Allman Family Lecture

The Allman Family Lecture is a yearly lecture that connects SMU students, faculty and the greater Dallas community with highly acclaimed professionals and academic leaders prominent in interdisciplinary fields. The Lecture is made possible by the generous support of Pierce M. Allman, who endowed the lectureship in 1990.

The Lecture is typically held in October each year and is free and open to the public.

The 2026 Allman Family Lecture will be on October 15^th, 2026. Dr. Pamela Ronald is a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Plant Pathology and the Genome Center at the University of California, Davis. She is recognized for her research on plant genes controlling disease resistance and stress tolerance, with a focus on climate-resilient agriculture and global food security. The lecture will take place in the Underwood Law Library, room 103 located at 6550 Hillcrest Ave. Registration can be found here.

Feeding the World: Engineering Rice for Changing Climate

Climate change is placing unprecedented pressure on the crops that feed the world, altering patterns of disease, flooding, and drought in ways that threaten global food security. Professor Pamela Ronald, a leader in plant genetics research at UC Davis, will describe her research identifying the genes that allow crops to withstand disease and environmental stress, including her discovery of the flood-tolerant Sub1 rice variety now grown by millions of smallholder farmers across Asia. Her talk will explore the science behind climate-resilient agriculture, efforts to reduce agriculture's environmental footprint, and will offer her perspective on genetics, sustainability, and the future of food.