On behalf of the Weissman Center for Leadership and the Liberal Arts at Mount Holyoke College, I write to share with you information on two upcoming public events featuring visionary activist and global educator Naomi Tutu. She will deliver the first spring lecture in Bearing Witness, the Weissman Center’s 2007-2008 series that explores issues of testimony, the power of historical memory, and the nature of unapologetic advocacy.
Ms. Tutu’s lecture, Truth and Reconciliation: Healing the Wounds of Racism, is scheduled for Thursday, 28 February, at 7:30 p.m. in Gamble Auditorium, Art Building, at Mount Holyoke College. She will discuss her coming of age in apartheid South Africa, her work to rebuild her homeland, and the challenges and promises of diverse societies.
Naomi Tutu is a celebrated public speaker and teacher whose career underscores the continued need for social justice and education worldwide, and also extends the work of the Archbishop Desmond Tutu, her father and winner of the 1984 Nobel Peace Prize. As an educator who specializes in topics of development, gender, and education, Tutu has been on the faculty of the University of Hartford, University of Connecticut, and Brevard College. Her graduate studies in Economics, International Relations, and Diplomatic Affairs have shaped her public efforts to advocate on behalf of those who are subjected to economic, political, and educational disenfranchisement. In 1985, she co-founded the Tutu Foundation and provided support to South African refugees living in African countries. Her recent administrative posts have included positions at the African Gender Institute at the University of Cape Town, the Race Relations Institute at Fisk University, and the Office of International Relations and Programs at Tennessee State University. Tutu has sustained her commitment to education and global outreach through her work as a consultant, motivational speaker, and retreat leader. She has worked as a consultant with the United States Agency for International Development, a range of South African-based consulting groups, and non-governmental
organizations. With colleague Rose Bator, Tutu is co-founder of Sister Sojourner, a group that brings South African and American women together for leadership retreats.
On Friday, 29 February, from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m., Naomi Tutu and international trainer and counselor Rose Bator will facilitate a Community Workshop in the Willits Hallowell Conference Center at Mount Holyoke College. Building Bridges: Honest Conversation about Race is designed as an interactive workshop that will explore issues of race, differences, silence, stereotypes, solidarity, community, and change. Tutu and Bator work together as distinguished leaders in the field of race relations and reconciliation in the United States and South Africa.
We hope that these two events will be of interest to your colleagues and students. A flyer to help publicize Ms. Tutu’s lecture, with information on the Community Workshop, is attached. Our website www.mtholyoke.edu/go/bearingwitness provides more information. Thank you in advance for helping us to make these events a great success.
Sincerely,
Lois Brown
Director, Weissman Center for Leadership
Associate Professor, English
