Race relations thought leader to speak at TU Commencement
Beverly Daniel Tatum, Ph.D., is the widely known author of the 2017 best-seller "Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?"
By Ray Feldmann on March 27, 2018
Dr. Beverly Daniel Tatum, president emerita of Spelman College who is widely known for her expertise on race relations and as a thought leader in higher education, will be Towson University’s Commencement speaker this May. Tatum will make her remarks during the College of Liberal Arts (CLA) ceremony on May 23, 2018 at 3 p.m.
This spring will mark just the second time that a prominent speaker from outside the TU community will provide a keynote speech during one of the university’s six commencement ceremonies. Last May, Scott Burger, president of the Americas for PANDORA, addressed the College of Business & Economics graduates.
Related: TU announces PANDORA President Scott Burger as commencement speaker
CLA Dean Dr. Terry A. Cooney said the selection of Tatum as this year’s Commencement speaker was based primarily on three factors.
“First and foremost, she is a distinguished person who is very well known as a university leader,” Cooney said. “Second, her area of expertise has in recent years been at the forefront of people’s minds across the country and certainly here on this campus.”
Cooney also said a chance meeting with Tatum two decades ago at Mount Holyoke College impressed him enough to invite her to Towson nearly 20 years later.
“She spoke on a topic that I personally found fascinating: ‘Can you teach wisdom?’” Cooney recalled. “Very few people ask that type of question. Conversations these days in higher education are usually transactional. I thought the question she posed was excellent.”
Tatum’s 13 years as the president of Spelman College between 2002 and 2015 were marked by innovation and growth, and her visionary leadership was recognized in 2013 with the Carnegie Academic Leadership Award.
The author of several books—including the best-selling“Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? and Other Conversations About Race,” and “Can We Talk about Race? and Other Conversations in an Era of School Resegregation”—Tatum is a sought-after speaker on the topics of racial identity development, race and education, strategies for creating inclusive campus environments, and higher education leadership.
Her 2017 TED talk, “Is my skin brown because I drank chocolate milk?” has more than 6,000 views on YouTube.
In 2005, Tatum was awarded the prestigious Brock International Prize in Education for her innovative leadership in the field. A Fellow of the American Psychological Association, she was the 2014 recipient of the APA Award for Outstanding Lifetime Contributions to Psychology.
A civic leader in the Atlanta community, Tatum is engaged in educational initiatives designed to expand educational opportunity for underserved students and their families. She serves on the governing boards of the Westside Future Fund, Achieve Atlanta, Morehouse College and Smith College, as well as the Georgia Power Company and the Educational Testing Service.
Tatum holds a B.A. in psychology from Wesleyan University, and M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in clinical psychology from the University of Michigan as well as an M.A. in religious studies from Hartford Seminary. Over the course of her career, she has served as a faculty member at the University of California, Santa Barbara, Westfield State University, and Mount Holyoke.
Prior to her 2002 appointment as president of Spelman, she served as dean and acting president at Mount Holyoke. In spring 2017, she was the Mimi and Peter E. Haas Distinguished Visitor at Stanford University. She is married to Dr. Travis Tatum; they are the parents of two adult sons.
Although the CLA ceremony will carry the designation of hosting the university Commencement speaker, all six ceremonies are equally significant and will feature remarks from undergraduate and graduate speakers, as well as university leaders and dignitaries, including TU President Kim Schatzel and Provost Timothy J.L. Chandler.
The university commencement speaker designation will rotate annually among TU’s six academic colleges. The College of Education will host the university commencement speaker in May 2019.