Beverly Wright, advocate for environmental justice, to lecture at Rice Tuesday night

B.J. Almond
713-348-6770
balmond@rice.edu

Beverly Wright, an advocate for environmental justice and one of theGrio’s 100 “history makers in the making,” will give a free public lecture at Rice University Tuesday night.

“An Evening with Beverly Wright” will begin at 8 p.m. Nov. 15 in the Shell Auditorium at McNair Hall, 6100 Main St. The presentation is part of the President’s Lecture Series at Rice.

Wright is the founding director of the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice (DSCEJ), formerly at Xavier University and now at Dillard University in New Orleans, where she is a professor of sociology. The DSCEJ is one of the few community/university partnerships that addresses environmental and health inequities in the Lower Mississippi River Industrial Corridor, known as “Cancer Alley.” Since Hurricane Katrina, much of the work at the DSCEJ has focused on research, policy, community outreach and education of displaced African-American residents of New Orleans.

Wright’s accomplishments include conducting groundbreaking research in the area of environmental justice and developing an elementary school curriculum used by New Orleans public schools. She also manages hazardous waste worker training programs and provided valuable input for President Clinton’s Environmental Justice Transition Paper. Among Wright’s many awards are the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Community Health Leaders Award in 2006, the EPA Environmental Justice Achievement Award in 2008 and the prestigious Heinz Award in 2009. In 2010 she was included on the list of 100 history makers by theGrio, a video-centric news community site devoted to providing African-Americans with stories and perspectives that are underrepresented in existing national news outlets.

The President’s Lecture Series is sponsored by the Office of the President and is supported by the J. Newton Rayzor Lecture Fund. For more information, visit www.rice.edu/pls, email ricepls@rice.edu or call 713-348-5585. Paid visitor parking is available in West Lot 1, Central Campus Garage and in the nearby North Lot. For an online campus map, visit www.rice.edu/maps/maps.html.