Renown Authority on Diversity & Learning to Speak at Ferrum

Dr. Edgar Beckham, senior fellow in the Association of American Colleges and Universities, will be a guest presenter at Ferrum College on Monday, February 21 and Tuesday, February 22. In addition to group conversations and class lectures, he will speak on Diversity and Learning, Monday evening at 7:30 in the Chapel. Open to the public. A reception on Tuesday evening in the Library (patio entrance) at 6:30 is open to the public. Dr. Beckham’s visit to campus comes in honor of the achievements of African Americans, a key component of Black History Month.

    Edgar F. Beckham is Senior Fellow at the Association of American Colleges and Universities, where he consults with staff of the Association and with individual colleges and universities on campus diversity and its relationship to liberal education, civic engagement, and the pursuit of educational excellence. He is also Scholar in Residence at Miami University’s Center for American and World Cultures. From 1990 to 1998 Beckham coordinated the Ford Foundation’s Campus Diversity Initiative, which provided more than $20 million in support of campus diversity activities at colleges and universities across the country. He also coordinated the planning of three international seminars on campus diversity in India, South Africa, and the United States, and wrote and edited materials for the three volumes of essays based on the seminars. He has lectured extensively in the United States and India on campus diversity and democracy.

     Beckham graduated from Wesleyan University in 1958. He received an MA in Germanic Languages and Literatures from Yale in 1959, and completed his doctoral course work in 1961. He has received honorary doctorates from Olivet College and Clark University. In 1997 he received the Outstanding Contribution to Higher Education Award from the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators.

     For information on Dr. Beckham’s visit, contact Bettye Buckingham at (540) 365-4352 or by email at bbuckingham@ferrum.edu.

     Ferrum College is a four-year, private, co-educational, liberal arts college affiliated with the United Methodist Church. Ferrum offers a choice of nationally recognized bachelor’s degree programs at a cost well below the national average for private colleges. For more information on Ferrum, visit www.ferrum.edu.