New Lecture Series Honoring Mary Lyon to Feature Charlayne Hunter-Gault Lecture

Award-winning journalist Charlayne Hunter-Gault and American Civil Liberties Union president Nadine Strossen will be among the prominent campus visitors this year as part of a new lecture series announced at convocation by President Creighton.

<<< Emmy and Peabody Award-winning journalist Charlayne Hunter-Gault is expected to open the new Mary Lyon Lecture Series with a February talk about her experiences in the civil rights movement.

The Mary Lyon Lecture Series was created to commemorate the 200th anniversary of our founder's birth, and will continue not just throughout her bicentenary year, but also in future years. The series will bring women and men of significant achievement to speak on campus. "This ongoing series will honor individuals in any significant field of endeavor who, like Lyon, have, through courage and conviction, sought to advance humankind," said Creighton. "Lyon was a living example of how one woman's dedication to bettering the world can change the status quo. The Mary Lyon Lecture Series will seek those who exemplify this spirit and commitment today."

Journalist Charlayne Hunter-Gault is expected to open the series during February. (No specific date had been set at CSJ press time). A national correspondent for The News Hour with Jim Lehrer, Hunter-Gault is one of the nation's most prominent journalists. She also made civil rights history in 1962 as the first African American woman to graduate from the University of Georgia. She has written about this experience in her 1992 memoir, In My Life. In her MHC talk, titled "In My Place," Hunter-Gault will discuss her experiences in the civil rights movement.

Nadine Strossen will speak on March 27. Nationally recognized educator Lorraine Monroe, principal of the Frederick Douglass Academy High School in New York City, will speak on October 16.