Vernon L. Pack ’50 Distinguished Lecture and Scholar-in-Residence Program
The Vernon L. Pack ’50 Distinguished Lecture and Scholar-in-Residence program was established in 2002 through a generous gift from alumnus Vernon L. Pack, a 1950 graduate of the University. A distinguished lecturer visits campus to address important current issues that will allow the Otterbein community to reflect on ethical, spiritual and social issues. In alternate years, an esteemed scholar is invited to campus to reside for up to one academic year in order to provide an educational enrichment experience for Otterbein students.
2025 Vernon L. Pack ’50 Lecture: Sean Astin
Otterbein University is proud to host acclaimed actor and activist Sean Astin for its Vernon L. Pack ’50 Distinguished Lecture at 6 p.m. on Monday, April 14, in the Fritsche Theatre at Cowan Hall, 30 S. Grove St., Westerville. Astin’s lecture, Using Your Voice in Today’s Political Conversation. Tickets are free. Limit of five per person. (Tickets open to public on April 7.)
Sean Astin is an acclaimed American film and television actor. Astin is best known for his classic and beloved characters – the ever-faithful Samwise Sam Gamgee in The Lord of the Rings trilogy and American working-class hero, Rudy. Astin made his feature film debut in the wildly popular 1980s classic The Goonies as the leader of an unlikely band of adolescent treasure hunters. In 2004, Astin flexed his comedy muscles as the steroid challenged Doug Whitmore in the Sony Pictures hit comedy 50 First Dates.
He went on to become a fan favorite portraying Bob Newby in season two of Netflix’s hit series Stranger Things. Currently, Astin plays Tyler, Becky’s boyfriend on ABC’s The Conners, as the venerable series comes to a close after 17 years.
The Academy Award nominee and Screen Actors Guild Award-winning actor made his Broadway debut for the 2024 holiday season as Santa in Elf: The Musical.
Astin is the son of luminary performers Patty Duke and John Astin, and the brother of seasoned actor Mackenzie Astin.
For over four decades, Sean Astin has thrived in the world of independent cinema with meaningful performances in richly diverse films: Staying Together (1989), Where The Day Takes (1992), The Low Life (1995), Bigger Than The Sky (2005), Smile (2005), Forever Strong (2008), Amazing Love: The Story of Hosea (2012), The Surface (2014), Mom’s Night Out (2014), Woodlawn (2015), The Lears (2017), Gloria Bell (2018) with Julianne Moore, Charming The Hearts of Men (2021) opposite Kelsey Grammer, Hard Miles (2023), iMordecai (2023) opposite Judd Hirsch and Carol Kane, and The Shift (2024).
Astin is well known to television audiences, having performed in long form programs such as the title character in the adaptation of Kurt Vonnegut’s Harrison Bergeron and in the adaptation of Terry Pratchet’s legendary book, The Color of Magic. Astin has appeared as a series regular notably in Guillermo Del Toro’s The Strain (FX) and the Best Drama Award-winning fifth season of 24 (Fox), as well as J. Michael Straczynski’s Jeremiah (Showtime). He has guest starred on many familiar dramatic programs including Monk, Law and Order, The Librarians, Supergirl and The Alphas.
Astin has enjoyed working on many television comedies; he played lead character Ed Thompson for 20 episodes of Netflix’s throwback situation comedy No Good Nick. He has also guest starred on many shows, including The Big Bang Theory, Brooklyn 99 and Franklin & Bash.
The veteran actor recently narrated Dreamworks’ original series Captain Underpants and has voiced many animated characters in films and television including Raphael in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Nickelodeon), Bunnicula (WB), Justice League (WB), Special Agent Oso (Disney), Micronauts (Paramount) and Minecraft: Story Mode (Telltale).
Astin directed and produced the short film Kangaroo Court, which earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Live Action Short Film. Astin also directed and produced the live action short film The Long and Short of It, an official entry in the Sundance Film Festival. Astin has journeyed into episodic television, directing episodes of Angel (WB) and Jeremiah (Showtime). In 2019 Astin reprised his iconic role of Daniel “Rudy” Ruettiger as Colonel Sanders in KFC’s ‘Rudy II’ commercial ads
Astin is an avid long-distance runner and triathlete. He completed the IRONMAN World Championship Triathlon in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, on Oct. 10, 2015. He has also completed 12 full marathons including the 2016 New York City Marathon in honor of his late mother, Patty Duke, for her life’s work as an advocate for mental health. Learn more at www.seanastin.com.
