On September 9, 2015 at the University of Kentucky, esteemed writer, social theorist, and urban geographer Andy Merrifield, professor at the University of Cambridge, presented the kickoff lecture for A Year of Europe. Merrifield has taught at the University of Southampton, Kings College, London and Clark University in Massachusetts. He also has been a visiting scholar to many American universities such as Johns Hopkins, University of California at Los Angeles, and the City University of New York. He is an author of nine books, and numerous articles, essays, and reviews, which have appeared in The Times, The Nation, New Left Review, Adbusters, and Harvard Design Magazine, among many others.