Changing the world with a pencil: Author Adam Braun kicks off lecture series at UW-Whitewater

September 23, 2014

A bestselling author -- who is fighting to expand educational opportunities in communities facing poverty globally -- will give a free public lecture at UW-Whitewater titled "The Promise of a Pencil: How an Ordinary Person Can Create Extraordinary Change."

The speaker, Adam Braun, will appear at 7 p.m. Monday, Oct. 6, at Young Auditorium. His speech is part of the Contemporary Issues Lecture Series sponsored by the College of Letters and Sciences.

Braun is a New York Times best-selling author and the founder of Pencils of Promise, an award-winning organization that builds schools, trains teachers and funds scholarships.

Braun started his organization with $25 and eventually built more than 200 schools around the world. His book about the effort debuted at No. 2 on the New York Times Best Sellers list.

"He will share his story with us to illustrate that having a major impact on an issue that you care deeply about doesn't require a lot of resources at the outset," said Susan Johnson, assistant dean for student success in the College of Letters and Sciences and coordinator of the lecture series. "For him, a chance meeting with a young boy in India led him on a journey that he will recount in his presentation."

Braun has been named to the Forbes' magazine "30 Under 30 List," Wired magazine's "50 People Who Are Changing the World" and was chosen as one of the World Economic Forum's first ten Global Shapers.

Braun is the first speaker in the 2014-15 lecture series at UW-Whitewater. For more information on Braun, visit his website.

-- Written by Jonathan Fera