Rev. Leslie Carole Taylor to Speak
at Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration

DEFIANCE, Ohio – Rev. Leslie Carole Taylor will be the guest speaker at Defiance College’s Martin Luther King Jr. celebration on Thursday, Jan. 20. Her presentation, “The Urgency of Now, Faith Propelled Public Service,” will focus on how faith can propel us to do acts of justice.

The event is sponsored by the College’s Office of Intercultural Relations.

Taylor received her bachelor of arts degree in English and theatre from UCC-related Grinnell College, Grinnell, Iowa, and her master of divinity from Chicago Theological Seminary.  She serves as the director of student services and the UCC minister-in-residence at the Methodist Theological School in Ohio, located in Delaware.  Taylor has served as a member of the national staff of the United Church of Christ, served several churches as interim pastor, as director of a Women’s Resource Center and has served as assistant director of one church-based childcare center and was founding director of the church-based childcare center at the last church she served.  In May 2011 she is expected to graduate from Methodist Theological School in Ohio with a doctor of ministry.  Her area of focus is on exurban transition in rural communities.

The Defiance event will begin with a dinner at 6 p.m. in the Hubbard Banquet Room of Serrick Campus Center. Taylor’s presentation is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. in Schomburg Auditorium.

The presentation is free and open to the public. Persons interested in attending the dinner, at a cost of $5 for community members, can make reservations by calling the Office of Intercultural Relations at 419-783-2362 or by emailing mclay@defiance.edu by Jan. 18

Defiance College, chartered in 1850, is an independent, liberal arts institution in Northwest Ohio offering more than 40 undergraduate programs of study as well as graduate programs in education and business. Defiance College has received national recognition for its educational experience of service and engagement. The college website is www.defiance.edu.

January 6, 2011