He may have traversed the globe twice over, but come Fall, renowned journalist and New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof will be travelling to Durham.
Kristof will speak at Duke Sept. 17 in Reynolds Theater, Colleen Scott, associate director of the Baldwin Scholars program, confirmed Wednesday. The lecture will be open to the public and is part of Kristof's tour to promote his new book, "Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide." His wife Sheryl WuDunn co-authors the work.
"The basic message of the book is that if you want to address global poverty, if you want to address extremism, then the best way to do that is through gender-that means educating girls and bringing them into the economy," Kristof said.
Kristof's message to college students in particular, resonates from his years of work in developing countries-he wants more Dukies to take a year before or during college to travel and volunteer abroad, especially in the developing world, to invest in a "lifelong commitment and transformative experience."
"I think that's a hugely important part of an education," Kristof said. "Things like sex trafficking, they're so far away we tend not to think of them, they're very easy to tune out. I hope that in the course of visiting I will... maybe inspire a few to get more involved."
"Half the Sky" is a call to arms against female oppression in developing nations, chronicling stories of struggling women in Africa and Asia who battle prostitution, sex slavery and domestic violence. But the tales of struggle are juxtaposed with those of success-of women who have broken through their ceilings of oppression and are now helping others do the same.
"He's the big voice in the world and he's using his voice to highlight the issues the people in WISER are passionate about," said Sheryl Broverman, associate professor of the practice of biology and co-founder and NGO chair of the Women's Institute for Secondary Education and Research. "We hope it'll kick off discussion on campus about the role gender plays in international development."
Two hundred free copies of the book will be distributed at the beginning of the event, Scott said. A question and answer session and book signing will follow the lecture.
The two-time Pulitzer prize winner is coming to Durham because it is "a city with a lot of educated people and a book-buying city," said Flip Porter, Kristof's representative.
WISER and the Baldwin Scholars program are sponsoring the event with various other departments and campus organizations, including DukeEngage, the Kenan Institute for Ethics and the Women's Center.
Kristof has been a columnist for the New York Times since November 2001 and is known for being the first journalist to shine a national spotlight on human rights issues in third world countries, such as the genocide in Darfur and human trafficking. His September speech will also help campus groups like WISER move forward-beyond fundraising and toward more education about women's roles in global economic development, Broverman said.
In addition to Duke, other institutions will also host Kristof on tour, including the University of California-Santa Barbara, the University of California-San Diego and Hofstra University, Porter said.
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