Back-to-Back Black History Month Convocations
2/18/2011
Black History Month Double Header
Nell Painter and Tobias Brown to Speak
West Virginia State University will present back-to-back Black History Month convocations. On Monday, Feb. 21 Dr. Nell Irvin Painter will speak at 7:30 p.m. in the theater of the Davis Fine Arts Building. On Tuesday, Feb. 22 Tobias Brown will speak at 11:15 a.m. in the P.A. Williams Auditorium, Ferrell Hall. Both events are open to the public.
Dr. Nell Irvin Painter is the Edwards Professor of American History, Emerita, Princeton University. In addition to her earned doctorate in history from Harvard University, she has received honorary doctorates from Wesleyan, Dartmouth, SUNY-New Paltz, and Yale. In her "encore career" she also earned a BFA degree in painting from the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers-the State University of New Jersey in May 2009. She is currently an MFA student in painting at the Rhode Island School of Design.
"Why are white people called Caucasian?" is the question that led to her book, The History of White People published in March 2010. This elementary question led to contradictory and complicated answers as Painter's inquiry was set in motion. Her wide ranging response to the question results in a "whos who" of racial thinkers.
Tobias Brown, a self-described expert in higher education, is the author of It’s Easier Than You Think! A Guide to Constant Success, and co-author of African American Men In College. His message is crafted from his own painful college and life experiences. After realizing the grave of mediocrity in which he found himself was taking him nowhere fast, Tobias decided to take charge of his life. This decision, coupled with the motivating principles that he shares in his speeches, catapulted his grade point average from a 1.2 to a 3.93 placing him into the top 2-3 percentile of students.
It’s with humor and excitement that Tobias shares his academic rags-to-riches story with students around the world as he gives tips on how they too can achieve unparalleled success!