Marian Wright Edelman to deliver convocation address

Marian Wright Edelman, founder and president of the Children’s Defense Fund, will present the annual Maytum Convocation Lecture at SUNY Fredonia, “Human Rights: With Liberty and Justice for All?” on Wednesday, Sept. 24. She has also been named a Williams Distinguished Visiting Professor at Fredonia.

The lecture will begin at 3:30 p.m. in King Concert Hall and Fredonia President Dennis L. Hefner will give welcoming remarks and introduce Mrs. Edelman. Her talk will be followed by a question-and-answer session moderated by Convocation Chair Linda Brigance. Immediately following the event, Mrs. Edelman will sign copies of her latest book, The Sea is So Wide and My Boat is So Small: Charting the Course for the Next Generation, in the lobby of the university natatorium.

The lecture is free but tickets are required and are available through the SUNY Fredonia Ticket Office. Tickets will be issued one per student with a valid ID, and faculty, staff and community members can obtain up to four tickets. The ticket office is temporarily located in the Marvel Theatre lobby on campus until Sept. 22, when it is scheduled to return to the Williams Center. For more information about tickets, persons should call 716-673-3501.

Mrs. Edelman has been an advocate for disadvantaged Americans for her entire professional life. Under her leadership, the Children’s Defense Fund (CDF) has become the nation’s strongest voice for children and families. A graduate of Spelman College and Yale Law School, Mrs. Edelman began her career in the mid-’60s when, as the first black woman admitted to the Mississippi Bar, she directed the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund office in Jackson, Miss. In l968, she moved to Washington, D.C., as counsel for the Poor People's Campaign that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. began organizing before his death. She founded the Washington Research Project, a public interest law firm and the parent body of the Children's Defense Fund. For two years she served as the Director of the Center for Law and Education at Harvard University and in l973 began the CDF.

Mrs. Edelman served on the board of trustees of Spelman College which she chaired from 1976 to 1987 and was the first woman elected by alumni as a member of the Yale University Corporation on which she served from 1971 to 1977. She has received over 100 honorary degrees and many awards including the Albert Schweitzer Humanitarian Prize, the Heinz Award, and a MacArthur Foundation Prize Fellowship. In 2000, she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian award, and the Robert F. Kennedy Lifetime Achievement Award for her writings which include eight books. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the American Philosophical Society, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences. Mrs. Edelman is married to Peter Edelman, a professor at Georgetown Law School. They have three sons, Joshua, Jonah, and Ezra; two granddaughters, Ellika and Zoe; and two grandsons, Elijah and Levi.

The purpose of the Maytum Lecture Endowment of the Fredonia College Foundation is to bring to campus distinguished men and women who speak with authority on timely issues. The endowment was established by Robert A. Maytum, a long-standing and generous philanthropist to SUNY Fredonia. Mr. Maytum, a pioneer in the telecommunications industry, was the Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Dunkirk and Fredonia Telephone Company, now DFT Communications. He was awarded the Fredonia College Foundation Distinguished Service Award and an honorary doctorate from SUNY.

The Williams Visiting Professorship is awarded to individuals noted for excellence in a discipline or profession, and who have demonstrated achievement that transcends a single field of study. The Williams Visiting Professorship is made possible by a gift to endowment from H. Kirk Williams III and his family to the Fredonia College Foundation. Mr. Williams was the former owner and publisher of the Dunkirk Evening Observer, and in 1968, he was named chairman of the Fredonia College Council. At the time of his retirement from the council in 1996, Mr. Williams was one of the longest serving chairmen in SUNY history.

Several additional Convocation events, based on the year’s theme, “Human Rights: With Liberty and Justice for All?” are planned throughout the 2008-2009 academic year, and will be free and open to the public, including:

• “Writing to Explore Liberty and Justice for All” A presentation and book signing by award-winning children’s book author Linda Sue Park, on Saturday, Oct. 25, from 7 to 8:30 p.m., in McEwen Hall Room 209. The event is sponsored by the College of Education departments of Curriculum and Instruction, and Language, Learning and Leadership; and the Department of English. For more information, persons should contact Dr. Clara Beier at 716-673-4680 or Clara.Beier@fredonia.edu.

• “Educational Access in the Development of the Indigenous Rights Movement in Latin America”  A presentation by Dr. Eric Meringer of the SUNY Fredonia Department of History, on Wednesday, Nov. 5, from noon-12:50 p.m. in Williams Center Room S104. The event is sponsored by the university’s Brown Bag Lecture Series. For more information, persons should contact Dr. Natalie Gerber at 716-673-3855 or Natalie.Gerber@fredonia.edu.

• “Sharon Katz and the Peace Train”  A performance by Grammy award-winning social justice musical group, at a date, time, and location to be announced in the future. The event is sponsored by the Music Therapy Club and the Music Therapy department of the School of Music. For more information, persons should contact Dr. Joni Milgram-Luterman at 716-673-4648 or Joni.Milgram-Luterman@fredonia.edu.

• “At the River I Stand: Martin Luther King’s Last Crusade”  A presentation by award-winning filmmaker and author Allison Graham, at a date, time, and location to be announced in the future. The event is sponsored by the Convocation Committee. For more information, persons should contact Dr. Linda Brigance at 716-673-3826 or Brigance@fredonia.edu.

• “Water: The Parched Human Right”   A presentation at a date, time, and location to be announced, sponsored by the SUNY Fredonia Student Chapter of Amnesty International. For more information, persons should contact Nate Odden at odde6542@fredonia.edu.