The University of California’s Clark Kerr lecture series, on the role of higher education in society, is coming to UC Davis for the first time. UC Berkeley’s Center for Studies in Higher Education coordinates the series, named after the late UC president.

The 2009 speaker is Hanna Holborn Gray, president emeritus of the University of Chicago (1978-93) and the Harry Pratt Judson Distinguished Professor of History at that university.

The Kerr series, held every two years, comprises three addresses, with the first two at UC Berkeley. This year’s Berkeley addresses: “The Uses of the University Revisited,” Nov. 16; and “Uses (and Misuses) of the University Today,” Nov. 18. Both are scheduled for 4 p.m. in the auditorium of the Berkeley Art Museum.

The series concludes Nov. 20 in the Vanderhoef Studio Theatre, Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts, with a 4 p.m. talk: “Searching for Utopia.”

All of the talks are free and open to the public. More information: cshe.berkeley.edu (click on “Events”).

UC Davis’ Cristina Gonzalez, a professor of Spanish and classics, described Kerr as “probably the greatest American university president of the 20th century.” Gonzalez is an affiliate of Berkeley’s Center for Studies in Higher Education, and she is writing a book on Kerr.

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