August
9, 2007
LINCOLN UNIVERSITY TO HOST HIV/AIDS AWARENESS DAY;
ACTRESS
SHERYL LEE RALPH ALSO SLATED TO PERFORM
LINCOLN
UNIVERSITY, PA ~Lincoln University will host an
HIV/AIDS Awareness Day on Monday, August 20 at The Thurgood
Marshall Living Learning Center at 10 a.m. followed in the evening by Tony winning
actress Sheryl Lee Ralph, who will perform her one-woman show “Sometimes
I Cry” at 7 in Manuel Rivero Hall.
The day’s event
also will feature a panel that will discuss living with HIV/AIDS
at 1 p.m. in Dickey Hall Auditorium. The panel includes William
Brawner of Family Planning Council in Philadelphia; Marvelyn
Brown, an HIV consultant from New York; and Dr. Roberta Laguerre,
clinical director of the Pediatric HIV/AIDS program at St.
Christopher’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
Another feature
of the event enables Lincoln University students to take rapid
HIV testing administered by the Mazzoni Center of Philadelphia.
Ralph’s
award winning body of work includes creating and originating
the role of Deena Jones on Broadway in the landmark musical
Dreamgirls, which earned her both a Tony and Drama Best Award
nomination for Best Actress.
After Dreamgirls, Ralph
turned her attention to music, television and film. She
scored a top-ten selling dance hit in the mid-80s with the
infectious anthem In the Evening, and again in the `90s with
her remake of “Here Comes the Rain Again.”
Her
extensive film credits include Sister Act II with
Whoopi Goldgerg, The Flintstones with Rosie O’Donell, The
Mighty Quinn with Denzel Washington, Mistress with
Robert De Niro, and Distinguished Gentleman with Eddie
Murphy.
Ralph is the writer and director
of “Sometimes
I Cry,” a
complex and thought-provoking play illustrating the heartbreaking,
yet inspiring real life stories of culturally diverse women whose
lives unravel as they cope with their HIV/AIDS reality.
Ralph uses her remarkable talent to poignantly bring these
women to life in a way that touches the heart, leaving audiences
deeply moved and encouraged to know their status.
The show
is free and open to Lincoln University faculty, staff and students.
Student Life and Development is
sponsoring the event to assist new student orientation and
transition week. Support
came from funds provided to The Women’s Center through
the Family Planning Council-Circle of Care of Philadelphia
as part of a grant awarded by the Philadelphia Department of
Health-AACO Special Minority HIV Services Initiatives.
For additional information, contact Michaile Rainey at (484)
365-7244 or e-mail mrainey@lincoln.edu.
Founded in 1854, Lincoln University is a premier, historically
Black University that combines the best elements of a liberal
arts and sciences-based undergraduate core curriculum and selected
graduate programs to meet the needs of those living in a highly
technological and global society. The University is nationally
recognized as a major producer of African Americans with undergraduate
degrees in the physical sciences (biology, chemistry and physics);
computer and informational sciences; biological and life sciences. Lincoln
has an enrollment of 2,423 undergraduate and graduate students.
Lincoln
University of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
1570 Baltimore Pike, P.O. Box 179, Lincoln University, PA 19352 \
(484) 365-8000
