ITHACA, N.Y. -- Psychologist William E. Cross Jr. of the City University of New York's Graduate Center, a former associate professor in the Africana Studies and Research Center at Cornell University, will give the Cornell College of Human Ecology's annual Flemmie Kittrell lecture Monday, April 12, at 4 p.m. in G73 Martha Van Rensselaer Hall (MVR) on the Cornell campus. The lecture is free and open to the public.

Cross, whose work focuses on the study of African-American identity, will speak on the topic "Theory and Research on Black Identity Before and After the 1954 Brown Decision on School Desegregation."

The annual Flemmie Kittrell Lecture honors of the first African American in the United States to receive a Ph.D. in home economics, awarded by Cornell in 1936. The lecture is dedicated to addressing emerging issues of a multicultural society.

Cross is the author of the classic text Shades of Black: Diversity in African-American Identity. His model on African-American identity development has been the focus of numerous essays and empirical studies, and the distinction he makes between personal identity and group identity in the dynamics of African-American identity is the focus of scholarly debate in the fields of psychology and black studies. Recently, he co-authored a groundbreaking work that traces the development of black identity from infancy across the life span. Although his work highlights the African-American experience, it has influenced scholars theorizing and researching Jewish identity, Asian-American identity, white ethnic-group identity, Latina and Latino identity, and gay and lesbian identity.

Cross taught at Cornell from 1973 to 1994. He later was a professor of psychology and African American studies at Pennsylvania State University and a professor at the School of Education at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. He now is professor and coordinator of the Doctoral Program in Social-Personality Psychology at the Graduate Center of CUNY. Cross also is a frequent consultant to government, education and industry on the business and educational implications of America's changing demographics.

An open reception will be held in the foyer of G73 MVR before the lecture from 3:30 to 4 p.m.