Greg Williams

Camarillo, CA - CSU Channel Islands (CI) will present its seventh annual Campus Reading Celebration featuring Dr. Gregory H. Williams, author of Life on the Color Line: The True Story of a White Boy Who Discovered He Was Black, at 6:30 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 3 in Salon A on the campus. A book-signing will follow Williams’ presentation.

The Campus Reading Celebration provides an annual opportunity for the campus community and public to share in a common intellectual experience. This year’s Campus Reading Celebration book follows the life of Williams, who grew up believing he was white but learned that his father was half black when they moved to his father’s hometown of Muncie, Indiana. In this remarkable memoir, Williams brings us with him as he negotiates the “color line” and brings a vivid contrast between the black and white worlds. As the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported, this book is “heartbreaking and uplifting . . . a searing book about race and prejudice in America . . . brims with insights that only someone who has lived on both sides of the racial divide could gain.”

Williams currently serves as the 27th president of the University of Cincinnati, one of the nation’s top 25 public research universities. He is the author of three published books, the best known of which is Life on the Color Line: The True Story of a White Boy Who Discovered He Was Black. As a result of this autobiography, he has been featured on a number of national programs including “Oprah,” “Dateline NBC with Tom Brokaw,” “Larry King Live,” ABC's “Nightline with Ted Koppel” and “Fresh Air with Terri Gross” of National Public Radio.

In 1995, Life on the Color Line was selected as Book of the Year by The Los Angeles Times. In 1996, the Gustavus Myers Center for the Study of Human Rights in North America named Life on the Color Line an “Outstanding Book on the Subject of Human Rights.” Williams has also written a number of articles and book reviews for The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post and other publications.

Reservations are required for this event and can be made online at: http://www.csuci.edu/crc/. Admission for CI students, faculty, and staff is free. The cost for community members is $10 and $5 for non-CI students.

Limited parking is available on campus and is complimentary. Follow signs to designated event parking areas. Free parking is available at the Camarillo Metrolink Station /Lewis Road parking lot in Camarillo with complimentary shuttle service to and from the campus. Riders should board the CI VISTA Bus. Buses arrive and depart from the Camarillo Metrolink Station every 30 minutes from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Friday. For exact times, check the schedule at www.goventura.org.

For additional information contact Merissa Stith, Events Coordinator, at 805-437-8548 or merissa.stith@csuci.edu.

About California State University Channel Islands
CSU Channel Islands (CI) is the only four-year, public university in Ventura County and is known for its interdisciplinary, multicultural and international perspectives, and its emphasis on experiential and service learning. CI’s strong academic programs focus on business, sciences, liberal studies, teaching credentials, and innovative master’s degrees. Students benefit from individual attention, up-to-date technology, and classroom instruction augmented by outstanding faculty research.