Ellis Paul is a guitar-carrying reporter of the human condition, transforming stories of hope, love, and loss into luminous songs that blend deeply personal experience with timely social issues. His music has appeared in blockbuster films including Me, Myself & Irene, Shallow Hal, and Hall Pass, and has been covered by Sugarland, Kristian Bush, and Jack Ingram.

Paul’s honors include the prestigious Kerrville New Folk Award, 15 Boston Music Awards, the 2019 International Acoustic Music Awards Artist of the Year, and NERFA’s 2019 Album of the Year for The Storyteller’s Suitcase. His 2023 album 55 explores gratitude amid challenging times. Paul is currently writing his first young-adult science-fiction fantasy novel, The Last Song Mankind Wrote.

Events in the series have been funded by the Frederica G. Esbenshade Memorial Fund, which provides annual income for the purpose of bringing lectures, performing artists, and programs of a diverse nature to the campus and community at large. The endowed fund was established in 1980 by Harry H Esbenshade Sr., and Harry H. Esbenshade Jr., husband and son, respectively, of the late Mrs. Esbenshade of Uniontown, Pa. All events are free and open to the public.