Cumberland University will host its Ninth Annual Research Colloquium on Wednesday, Nov. 9 as an education enrichment opportunity for its campus community featuring Pulitzer Prize winner John Archibald.
“Colloquium contributes to our university’s liberal arts education by offering scientific and social research about a range of topics,” said University Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Dr. William C. McKee. “We are honored to have Pulitzer Prize winning columnist Mr. John Archibald join us. I am very proud of our students and faculty who work tirelessly to craft passionate presentations and offer robust perspectives about their topics of interest.”
Archibald is a columnist for the Alabama Media Group and known for his work in the Birmingham News, the Huntsville Times, Mobile’s Press-Register, AL.com and its probing social brand, Reckon. In 2018, he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize “For lyrical and courageous commentary that is rooted in Alabama but has a national resonance in scrutinizing corrupt politicians, championing the rights of women and calling out hypocrisy.”
Archibald is the author of “Shaking the Gates of Hell: A Search for Family and Truth in the Wake of the Civil Rights Revolution,” included as one of National Public Radio’s Best Books of 2021. He writes of the “deafening silence from the pulpits of white churches” in his biographical memoir. He was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University in 2020-2021, where he taught column writing in the summer school.
Dr. Will Whetsell, a respected neurologist and neuropathologist in Nashville, will also speak at Colloquium about his book “Invasions of Eden”. Later, on Nov. 17, he will be returning to campus to speak to Cumberland’s Advanced Fiction class.
Each year, this event serves as public acknowledgement of the university’s commitment to academic excellence, through research presentations and informational sessions. Students, faculty, staff and guest speakers from the community present on topics of interest ranging from how vision deficits affect academic performance in children to looking at Ted Bundy’s motivations from psychological, criminological, historical, and anthropological perspectives.
Colloquium will begin at 7:45 a.m. in the Dallas Floyd Phoenix Arena. It is a free event and open to the public. To learn more, visit https://www.cumberland.edu/colloquium/.