Speaker Information

Karen Jackson Weaver, executive director of the New Jersey Amistad Commission, received her bachelor of arts degree, and certificates in African-American studies and the teacher preparation program from Princeton University. While pursuing her undergraduate studies, she served as a fellow and summer intern for the Hon. Carol Moseley-Braun, and as a law clerk in the legal department of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People [NAACP].

Upon graduation from Princeton, Jackson-Weaver attended Harvard University, where she received a specialized master’s degree in education and graduated magna cum laude. She holds a master of arts degree and a master of philosophy degree in American history from Columbia University. She has studied with leading educators, historians and scholars, including Dr. Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot, professor of education at Harvard University; Dr. Nell Painter, the Edwards Professor of History at Princeton University; and Dr. Cornel West, the Class of 1943 University Professor of Religion at Princeton University.

Jackson-Weaver has worked in education for more than 10 years with the New York City, Boston and Princeton, N.J., public-school systems. Most recently, she served as a research fellow at the Institute for Research in African-American Studies at Columbia University, and as a visiting scholar at the King Center Library and Archives in Atlanta, Ga., where she completed research for her dissertation on black women’s leadership during the Civil Rights Movement.

She has been featured in numerous periodicals, including the New York Times, New Jersey Star Ledger and Virginian Pilot. She has been spotlighted on NBC’s Today: Weekend Edition for her contributions to the community and for her commitment to educational excellence for all children. Jackson-Weaver defended her dissertation in the fall of 2005 at Columbia University.

Dr. Wayne Flynt, professor emeritus of Auburn University, is editor-in-chief of the Online Encyclopedia of Alabama, which is the product of a partnership between the Alabama Humanities Foundation and Auburn University. Flynt is a leading authority on Alabama history and Baptist history in Alabama.

He was inducted into the 2005 Communication Hall of Fame at the University of Alabama, which honors communication personalities who have brought lasting fame to the state,

Flynt is the author of 11 books, including the Pulitzer Prize-nominated Poor But Proud: Alabama's Poor Whites. His most recent book, Alabama in the Twentieth Century, was awarded the 2004 Anne B. and James B. McMillan Prize. Also in 2004, his book Dixie's Forgotten People: The South's Poor Whites was re-issued. Flynt's books have won many awards, some multiple times, including the Lillian Smith Award for Non-Fiction, the Alabama Library Association Award for Non-Fiction, Outstanding Academic Book from the American Library Association, and the James F. Sulzby, Jr. Book Award. He is co-author of Alabama: A History of a Deep South State, which was also nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.

Flynt has devoted his life to bringing the issues of history and poverty and their social impact to the forefront of the public's consciousness. He was educated at Samford University, formerly Howard College (A.B.,1961), and Florida State University (M.S., 1962; Ph.D. 1965).

Rev. David Beckmann, executive director of Bread for the World, a Lutheran minister and an economist, earned his master of science in economics from the London School of Economics, a master of divinity from Christ Seminary in St. Louis, Mo., and his undergraduate degree from Yale University. He has received honorary doctorates from Villanova University, Berkeley Divinity School at Yale and Capital University. He is fluent in Spanish.

Rev. Beckmann was called by his church to be a “missionary economist,” connecting Christian faith and moral teaching to economic life. He served in a church-supported development program in rural Bangladesh from 1975 to 1976. He then moved to the World Bank for 15 years. As an economist, he played a prominent role in the bank’s heightened focus on poverty reduction, and fostered greater collaboration between the bank and grassroots groups that work for poor people. He supervised slum improvement projects and later wrote speeches for the president of the bank. Finally, he led the bank’s efforts to engage with religious, environmental and other grassroots groups around the world.

Beckmann served for several years on the board of Bread for the World before becoming president of the organization in 1991. Bread for the World is a grassroots, Christian citizens’ movement against hunger. Its 54,000 members and member churches urge the U.S. government to take actions to reduce both domestic and international hunger. Beckmann is also president of Bread for the World Institute, which performs research and education on hunger.

In addition, he is the founder and president of the Alliance to End Hunger, which engages diverse institutions in building the public will to end hunger. The alliance includes corporations, unions, foundations, charities, and governmental and U.N. institutions.

Rev. Beckmann has written many books and articles. His books include Grace at the Table: Ending Hunger in God's World, Transforming the Politics of Hunger and Friday Morning Reflections at the World Bank.

 

Maintained by University Communications. Last updated January 9, 2006

 

 

 

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* Photos courtesy of the Birmingham Public Library Archives