UB announces 2026-27 Distinguished Speakers Series lineup

BUFFALO, N.Y. – The University at Buffalo’s Distinguished Speakers Series returns for 2026-27 with a lineup of engaging, inspiring and entertaining speakers.

The season will feature:

• Award-winning and bestselling author and journalist Andrew Ross Sorkin
• Former U.S. Representative Liz Cheney
• Award-winning engineer of the famed Mars Rover “Perseverance” mission and real-life “Guardian of the Galaxy” Moogega Cooper
• Paleoanthropologist, evolutionary biologist and host of the BBC/PBS series “HUMAN” Ella Al-Shamahi

All events take place at 7 p.m. in the Mainstage Theatre in the Center for the Arts, North Campus.

The series kicks off Oct. 2 with bestselling author and journalist Andrew Ross Sorkin, whose presentation is titled “Inside the Story of 1929 – Writing Through the Wreckage of the American Dream.”

Sorkin is an award-winning journalist for The New York Times and a co-anchor of “Squawk Box,” CNBC’s signature morning program. He is also the founder and editor-at-large of DealBook, an online daily financial report published by The New York Times that he started in 2001.

‍He is the author of “1929: The Inside Story of the Greatest Crash in Wall Street History–and How It Shattered a Nation,” the instant New York Times bestseller praised as a “vivid and forensic account . . . a real eye-opener” (Financial Times). With unparalleled access to historical records and newly uncovered documents, Sorkin’s book takes readers inside the chaos of the crash, behind the scenes of a raging battle between Wall Street and Washington and the larger-than-life characters whose ambition and naivete in an endless boom led to disaster.

Sorkin is also the author of the landmark book “Too Big to Fail: How Wall Street and Washington Fought to Save the Financial System–and Themselves,” considered the definitive account of the 2008 financial crisis.

He is a co-creator of the drama series “Billions” on Showtime starring Paul Giamatti and Damien Lewis.

Sorkin is one of the preeminent interviewers in the nation, known for his incisive, nuanced long-form conversations with the biggest newsmakers in the world, from Elon Musk to LeBron James to Kim Kardashian and Hillary Clinton. In 2022, he won the Emmy award for Outstanding Live Interview for his DealBook Summit 2021 conversation with Adam Neumann, the WeWork co-founder’s first public interview after the company’s collapse.

Over the years, Sorkin has broken news of many major mergers and acquisitions in the pages of The Times and has been at the forefront of Wall Street news. He reported extensively on the financial crisis of 2008, its aftermath on Wall Street and the government bailout of major investment banks, with coverage including the collapse of Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers, and the A.I.G. bailout. He won a Gerald Loeb Award in 2004 for breaking the news of I.B.M.’s historic sale of its PC business to Lenovo.

Liz Cheney will take the stage Nov. 10 for “Defending Democracy: A Conversation with Liz Cheney.”

Cheney served as the U.S. representative for Wyoming's at-large congressional district from 2017 to 2023. She chaired the House Republican Conference, the third-highest position in the House Republican leadership, from 2019 to 2021, and served as the vice chair of the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol. She was also a member of the House Armed Services Committee, China Task Force, Natural Resources Committee and the House Committee on Rules.

Cheney previously served at the State Department as the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, and in positions for USAID and the Department of State working in Poland, Hungary, Russia and Ukraine. Cheney practiced law with White and Case and at the International Finance Corporation.

She is the author of the memoir “Oath and Honor,” which tells her firsthand account of the moment our democracy threatened to unravel and the story of the brave men and women who fought to save it. A specialist in national security and foreign policy, she is the co-author, along with her father, former Vice President Dick Cheney, of “Exceptional: Why the World Needs a Powerful America.”

Cheney received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Colorado College and received her juris doctor from the University of Chicago Law School. In 2022, Cheney, along with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, received the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library’s prestigious Profile in Courage Award, with a commendation for her “consistent and courageous voice in defense of democracy.”

Real life “Guardian of the Galaxy” Moogega “Moo” Cooper, who holds the awesome responsibility of keeping the red planet safe from any of the Earth’s contaminants, will visit UB on Feb. 11 as the 51st annual Martin Luther King Jr. Commemoration Keynote Speaker. Her presentation is titled “Limitless: From the Earth to the Stars.”

Cooper is the planetary protection lead of the famed NASA 2020 Mars mission—with a highly viewed landing on Feb. 18, 2021. Her work with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory is integral to the ongoing mission to discern whether Mars could be habitable for humans and that we don’t harm what’s already there — a job she has been working up to for most of her life. 

After graduating from high school at 16, Cooper studied physics as an undergraduate, received a master's degree and went on to earn her PhD in mechanical engineering at 24 years old with a dissertation on spacecraft materials.

Cooper is passionate about empowering organizations and others to achieve their dreams and overcome obstacles that she articulately conveys through her life story and love of her work.

A role model for women in science and technology, she is also passionate about introducing more people to the wonders of the STEAM world, including by talking about her work to boys and girls from underrepresented communities and appearing on shows like “Because Space” and “Bill Nye Saves the World.”

Cooper is a recipient of several awards, including the NASA Early Career Public Achievement Medal, the Charles Elachi Award for Exceptional Early Career Achievement and JPL Voyager Awards for Technical Leadership.

Palaeoanthropologist, evolutionary biologist and National Geographic Explorer Ella Al-Shamahi will close out the series on March 9 with a talk titled “Becoming Human.”

Al-Shamahi is a Neanderthal specialist with a passion for fossil hunting in paleolithic caves. A presenter on the BBC’s “Our Changing Planet” series, Al-Shamahi was also the presenter and associate producer for BBC’s two science series “Neanderthals: Meet Your Ancestors” and “Horizon: Body Clock.” She also hosted the National Geographic show “Viking Warrior Women” where—during filming—she discovered what might be the first evidence of a battle injury on a female Viking warrior.

Her debut book, “The Handshake” (2021), was recognized as a Times (UK) and Sunday Times (UK) Book of the Year. She also performs “nerdy” stand-up internationally and has taken four science comedy shows to the Edinburgh Fringe.

While she’s honed her dynamic storytelling skills as a globetrotting stand-up comedian and adventure TV host, it is her work leading expeditions into unstable and hostile territories that has given her unusual insight into our shared human history.

Dig in with Al-Shamahi — for what is sure to be an entertaining exploration — and uncover why we need to understand our recent ancestors’ failures in order to chart a better future.

Those who held 2025-26 series subscriptions (all events as a package) will receive an email about how to renew their subscriptions for 2026-27. Those who would like to purchase new series subscriptions may do so beginning at noon on July 29. Individual event tickets will be available for purchase beginning at noon on Aug. 12.

Both new subscriptions and individual event ticket orders may be placed through Ticketmaster or in-person at the UB Center for the Arts Ticket Office. More information about purchasing tickets is available on the Distinguished Speakers Series website’s tickets page.

UB students can purchase extremely discounted tickets to each event, while supplies last, starting on Aug. 12.

UB’s Distinguished Speakers Series has been bringing the world to UB audiences for more than 38 years. The 2026-27 sponsors include Presenting Sponsor Donald L. Davis Lectureship Fund and series sponsors The James Fenton Lecture Foundation, West Herr Auto Group, The Buffalo News, and the Library Foundation of Buffalo & Erie County.

Speaker and ticket information can be found on the Distinguished Speakers Series website.