Hastings College Student Health Advisory Council (SHAC) presents award-winning “edu-tainer” René Hicks at 7 p.m., Wednesday, Nov. 18 in French Memorial Chapel.

Hicks will talk about how she developed lung cancer from performing in New York City comedy clubs filled with secondhand smoke. Hicks, who studied accounting in college, was a veteran comedian in her thirties, energetic, health conscious and athletic when she was diagnosed with lung cancer.

“It's funny,” Hicks said, “I found that people had an easier time accepting that I had lung cancer, without ever smoking, than that I was an accountant with a sense of humor.”

Hicks has used her gift of humor to become a vocal and effective advocate for the prevention of tobacco use and for generating greater public awareness of the health related dangers from exposure to secondhand smoke.

Hicks has been featured numerous times on “Comedy Central” and “MTV” and has performed at comedy festivals, clubs and special events across the country and abroad. She is an American Comedy Award nominee and two-time winner of the NACA Comedy Entertainer of the Year Award.

This is the first time SHAC has brought a national speaker to campus. Senior Kenny Smith, Aurora, Colo. is president of SHAC. Funding for this event was provided by the Student Association.

In recognition of the national Great American Smokeout on Thursday, Nov. 19, SHAC members will provide quit kits and other information on tobacco cessation Nov. 17-18 in Hazelrigg Student Union.

Hastings College, founded in 1882, is a private, four-year liberal arts institution affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (USA). A total of 64 majors in 32 areas of study and 12 pre-professional programs are offered to more than 1,150 students. Hastings College was named 75th Best Value College in the nation and #1 in Nebraska by Forbes.com and the Center for College Affordability and Productivity. It was named a 2010 “Best in the Midwest” by The Princeton Review and rated a “Best Buy in College Education” by Barron’s.