BUFFALO, NY – The William H. Fitzpatrick Chair of Political Science Lecture Series at Canisius University will welcome to campus two nationally recognized organizers of the Women’s March on Washington. National co-chairs Tamika D. Mallory and Bob Bland will speak at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, September 26 in the Montante Cultural Center, located at the corner of Main Street and Eastwood Place. Their lecture, entitled “Building Trust: Organizing for Social Justice,” is free and open to the public.
Tamika Mallory and Bob Bland were two of four national co-chairs of the Women’s March, held in Washington, D.C. on January 21, 2017. The march mobilized five million people of all backgrounds and from all seven continents in an effort to call attention to a world that is equitable, tolerant, just and safe and one in which the human rights and dignity of each person is protected, and the planet is safe from destruction. Grounded in the nonviolent ideology of the Civil Rights Movement, the Women’s March was the largest coordinated protest in U.S. history.
Publicly lauded as ‘a leader of tomorrow,’ Tamika Mallory is a champion for social justice who worked closely with the Obama Administration as an advocate for civil rights issues, equal rights for women, healthcare, gun violence and police misconduct. Prior to serving as co-chair of the Women’s March held in Washington, D.C. and co-president of the organization, Mallory was on the transition committee for New York City Mayor-Elect Bill de Blasio and a national organizer for the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington in 2013. The event drew 300,000 people. A leading figure in the grassroots effort to stop gun violence in New York City, Mallory was instrumental in creating the NYC Crisis Management System, a gun violence prevention program that awards nearly $20 million annually to innovative violence intervention organizations.
After serving as National Action Network’s youngest executive director, she founded Mallory Consulting, a strategic planning firm in New York City.
Similar to Mallory, Bob Bland was the national co-chair and co-founder of the Women’s March in Washington, and currently serves as co-president and board member of Women’s March, a 501(c) 4 nonprofit social and political advocacy organization. In this role, she continues the mission of the Women’s March, which is to harness the political power of diverse women and their communities to create transformative social change, dismantle systems of oppression and build inclusive structures guided by self-determination, dignity and respect.
Bland is founder and CEO of Manufacture New York, a social enterprise that promotes ethical work practices and sustainable fashion through the use of ecological practices and recycled materials in the production and marketing of clothing, shoes and accessories.
The William H. Fitzpatrick Chair of Political Science Lecture Series is made possible through the William H. Fitzpatrick Institute of Public Affairs and Leadership at Canisius University. The Institute trains students for the profession of politics. In addition to the lecture series, Canisius students develop leadership potential through close contact with and exposure to those involved in societal leadership via travel experiences to Washington DC, Albany, New York City and locations abroad. Internship experiences and educational opportunities in Western New York and elsewhere are encouraged and supported, as is volunteerism with political campaigns, political parties and interest groups.
For more information, contact the Office of Public Relations at 716-888-2790.
Canisius University is one of 28 Jesuit universities in the nation and the premier private university in Western New York.
