VCU’s 40th Anniversary Celebration Culminates with Bill Cosby Appearance

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Entertainer Bill Cosby will speak to an enthusiastic Virginia Commonwealth University audience tonight at the Alltel Pavilion of the Stuart C. Siegel Center. His appearance is the final event in a series of celebrations during the fall semester recognizing VCU’s 40th anniversary.

The event also is the first presentation in the newly established L. Douglas Wilder Lectureship Series, approved by the VCU Board of Visitors at its November meeting. The Wilder Series is made possible by a gift from Dominion Resources.

The Wilder Lecture will be presented every fall and spring semester.  It is named for Richmond’s mayor and former governor, who also is Distinguished Professor in the VCU Center for Public Policy. Wilder was instrumental in Bill Cosby coming to VCU and he will continue to help identify speakers for future series lectures.

“I cannot think of a better way to culminate VCU’s anniversary celebration than to begin an outstanding new program at the university,” said VCU President Eugene P. Trani.  “The theme of the anniversary is ‘40th and Forward,’ and so it is particularly meaningful to inaugurate an exciting new lectureship series in honor of our distinguished professor, an historic figure in the history of the Commonwealth of Virginia.”

About 6,000 students, employees and friends from the community are expected for the lecture. Through the generosity of Cosby, event tickets were available to the university community without charge on a first-come, first-served basis.

Within hours of being made available, all event tickets were distributed to students and faculty who lined up for them at locations on VCU’s Monroe Park and MCV Campuses. No more tickets are available.