UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Jeanine Staples, associate professor of literacy and language, African American studies, and women’s, gender and sexuality studies in the colleges of Education and the Liberal Arts at Penn State, will present “… And Justice for All: Advancing Social Justice Through Emotional Justice” as part of the 25th annual Mark Luchinsky Memorial Lecture Series at 7 p.m. Monday, Jan. 27, in the Palmer Museum of Art's Palmer Lipcon Auditorium.
The event is free and open to the public, although attendees are required to RSVP, as seating is limited. Free tickets are available online at https://www.shc.psu.edu/life/programs/luchinsky/current.cfm.
The Luchinsky Memorial Lecture Series was endowed by family and friends to honor the memory of Mark Luchinsky through the support of a speaker who exemplifies intellectual honesty, personal integrity and joy in learning. The 25th annual event is sponsored by the Schreyer Honors College, the Presidential Leadership Academy, the Office of Educational Equity, the Gender Equity Center, Penn State Hillel, and the Schreyer Honors College Student Council.
Staples is a speaker, scholar, author, and educator whose work exposes the foundations of racism, sexism, and ableism. She has trained over 4,000 teachers of underrepresented minority students in anti-racist, anti-sexist, anti-ableist methods of instruction and assessment. She has been a board member for the Africana Research Center at Penn State and a fellow for the Social Science Research Institute/Children, Youth and Family Consortium (SSRI/CYFC) and was a Senior Fellow at Columbia University School of Law's Center for Intersectionality and Social Policy Studies and Senior Visiting Scholar at the University of Rhode Island's Harrington School of Communications.
Her lecture will include discussion of supremacist patriarchies and the emotional, psychological, or physical damage they can cause, as well as ways of healing. She has collected terror narratives from thousands of girls and women to better understand emotional justice projects.
“Emotional justice is a significant and necessary component of social justice work in the 21st century,” Staples said. “Yet, it is often misunderstood, or simply neglected, among leadership charged with cultivating awareness, reparation, and equity for all people. During my talk, I will illuminate a simple, meaningful path forward to heal that breach. It is one that can lead to the end of human suffering.”
About the Mark Luchinsky Memorial Lecture
Luchinsky was a Schreyer Scholar and biochemistry major at Penn State who died in 1995 at the age of 20. A native of Pittsburgh who graduated first in his class from Thomas Jefferson High School, he was a member of the Penn State Golden Key Society and the Alpha Epsilon Delta Premedical Honor Society. Known for his intellectual honesty and integrity, Luchinsky enjoyed the study of all subjects and loved the classics, sports, poetry, history and geography.
Past Luchinsky lecturers have included Wendy Kopp, founder of Teach For All and Teach For America; Sean Misko, special adviser to the special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan; and Schreyer Scholar alumna Mary Beth Long, former U.S. assistant secretary of defense. Additional information about the Mark Luchinsky Lecture and a list of previous speakers is available at https://www.shc.psu.edu/life/programs/luchinsky/.
The Schreyer Honors College promotes academic excellence with integrity, the building of a global perspective, and creation of opportunities for leadership and civic engagement. Schreyer Honors Scholars total more than 2,000 students at University Park and 20 Commonwealth Campuses and represent 38 states and 28 countries. More than 14,000 Scholars have graduated with honors from Penn State since 1980.
For additional information about the event, contact Donna L. Meyer, director of student programs, at 814-863-2636 or dlh15@psu.edu.