The Trindle Fellow Lecture Series, hosted by Brown Residential College, is funded by the Trindle Endowment, which was created in 2008 by UVA alumni in honor of Carl Trindle, the first Director of Studies and former Principal of Brown College and UVA Professor Emeritus of Chemistry, on the occasion of his retirement from UVA and in gratitude for the profound impact he has had on numerous generations of students over his twenty-plus years of service to Brown College.

One particular aspect of Professor Trindle’s impact is his ability to bring the sciences and the humanities—which so often seem separated by a deep abyss—into rich and fruitful conversation, and then draw students into that conversation. In recognition of this particular aspect of Professor Trindle’s impact on students’ lives and education, the Trindle Fellow Lecture Series hosts speakers who also display that rare ability to build bridges across the arts and sciences.

Visiting Trindle Fellows offer a public lecture or reading of their work and meet with Brown College students. A short course or reading group focused on the Trindle Fellow’s work is usually offered preceding their visit to prepare students to engage meaningfully in this powerful opportunity.

Past Trindle lecturers have included physicist and novelist Alan Lightman (2022), science philosopher and novelist Rebecca Newberger Goldstein (2015), Nobel Prize winner in chemistry and poet Roald Hoffman (2012), and environmental and human rights activist and writer Rebecca Solnit (2010).