Race Unplugged: Beyond Racial Sound Bites of Pundits, Politicians and Pop Culture

February 26, 2014

A scholar of African-American studies and sociology who explores issues of science and society will give a free public lecture at UW-Whitewater titled "Race Unplugged: Beyond Racial Sound Bites of Pundits, Politicians and Pop Culture."

The speaker, Ruha Benjamin, will appear at 7 p.m. Monday, March 10, in Young Auditorium.  Her speech is part of the Contemporary Issues Lecture Series sponsored by the College of Letters and Sciences.

Benjamin is a professor at Boston University and author of "People's Science,'' a book that looks at the need for public engagement in science as stem cell research expands.  Her teaching and research interests include race, ethnicity, gender, class and citizenship.

She has visited more than 20 countries and spoken to people about their experiences, background she will use to frame her lecture in a context that extends beyond Whitewater, said Susan Johnson, assistant dean for student success in the College of Letters and Sciences and coordinator of the lecture series.

"She uses real world examples from her history and others to open a dialogue on often difficult subjects,'' Johnson said.

Benjamin has received grants and fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies, National Science Foundation, Ford Foundation, California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, the Townsend Center for the Humanities at the University of California, Berkeley and the Center for Race and Gender, also at UC Berkeley.

Benjamin is the fifth speaker in the 2013-14 lecture series at UW-Whitewater.  For more information, see www.uww.edu/cls/about/lectures. The last lecture will be presented at 7 p.m. on Monday, April 21, by Chris Paine, an advocate for electric cars and sustainable methods of transportation.