Nationally known political commentator and activist Angela Rye will kick off this year’s UO African American Workshop and Lecture Series with a campus event at Beall Hall.

Rye will speak at 10 a.m. Friday, Oct. 12. Her talk, which is part of both the lecture series and the Black Alumni Reunion, is free and open to the public. Beall Hall is part of the Frohnmayer Music Building.

The event is part of a suite of events celebrating the university’s black students and faculty members. Other events include the Black Student Convocation, Black Alumni Reunion and the groundbreaking for the Black Cultural Center.

Rye is a frequent political commentator and analyst for numerous broadcast outlets, including NPR, CNN, BET, NBC, HBO, ABC, MSNBC and TV One, as well as publications such as Ebony and the Washington Post. She serves on numerous boards, including the Congressional Black Caucus Institute and Congressional Black Caucus Political Action Committee.

Rye is also principal and CEO of Impact Strategies, whose mission is to “create on demand strategic solutions to balance the political equation by keeping it authentic, accessible, and tangible for global citizens.” She is an attorney from Seattle and is an alumna of the University of Washington and Seattle University School of Law.

The UOAA Black Alumni Network and UO African American Workshop and Lecture Series joined to bring Rye to campus for the lecture. The African American Workshop and Lecture Series dis co-sponsored by the Office of the President and the Division of Equity and Inclusion.

The series is now in its third year. It was sparked by demands raised by the UO’s Black Student Task Force.

Yvette Alex-Assensoh, vice president for the Division of Equity and Inclusion, sees Rye as an inspiring start to this year’s series.

“We have had an outstanding and informative range of speakers over the last two years for the series,” she said. “Rye’s no-nonsense analysis of political events is just what we need to kick off the series in an empowering and informative way.”

Alex-Assensoh added that “having the opportunity to join forces and collaborate with the Black Alumni Network and the alumni association deepens our ability to bring quality people here to the university and to establish a pattern for working with other groups in the future.”

—By tova stabin, University Communications