Terry Tempest Williams, conservationist, advocate of free speech, and author or editor of 13 books, will speak at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday (Jan. 31) in Slayter Auditorium at Denison University. A passionate advocate for public lands and freedom of speech, Williams was named by the Utne Reader as one of its "Utne 100 Visionaries." Newsweek calls her "A person most likely to have a social and political impact on the American West." The convocation is free and open to the public.

Growing up in sight of the Great Salt Lake in Utah, Williams says she writes "through my biases of gender, geography, and culture. I am a woman whose ideas have been filtered through the prism of my culture and my culture is Mormon. The tenets of family and community which I see at the heart of that culture are then articulated through story." Alongside her most recent book,The Open Space of Democracy(2004), Williams has also writtenRed: Passion and Patience in the Desert(2001),Leap(2000),New Genesis: A Mormon Reader on Land and Community(1998),An Unspoken Hunger: Stories from the Field(1994),Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place(1991), andCoyote's Canyon(1989). Her writings have also appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, and numerous anthologies worldwide.

Williams has testified twice before Congress regarding environmental links associated with cancer, and served on the President's Council for Sustainable Development. She still serves on the advisory board of the National Parks and Conservation Association, The Nature Conservancy, and the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance. Formerly naturalist-in-residence at the Utah Museum of Natural History, Williams is currently the Annie Clark Tanner Scholar in the Environmental Humanities Program at the University of Utah, holding honorary doctoral degrees from the University of Utah and St. Mary-of-the-Woods College.

Williams' appearance is sponsored by the Goodspeed Lecture Series and the McGregor Fund, of Detroit, Mich. The Goodspeed Series features scholars whose work is in the field of religion or is related to religious issues and is named in honor of Edgar J. Goodspeed, an 1890 Denison graduate who contributed to the Revised Standard Version of the Bible. The McGregor Fund grant is for programs enhancing student intellectual engagement through shared, theme-related experiences both inside and outside the classroom. This year's theme is the concept of "home."

Calendar Listing:

CALENDAR LISTING: Denison University, Granville -- Lecture by Terry Tempest Williams; 7:30 p.m. Tuesday (Jan. 31), Slayter Auditorium (200 North Road). Free and open to the public. Contact 740-587-6241 to confirm information.

About Denison:

Denison University, founded in 1831, is an independent, residential liberal arts institution located in Granville, Ohio. A highly selective college enrolling 2,100 full-time undergraduate students from all 50 states and dozens of foreign countries, Denison is a place where innovative faculty and motivated students collaborate in rigorous scholarship, civic engagement and the cultivation of independent thinking.

For press inquiries:

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Barbara Stambaugh

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Director, Media Relations

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stambaughb@denison.edu

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(740) 587-8575