STARKVILLE, Miss.--A member of Africa's Greenbelt Movement and colleague of the late Nobel Peace Prize-winning Kenyan who led in its founding will speak Thursday [Sept. 20] at Mississippi State.
Vertistine Beaman Mbaya worked closely with Wangari Maathai (1940-2011), who led in founding the grassroots environmental conservation and community development effort that earned the 2004 Nobel for "contributions to sustainable development, democracy and peace."
Mbaya will discuss the life and work of her former colleague during a 7 p.m. program in McCool Hall. The free public event is organized by the university's Office of the Provost as part of the continuing 2012 Maroon Edition campus-wide reading experience.
"Unbowed" (Anchor Books, 2007), Maathai's memoir of the struggle to make life better in her native land, is this year's Maroon Edition selection.
Mbaya, an associate professor of biochemistry, holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Pennsylvania, and master's and doctoral degrees from New York University. A former Senior Fulbright Research Fellow, she is a member of the medicine faculty at the University of Nairobi's School of Health Sciences.
For additional information on the program, contact Angie McHann-Ruth at 662-325-1403 or aruth@ctl.msstate.edu.
