Twelve incredible guests hosted by UB in 2016

From groundbreaking astronauts to presidential hopefuls. A sitting Supreme Court justice. An Academy Award winner. An alumnus known simply as the “Hero of Flint.”

UB is accustomed to hosting notable visitors. But 2016 was a banner year. These guests packed rooms big and small. They discussed the refugee crisis, crooned jazz classics and addressed the tech industry’s lack of diversity.

Here’s a look back at 12 (we could’ve picked many more) momentous events:

The Academy Award winner, known for his portrayal of fictitious president Frank Underwood and other roles, dropped by the North Campus in April to discuss his career and the rewards of risk-taking as part of UB’s Distinguished Speakers Series. “We should all aspire to be innovative. We should all be in a battle with mediocrity,” he told a packed house in Alumni Arena. He even made time to visit UB’s prized Poetry Collection. Read more.

Power, who is U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, visited Buffalo and UB last month to spotlight the positive role that refugees play in America, including boosting local economies and creating more culturally diverse communities. She credited Buffalo for creating a welcoming environment for refugees. “Our country has a lot to learn from this ‘City of Good Neighbors,’” she said. Read more.

The twin brothers are the only siblings to have both travelled in space. They touched down on the North Campus is September for a Distinguished Speakers Series lecture. After visiting aerospace engineering students and members of the UB community, they delivered a speech extolling the virtues of tackling difficult problems. “For us as a nation, it was our choice to do the hard things,” Mark Kelly said. Read more

The U.S. senator from Vermont, then in the throes of a campaign to represent the Democratic Party on the presidential ballot, filled Alumni Arena with 8,500 supporters. Popular among millennials and on college campuses, another 3,000 gathered outside for the at-capacity campaign rally in April. “We need to create an economy that works for all of us,” Sanders told the crowd outside before entering the gym for his main speech. Read more.

Just two days after Sanders, GOP presidential hopeful Ted Cruz visited the Katharine Cornell Theater on the North Campus for a more intimate MSNBC-hosted town hall event with television news anchor Chuck Todd. “The biggest divide is not Republicans and Democrats. It’s career politicians. What we have now is not working,” Cruz said in response to an audience member’s question. Read more.

Not a household name? Don’t say that to the people of Flint, Michigan, where Edwards is credited with exposing the city’s toxic drinking water system. An UB alumnus and professor at Virginia Tech, Edwards said he had to cross the line between science and activism to get officials to address the problem. “Until we can learn from our mistakes, these types of crises will continue to happen,” he said to those attending his October talk, part of UB’s RENEW Distinguished Lecture Series. Read more.

UB played host to the U.S. Supreme Court Justice at Shea’s Performing Arts Center in downtown Buffalo. The October event, which was co-moderated by James Gardner, dean of the School of Law, allowed Alito to discuss what it’s like to serve on the nation’s top court. “Sometimes I’m asked what would you like your legacy to be? I think it’s really bad for a judge to start worrying about that,” he said. Read more.

Randi Zuckerburg joined her brother, Mark, in 2005 to make Facebook the juggernaut it is today. “There were about 12 of us in an office and it was still very much kind of a “brogrammer” culture, if you will: very, very few women, especially in senior positions. And it was definitely a bit of a fight, especially as a nontechnical employee, to be heard at the same level in Silicon Valley,” she told a Distinguished Speakers Series audience in October. Read more.

Unfamiliar with Travis Scott? Ask your kids. The hip hop recording artist and record producer has quickly become one of the most sought after performers and collaborators in the music business. UB’s Student Association booked him to headline Fall Fest in September. More photos.

Created in 2006, Twitter has become one of the most influential online news and social networking services. Joel Lunenfeld graduated from UB in 1999 and led Moxie, a digital marketing agency, for 10 years before joining Twitter in 2009, where he is now the company’s vice president for global brand strategy. “I was preparing for a career that didn’t exist yet,” said Lunenfeld of his time at UB when visiting his alma mater in September. Read more.

The Harvard law scholar, who studies racial inequality, visited UB in February and delivered the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative Address, which focused on the importance of education. “I just read and read and read about the world. That made a huge difference in my life. I had a thirst for reading, and that’s what we have to inspire in our children,” he said. Read more.  

A spry 81-year-old Bennett played the Mainstage theater in the Center for Arts in 2008. Flash forward eight years and the velvet-voiced crooner — now 90 — is showing no signs of slowing down. He returned to the CFA to perform a sold-out show on Dec. 17.