Explore the intersection of free speech and social change on Thursday, January 17 at a program featuring three powerful speakers connected to Bronzeville including Michelle Duster, great-granddaugher of Ida B. Wells. 

Duster is an author, speaker, and professor of writing at Columbia College Chicago. She  has edited and contributed to nine books, two of which include the writings of her great-grandmother Ida B. Wells. Her latest is an edited collection titled Michelle Obama’s Impact on African American Women and Girls. A native Chicagoan, Duster earned a B.A. in psychology from Dartmouth College and an M.A. in media studies from The New School.

Joining Duster is Shanita Baraka Akintonde (MBA ’97), a tenured professor in the School of Media Arts at Columbia College Chicago. Akintonde, who also earned an M.A. in education from Loyola University Chicago and a B.A. in Marketing from Columbia College Chicago, is a contributing author of two books, Leading from the Heart (2018) and Unleash The Leader Within You (2005). Her third book, a leadership memoir entitled Hear Me ROARR, is scheduled for release this spring. She writes and produces the  podcast”Marketing Insights” for McGraw Hill Education and pens the “Career to Classroom” blog for their higher education site.

The voice of civil engineering student and National Society of Black Engineers member Jimi Akintonde rounds the panel.

The event, coordinated by the Office of Community Affairs and Outreach Programs, will be held on Thursday, January 17 in the MTCC Auditorium at noon. Refreshments will be served.