Eboo Patel, Ph.D., founder and president of Interfaith Youth Core, was the speaker at Texas Wesleyan’s 2017 Willson Lectureship. His moving presentation about diversity and religious freedom in the United States is now available online – ready to watch and share with students, colleagues and friends.

About Eboo Patel

Named by U.S. News & World Report as one of America’s Best Leaders of 2009, Patel is a regular contributor to the public conversation around religion in America and a frequent speaker on the topic of religious pluralism.

Patel holds a doctorate in the sociology of religion from Oxford University, where he studied on a Rhodes scholarship. For over fifteen years, he has worked with governments, social sector organizations, and college and university campuses to help realize a future where religion is a bridge of cooperation rather than a barrier of division. He is inspired to build this bridge by his identity as an American Muslim navigating a highly religiously diverse social landscape. 

Patel is the author of Acts of Faith, Sacred Ground and Interfaith Leadership.

The Willson Lectureship

The Willson Lectureship is an endowed speaker series at Texas Wesleyan University that was established in 1946 by Mr. J.M. Willson and Mrs. D.M. Willson, and family.

Former notable speakers at Texas Wesleyan include Ndaba Mandela, grandson of Nelson Mandela; Naomi Tutu, daughter of Archbishop Desmond Tutu; Arun Gandhi; and Michael Dowd, author of Thank God for Evolution.