Yale University Professor, 1968 Furman University alumnus and former Furman trustee Robert Blocker will present the annual L.D. Johnson Lecture on “What Really Matters?” Thursday, March 20, at 6:30 p.m. in Daniel Memorial Chapel on the Furman campus. The event is free and open to the public.

Since 1985, the L.D. Johnson Lecture on “What Really Matters?” has offered the Furman community the opportunity to hear from both Furman alumni and faculty on the issue of what matters most and how that impacts our culture and ways of being in the world.

This lecture, “What Really Matters: Love,” challenges attendees to reflect, analyze and engage their thinking and practices as civic citizens, coworkers and friends. Blocker’s work in the arts and as an academic leader enable him to address the issue of how love matters in the ways we see, understand and navigate our world today. The event provides the Furman community with an opportunity to interact with a distinguished scholar and Furman alum who will address a larger cultural issue. Blocker will share his experiences, training and research, offering insights into why this issue is pertinent to our work and on the broader world stage.

Described by the Los Angeles Times as an artist of “great skill and accomplishment,” Blocker, the William Edward Gilbert Professor of Piano at Yale University, has forged an inspired career as a transformative academic leader, an accomplished pianist and an impassioned educator. He also holds appointments in Yale’s School of Management as affiliate professor of leadership strategies and as senior advisor to the president of Yale. From 1995 to 2023, he served as the Henry and Lucy Moses Dean of Music and Professor of Piano at the Yale School of Music. In 1999, he was awarded South Carolina’s highest civilian honor, the Order of the Palmetto.

Learn more about Blocker at Yale University.

For more information, please contact Vaughn CroweTipton, associate vice president, associate professor, and university chaplain at Furman University at vaughn.crowetipton@furman.edu and 864-294-2133.