| 2024 | Jad Abumrad, Journalist, composer, and creator of "Radiolab" and "Dolly Parton's America" |
| 2024 | Jaron Lanier, Bestselling author, VR pioneer, and “octopus” (Office of the Chief Technology Officer Prime Unifying Scientist) at Microsoft |
| 2023 | Anthony Doerr, New York Times Best-Selling Author |
| 2023 | Danielle Feinberg, Visual Effects Supervisor at Pixar and advocate for girls in STEM |
| 2022 | David E. Sanger, Journalist and Author |
| 2022 | Sterlin Harjo, Filmmaker and Writer |
| 2021 | Dr. Alfredo Quiñones-Hinojosa, Author and Neurosurgery Chair – Mayo Clinic |
| 2021 | Fran Lebowitz, Author of "Metropolitan Life" and "Social Studies" |
| 2020 | Wes Moore, Chief Executive Officer – Robin Hood Foundation |
| 2019 | Pablos Holman, Tech Futurist and Inventor |
| 2019 | David Grann, Author of "Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI" |
| 2018 | Eric Schlosser, Journalist and Author |
| 2018 | Janna Levin, Author and Cosmologist |
| 2017 | Evan Osnos, Investigative Journalist and Author |
| 2017 | Angélque Kidjo, Singer, Activist and Humanitarian |
| 2016 | Elaine Pagels, Author and Religion Scholar |
| 2016 | Dennis Lehane, Author of "Mystic River," "Shutter Island," and "Gone, Baby, Gone" |
| 2015 | Jared Diamond, Author of "Guns, Germs, and Steel" |
| 2015 | Erik Larson, Author of "Dead Wake" and "In the Garden of Beasts" |
| 2014 | Frank Wilczek, Physicist and Mathematician |
| 2014 | Charles C. Mann, Journalist and Author |
| 2013 | Robert Caro, Pulitzer Prize-winning Biographer |
| 2013 | Robert Sapolsky, Biologist and Neuroscientist |
| 2013 | P.J. O’Rourke, Author and Political Satirist |
| 2013 | Tony Kushner, Author and Playwright of "Angels in America" |
| 2012 | George Will, Pulitzer Prize-winning Columnist, Author and Political Commentator |
| 2012 | Carl Bernstein & Bob Woodward, Journalists and Coauthors of "All the President’s Men" |
| 2012 | Michael Tilson Thomas, GRAMMY-winning Musician and Conductor |
| 2011 | Henning Mankell, Author of Kurt Wallander Series |
| 2011 | Michael Ondaatje, Author of "The English Patient" and "Divisadero" |
| 2011 | Jonathan Franzen, Author of "Freedom" and "The Corrections" |
| 2010 | Stephen Sondheim, Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning Composer and Lyricist |
| 2010 | Frank Rich, Former Op-Ed Columnist, The New York Times; Writer-at-large, New York Magazine |
| 2010 | C. Owen Lovejoy, Professor of Anthropology, Kent State University |
| 2010 | Nicholas Kristof, Pulitzer Prize-winning Columnist, The New York Times |
| 2009 | Billy Collins, Former U.S. Poet Laureate |
| 2009 | Lisa Randall, Theoretical Physicist, Harvard University |
| 2009 | Ismail Serageldin, Director, Library of Alexandria, Egypt |
| 2008 | Scott Simon, Peabody Award-winning Correspondent and Host, National Public Radio |
| 2008 | Tim Blake Nelson, Actor, Director and Writer |
| 2008 | Cokie Roberts, Political Analyst, ABC News and Senior News Analyst, National Public Radio |
| 2008 | Azar Nafisi, Professor and Author of "Reading Lolita in Tehran" |
| 2007 | Kip S. Thorne, Theoretical Physicist |
| 2007 | Nina Totenberg, Legal Affairs Correspondent, National Public Radio |
| 2005 | George J. Mitchell, Former U.S. Senate Majority Leader |
| 2004 | Richard Preston, Author of "The Hot Zone" and "The Cobra Event" |
| 2003 | Calvin Trillin, Humorist, Author and Thurber Prize Recipient, 2012 |
| 2002 | Ronald M. George, Chief Justice, California Supreme Court, Retired |
| 2001 | Seamus Heaney, Poet, Writer and Nobel Prize Laureate, 1995 |
