Sept. 30, 2015
For Immediate Release
By Hanna Hall, student news writer
CAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky. - Dr. Gerald L. Smith, pastor of the
Pilgrim Baptist Church in Lexington, Ky. and associate professor of African
American history and the Martin Luther King Jr. Scholar in Residence at the
University of Kentucky, will be speaking at Ransdell Chapel Wednesday, Oct. 14
at 10 a.m. This will kick off the “Dialogue on Race.” Ransdell Chapel is
located at 401 N. Hoskins Ave., Campbellsville, Ky.
Everyone is
invited to chapel.
Smith is a
native of Lexington, Ky. He pastored the Farristown Baptist Church in Berea, Ky.
for nearly eight years prior to being called to pastor the Pilgrim Baptist
Church in Lexington in November 2011.
He earned
his B.A, M.A., and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Kentucky in history. He
taught at the University of Memphis from 1988 until 1993. From 1997 until 2005,
he served as the director of the African American Studies and Research Program.
Smith is
the author, editor or co-editor of three books. He is a contributing volume
co-editor of the “Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr. Volume Six: Advocate of the Social Gospel.”
He has nearly 40 other publications in historical journals and encyclopedias.
He has consulted on various
historical projects, lectured on college campuses around the state, and
conducted workshops for primary and secondary school teachers.
He has also appeared in historical
documentaries which have aired on CBS, NBC, KET and TruTV. He is a general
co-editor of “The Kentucky African American
Encyclopedia” scheduled to be published in 2015. He is researching and
writing a new general history of African Americans in Kentucky.
Smith has
served on a number of different boards and committees and now serves as chair
of the Kentucky African American Heritage Commission. He is a 2006 inductee
into the Henry Clay High School Hall of Fame in Lexington, Ky.; a recipient of
the 2011 Richard H. Collins Award from the Kentucky Historical Society, a 2012
inductee into the UK chapter of Phi Theta Phi National Honor Society; and one of six professors on campus chosen by
the UK Alumni Association to receive the 2013 Great Teacher Award.
He is
married to Teresa Turner Smith. They are the parents of two daughters,
Elizabeth and Sarah.
Chapel is
designed to provide opportunities for corporate worship and explosure through a
variety of informative speakers and presentations.
All
chapels are open to the public free of charge and are televised live on WLCU
(Comcast Cable channel 10 and digital channel 23.0).
For
information about chapel, call the Office of Campus Ministries at (270)
789-5227.
Campbellsville University is a widely
acclaimed Kentucky-based Christian university with more than 3,500 students
offering over 80 programs of study including 24 master's
degrees, seven postgraduate areas and eight pre-professional programs. The
website for complete information is campbellsville.edu.