Dominican University's annual Lund-Gill Lecture will be delivered by Christopher G. Kennedy, chairman of Joseph P. Kennedy Enterprises, Inc. and chairman of nonprofit hunger relief organization Top Box Foods, on Tuesday, March 19, at 7 p.m. in the Lund Auditorium on Dominican's Main Campus, 7900 Division Street, River Forest. The lecture will focus on higher education's role in today's society.
Kennedy, the eighth of the 11 children of Robert and Ethel Kennedy, is serving as Dominican's 2013 Lund-Gill Chair. In that capacity, he is teaching an honors class, "Government Policies and their Effect on Social Justice," and facilitating partnerships between Dominican and social service agencies and nonprofit organizations.
An experienced and respected business and philanthropic leader, Kennedy served from 2000 to 2011 as president of Merchandise Mart Properties, Inc., which manages 10 million square feet of space, including the world famous The Merchandise Mart and Design Centers and tradeshow facilities across North America. Under his leadership, The Merchandise Mart became the largest LEED-EB-certified building in the world.
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In addition, he has served as chairman of the University of Illinois Board of Trustees since 2010 and is a board member of Ariel Investments Mutual Fund. He is a member of the Executive Committee for The Chicago Community Trust, treasurer of the Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. Foundation, board member of Catholic Theological Union and a member of the Dean's Advisory Board for Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management.
Kennedy also is a member of the advisory committee for the 100,000 Strong Initiative, a national effort designed to increase the number and diversity of American students studying in China, and was appointed the Council of Board Chairs for the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges, the country's premier authority on higher education governance.
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Top Box Foods is a self-sustaining nonprofit organization that leverages partnerships with community churches and other organizations to make high-quality meats and vegetables available and affordable to neighborhoods otherwise lacking access to nutritious food options.
Kennedy holds a bachelor's degree in political science from Boston College and a master's of management from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management of Northwestern University.
The Lund-Gill Chair is named for former Dominican University President Sr. Candida Lund, OP, and former English professor, Sr. Cyrille Gill, OP. Each year, the Lund-Gill Chair in the Rosary College Arts and Sciences brings to campus an individual of the highest moral and intellectual reputation who can address themes and issues at the heart of the liberal arts and sciences.
The lecture is free and open the public. For more information, contact the Rosary College of Arts and Sciences at (708) 524-6814 or rcas@dom.edu.
Founded in 1901, Dominican University is a comprehensive, coeducational Catholic institution offering bachelor's degrees through the Rosary College of Arts and Sciences and master's degrees through the Graduate School of Library and Information Science, the Brennan School of Business, the School of Education, the Graduate School of Social Work and the School of Professional and Continuing Studies. The university also offers a doctoral degree in library and information science. In the 2013 issue of America's Best Colleges, U.S. News & World Report ranked Dominican University in the top 20 of Midwest master's level universities. The magazine also ranked Dominican as one of three Great Schools at a Great Price in Illinois.
