Hastings College’s Black History Month speaker Linda R. Crump, J.D. will present “What are HeLa Cells and Why Should We Care?” at noon, Tuesday, Feb. 23 in Hazelrigg Student Union Room B.
Crump is the Assistant to the Chancellor for Equity, Access and Diversity Programs at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She is the first African American woman to head the Nebraska Bar Association.
Crump’s presentation will focus on the various cultural repercussions stemming from cancer cell research relating to the HeLa cell line, named for Henrietta Lacks. Lacks was an African American woman who died in 1951. Researchers used her cancer cells without her permission to establish the line of HeLa stem cells. Although essential to important medical advances, this research also raises troubling ethical questions of race and socio-economic class, as Crump will discuss on Tuesday.
Crump is a native of New York City. She attended Nebraska Wesleyan University and earned her Bachelor of Science in biology from City College of New York. She is also a 1990 graduate of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Law. Prior to law school, Crump taught biology, general science, physical science and physics at Lincoln High School.
Crump is the past president of the Nebraska State Bar Association; she was its president from October 2006 until October 2007. In 2000, Crump was the first African American to serve as the Chair of the Nebraska State Bar Association. She was first elected to the House of Delegates of the Bar Association in 1992. In addition to this elected position, she was chair of the Bar Association's Professionalism Committee and served on the Minority and Justice Task Force Committee, a joint project of the Nebraska Supreme Court and the Nebraska Bar Association to study segments of the legal system within the State of Nebraska to assess the opportunities, experiences and treatment of our minority population. She is currently co-chair of the Minority and Justice Implementation Committee charged with the responsibility to implement the recommendations from the Task Force.
Some of her civic activities include service on the Nebraska Commission on the Status of Women, Homestead Girl Scout Council, Nebraska Public Radio's Community Advisory Board, Planned Parenthood of Nebraska and Council Bluffs Board, the Nebraska Arts Council, the Senior Center Foundation Board, the Lincoln Community Foundation, Legal Services of Southeast Nebraska, and Harris Laboratories Institutional Review Board.
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. Visit www.hastings.edu for more information.