Eugene Robinson to speak at Johnson C. Smith University

Full Article

Eugene Robinson to speak at Johnson C. Smith University

By Qcity Staff – January 24, 2012

Font Size:

Share:

Award-winning journalist and author Eugene Robinson will kick off Johnson C. Smith University’s Lyceum Series, titled “Democracy 2012: The Road to Charlotte,” with a free public lecture at 7 p.m. this Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012, at Biddle Hall on the University campus (100 Beatties Ford Road).

Robinson is a columnist with The Washington Post and a regular contributor to MSNBC. He is a winner of the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for his commentary on the 2008 presidential race.

During his 25-year career at The Washington Post, Robinson has worked as a city hall reporter, city editor, foreign correspondent in Buenos Aires and London, a foreign editor and assistant managing editor for the paper’s award-winning Style section.

A native of Orangeburg, S.C., Robinson is a graduate of the University of Michigan. He began his journalism career at the San Francisco Chronicle, where he was one of two reporters assigned to cover the trial of kidnapped newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst.

Robinson was a Nieman Fellow in Journalism at Harvard and is author of “Coal to Cream: A Black Man’s Journey Beyond Color to an Affirmation of Race” and “Last Dance in Havana: The Final Days of Fidel and the Start of the New Cuban Revolution.” His latest book, “Disintegration: The Splintering of Black America,” was released in Oct. 2011.

Anyone planning to attend the event should RSVP to Anika Pimentel, 704-330-1379 or apimentel@jcsu.edu.

More HBCU headlines

NCCU Alumnus, Teacher of the Year Invited to State of the Union: Last year was a great year for North Carolina Central University alumnus Jason Jowers. He was named Durham Public Schools Teacher of the Year and then, at the end of the school year, he moved on to a new job as assistant principal and dean of students at Hillside High School. Recently, Jowers' success in the classroom caught the attention of U.S. Rep. G.K. Butterfield (D - N.C.), who invited him to attend President Barack Obama's State of the Union address on Jan. 24 as his guest.

Jowers will travel to Washington and have dinner with Butterfield before attending the president's address. "I want to take full advantage of this opportunity to talk with Congressman Butterfield," said Jowers. "I want to hear about his views on public education and discuss the upcoming election." He is also excited to hear Obama speak in person. "I'm bringing my camera," said Jowers. " I know there will be so much that I'll want to capture."

As the first dean of the freshman academy at Hillside High School, Jowers is feeling pressure to succeed, but he said he also welcomes the challenge. And it's not the first time he has faced a heavy schedule: As a student at NCCU, he played football and ran track while maintaining the highest GPA in his department. He received both an athletic scholarship and a Teaching Fellows scholarship.