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Each year, the Robert L. Hell Scholar-in-Residence Program invites to campus a distinguished individual representative of an academic discipline at the college. During Hess Week, the scholar-in-residence is introduced to students and faculty through a series of lectures, discussions, and special events.
Author and Activist Barbara Smith Served as Brooklyn College’s 2022–23 Hess Scholar-in-Residence
Paul Ortiz is a professor of history at the University of Florida and will serve as Brooklyn College’s Robert L. Hess Scholar in Residence for 2024.
MSNBC legal analyst Melissa Murray, pictured here with Michelle J. Anderson, delivered the Samuel J. Konefsky Memorial Lecture, "Dobbs, Democracy and Distrust" on campus in the fall.
Accompanied by Conservatory of Music Associate Professor Malcolm Merriweather and a 10-member choir, mezzo-soprano Lucia Bradford performs at the keynote address of feminist and activist Barbara Smith, the Hess Scholar in Residence. The event took place on March 16 at the Claire Tow Theater in the Leonard & Claire Tow Center for the Performing Arts.
Russell Jeung, Brooklyn College’s 2025-26 Hess Scholar-in-Residence, is Professor of Asian American Studies at San Francisco State University and co-founder of Stop AAPI Hate.
The Wolfe Institute will be hosting events throughout the academic year to introduce Russell Jeung to our campus community in anticipation of his residency during the week of March 16, 2026.
Learn more about Russell Jeung
The Robert L. Hess Scholar-in-Residence Program, established by Brooklyn College, is supported by the Robert L. Hess Fund. The program serves as a permanent tribute to the scholarly commitment of Robert L. Hess, exemplified during his tenure as president of Brooklyn College. It represents the ideal of the educated individual—knowledgeable, thoughtful, inquiring, alive to the shared purposes and concerns lining all intellectual pursuits. More particularly, it evokes the scholarly and academic virtues embodied in the curriculum at Brooklyn College.
The purpose of the program is to invite to the campus each year a distinguished individual representative of an academic discipline at the college, with the selection of such scholars being rotated through the disciplines. The distinction of the scholars in residence is based on their accomplishments and stature, not on their affiliation; they may be drawn from the academy, from the professions, or from public life. They must be able to speak to issues of their disciplines as well as significant issues of concern to the entire Brooklyn College community.
The scholar in residence engages in a variety of activities appropriate to the discipline, whether public lectures, performances, master classes, or guest lectures in undergraduate courses; participates in panels or symposia; and meets informally and socially with students, members of the faculty, alumni, and friends of Brooklyn College.
The Brooklyn College Library has received the Ethiopian and African history collection from the library of Robert L. Hess. A portion of the Robert L. Hess Fund is set aside for the conservation and enhancement of this collection.
