Outspoken political leader and renowned author Angela Davis is scheduled to deliver the Distinguished Lectures Committee's first lecture of 2021 at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 16. The lecture will be virtual and a link will be accessible on the Distinguished Lectures Committee's website prior to the event. No registration is required for the lecture.

For over 50 years, Angela Davis has been recognized as a committed torchbearer in the struggle for economic, racial, and gender justice. A professor, activist, and cultural icon, Davis' voice has been and continues to be instrumental to social reform. She is the author of 10 books, including recent works Are Prisons Obsolete? and a collection of essays, Freedom Is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement.

"I am not only excited to bring a voice as influential and didactic as Angela Davis to our campus, but to see how her ideas and personal experiences can be applied to our daily lives and our university," says Michael Fuhrman, vice chair of the Distinguished Lectures Committee. 

Davis has taught at a number of American colleges and universities including San Francisco State University, Mills College, and UC Berkeley. She currently serves as the Distinguished Professor Emerita of History of Consciousness and of Feminist Studies at the University of California Santa Cruz. In addition to teaching in the classroom, Davis has shared her expertise and scholarship in lectures throughout the United States, Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, and South America. Central to her work as an educator are her own experiences as a leading activist of the seventies. Davis' recent activism is dedicated to the dismantling of the prison industrial complex. She founded the prison system abolition organization Critical Resistance in 1997, and she works closely with the abolitionist group Sisters Inside in Queensland, Australia.

This lecture will be moderated by Yvette Murphy-Irby, vice chancellor of diversity and inclusion and professor of social work at the University of Arkansas. Additionally, Murphy-Erby has held former appointments at the University of Arkansas as the director of the School of Social Work in the Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences, director of the Bachelor of Social Work Program, associate director of the School of Social Work, associate dean of social sciences in Fulbright Colleges and interim director for the African and African American Studies Program.

The Distinguished Lectures Committee decides which dynamic and pertinent speakers to bring to the University of Arkansas campus. These speaking engagements are completely free to all students. Some of the speakers brought over the past few years have included President George H.W. Bush, CNN anchor Anderson Cooper, soccer star Abby Wambach, author Malcolm Gladwell, scientist Jane Goodall, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Elie Wiesel, Bill Nye and John Legend.

This event is sponsored by Distinguished Lectures Committee through the Office of Student Activities and is supported by the Student Activities Fee. For questions or for accommodations due to disability please contact the Office of Student Activities, osa@uark.edu or call 479-575-5255. Distinguished Lectures Committee is a program in the Division of Student Affairs.

About the Division of Student Affairs: The Division of Student Affairs supports students in pursuing knowledge, earning a degree, finding meaningful careers, exploring diversity, and connecting with the global community. We provide students housing, dining, health care resources, and create innovative programs that educate and inspire. We enhance the University of Arkansas experience and help students succeed, one student at a time.