UA Professor’s ‘Last Lecture’ Will Focus on Celebrating Diversity

Dr. Robin Boylorn
Dr. Robin Boylorn

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Dr. Robin Boylorn knows that sometimes wisdom can come from unexpected places, and she hopes she can bring some of that wisdom to life for students in the 2014 Last Lecture at The University of Alabama.

“I think being selected for this lecture forces me to think about how impactful and important our words are, no matter how old we are,” said Boylorn, an assistant professor of communication studies now in her fifth year at the Capstone, her first post-doctoral professorship. “Sometimes I think we wait on wisdom when it could potentially be there all along in unlikely places and unlikely moments.”

Boylorn’s lecture, titled “Overcoming (In)Difference: Reflections on Empathy, Apathy and Diversity,” will peek into her classroom, where she discusses issues of diversity and intersectionality. It will be 6 p.m. April 16, in 159 Russell Hall. The event is free and open to the public.

Boylorn said she tries to push students to discuss “oft-silenced topics” and to examine themselves, their privileges and their worldviews differently.

“I want to urge the audience members and participants to be more conscious of difference and to learn to celebrate it rather than silence it and avoid it and ignore it, as I think we tend to do,” Boylorn said.

Boylorn said she is honored to have been nominated by her students for the Last Lecture.

“I think that my starry-eyed vision for my life and career coming out of graduate school was to change the world, but then you have some experiences and encounters that make you feel that’s not possible,” Boylorn said. “Being given this award and opportunity makes me starry-eyed again, it makes me optimistic again.

“For as much resistance as issues of diversity and identity difference get, those issues matter.”

Faculty members from across campus were nominated by students for the award, and the finalists and winner were chosen by an eight-person student committee.

Contact

Misty Mathews, UA media relations, 205/348-6416, mmathews@ua.edu

Source

Dr. Robin Boylorn, 205/348-8078, rboylorn@ua.edu