President emerita of Spelman College to deliver 10th Annual Eugene J. McCarthy Lecture

Beverly Daniel Tatum, president emerita of Spelman College and a noted author and clinical psychologist, will present the 10th Annual Eugene J. McCarthy Lecture at 8 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 18, at the Stephen B. Humphrey Theater, Saint John's University.

She will be interviewed by Mary Dana Hinton, president of the College of Saint Benedict. The event is free and open to the public, with the theater doors opening at 7:30 p.m. No tickets are needed.

Tatum was the ninth president of Spelman, a historically black women's college in Atlanta, from 2002-15.

Her tenure as president of Spelman was marked by a period of great innovation and growth. During her time at Spelman, the Center for Leadership and Civic Engagement was founded; the college completed its first LEED certified residence hall; and scholarship support for Spelman students tripled during her tenure.

She received the 2013 Academic Leadership Award for exceptional work as a president of a U.S. college or university.

Besides her work as a college president, Tatum is recognized as a race relations expert and leader in higher education. Her areas of research include racial identity development, and the role of race in the classroom.

Tatum is the author of three books: "Can We Talk About Race? And Other Conversations in an Era of School Resegregation (2007); "Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? And Other Conversations About Race" (1997); and "Assimilation Blues: Black Families in a White Community" (1987).

In 2005, Tatum was awarded the prestigious Brock International Prize for her innovative leadership in the field, and was a 2014 recipient of American Psychological Association Award for Outstanding Lifetime Contributions to Psychology.

Tatum holds a bachelor's degree from Wesleyan University, a master's and Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Michigan and a master's in religious studies from Hartford Seminary.

The Eugene J. McCarthy Lecture carries McCarthy's deep commitment to the ideals and principles of democratic self-government. It seeks to inspire a new generation of young people to pursue fresh ideas, to challenge the status quo, to affect positive change in their communities and like McCarthy himself, to lead with honesty, integrity and courage.

McCarthy, a native of Watkins, Minnesota, graduated from Saint John's Preparatory School in 1931 and Saint John's University in 1935. He served five terms representing Minnesota in the U.S. House of Representatives (1949-59) and two terms in the U.S. Senate (1959-71). He ran for president several times, most notably in 1968.

Past speakers in the series have included Sens. Dave Durenberger '55, Amy Klobuchar and Christopher Dodd; former Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel; civil rights leader Julian Bond; and journalists and political analysts Cokie Roberts, Tom Brokaw, Mark Shields and E.J. Dionne.