BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – Dorceta Taylor, environmental justice activist and program director for the Multicultural Environmental Leadership Development Initiative at the University of Michigan, will be the speaker for the 2010 Founders’ Day Convocation at Illinois Wesleyan University on Wednesday, Feb. 17 at 11 a.m. in Westbrook Auditorium of Presser Hall (1210 Park St., Bloomington).
Taylor’s talk entitled “Environment, Social Justice and the Challenge of Sustainability,” is free and open to the public. The event honors the 30 founders who signed the charter for the University in 1850. In celebration of Founders’ Day, an anniversary cake celebrating the University’s 160 years will be served from 3-5 p.m. at Joslin Atrium of the Memorial Center. The Ames Library will hold its annual exhibit highlighting the documents from the University’s founding, including Illinois Wesleyan’s “birth certificate.”
Named in 2007 to Who’s Who Among American Teachers and Educators, Taylor has spent her career shedding light on the connections between nature, race and gender, making her a pioneer studying environmental justice. An associate professor of environmental sociology and Afroamerican and African studies at the University of Michigan, she helped to develop one of the nation’s first environmental justice programs at the university.