LeVar Burton, widely known for hosting the show Reading Rainbow and starring in Roots, will speak at the University of Louisiana Monroe as part of this year’s Lyceum Series, at 7 p.m., on February 25, in ULM’s Brown Auditorium.
A Patron Party will precede the event at 5 p.m. in the ULM Library Conference Center, located on the seventh floor of the ULM Library.
Burton has enjoyed a successful acting career. He starred as KuntaKinte is the American epic Roots, as well as Geordi La Forge in Star Trek: The Next Generation. Burton also has voiced several loved cartoon characters, including the character of Kwame in the 1990s series Captain Planet and several characters in the Transformers: Rescue Bots series. He has recently made guest appearances on smash shows, like Community and The Big Bang Theory and was the recurring character of Paul Haley on the TNT crime drama, Perception.
Burton also hosted the beloved children's television series Reading Rainbow for 23 seasons. The series has returned because of the incredible success of a Kickstarter campaign that raised more than $5.5 million.
“Campus Activities Board and the Student Government Association are proud to host LeVar Burton as this year’s speaker,” said Laura Knotts Jennings, SGA advisor and Director of Student Life and Leadership said. “Mr. Burton’s work advocating literacy is incredible. He not only focused on about teaching children how to read, but also to learn to love to read. I greatly admire him and have so many fond memories of watching Reading Rainbow.”
Burton will discuss the importance of literacy and his career.
Tickets are available at ulm.edu/lyceum/tickets.html.
For more information, contact Laura Knotts Jennings at knotts@ulm.edu or at 318-342-5287.
