Author, TV host and transgender rights activist Janet Mock will present the 2016 Mills Distinguished Lecture at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 21, in the Alumni Field House.00

This event is free and open to the public, but tickets are required. Community members can RSVP online at www.oneonta.edu/commonread, or pick up a ticket at the Hunt Union Information Desk daily from 1 to 10 p.m.

Best known for her work as a journalist and media advocate for transgender people, Mock writes in her memoir, “Redefining Realness: My Path to Womanhood, Identity, Love & So Much More” about her journey of transitioning to her truest self as a high school and college student.

The New York Times bestselling memoir was featured on Real Time with Bill Maher, The Colbert Report and Oprah Winfrey’s Super Soul Sunday. Mock has been named one of the 30 Most Influential People on the Internet and one of the 12 News Faces of Black Leadership by Time magazine as well as honored by the Ms. Foundation for Women, Planned Parenthood and The Feminist Press.

“Redefining Realness” is SUNY Oneonta’s 2016 Common Read selection. The Common Read advances diversity by encouraging students to examine and better understand topics such as equity, inclusion, and personal history through many lenses. It aims to further infuse cultural literacy into our academic program by asking all incoming freshmen to read a diversity-related book, which then is discussed in fall courses across several disciplines.

The Mills Distinguished Lectureship is named to honor the memory of Professor Albert Mills and his wife, Helena. Their bequest to the College at Oneonta Foundation led to the establishment in 1988 of a fund to bring prominent speakers to the SUNY Oneonta campus.

More From WDOS-WDLA-WCHN CNY News