Majora Carter to present March 10 Harder Lecture

Urban revitalization strategist Majora Carter will discuss “The Department of Home(town) Security” when she presents Skidmore’s F. William Harder Endowed Lecture on Tuesday, March 10. Free and open to the public, the talk begins at 5:30 p.m. in Gannett Auditorium, Palamountain Hall. A reception will follow the lecture.

Carter has based her career on the idea that quality of life and poverty alleviation are at the root of solutions to most problems that individuals and societies face. How we address those challenges is open for debate, and her work has continually challenged assumptions of what is possible.

Carter is also a real estate developer and Peabody Award-winning broadcaster.  She is responsible for the creation and successful implementation of numerous green-infrastructure projects and policies, and job training and placement systems.

After establishing Sustainable South Bronx and Green for All (among other organizations) to carry on that work, she built on this foundation with innovative ventures and insights into urban economic developments designed to help move Americans out of poverty.

Her long list of awards and honorary degrees includes accolades from groups as diverse as Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation, John Podesta’s Center for American Progress, Goldman Sachs, and the MacArthur Foundation, which awarded her a “genius” fellowship in 2005. Her 2006 TED talk was one of the first six videos to launch its groundbreaking website. Carter is a board member of the U.S. Green Building Council and the Andrew Goodman Foundation.

She earned a B.A. degree at Wesleyan University and an M.F.A. degree at New York University.

Skidmore’s annual F. William Harder Lecture in Business Administration was inaugurated in 1985 through the generosity of F. William Harder, a Skidmore parent who served as trustee from 1968 to 1980. The lecture brings together students and faculty with industry leaders to explore the current business environment and upcoming challenges.