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University Communications

Michael Eric Dyson, Minister and Cultural Critic, to Keynote University of Richmond Founders Week Programs

February 6, 2004

The Rev. Dr. Michael Eric Dyson, Baptist minister, cultural critic and commentator on NPR's "The Tavis Smiley Show," will deliver the keynote address during University of Richmond Founders Week observances Feb. 29-March 2.

Dyson will speak on "Light and Darkness: Religion as Source and Solution to Bias" March 1, 7 p.m., at Cannon Memorial Chapel, one of three special programs.

The Rev. Samuel K. Roberts, author and professor of theology at Union Theological Seminary & Presbyterian School of Christian Education, will preach the sermon at the Founders Week chapel service Feb. 29, 11 a.m., at Cannon Chapel. Pianist, vocalist and actor Claudia Stevens of Richmond will perform the monodrama, "Dreadful Sorry, Guys" March 2, 7:30 p.m., at the Modlin Center for the Arts.

All events are free and open to the public, but tickets are required for Dyson's lecture. For reservations, call the Modlin Center box office at (804) 289-8980.

Dyson is Avalon Foundation Professor in the Humanities at the University of Pennsylvania, specializing in religious and Africana studies. He is also a columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times and author of six books, including "Making Malcolm: The Myth and Meaning of Malcolm X," "I May Not Get There with You: The True Martin Luther King Jr.," "Holler if You Hear Me: Searching for Tupac Shakur" and "Why I Love Black Women."

Dyson's address is funded through the generosity of David and Terry Heilman Sylvester.

Roberts is Anne Borden and E. Hervey Evans Professor of Theology and Ethics at Union-PSCE and author of several books, including "African American Christian Ethics" and "In the Path of Virtue: The African American Moral Tradition."

Stevens wrote "Dreadful Sorry, Guys" in 2001, following the 1999 hate-crime murder of her friend, Gary Matson, and his partner, Winfield Mowder.

The Founders Week celebration is sponsored by the university's Office of the Chaplaincy. For more information, call 289-8500 or visit http://oncampus.richmond.edu/student/life/chaplaincy/main.htm.