March 6, 2014 — This lecture is canceled and will be rescheduled.

KINGSTON, R.I. — March 4, 2015 — The Office of Community, Equity and Diversity at the University of Rhode Island will present the award-winning journalist and Distinguished Professor of African American Studies at Morehouse College, Marc Lamont Hill. Hill will speak to the University community about the “Vital Importance of Diversity and Inclusion in the 21st Century.”

Among a new generation of public intellectuals who move with equal ease between Faculty Row and Fraternity Row, “the street” and Main Street, Hill has been featured on NPR, in The Washington Post, Essence, The New York Times, and Fox News. Hill offers a fresh, informed, thought-provoking perspective that never fails to challenge and engage.

Free and open to the public, the lecture will be held on Friday, March 27, from 5-6 p.m. at the Center for Biotechnology and Life Sciences, 120 Flagg Road Kingston, RI 02881. To register visit the Office of Community, Equity and Diversity website.

“We are so pleased to have Dr. Hill here to address the community. The issue of diversity and inclusion is fundamental to the University and is steeped in our ongoing work,” said Naomi Thompson, associate vice president of Community Equity & Diversity. “The fact that Hill will keynote the student conference is truly a bonus. We are so proud that our students have created a conference focused on some of the critical issues faced on college campuses and to develop solutions for all to move forward.”

Hill’s visit is in collaboration with the first student-created and led conference called “Diversifying Individuals Via Education” (DIVE RI) on March 27-28. The conference is focused on enhancing student leadership and social change on college campuses through a multicultural lens.

Each spring, the Office of Community, Equity and Diversity has held its 20,000 Voices event where community members attend workshops and guest speakers highlight some of the leading diversity issues in higher education. This year the office has worked in support of the student-driven conference, at which some faculty, staff and regional leaders will be speaking. The next year’s 20,000 Voices event will take place in 2016.