WKU News & Events

April 04, 2002

WKU Graduate Featured Speaker
For Spring Celebration

Bowling Green, Ky. - A Western Kentucky University graduate who founded a national organization working to improve educational and economic opportunities for black males will be the featured speaker at the Society of African American Alumni Spring Celebration.

Dr. Bobby W. Austin, president and chief executive officer of the Village Foundation, will speak at the April 13 Spring Celebration. The event begins at 6 p.m. at the Carroll F. Knicely Institute for Economic Development at WKU's South Campus.

Austin, a 1966 WKU graduate, is co-author of "Repairing the Breach" with Andrew J. Young and founded The Village Foundation in 1997.

The foundation, based in Alexandria, Va., works to "repair the breach" between African-American males and the rest of society. Its mission is to engage African-American young men and boys in American society, by reconnecting them first to their local communities and then to the larger society.

Austin is a former resident of Jonesville, an African American community that once thrived in the area near University Boulevard and Big Red Way. He was one of the speakers last April when a Kentucky Historical Society Highway Marker was dedicated near Denes Field on the WKU campus.

Austin received his master's degree from Fisk University and his doctorate from McMaster University in Canada. He is a former sociology professor at Georgetown University and administrator with the University of the District of Columbia.

Prior to founding the Village Foundation, he worked for the W.K. Kellogg Foundation for eight years.

Spring Celebration raises money to support the Society of African American Alumni scholarship fund. Two recipients will be recognized at the April 13 event, according to Anthony Bowles, society president.

Spring Celebration activities also include recognition of leadership scholars and special music by John Edmonds and the Rev. Ricardo Huffman.

Tickets are $25. Reservation deadline is April 9. To make reservations, contact the WKU Alumni Association at (270) 745-4395.

For more information, contact Anthony Bowles at (270) 745-5491. More WKU news is available on the World Wide Web at www.wku.edu. If you'd like to receive WKU news via E-mail, send a message to WKUNews@wku.edu.