Award-winning journalist and anchor Anderson Cooper is coming to Vanderbilt’s campus on March 21, and comedian and political satirist Ziwe Fumudoh is coming to Vanderbilt on March 26 to speak at the 60th anniversary of the IMPACT Symposium.
The events will be at 7:30 p.m. in Langford Auditorium on their respective dates. Tickets are free for the Vanderbilt community and must be reserved in advance.
As it has been since its creation six decades ago, IMPACT is managed by the student-run Vanderbilt Programming Board.
Anderson Cooper
Thursday, March 21
7:30 p.m. Langford Auditorium
Reserve tickets for Anderson Cooper >>>
Anderson Cooper is the anchor of CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360°, as well as a correspondent for CBS’s 60 Minutes. He has won numerous awards, including 18 Emmy Awards. Cooper graduated from Yale University in 1989.
Cooper is the great-great-great-grandson of Vanderbilt University’s founder Cornelius Vanderbilt and recently wrote Vanderbilt: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty.
Ziwe Fumudoh
Tuesday, March 26
7:30 p.m. Langford Auditorium
Ziwe Fumudoh is a comedian, writer and satirist best known for her commentary on politics, race relations and young adulthood. She can be found on social media platforms, including a show on YouTube, with her most recent guest being expelled U.S. Rep. George Santos, R-NY. Fumudoh also has a variety show on Showtime and recently released a book of humorous essays, Black Friend.
Fumudoh is a 2014 graduate of Northwestern University, where she studied African American studies, poetry and film.
LEGACY OF IMPACT
The student-led IMPACT Symposium was established 60 years ago to bring leaders and intellectuals from around the world to Vanderbilt University to encourage discussion on issues affecting our world.
The symposium has welcomed almost 200 speakers, including Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Stokely Carmichael, Barry Goldwater and George Wallace, Edward Kennedy and George McGovern, Allen Ginsberg and William F. Buckley; former U.S. presidents Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford, former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and former Secretary of State Gen. Colin Powell; and influencers like Spike Lee, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Common.
- Read more about the legacy of the IMPACT Symposium
- See a list of speakers from 60 years of IMPACT Symposiums
- Learn more about the events sponsored by the Vanderbilt Programming Board
