Gladney Lecture at UA to Feature Interfaith Leader

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The 2008 Rose Gladney Lecture for Justice and Social Change will be held at The University of Alabama W. S. Hoole Special Collections Library on Wednesday, April 2 at 7:30 p.m. with guest speaker the Rev. Dorsey Odell Blake.

Dr. Blake was the first head of the African-American studies program at UA and was also one of the first African-American faculty members at UA. He will discuss “40 Years after Dr. King: Wilderness or Promised Land?”

He is the presiding minister of The Church for The Fellowship of All Peoples in San Francisco. The church was founded in 1994 during a time of local tensions. The church is the nation’s first interracial, interfaith congregation.

Blake has extensive field ministry experience with interfaith groups addressing justice and peace issues. He is a member of the steering committee of Religious Witness with Homeless People and has been in the forefront of peace and justice activities, speaking to small audiences and rallies that have drawn over 200,000 people. He traveled to Morocco with an interfaith delegation of Muslims, Jews and Christians in a quest to promote interfaith respect and cooperation.

He received an A.B. from Brown University, M.A. and M.Div. from Pacific School of Religion and D.Min. from the United Theological Seminary. He has conducted seminars and workshops locally and nationally. He is the recipient of numerous community service awards and grants from the Fund for Theological Education and the Danforth Foundation.

The Rose Gladney Lecture for Justice and Social Change was established in honor of retired UA faculty member Dr. Rose Gladney who worked tirelessly her entire career on behalf of both her students and social justice. She was fundamental in helping to craft the master’s program in women’s studies at UA, and was the recipient of the first Autherine Lucy Award for Service, Leadership and Support for Minority Programming at UA in 1987.

The Hoole Library is located on the second floor of Mary Harmon Bryant Hall, 500 Hackberry Lane on the UA campus. A reception will follow Blake’s talk.

The event is co-sponsored by University Libraries, New College, the African-American studies program, and the departments of American studies, religious studies and women’s studies, the College of Arts and Sciences and the Diversity Committee of the College of Arts and Sciences.