April 2008
Pastor Kirbyjon H. Caldwell, Senior Pastor at Windsor Village United Methodist Church discussed his personal journey as a religious and community leader in Houston.
Co-Sponsored by Leadership Rice
April 2008
Edith Irby Jones, M.D., M.A.C.P, Chief of Medical Staff, Riverside General Hospital. Dr. Jones was the first black graduate of the University of Arkansas School of Medicine. Based on her outstanding contributions to medicine, she was elected the first female president of the National Medical Association and was the first black woman resident at Baylor College of Medicine Affiliated Hospitals. Dr. Jones founded the Edith Irby Jones Foundation to fund scholarships for the needy and has achieved local and national recognition through her many contributions to civil religious and political issues
April 2008
Ann Best is the Executive Director of Teach For America in Houston. Ann has a passion for ensuring that children growing up in low-income communities have the opportunity to attain an excellent education. Her work with Teach For America in the Houston community allows her to work toward making that vision a reality on a daily basis.
November 2008
Dr. Benjamin L. Hall, III is a Harvard-trained lawyer who founded The Hall Law Firm in 2000. Hall was the City Attorney for the City of Houston during the administration of Mayor Bob Lanier. He has received numerous honors and accolades for his services in the legal field and has received many scholastic honors. Hall has been an ordained minister since 1975 and has served the congregation of the Progressive Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ since 1974.
March 2009
Exactly six months to the day after Hurricane Ike struck Houston, Mayor White and Judge Emmett will discuss the leadership challenges they had to overcome to guide Houston through the storm.
Co-Sponsored by Leadership Rice
October 2011
Richard Dawkins was the Charles Simonyi Professor of the Public Understanding of Science at the University of Oxford until his retirement in 2008. He is the author of eleven books. His title, The God Delusion has sold more than two million copies in English, and is being published in 30 other languages. In 2008, Dawkins edited The Oxford Book of Modern Science Writing. To promote the values of education, science, and critical thinking skills, he established The Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science (RDFRS) which has branches in both the UK and USA.
September 2012
Prof. Dr. Jurgen Manemann is Director of the Research Institute for Philosophy Hanover, Germany. Until 2009 he was professor of Christian belief, religion and cultural theory at the catholic-theological faculty of the University of Erfurt. He is a student of Johann Baptist Metz and one of the most prominent representatives of the "new" political theology. Dr Manemann was a guest of CERCL's African American Religious Studies Forum.
September 2012
Terry Grier is currently superintendent of Houston Independent School District where his contract was recently extended through June 2016. During his time as superintendent, dropout rates have decreased to all-time lows while graduation rates have increased to an all-time high.
March 2013
Michael McPherson, President of the Spenser Foundation discussed the current assault on liberal education by many university leaders, why it matters, and what can be done about it.
October 2013
Marcus Davis is Chief Steward, tbk Holdings, Inc., Parent Company of the breakfast klub and Reggae Hut Café. The entrepreneur and Houston native discussed his guiding principles in business in life.
