Boswell Symposium 2008

The Hampton and Esther Boswell Symposium in conjunction with the Janet Prindle Institute for Ethics will focus on the theme, "Ethics, Globalism and Education." The symposium will run from September 14-15, 2008. Cornel West will open the Symposium with a keynote address at 7:30 p.m. on Sunday night, September 14, 2008, in Meharry Hall, East College.

One of America’s most provocative public intellectuals, Cornel West has been a champion for racial justice since childhood. His writing, speaking, and teaching weave together the traditions of the black Baptist Church, progressive politics, and jazz. The New York Times has praised his “ferocious moral vision.”

Currently the Class of 1943 Professor at Princeton University, West burst onto the national scene in 1993 with his bestselling book, Race Matters, a searing analysis of racism in American democracy. Race Matters has become a contemporary classic, selling more than a half a million copies to date. In addition, West has published 16 other books and has edited 13 texts.

West earned his bachelor’s degree from Harvard in three years, magna cum laude. Martin Kilson, one of his professors there, describes West as “the most intellectually aggressive and highly cerebral student I have taught.” After earning his Ph.D. at Princeton, he became a professor of religion and director of the Afro-American Studies program there. West has also taught at Union Theological Seminary, Yale, Harvard, and the University of Paris.

In his last book Democracy Matters, West analyzes the arrested development of democracy both in America and in the crisis-ridden Middle East. He argues that if America is to become a better steward of democratization around the world, it must first recognize its own long history of imperialist corruption. His latest CD, Never Forget: A Journey of Revelations is a collection of socially conscience music featuring collaborations with Prince, Outkast, Jill Scott, Talib Kweli. West also offers commentary weekly on The Tavis Smiley Show from PRI.

West was an influential force in developing the storyline for the popular Matrix movie trilogy and has served as its official spokesperson, as well as playing a recurring role in the final two films.

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Panel Discussion

A panel discussion will be held on Monday, September 15, in the Eugene S. Pulliam Center for Contemporary Media, Watson Forum, at 4:15 p.m.

The discussion will be moderated by Dr. Robert G. Bottoms, President Emeritus and Director of the Janet Prindle Institute for Ethics at DePauw. The members of the panel are:

Adedayo Oluwakayode Adekson

Adedayo Oluwakayode Adekson is a Program Officer at the Ann Arbor, Michigan-based Great Lakes Colleges Association, where he works on issues concerning domestic (US) and global diversity.  Born in Massachusetts and raised in Nigeria, he took an undergraduate degree in International Studies (with high honors) and a Masters in International Development from American University’s School of International Service.  Moreover, Adedayo O Adekson holds a Masters and doctorate in Political Science, with emphases on International Relations and Comparative Politics, from the University of Maryland at College Park.

In addition to serving as a freelance consultant/researcher, Adedayo Adekson has served in research, administrative and/or teaching capacities within the following entities: Washington, DC-based Service & Development Agency of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, the Academy for Educational Development’s Botswana Development Training Projects, Advisory Board Company, World Bank’s Development Economics Research Group, Center for International Development & Conflict Management @ the University of Maryland, United Nations-mandated University for Peace (San José, Costa Rica) and University of Ulster’s UNESCO Centre (Coleraine, Northern Ireland).

He is the author of The ‘Civil Society’ Problematique: Deconstructing Civility and Southern Nigeria’s Ethnic Radicalization (Routledge 2003), has published in several peer-reviewed journals, and is presently undertaking secondary research for the purposes of a co-authored volume on globalization and civil society.

Harold "Hal" Foster

Hal Foster is Distinguished Professor of English Education and Literacy at the University of Akron. His latest book, co-written with Megan Nosol, The Invisible High School: Teaching English to America’s Unseen Kids, was published by Heinemann in 2008. The book is a true story about teaching advanced English to non-tracked city high school kids. The second edition of his book, Crossing Over: Teaching Meaning Centered English/Language Art, Erlbaum Publishers came out in 2002.  He also served as the Harrington Professor, an endowed chair at Akron U.

Hal directs the North High School/University of Akron English Collaboration project at Akron University.  He is the recipient of numerous awards including the University gave Hal the University Park Alliance Outstanding Professor Award for the Collaboration, In May 2005; the Outstanding Teaching Award for 2000 from the University of Akron Alumni Association; the 2001 Ernest Boyer Award for Innovative Excellence in Teaching, Learning and Technology. His project with the Akron Public Schools, the Kenmore Project, was given the National Council of Teachers of English Center of Excellence Award.

Hal has presented various literacy and writing workshops and presentations throughout the country including his popular series of workshops on the teaching of Shakespeare, poetry, and the novel.  He was a co-director of the University of Akron Educational Research and Development Center, in charge of helping University-wide faculty improve teaching. He is a reviewer for the English Journal and English Education.  He has written or edited four books and over 24 book chapters and articles in his field. Prof. Foster is a writer and editor of the new edition (2007) Guidelines for the Preparation of English Teachers published by NCTE.

Josephine R.B. Wright

Josephine R.B. Wright is a professor of music/Black Studies and holder of the first endowed chair in Black Studies at The College of Wooster, where she joined the faculty in 1981. She is an expert in African-American music, American music, women in music, and Western music history. She is chair of the Africana Studies Department (formerly Black Studies) at Wooster.

Wright received her B.M. from the University of Missouri (1963). She then earned an M.M. from the Pius XII Academy in Florence, Italy (1964), and an M.A. from Missouri (1967). She completed her formal education by earning her Ph.D. in historical musicology at New York University (1975).

Wright served as editor for the refereed quarterly journal American Music (1994-97), becoming the first woman to be appointed editor for this society, and the first black to be appointed to such a position by a national musicological organization in the United States. She was former editor of Music and African-American Culture. In addition, she is a recipient of a 1999 Distinguished Alumna Award from the University of Missouri, and has received a number of grants, including the Clark Fund Award, the National Endowment of the Humanities, and the Henry Luce Award for Distinguished Scholarship. In the summer of 2006 she presented an invited paper at Oxford University, and is currently an adviser for the revised Grove Dictionary of American Music published by Oxford University Press. In 2008 she was an invited presenter at the University of the Arts in Belgrade (Serbia) and has been selected by the Council of International Exchange of Scholars to serve on a six-member Peer Review Committee for the Fulbright Senior Specialist Program.

Wright has served as a member of the Board of Directors of the American Musicological Society and the Society for American Music, and she has served on the editorial board of each society. She is also a member of the Pi Kappa Lambda Upsilon Chapter (national music honorary). A former Trustee of the American Classical Music Hall of Fame and the Museum of Cincinnati, she continues to serve that organization as a member of its National Artistic Directorate. She has authored several books and numerous articles in perr reviewed journals.

If you have any questions, please contact:
Yvonne C. Williams
Senior Visiting Scholar in Black Studies