Beverly Watts, Executive Director of the Tennessee Human Rights Commission, will lead a discussion on poverty Thursday, August 20, 1 p.m., in the Mary Greer Room, 258 Hodges Library. The discussion is sponsored by the UT Libraries’ Diversity Committee.

Beverly L. Watts was appointed the Executive Director of the Tennessee Human Rights Commission in July 2007. Prior to that she served as Special Advisor to the Chair of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission; Executive Director of the National Fair Housing Training Academy; Executive Director of the Kentucky Commission on Human Rights; Regional Director of the USDA Food and Nutrition Service, Midwest Region Civil Rights Office; and Executive Director of the Illinois Minority and Female Business Program. Watts has served on numerous local, state, and national boards. She is a Past President of the International Association of Official Human Rights Agencies (IAOHRA), where she served for two terms, and Past Chair of Women Executives in State Government. She is Adjunct Faculty at Spalding University.

Watts has received many honors and awards including induction into the Kentucky Civil Rights Hall of Fame, the Governor Martha Lane Collins Leading Kentucky Award, and the Louisville Metro Martin Luther King Freedom Award. She is a native of Nashville and a graduate of Tennessee State University and Southern Illinois University.

Please join us for an informative discussion this Thursday in 258 Hodges Library (at the Melrose Avenue entrance).