| January 25, 2005 |
John
Carroll University’s Office of Multicultural Affairs Presents
|
| What: | On Thursday, February 17, 2005, Michael Eric Dyson, Ph.D., best selling author, scholar and cultural critic, will speak on the campus of John Carroll University. Named one of the nation’s “50 most inspiring African-Americans,” “a superstar professor,” and a “street fighter in suit and tie,” Dr. Dyson, professor of religious studies and Africana studies at the University of Pennsylvania, brings his cultural and philosophical perspectives to the John Carroll campus. |
| Who: |
Michael Eric
Dyson, named by Essence magazine as one of the 50 most inspiring
African-Americans, has been dubbed by the Philadelphia Inquirer as "a
major American thinker and cultural critic." Dyson earned a Ph.D. from
Princeton University in Religion, and after teaching posts at Chicago
Theological Seminary, Brown University, the University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill, Columbia University and DePaul University, he is presently the
Avalon Foundation Professor in the Humanities, and Professor of Religious
Studies and Africana Studies, at the University of Pennsylvania. Dyson has written ten books in ten years, ranging from works in cultural criticism, race theory, religious thought, philosophical reflection and gender and sexual studies, to four books of "biocriticism" – works that use biography to probe social themes and cultural politics. These include Making Malcolm: the Myth and Meaning of Malcolm X, named a New York Times notable book of 1994 and one of the outstanding black books of the 20th century by Black Issues Book Review; I May Not Get There With You: The True Martin Luther King Jr., a national bestseller; Holler If You Hear Me: Searching For Tupac Shakur, his best selling treatment of the slain rapper and icon; and his most recent bestseller, Mercy, Mercy Me: The Art, Loves and Demons of Marvin Gaye. Dyson has also published The Michael Eric Dyson Reader and Why I Love Black Women, a national best seller that won the 2004 NAACP Image Award for outstanding nonfiction literary work. Michael Eric Dyson is also an ordained Baptist minister, formerly a radio commentator for NPR’s Tavis Smiley Show, contributing writer for Philadelphia Magazine, and a frequent guest on the nation’s leading cultural and political television shows. Before all of that, the former church pastor was a teen father on welfare in his native Detroit who worked in several factories before starting college at 21. That may explain why, despite being termed a "superstar professor" by the Washington Post, author Nathan McCall simply calls Dyson "a street fighter in suit and tie." |
| Where/When |
Kulas Auditorium John Carroll University 20700 North Park Blvd. University
Hts., Ohio 44118 7:00 p.m., Thursday, February 17, 2005 The Office of Multicultural Affairs John Carroll University 216-397-4185 www.jcu.edu/multicul |
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