Respected author and educator to present
URI's Seventh Annual Lecture on Multiculturalism

KINGSTON, R.I. -- January 18, 2001 -- Patricia J. Williams, respected author, educator, scholar, and social activist, will present the University of Rhode Island's Seventh Annual Lecture on Multiculturalism. Williams will speak on Wednesday, Feb. 7, at 7:30 p.m. in Edward's Auditorium. The lecture is free and open to the public.

She currently teaches courses on commercial law, contracts, and jurisprudence at Columbia University Law School.

A columnist with The Nation, Williams has published widely in both scholarly journals and the press, including The New York Times, The Village Voice, and The New Yorker. Her writings focus on race, gender and law, and on the issues of legal theory and writing. Among her published books are The Rooster's Egg, Seeing a Color-Blind Future: The Paradox of Race, and the widely acclaimed autobiographical The Alchemy of Race & Right: Diary of a Law Professor.

Williams maintains an active speaking schedule and appears frequently on programs like "All Things Considered" and "Fresh Air with Terri Gross" (NPR), "The Lehrer Newshour" (PBS), "The Today Show" (NBC), as well as foreign radio and television programs. She has also appeared in a number of documentary films, including "That Rush!" which she wrote and narrated.

The great-great-granddaughter of a slave and a white southern lawyer, Williams has joined Harvard University professor Cornel West and other prominent academics in calling for a new trial for Mumia Abu-Jamal, the Philadelphia radio journalist on death row for a murder conviction.

Before entering academia, she practiced law as a consumer advocate in the office of the Deputy City Attorney in Los Angeles, and has served on the advisory council for the Medgar Evers Center for Law and Social Justice of the City University of New York, and the Board of Governors for the Society of American Law Teachers. She is a member of the State Bar of California and the Federal Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

A prestigious MacArthur Fellow, Williams earned a bachelor's degree from Wellesley College and a law degree from Harvard. Williams has held faculty appointments at the University of Wisconsin School of Law, the City University of New York Law School at Queens College and Golden Gate University School of Law. She has been a visiting professor at Harvard University and Stanford University and a visiting scholar at Duke University and at Stanford's Institute for Research on Women and Gender.

For Information: Jan Sawyer, 401-874-2116, Jennifer Smith, 401-874-2116