DURHAM — N.C. Central University is celebrating Black History Month with a series of events that are free and open to the public.
The keynote speaker will be Glenn Harris, associate professor at UNC Wilmington, who will address this year’s theme, “The History of Black Economic Empowerment.” The lecture is scheduled for 3 p.m. Monday in the H.M. Michaux Jr. School of Education Auditorium.
Today, Ben Carson, director of the division of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital, will speak about his book, “Think Big,” in the McDougald-McLendon Gymnasium, at 3 p.m. A book signing and reception will follow the program.
The stage comedy, “Dance on Widow’s Row” by playwright and North Carolina native Samm-Art Williams, will open at the University Theatre Friday, at 8 p.m. NCCU students will lend their talents to this production set in Port Town, a fictional, coastal community. Kenneth Hinton, adjunct instructor, is the director.
Other highlights include a lecture by Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence Oluwafemi Faseum, “Talking Drums as Instruments for Music Making and Communication in West Africa,” a cello recital, “A Cello Recital of Negro Spirituals,” by Associate Professor Timothy Holley, and what has been billed as an “African American Cultural Explosion,” sponsored by the Earle E. Thorpe Historian Society.
For details, visit www.nccu.edu.
Duke professor wins award
DURHAM —The BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in the Biomedicine category goes this year to Robert Lefkowitz, James B. Duke professor of medicine and biochemistry and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator at Duke University Medical Center.
This is only the second year the award has been given.
Lefkowitz’s research has proved the existence of, isolated, characterized and still studies G-protein-coupled receptors. The receptors, which are located on the surface of the membranes that surround cells, are the targets of almost half of the drugs on the market today, including beta blockers for heart disease, antihistamines and ulcer medications.
Lefkowitz, a Duke faculty member since 1973, also investigates related enzymes, proteins and signaling pathways and continues to learn all he can about these pivotal receptors.
The BBVA Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Biomedicine provides the winner a cash prize of 400,000 euros (about $563,400). The award is organized by the BBVA Foundation in partnership with Spain’s National Research Council.
The award honors contributions that significantly advance the stock of knowledge in the biomedicine field because of their importance and originality.
The BBVA awards seek to recognize and encourage world-class research at the international level, and are similar to the Nobel Prizes, with an annual total of 3.2 million euros given to deserving winners.
Two named to dean’s list
LEWISBURG, PA — Two Durham residents, Joshua Gornto, who graduated from Jordan High School, and Harriette McSwain, a graduate of Riverside High, have been named to the dean’s list for the fall semester at Bucknell University.
A student must earn a grade-point average of 3.5 or higher on a scale of 4.0 to receive dean’s list recognition.
— Compiled by Neil Offen. Contact him at noffen@heraldsun.com or 419-6646.
