Tuesday, January 25, 2005

Jan. 24, 2005

By Ruthie Seeley, PR Intern

Wilmington, N.C. – The University of North Carolina Wilmington’s Association for Campus Entertainment is hosting a reception, lecture and informal discussion by Ron Takaki, professor of ethnic studies at the University of California, Berkeley at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 22 in the lobby of the Warwick Center on the UNCW campus. Following the reception, Takaki will give a lecture “America in a Different Mirror: Re-Visioning History” at 7 p.m. in Warwick Center Ballroom. An informal discussion is planned for the morning of Wednesday, Feb. 23.

ACE’s Contemporary Culture committee and the Office of Campus Diversity are sponsoring the event.

Takaki has been a professor of ethnic studies at UC Berkeley for over 30 years. His course, Ethnic Studies 130, provided the conceptual framework for the B.A. program and the Ph.D. program in comparative ethnic studies as well as the university’s multicultural requirement for graduation.

Takaki participated in a White House meeting with President Clinton in 1997 to brainstorm ideas for the president’s “One America in the 21st Century: The President’s Initiative on Race” speech.

The 2000 Census showed that in California, Americans of European descent have become a minority. It is predicted that what has happened in California will be true across the nation by 2060. We will be a nation of minorities and Takaki asks how and why this is true. He also asks how we can incorporate the teaching of diversity into the curriculum for the coming century.