New York Times bestselling author Malcolm Gladwell will be the debut speaker of the 2010 – 2011 George T. Hunter Lecture Series on October 5. This year marks the third annual George T. Hunter Lecture Series, which is sponsored by the Benwood Foundation in partnership with The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, The Ochs Center, and CreateHere.
“We are very excited to have Malcolm Gladwell kick off the George T. Hunter Lecture Series this year,” said Corinne Allen, Executive Director of the Benwood Foundation. “Mr. Gladwell is nationally respected for his valuable insight in the social sciences and his ability to make new and complex ideas accessible to all audiences.”
Past speakers have included Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, author and historian, Doris Kearns Goodwin, and New York Times columnist, David Brooks.
Gladwell’s lecture will begin at 7 p.m. in the Roland Hayes Concert Hall located inside the Fine Arts Center, located at Vine and Palmetto Streets. All lectures in the series are free and open to the public. Seating is limited and is on a first‐come first‐serve basis.
Gladwell has been a staff writer with The New Yorker magazine since 1996. He is the author of four books, The Tipping Point: How Little Things Make a Big Difference (2000), Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking (2005), and Outliers: The Story of Success (2008), all number one New York Times bestsellers. His latest book What the Dog Saw (2009) is a compilation of stories published in The New Yorker. In 2005 he was named one of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People.
After Gladwell’s lecture, he will speak to UTC students, CreateHere fellows and community leaders.
“As in past years, the George T. Hunter Lecture Series offers an amazing learning opportunity for UTC students, faculty and staff,” said Dr. Roger Brown, Chancellor of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. “We are pleased to welcome nationally renowned leaders in education, arts and culture, community development and the environment.”
Following Gladwell’s lecture on October 5, the remaining speakers of the 2010 – 2011 George T. Hunter Lecture series will be Newark Mayor Cory Booker; Geoffrey Canada, CEO of the Harlem Children’s Zone; and international environmental scholar, Dr. Vandana Shiva:
Mayor Cory Booker, November 18th, 2010 ‐ Community Building Speaker: Booker has begun work on realizing a bold vision for the city. Newark’s mission is to set a national standard for urban transformation by marshalling its resources to achieve security, economic abundance and an environment that is nurturing and empowering for individuals and families.
Booker and his Administration have made meaningful strides towards achieving the City’s mission. On April 1, 2010, the City of Newark experienced its first homicide‐free month in more than forty years and was recognized in July 2008 for leading the nation among large cities for reductions in shootings and murders, achieving decreases of more than 40% reductions in both categories. Radical transformation of the Newark Police Department under Booker’s leadership, together with the deployment of over 100 surveillance cameras throughout city has led to Newark setting the nationwide pace for crime reduction. In May, Booker was reelected to a second term.
Geoffrey Canada, February 15th, 2011 – Education Speaker: In his 20‐plus years with Harlem Children’s Zone, Inc., Canada has become nationally recognized for his pioneering work helping children and families in Harlem and as a passionate advocate for education reform. Launched in 1997, the Harlem Children’s Zone targets 100 blocks in Central Harlem with a comprehensive range of services for children and parents from birth through college. According to The New York Times Magazine, “The objective is to create a safety net woven so tightly that children in the neighborhood just can’t slip through.” In October 2005, Canada was named one of “America’s Best Leaders” by U.S. News and World Report. The Harlem Children’s Zone is the model for the U.S. Department of Education’s Promise Neighborhoods program.
Dr. Vandana Shiva, April 26th, 2011 – Environment Speaker: Born in India, Shiva is a world‐renowned environmental leader and thinker. Director of the Research Foundation on Science, Technology, and Ecology, she is the author of many books, including Water Wars: Pollution, Profits, and Privatization. Shiva is a leader in the International Forum on Globalization and has addressed the World Trade Organization summit in Seattle, as well as the recent World Economic Forum in Melbourne. Time magazine recognized Shiva as an environmental hero, and Asia Week has called her one of the five most powerful communicators in Asia. Shiva is a recipient of Global 500 Award of the United Nations and Earth Day International Award. She has also received the Alternative Nobel Prize Right Livelihood Award and is a member of the Order of the Golden Ark.
For more information, visit www.benwood.org.
