Jennifer Finney Boylan – The Peggy Downes Baskin Ethics Lecture
On March 4, 2025, Jennifer Finney Boylan gave the annual Peggy Downes Baskin Ethics Lecture entitled, “Amelia Earhart, Saved from Drowning.”
In this collage of story and song, Jennifer Finney Boylan speculates on the life of Amelia Earhart after the crash. Using that event as a springboard, she considers how our social and political structures constrain human liberty, and the price that women and queer people must pay for freedom.
Jennifer Finney Boylan is the author of 19 books including the bestsellers She’s Not There and Mad Honey (with Jodi Picoult). Professor, trans advocate, reality TV star, and former New York Times opinion columnist, Jenny is currently President of PEN America. From 2014-2018, she was National Co-chair of GLAAD.
Jennifer Finney Boylan is THI’s 2025 Scholar-in-Residence and this signature event was a part of THI’s 25th anniversary.
Event Photos by Crystal Birns:
Watch a video of the event here:
The Peggy Downes Baskin Ethics Lecture Series is a lively forum for the discussion and exploration of ethics-related challenges in human endeavors. The Ethics Lecture is made possible by the Peggy Downes Baskin Humanities Endowment for Interdisciplinary Ethics which enables the Humanities Division to promote a dialogue about ethics and ethics related challenges in an interdisciplinary setting. The endowment was established in honor of Peggy Downes Baskin’s longtime interest in ethical issues across the academic spectrum.