Soledad O’Brien, CNN television anchor and correspondent, will speak at the University of Central Arkansas on Feb. 18 at 7:30 p.m. in Reynolds Performance Hall as part of the university’s Distinguished Lecture Series.
Her lecture will be titled, “The Power of Respect.”
The university is delighted to bring an individual of O’Brien’s professional background, said UCA President Allen Meadors.
“She brings a unique insight to many national and international events,” Meadors said. “Having had Ms. O’Brien at my previous institution as a speaker, I know our UCA family will find her lecture insightful and informative.”
O’Brien is probably most known for being the host of CNN’s “In America” documentaries. The series started in 2008 with “Black In America,” where O’Brien looked into the lives of blacks in America 40 years after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The documentary garnered great response from viewers, and in 2009, O’Brien followed with”Black in America 2,” which focused on community leaders who are helping to improve the lives of blacks in America.
Her most recent project was “Latino in America,” which focused on how Latinos in America are changing the nation and how the nation is changing them.
O’Brien also reported for the CNN documentary, “Words That Changed a Nation,” which included a first look into King’s private writings. She then investigated King’s assassination in “Eyewitness to Murder: The King Assassination.”
O’Brien started on CNN in 2003 as co-anchor of American Morning. She was soon recognized for her coverage of the tsunami in Southeast Asia in 2004 and Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Her coverage of the two natural disasters won her the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health’s Goodermote Humanitarian Award in 2008, of which she was the first recipient.
Other awards include the NAACP President’s Award in 2007, the Soledad O’Brien Freedom’s Voice Award from the Morehouse School of Medicine, and the 2009 Medallion of Excellence for Leadership and Community Service Award from the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute.
Tickets for the Distinguished Lecture Series are $10 for the general public, $5 for UCA Community and students, and free for UCA students with a current student ID. For tickets, call (501) 450-3265 or toll free from anywhere in Arkansas at 1-866-810-0012 or visit www.uca.edu/tickets. For more information, call UCA Public Appearances at (501) 450-3682 or e-mail jerryb@uca.edu. — Miranda Grubbs