Sean Astin
Previous Lectures
- 2002 – Doris Kerns Goodwin, acclaimed historian and Pulitzer Prize in history winner for No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front in World War II.
- 2004 – Fareed Zakaria, editor of Newsweek International and host of CNN’s international affairs program Fareed Zakaria GPS.
- 2005 – Alan Lightman, noted physicist and critically acclaimed author of Einstein’s Dreams.
- 2008 – Ed Begley Jr., actor and environmentalist.
- 2010 – Dee Dee Myers, White House press secretary under President Clinton from 1993-1994, political analyst and commentator, and author of Why Women Should Rule the World. Myers is an expert on the issues facing women in Washington and in leadership positions of all kinds.
- 2012 – Steven Pinker, Harvard University professor, best-selling author and Pulitzer Prize finalist. He has been listed on TIME magazine’s “100 Most Influential People in The World” and Foreign Policy magazine’s list of “The World’s Top 100 Public Intellectuals.”
- 2014 – Sir Salman Rushdie, one of the most celebrated authors of our time. He penned a handful of classic novels, influenced a generation of writers, and received a Queen’s Knighthood for “services to literature.” He stands as both a pop culture icon and one of the most thought-provoking proponents for free speech today. His novels include Midnight’s Children, The Satanic Verses, The Moor’s Last Sigh, The Ground Beneath Her Feet and The Enchantress of Florence.
- 2016 – Amy Goodman, award-winning investigative journalist, author, and syndicated columnist. She is the host of Democracy Now!, airing on more than 1400 public television and radio stations worldwide.
- 2018 – Piper Kerman, bestselling author of “Orange is the New Black” and criminal justice reform activist.
- 2020: Postposed due to Covid-19.
- 2021: Nikole Hannah-Jones, Pulitzer Prize-winning creator of the 1619 Project and a staff writer at The New York Times Magazine, and Jonathan Kozol, author of the New York Times Bestseller, The Shame of the Nation, educator, and activist.
- 2023: Heather McGhee, educator, serving currently as a visiting lecturer in urban studies at the City University of New York’s School of Labor and Urban Studies.
- 2024: Brian D. Smedley, an equity scholar and senior fellow at the Urban Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, where he conducts research and policy analysis to address structural and institutional forms of racism that impact the health and well-being of people of color.
Distinguished Scholars-in-Residence
- 2003 – Valentine Moghadam, a professor born in Iran, who conducts research regarding development, social change, and gender in the Middle East, North Africa, and Afghanistan.
- 2005 – Lois Raimondo, an internationally-known photojournalist and Pulitzer Prize finalist nominee for her work on the New York City Mitchell Lama housing project for New York Newsday.
- 2007 – Wande Abimbola, President of the International Congress of Orisa Tradition and Culture, and world-renowned expert on Ifa, a West African sacred divinatory and literary system.
- 2009 – Richard Alley, an acclaimed geologist who conducts research on environmental issues including abrupt climate changes, glaciers, ice sheet collapse and sea level change.
- 2011 – Harrell Fletcher, renowned visual and conceptual artist and recipient of the 2005 Alpert Award in Visual Arts.
- 2013 – Robert Fefferman, acclaimed mathematician in the field of harmonic analysis and its applications to elliptic partial differential equations and its relationship to probability theory.
- 2015 – Bonny Norton, Professor and Distinguished University Scholar in the Department of Language and Literacy Education at the University of British Columbia, Her highly cited book, Identity and Language Learning (2000/2013) has introduced novel conceptions of identity to the field of language education.
- 2017 – Bryonn Bain, prison reform activist, actor, author, hip hop theater innovator and spoken word poetry champion.
- 2019 – Winona LaDuke, Native American activist, environmentalist, and former Green Party vice presidential candidate.
- 2022 – Libby Larsen, one of America’s most performed living composers.
