Provocative public intellectual and groundbreaking author Dr. Cornel West to speak at Greater Allegheny Campus.
Penn State Greater Allegheny will host Dr. Cornel West for its Annual Crossing Bridges Summit Speakers Series on Friday, October 25, 2019 starting at 7:00 PM in the Wunderley Gymnasium, 4000 University Drive McKeesport, PA 15132. West will be joined on stage by Johnathan White, Lecturer of history, for a fireside chat discussing topics to include equity, race and social justice and coalition building.
“Attendees to this year’s event can expect to hear [from Dr. West] courageous speech driven by a lifelong love of truth and a fierce solidarity with those harmed by racism,” said Michael Vicaro, Associate Professor of Communications and Crossing Bridges committee member. “He offers a vision of how to resist injustice and social misery through the transformative power of love.”
West is a Professor of the Practice of Public Philosophy at Harvard University and Professor Emeritus at Princeton University. He graduated Magna Cum Laude from Harvard in three years and obtained his M.A. and Ph.D. in Philosophy at Princeton. His most recent book, Black Prophetic Fire, offers an unflinching look at nineteenth and twentieth-century African American leaders and their visionary legacies.
Prior to West’s appearance on stage, Penn State Greater Allegheny will pay tribute to two individuals who dedicated their careers to advancing equity and access for students of color. Dr. James B. Stewart, Professor Emeritus and the late Dr. W. Terrel Jones both served as Vice-Provost of the University’s Equity Office and were instrumental in supporting the campus’ African American Male Mentoring Program (AAMMP), now in its 10th year.
“Drs. Stewart and Jones were instrumental in supporting various mentoring initiatives for diverse student populations,” said Anthony B. Mitchell, Associate Teaching Professor of African and African American Studies, and Co-founder of AAMMP. “Their transformational leadership in Educational Equity guided Penn State’s system-wide frameworks for valuing diversity equity and inclusion. They were visionaries and role models of educational excellence for their contemporaries and generations of students and future scholars.”
The Crossing Bridges Summit will conclude on Saturday, October 26 at 9:00am with a seminar entitled American Conqueror. American Victim. American Citizen: A Symposium Examining the Intellectual, Social, Material, and Psychological Status of Black Males in America.
The Crossing Bridges Summit began in 2017 and engages faculty, staff and students with community members to address racial divides in the region. The Summit Pillars are the Speakers Series, Summit Talks, student-led Unity Talks, and a Visiting Scholar program.
The event is free and open to the public, but tickets to the Friday and Saturday events are required. To reserve your ticket, visit www.tinyurl.com/CROSSINGBRIDGESWEST.
