Ada Palmer, Associate Professor of Early Modern European History, delivers the 2023 Nuveen Lecture.

Palmer’s work in intellectual history explores how history and thought shape each other over time. She focuses on the Italian Renaissance, a time when ideas about science, religion, and the world that had developed in the Middle Ages met those of the ancient world, reconstructed from rediscovered sources.

The John Nuveen Lecture was established in 1972 by the Trustees of the Baptist Theological Union, which oversees an endowment that helps to support the University of Chicago Divinity School. Each year, a prominent member of the University’s faculty is invited by the Divinity School to deliver the lecture.

John S. Nuveen was one of Chicago’s most important and influential business leaders as well as a civic leader who served his country in a number of posts, here and abroad. He was active in Chicago-area civic and cultural organizations. He also had deep ties to a number of educational institutions, including the University of Chicago. He served as chairman of the University of Chicago’s Alumni Association and as a trustee of the Baptist Theological Union.