IIlinois chancellor to address diversity issues

Nancy Cantor, chancellor of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, will examine diversity issues in “Exploring the Human Experience: Beyond Differences” when the President’s Lecture Series resumes Jan. 26. The program will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Lenhart Grand Ballroom of the Bowen-Thompson Student Union.

Cantor is a specialist in the fields of personal and social psychology, personality and cognition. A fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, she is also a member of the Institute of Medicine at the National Academy of Sciences. She is a recipient of the Distinguished Scientific Award for an Early Career Contribution to Science from the American Psychological Association, and the Woman of the Year Award from the Anti-Defamation League.

Cantor recently served on the Congressional Commission on Military Training and Gender-Related Issues. She chairs the board of directors of the American Association for Higher Education, and is a member of the National Advisory Board of the National Survey of Student Engagement. She has also served on numerous other committees and boards at the national level.

Before becoming chancellor at Illinois, she was provost and executive vice president of academic affairs at the University of Michigan. Also at Michigan, she served as dean of the Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studies and vice provost for academic affairs. Earlier in her career, Cantor was chair of the psychology department at Princeton University.

“Leadership and Civic Engagement in the Information Age” is the theme of this year’s President’s Lecture Series, which is coordinated by University Libraries. The series will continue March 2 with author and teacher Erin Gruwell, who will discuss overcoming adversity in academic achievement.

The environment and civil rights to be topic of panel program

"The Environment and Civil Rights: Race and Class" is the topic of the 2004 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Tribute Program, presented by the University Libraries’ Multicultural Affairs Committee.

A panel of University and community members will explore environmental racism, poverty/urban poor/socioeconomic levels, and environmental justice policies. The program will be held from 10 a.m. to noon on Wednesday (Jan. 21) in the Pallister Conference Room in Jerome Library.

Moderated by Jeannie Ludlow, undergraduate coordinator for the Women’s Studies Program, and Marcus Ricci, Center for Innovative and Transformative Education, panelists are Carolyn Council, BGSU philosophy graduate student; Holly Myers-Jones, Environmental Programs director; Michael Szuberla of Intercity Land Reclaim Activities, and Rick Van Landingham, an environmental community activist and legal consultant.

The program is part of the Multicultural Affairs Committee's series, “Issues in Cultural Diversity 2003–Diversity and the Environment.” Each program in this series will explore how governmental and national and international corporate policies and practices impact the environment, the world and its inhabitants. Participants will discuss how these policies and practices intersect with issues of multicultural concern such as nationality, race, class, gender and age. Sessions will conclude with practical strategies and suggestions for ways in which people can individually help facilitate change and impact these policies and practices.

For more information, contact Mary Wrighten, multicultural services librarian, at 2-7897.