Pitt's African American Alumni Council to Feature Mayor of Tuskegee, Alabama, During "Sankofa" Homecoming 2003 Oct. 24-26

PITTSBURGH—The University of Pittsburgh African American Alumni Council (AAAC) will host a weekend of festivities during Pitt's Homecoming featuring alumna and Tuskegee, Ala., Mayor Lucenia Williams-Dunn, who will deliver the keynote address at the annual dinner and meeting at 6 p.m. Oct. 24 at the Wyndham Garden Hotel, Forbes Avenue and McKee Place, Oakland.

The weekend, which runs from Oct. 24 through 26, carries the theme "Sankofa," the philosophy of "reclaiming the past to better understand who we are and where we are going."

During the dinner approximately a dozen alumni will receive the African American Alumni Council's Distinguished Alumni Award. Other activities include a news conference at noon and a VIP reception from noon until 2 p.m. Oct. 24 in the Frick Fine Arts auditorium, Schenley Drive, Oakland. Also that day, a vendor's marketplace to benefit the AAAC Endowed Scholarship Fund will be held from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. at the Wyndham Garden Hotel.

A weekend highlight is the dinner with guest speaker Williams-Dunn, who received the Ph.D. degree in education from Pitt in 1983. A native of Tuskegee, she is its first female mayor. On Oct. 2, 2000, the first time she ran for office, she won the election, receiving 63 percent of the vote.

In addition to her responsibilities as mayor, Williams-Dunn also is executive director of the Tuskegee Macon County Head Start Program and president and CEO of DDL, an international corporation that engages in economic development opportunities for communities and small businesses.

As director of the Bethune Program Development Center and the Economic and Entrepreneurial Development Center of the National Council of Negro Women, Williams-Dunn helped start programs in education, health, community, and business development. She also oversaw the Black Family Reunion, a national event celebrating the Black family.

Williams-Dunn is a life member of the National Council of Negro Women, Associates of Jack & Jill of America, and the Tuskegee Chapter of the NAACP. She earned the Bachelor of Science degree in sociology at Fisk University in Nashville, Tenn., and the Master of Science degree in education from Tuskegee University.

In addition to the Pitt football game Oct. 25 featuring Pitt vs. Syracuse University, there will be an R&B boat cruise at 7:30 p.m. aboard the Gateway Clipper's Majestic. The weekend will close with a nondenominational service at 10 a.m. Oct. 26 in Pitt's William Pitt Union Kurtzman Room.

For more information, call 800-258-7488, or visit www.alumni.pitt.edu.

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10/17/03/tmw