The Jaffrey Civic Center will present educator, sociologist, author, researcher, lecturer and part-time Jaffrey resident Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot as its “Stories to Share” speaker Friday, Nov. 4, at 5 p.m.
Lawrence-Lightfoot graduated from Swarthmore College, which established an endowed professorship in her name in 1993. She went on to earn her doctorate from Harvard in 1972. In 1994, Harvard awarded her the George Ledlie Prize for research making the “most valuable contribution to science” and “the benefit of mankind.”
In 1984, she received a MacArthur Foundation Genius prize and thereafter became the first MacArthur grant recipient to serve as a member, and as chair, of the foundation’s board. In 2003, the Academy of Political and Social Sciences named her as its Margaret Mead Fellow.
Lawrence-Lightfoot is the first African-American woman in Harvard’s history to have an endowed professorship named in her honor. She is the author of 11 books and the recipient of 30 honorary degrees from colleges and universities in the United States and Canada.
The format for Lawrence-Lightfoot’s talk will be a conversation with series moderator Joe Steinfield. Their discussion will include stories about her family, people she has met and the challenges and rewards of being a pioneer in her field.
To attend in person at the Jaffrey Civic Center, 40 Main St. in Jaffrey, go to bit.ly/3T8ZSgY. To attend virtually, go to bit.ly/3MH9D3r and sign in before 5 p.m. on Nov. 4.
The program will be recorded and available on the center’s YouTube channel.