Cornel West, Felipe Calderón coming to suburbs this year
A provocative national civil rights activist and a Latin American former head of state are among the notable speakers coming to the suburbs in 2015.
Naperville's North Central College will host author, academic and civil rights activist Cornel West Jan. 23 during Martin Luther King Jr. Week.
And former Mexican President Felipe Calderón will be the keynote speaker at the fifth annual Judson University World Leaders Forum March 12 in Elgin.
Each year, North Central College honors and remembers King with a keynote presentation, musical tributes, a prayer breakfast and activities. This year's theme is "A Journey Defined." King spoke in North Central College's Pfeiffer Hall in 1960.
West is a professor of philosophy and Christian practice at Union Theological Seminary in New York City and professor emeritus at Princeton University. He also has taught at Yale, Harvard and the University of Paris. He is the author of the 1993 best-seller, "Race Matters," an analysis of racism in American democracy. He has edited 13 books and written 20, including "Black Prophetic Fire," published October 2014 with critical acclaim. A collection of inspirational speeches, sermons and writings written by King and edited by West, titled "The Radical King," will be on bookshelves Jan. 13.
West, the college's 2010 MLK Week keynote speaker, will deliver his address at 7 p.m. at Pfeiffer Hall, 310 E. Benton Ave. He will speak about King's legacy, other revolutionary African-American leaders and young people's responsibility for social change.
Tickets are $10 per person and $7 for groups of 10 or more. To purchase tickets or register for free admission, call (630) 637-7469 or visit northcentralcollege.edu/showtix.
Calderón joins a line of prominent global leaders featured during the Judson World Leaders Forum's first four years - former President George W. Bush, former Russian President Mikhail Gorbachev, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
Calderón, Mexico's president from 2006 to 2012, will speak about the changing global economy during a community event at Judson's Elgin campus, and at a VIP reception later that night in Chicago.
Calderón currently chairs the Global Commission and chaired the G-20 conference in 2012. He was named "Statesman of the Year" by the World Economic Forum, and "Champion of the Earth" by the United Nations. TIME magazine dubbed him one of the top 100 influential people in the world.
The World Leaders Forum community event will be held at 2 p.m. March 12 at the Judson University Herrick Chapel, 1151 N. State St. The VIP reception is later that day at the Hilton, 720 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago. For information, visit WorldLeadersForum.info.