Trinity University

The Office of University Communications
pr@trinity.edu
(210) 999-8406
Oct. 3, 2011

Interfaith Action to be Discussed during Willson Lecture at Trinity University

Speaker to explore religious diversity on college campuses

SAN ANTONIO - Mike Pardee, executive director of the Boniuk Center for Religious Tolerance at Rice University, will present the Trinity University Willson Lecture on "Building the Bridge as We Walk on It: a Dynamic Time for Interfaith Action on College Campuses" at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 18, in the Coates University Center Fiesta Room on the Trinity campus. The presentation is free and open to the public.

Pardee's lecture will focus on the burgeoning religious diversity found on college campuses and its    cultural, social, and educational implications. He will address how faculty, staff, and students can work together in interfaith action to handle this change, without compromising or discrediting any religious affiliations.

Previous to assuming the directorship of the Boniuk Center, Pardee served as director of Character Education at the Kinkaid School in Houston, where he developed experiential curricula in the new fields of leadership training and character development. He also served as the executive director of the Leadership Initiative at Suffield Academy in Connecticut. He is one of the founding faculty members at the Gardner Carney Leadership Institute at the Fountain Valley School in Colorado Springs, Colo., whose primary mission is "teaching teachers about teaching leadership."

He has presented at National Association of Independent Schools Conferences on youth leadership development and character education, and organized the 2007 regional symposium on both of these topics at the Kinkaid School. Pardee has participated in interfaith endeavors as a board member and teacher at the Houston Congregation for Reform Judaism.

He holds a master's degree in Educational Administration from Columbia Teachers College, a master's in American and New England Studies from Boston University, and a bachelor's in English from Princeton University.

For more information, contact the Rev. Stephen Nickle, Trinity University chaplain, at 210-999-7311, or visit web.trinity.edu/x6034.xml.

Text provided by Andrea Davis of Farmington, N.M., a candidate for graduation from Trinity University in May 2012 with a degree in history and English. She is a student worker in the Office of University Communications.