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The Alan T. and Linda M. Beimfohr Lecture will be held during this year’s Trustee-Council Annual Meeting (TCAM) weekend. Our speaker, Joseph Holland ’78, will be introduced by President Emeritus Frank H.T. Rhodes.
America faces a crossroads. Will the racial crises of Baltimore, Charleston, Ferguson, and Staten Island rage ad infinitum? Or will the founding principles of justice and equality be revivified in ways that will finally fulfill the dream of which Martin Luther King Jr. so eloquently spoke? American history demonstrates an enduring dynamic between Christian witness and racial justice. What will the future hold?
Joseph H. Holland (“Holland”) is a graduate of Cornell University, where he earned a B.A. and M.A. and was an All-American football player. He has served on the University’s Board of Trustees for twelve years before being appointed Trustee Emeritus. He holds his J.D. degree from Harvard Law School and is a real estate developer, ordained minister, Harlem-based attorney and civic leader with twenty-five years of experience working in prominent organizations in law, business and government.
After law school, Holland relocated to Harlem where he established a real estate law practice and a holistic outreach ministry. He became legal counsel to Christ Community Church of Harlem and was ordained by its pastor, the late Rev. Linnette Williamson. He served as co-pastor and started Harkhomes, a shelter for homeless men. Stemming from his work with the homeless, Mr. Holland conceived Holistic Hardware www.holistichardware.com, a life and job skills program for restoring lives in crisis. He also held various government positions related to housing and has receieved numerous awards and honors for both his business and community-building initiatives including presidential recognition for his work.
Read more about Joe in his memoir, From Harlem With Love (Lantern, 2012).
The Alan T. and Linda M. Beimfohr Lecture is made possible by Carl ’76 and Elaine Neuss of Laguna Niguel, CA, in honor of the Beimfohrs’ longtime commitment to Cornell. The late Alan Beimfohr was a 1966 graduate of Cornell’s College of Engineering, co-founder of Knightsbridge Asset Management, a former President of the Cornell Alumni Association of Southern California, and a member of the Advisory Council to the Cornell Financial Engineering Manhattan MFE program. The lecture series is designed to bring a public intellectual to Cornell to address issues related to faith in a pluralistic society.