NEW YORK, August 21, 2009 – CCNY President Gregory H. Williams inaugurates the Center for Worker Education’s Book Talk lecture series, which runs August 31 through December 14.  All lectures are free and open to the public and begin at 6 p.m.  They will be held in the CWE auditorium, located on the seventh floor at 25 Broadway in Lower Manhattan.

“Book Talk will bring some of the best and most recognized authors in the country to the Center,” said Juan Carlos Mercado, Dean of the Division of Interdisciplinary Studies at the Center for Worker Education. “We expect the turnout to be tremendous.”

President Williams will discuss his memoir, “Life on the Color Line: the True Story of a White Boy who Discovered he was Black,” which won the 1995 “Los Angeles Times” Book of the Year award, Monday, August 31.  Other speakers in the series, the books they will discuss and their speaking dates follow:

• Pulitzer Prize winner John T. Matteson, “Eden’s Outcasts: The Story of Louisa May Alcott and her Father”, Monday, September 21;
• Dr. Harriet Hyman Alonso, CCNY Professor of History, “The Biographer and the Playwright,” Tuesday, September 29;
• Dr. Vincent Boudreau, CCNY Professor of Political Science and Director of the Colin Powell Center for Policy Studies, “Resisting Dictatorship: Repression and Protest in Southeast Asia,” Monday, October 5;
• Billy Collins, New York State Poet Laureate and former U.S. Poet Laureate, “Sailing Alone Around in the Room: New and Selected Poems,” Monday, October 19;
• CCNY alumnus Oscar Hijuelos, the first Hispanic to win a Pulitzer Prize for fiction, “The Mambo Kings” and “Dark Dude,” Monday, November 3;
• Lori Marie Carlson, “The Sunday Tertulia and Red Hot Salsa: Bilingual Poems on Being Young and Latino in the United States,” Monday, November 16;
• Dr. Mike Wallace, Distinguished Professor of History at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and a Pulitzer Prize winner, “Gotham,” Monday, November 30;
• Dr. Beth Baron, CCNY Professor of History and Co-director of the Middle East and Middle East American Center at the CUNY Graduate Center, “Contesting Conversion: Missionaries, Islamic Activists and Orphans in Egypt,” Monday, December 14.

The series is sponsored by CCNY Provost Zeev Dagan and the CCNY Office of Academic Affairs. For additional information, visit http://www1.ccny.cuny.edu/CWE.

About the CCNY Division of Interdisciplinary Studies
The Division of Interdisciplinary Studies at the Center for Worker Education (CWE), headquartered in Lower Manhattan, is a division of The City College of New York’s (CCNY) College of Liberal Arts & Sciences.  It offers an excellent interdisciplinary B.A. degree in Liberal Arts with a number of special concentrations.  The Center for Worker Education also hosts the CCNY School of Education’s B.S. in Early Childhood Education.  Founded in 1981, the Division has become one of the leading educational institutions for working adults in New York City.  It attracts over 750 working professionals per semester and reflects the multi-ethnic composition of New York City.  For addition information, visit http://www1.ccny.cuny.edu/prospective/cwe/index.cfm.

About The City College of New York
Since 1847 The City College of New York has provided low-cost, high-quality education for New Yorkers in a wide variety of disciplines.  Over 15,000 students pursue undergraduate and graduate degrees in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences; The Bernard and Anne Spitzer School of Architecture; The School of Education; The Grove School of Engineering, and The Sophie Davis School of Biomedical Education.  For additional information, visit www.ccny.cuny.edu.

CWE Contact Information
Elena Romero, Communications Coordinator, CWE, (212) 925-6625 x 258, eromero@ccny.cuny.edu