As a part of continuing the institution鈥檚 commitment to educating students in an engaging and holistic way, the 精东AV Lyceum Series has been revamped. The series聽will feature notable headliners that will educate, enlighten and entertain both the university and surrounding communities.聽
The series is part of the Student Engagement Initiatives program, which is among the institution鈥檚 priorities on 精东AV's vision document. The mission of the Lyceum Series is to engage students, faculty, staff, and the greater 精东AV community. The high caliber features are aimed at enriching the overall education experience for audiences.聽
Below are the performers and speakers from the 2016-2017聽academic year.
AUGUST 2016
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Dr. Mae Carol Jemison is an American physician, professor and NASA astronaut. After medical school she opened a general practice, then served in the Peace Corps from 1985 until 1987, when she was selected by NASA to join the astronaut corps. She became the first African-American woman to travel in space aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour on September 12, 1992. She was a NASA Science Mission Specialist performing experiments in material science, life science and human adaptation to weightlessness. She resigned from NASA in 1993 and founded a company researching the application of technology to daily life. She has appeared on television, including as an actress in an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. She is a dancer and holds nine honorary doctorates in science, engineering, letters, and the humanities.
Date: Thursday, August 25, 2016 | Time: 6:30 pm | Place: Chappie James Center Arena
SEPTEMBER 2016
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Jamaican born and Brooklyn bred, Stogie Kenyatta is a character actor with authentic Jamaican, British and African dialects. He was trained at the Afro Am. Studio in Harlem, Henry St. Settlement and Al Fann Theatrical Ensemble. He was a finalist in the N.Y. State Theatre competition with artistic director, John Houseman, and also studied Screenwriting & Political Science at the University of California & later and privately with Ivan Markota at the Van Mar Academy for Television & Film Acting. He amassed over 30 television credits from sit-coms, and film to soap operas. 聽In 1994 he took to the stage as a stand up comedian and began performing at comedy clubs around the country. His other appearances include the Gulf of Mexico, the South of France, London and a USO Comedy Tour in Tokyo, Japan and Okinawa. As a screenwriter Stogie has written several screenplay鈥檚 some of which were optioned. He is also the Writer/Artist of the acclaimed One Man Show on the life of Paul Robeson: 鈥淭he World is my Home 鈥� The Life of Paul Robeson.鈥�
Acclaimed One Man Broadway Show | Date: Friday, September 23, 2016 | Time: 7:00 pm | Place: Logan Hall
OCTOBER 2016
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Kevin Powell is an American contemporary activist, writer and public speaker. Powell starred in one of the first reality shows on television. He is a founding staff member and senior writer of Vibe magazine, where his interview and profile subjects ranged from Colin Powell to Tupac Shakur. He is the publisher of numerous books, including the collection of political and pop culture writings, Barack Obama, Ronald Reagan, and the Ghost of Dr. King: Blogs and Essays. Powell鈥檚 diverse body of literary work includes articles, essays, blogs and reviews for audiences of Essence, Rolling Stone, Newsweek, Esquire, the Washington Post, the Amsterdam News and huffingtonpost.com.聽
Date: Wednesday, October 12, 2016 | Time: 6:30 pm | Place: Chappie James Center Arena
JANUARY 2017
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KRoland Martin is an American journalist, syndicated columnist, and author. He is a commentator for TV One and host of News One Now, a one-hour weekday morning news show. He was also a CNN contributor, appearing on a variety of shows, including the Situation Room, Anderson Cooper's AC360, and many others. In October 2008, he joined the Tom Joyner Morning Show as senior analyst. He has authored several books including: Speak, Brother! A Black Man's View of America, Listening to the Spirit Within: 50 Perspectives on Faith and The First: President Barack Obama's Road to the White House as originally reported by Roland S. Martin.
Date: Monday, January 16, 2017 | Time: 1:00 pm | Place: Chappie James Center Arena
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Bryan Stevenson is an American lawyer, social justice activist, the executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) in Montgomery, Alabama, and a professor of law at New York University School of Law. He has won relief for dozens of condemned prisoners, argued five times before the Supreme Court, and won national acclaim for his work challenging bias against the poor and people of color. Under his leadership, EJI has won major legal challenges eliminating excessive and unfair sentencing, exonerating innocent death row prisoners, confronting abuse of the incarcerated and the mentally ill and aiding children prosecuted as adults. Stevenson is the author of the critically acclaimed book Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption, named by Time magazine as one of the "10 Best Books of Nonfiction" for 2014. It won the 2015 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction and the 2015 Dayton Literary Peace Prize for Nonfiction.
