Dr. Stacie Bloom, incoming president of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, will serve as the speaker for the 47^th Pullias Lecture on Tuesday, April 7, 2026 at the University of Southern California (USC).

Prior to assuming the helm of the Sloan Foundation in January 2026, Dr. Bloom led the research planning, strategy, commercialization, and operations across all fields of discovery at New York University, including its many schools, colleges and global campuses. During her tenure, Bloom focused on driving research excellence, increasing the number of research-active faculty, facilitating entrepreneurship and innovation, and dramatically increasing research partnerships.

Dr. Bloom is scheduled to speak to the role of philanthropy in supporting higher education — and science, more broadly — in not just surviving, but thriving, through the challenging times facing many colleges and universities.

“Stacie Bloom has a unique and powerful perspective for the 2026 Pullias Lecture,” noted Pullias Center co-director Julie Posselt. “Her sustained intellectual leadership is very much aligned with the Pullias Center’s strategy of advancing public and private research relationships to benefit higher education and society.”

Dr. Bloom joins a long list of esteemed speakers for the Pullias Lecture, which this year will be held at USC’s Town and Gown Ballroom. Past Pullias Lecture speakers include SUNY Chancellor John B. King, (then) UC President Janet Napolitano, and Shirley Malcom of AAAS. The first Pullias Lecture, held in 1979, featured Norman Topping M.D., who served as president of USC from 1958-1970, and chancellor from 1971-1979.

Reservations for the free, lunch-time event will open in February 2026.