UNH Today

The UNH Center for the Humanities is looking for its next great Sidore Series for the 2025–26 academic year. Could it be yours?

The Saul O Sidore Memorial Lecture Series was established in 1965 in memory of Saul O Sidore of Manchester, New Hampshire. Funded in part by an annual gift from the foundation that bears his name, the series has offered thought-provoking talks and events to the broad university community and the public for more than 30 years.

Although the series is sponsored by the Center for the Humanities, proposed series can be on any topic and do not need to come from a humanities field. The sole requirement is that they must raise critical — and even controversial — issues addressing urgent societal concerns. Past series have asked challenging questions such as "what is a criminal?" and "who owns the past?" They have addressed the opioid crisis, genomic research, public health and individual liberty, aging, violence against women, the drug wars and many other themes and topics.

This year, the series will focus on “Human Health, Planetary Health, and What Sustains Us.” A Sidore-sponsored symposium in March will provide perspectives (from scientists, philosophers, advocates and practitioners) on critical connections between the climate crisis, well-being, mental health, pay equity and other influences on wellness, both communal and individual.

Sidore has also had its lighter moments. Last year Danny Bedrosian '03 — music director for the pathbreaking Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award-winning funk band George Clinton and the Parliament Funkadelic (as well as their current keyboardist) and author of The Authorized P-Funk Song Reference, 1956-2023 — was joined by four other members of the band (including musical legend George Clinton himself) on campus for a once-in-a-lifetime concert for the UNH and local community in the Granite State Room.

Faculty, staff or teams (which can include students) can submit proposals for a series any time up until Nov. 13, 2024. The selected organizing team plans out the sequence of talks (usually a series across the year, but sometimes a symposium or one-time event), invites speakers and experts, and chooses their formats and venues. The center is not involved in planning once a team is selected but provides support and guidance and offers a generous budget to cover expenses, administration and publicity.