Topic: Just Mercy | Date: Tuesday, January 31, 2017 | Time: 6:30 pm | Place: Chappie James Center Arena
FEBRUARY 2017
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Dr. Synthia Saint James is a visual artist, author, keynote speaker, and educator who is best known for the original cover art of the hardcover edition of Terry McMillan's book Waiting to Exhale, and for designing the first Kwanzaa stamp for the United States Postal Service, which was first issued in 1997. Her artwork has also been included in International Group Exhibitions since 1980 in such countries as Paris, France, Seoul, Korea, Stockholm, Sweden, Quebec, Canada, and Poland. She has received various honors and awards such as the NAACP Image Award Nominee, the Honorary Doctorate from St. Augustine's University, 聽She is the author and illustrator for numerous children's books and adult literature.
Topic: A Talk with the Artist, Reception & Master Painting Session | Date: Thursday & Saturday, February 16 & 18, 2017聽
Feb. 16 - Time: 6pm-8pm - A Talk with the Artist & Reception |聽Kenny Hall Auditorium & Legacy Museum
Feb. 18 - Time: 11am-1pm - Master Painting Session with Dr. Saint James | Tompkins Hall Ballroom聽(Registration Required)聽
MARCH 2017
For more than forty years, Ailey II has merged the spirit and energy of the country鈥檚 best young dance talent with the passion and creative vision of today鈥檚 most outstanding emerging choreographers. Started in 1974 as the Alvin Ailey Repertory Ensemble, Ailey II embodies Alvin Ailey鈥檚 pioneering mission to establish an extended cultural community that provides dance performances, training and community programs for all people. Mr. Ailey personally selected the veteran dancer Sylvia Waters to lead this junior company, and as its Artistic Director for 38 years, she developed Ailey II into one of America鈥檚 most popular dance companies. In June 2012, Ms. Waters retired and named her longtime associate Troy Powell as the new Artistic Director. With Mr. Powell at the helm, Ailey II continues to thrive as he brings a fresh dimension to this beloved company.
The critically-acclaimed Ailey II has a distinctive repertory that has included works by dance masters Alvin Ailey, Talley Beatty, Donald Byrd, Ulysses Dove, George W. Faison, Lar Lubovitch, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater Artistic Director Robert Battle and Artistic Director Emerita Judith Jamison. The company has also performed innovative works by rising choreographers such as Kyle Abraham, Jennifer Archibald, and Manuel Vignoulle. Touring throughout the United States and abroad, Ailey II will reach dozens of cities during its 2016-2017 tour.聽
Dance Performance 聽| Date: Sunday, March 19, 2017 | Time: 7:00 p.m.| Place: Logan Hall
Kevin Young is the author of ten books of poetry, including Book of Hours, winner of the Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize from the Academy of American Poets and a finalist for the Kingsley Tufts Award; Ardency: A Chronicle of the Amistad Rebels, winner of a 2012 American Book Award; and Jelly Roll: A Blues, a finalist for the National Book Award. He is also the editor of The Hungry Ear: Poems of Food & Drink and seven other collections. His book The Grey Album: On the Blackness of Blackness won the Graywolf Nonfiction Prize, was a New York Times Notable Book and a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for criticism, and won the PEN Open Book Award. He is currently the Charles Howard Candler Professor of Creative Writing and English and curator of both Literary Collections and the Raymond Danowski Poetry Library at Emory University.
Ralph Ellison Lecture | Date: Wednesday, March 29, 2017 | Time: 3:00 pm | Kellogg Hotel & Conference Center Auditorium
APRIL 2017
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Dr. Monica Hairston O'Connell is an independent scholar, writer, and diversity consultant. Her interest is in black American musical culture and the infrastructural issues and challenges that face musicians and scholars of color. She is concerned with institutional diversity, resilience, and relevance and seeks to bring to light the examination of those institutional practices. She also served as the executive director of the Center for Black Music Research at Columbia College in Chicago.
Date: Saturday, April 1, 2017 | Time: 1:00 pm | Place: Kellogg Hotel & Conference Center