The Thomas H. Wright Lecture, inaugurated in 1995, honors Thomas H. Wright's dedication to Sarah Lawrence and his long service on the Board of Trustees. An endowment, established by the Leon Lowenstein Foundation, funds the lecture.

2009 Thomas H. Wright Lecture

Susan Linn, EdD

Monday, July 13, 2009 at 4:30 p.m.
Dr. Susan Linn, psychologist, writer, award-winning producer, and puppeteer, is Associate Director of the Media Center of Judge Baker Children’s Center; Instructor in Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School; and co-founder and director of the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood. She has written extensively about the effects of media and commercial marketing on children. Her book, Consuming Kids, was praised in publications as diverse as The Wall Street Journal and Mother Jones. Combining her skills as a writer and performer with her role as a child therapist, Dr. Linn has written and appeared in a number of video programs designed to help children cope with issues ranging from mental illness to death and loss. She was recently awarded the American Psychological Association’s Presidential Citation for her work on behalf of children.

Dr. Linn lectures extensively on the impact of marketing to children and on the importance of creative play, both nationally and internationally. She has carried her advocacy to such media venues such as Good Morning America, Today, Sixty Minutes, Dateline, and the acclaimed documentary The Corporation. She has lectured about the impact of commercialism on children in throughout the USA and in Canada, Europe, Asia and South America.
Read more about Dr. Linn»

The Thomas H. Wright Lecture, funded by the Leon Lowenstein Foundation and individual contributors, honors Thomas H. Wright’s dedication to Sarah Lawrence College and his long service on the Board of Trustees.

Previous Thomas H. Wright Lectures

• 2008
  Where da Heat Go: Social Justice, Agency & Science
  Angela Calabrese Barton, PhD, Associate Professor of Teacher Education, Michigan State University
• 2007
  Children and Nature Design Principles
  David L. Sobel, MEd, Director, Teacher Certification Programs; Co-director, Community Based School Environmental Education Program, Antioch New England Graduate School
• 2006
  Open Pandora’s Box: Curiosity in the Classroom
  Susan Engel, PhD, Director of the Program in Teaching at Williams College
• 2005
  Building a Community/Building a School
  Nancy Mann, MA, Principal, Fannie Lou Hamer Freedom High School
• 2004
  Reflections on Teaching: Relationships, Possibilities, and Power
  Jane Andrias, MA, Leader in New York City's progressive education movement
• 2003
  Nurturing the Remarkable Powers of Children
  William Crain, PhD, Professor of Psychology at The City College of New York
• 2002
  Processes of Change in Schools
  Tom Roderick, MEd, Executive Director of Educators for Social Responsibility, New York City Metropolitan Area
• 2001
  Pathways to Literacy: Non-Standardized Approaches to the Enhancement and Assessment of Literacy Across the Curriculum
  Frank Smith, PhD, Writer and Researcher, British Columbia, Canada
• 2000
  Rethinking Standards and Assessment
  Harriet K. Cuffaro, EdD, Professor Emerita of Education, Bank Street College of Education and Staff Developer at the City and Country School, New York City
• 1999
  Play and Learning
  Celia S. Genishi, PhD, Professor of Education, Teachers College, Columbia University
• 1998
  A New Look at Families, Schools and Child Development
  James P. Comer, MD, Maurice Falk Professor of Child Psychiatry, Yale University Child Study Center
• 1997
  Rethinking Teaching: What Schools Can and Should Be
  Linda Darling-Hammond, EdD, Stanford University
• 1996
  Conflict as a Fact of Life: Families, Schools, Communities
  Regina Arnold, PhD, Professor of Sociology and Associate Dean of Studies, Sarah Lawrence College
• 1995
  Family/School Partnerships: Working Together for Children
  Patricia Carini, Founder of Prospect School and the Prospect Archives and Center for Education and Research, North Bennington, Vermont