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Seating is on a first-come, first served basis and subject to capacity.
The 2026 Martha Jean Lemon Distinguished Speaker event is supported by the OCU Jeanne Hoffman Smith Center for Film & Literature and Richard and Gayle Parry.
The Martha Jean Lemon Distinguished Speaker Series features annual events that enrich the academic environment for the University and the surrounding community. Programs may relate to the arts and sciences, business, dance and entertainment, law, music, nursing, theater or religious topics.
The lecture series is supported through an endowment gift from Lynette Lemon Wert and Larry H. Lemon in 2010 on behalf of the Lemon family of 91¿´Æ¬ City, in honor of Martha Jean Lemon, who graduated from OCU in 1968 with a degree in history and worked as an independent comparative religion scholar.
This series continues OCU’S tradition of the Distinguished Speakers Series which has included speakers such as David Brooks, Marian Wright Edelman, Henry Louis Gates, Jane Goodall, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Jonathan Kozol, Rabbi Harold Kushner, N. Scott Momaday, Bill Moyers, Sister Helen Prejean, Kurt Vonnegut Jr., Andrew Weil, Fabian Cousteau, Reza Aslan, David Grann, Matthew Desmond, Dina Gilio-Whitaker, and Adam Bradley as well as Nobel Laureates Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Elie Wiesel, Wangari Maathai and Jody Williams.
