Skip to main content

Kean University

Apply
Visit

Language selection

Exclamation_Point_2_x2C__Caution_2_x2C__Warning_2 Created with Sketch.

Impending Winter Storm

Due to the impending storm, all classes and activities at Kean’s main campus in Union, Kean Ocean and Kean Skylands will operate remotely on Sunday, January 25, and Monday, January 26. 

The University will observe a Winter Wellness Day on Tuesday, January 27, following the storm. Classes and activities will not run, and employees are not expected to work. 

Due to ongoing power problems at the Kean Ocean Gateway Building, all classes and activities at Kean Ocean will also be conducted remotely on Friday, January 23, and Saturday, January 24. This only applies to Kean Ocean. 

Only essential personnel should report to work as scheduled during the remote period or on Tuesday. Employees with questions about their status should consult their supervisor. 

Keanu’s Kitchen will remain open for residential students on the Union campus from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday through Tuesday. 

All vehicles parked on the Union campus must be relocated to the Vaughn-Eames overnight parking lot by 6 p.m. on Saturday to allow for storm cleanup. Vehicles parked elsewhere on campus are subject to relocation. 

Deaf Actress Lauren Ridloff to Give President’s Distinguished Lecture at Kean

Nov 21, 2023
Deaf actress Lauren Ridloff

Tony-nominated actress Lauren Ridloff, who is also known for her roles as Marvel’s first Deaf superhero and as a regular in the TV show The Walking Dead, will address the Kean community on Monday, December 11 in the President’s Distinguished Lecture Series.

Ridloff, who was Kean’s 2022 Undergraduate Commencement speaker, will give a Distinguished Lecture, The Universal Language of Inclusion, about accessibility and overcoming obstacles. She will communicate in American Sign Language (ASL), using an ASL interpreter, during the lecture in Kean’s Liberty Hall Academic Center in Union. 

Her remarks will also be provided in Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) captions displayed in real-time on a video screen at the venue. The event will also include an ASL interpreter.

“Lauren Ridloff spoke powerfully at Kean’s commencement ceremony, and there is so much more of her story,” said Kean President Lamont O. Repollet, Ed.D. “Her first-hand account about obstacles she overcame in her career and challenges she faced as a Deaf woman of color will speak to Kean’s message of inclusion and accessibility and provide a new perspective to spark discourse in our University community.”

Ridloff will also hold a master class for students in the Kean Theatre Conservatory, with a Q&A session about her career and the business of acting. 

In her commencement address, Ridloff also communicated in ASL with an interpreter. She urged Kean graduates to embrace diversity and inclusion as they move into the next chapter of their lives.

“What I see right now at Kean University is diversity. I see inclusion. I see freedom,” she said.

Ridloff’s lecture comes on the heels of a lively President’s Distinguished Lecture event featuring cast members from the 1980s and -90s TV show A Different World, which was set in a fictitious historically Black college. 

The President’s Distinguished Lecture Series was created to bring thought leaders and newsmakers to the Kean campus. Previous Distinguished Lecturers include National Book Award winner James McBride; internationally-known physicist Michio Kaku, Ph.D.; civil rights activist Martin Luther King III; CNN anchors Abby Phillip and Dana Bash; and others.

Ridloff is a former kindergarten teacher who began her acting career after she was originally hired as a tutor in American Sign Language for the 2018 revival of the Broadway play, Children of a Lesser God. She was ultimately cast in the lead role, in which she won wide acclaim and a Tony nomination.

Following that, she became a series regular, playing Connie, on The Walking Dead and was cast as Makkari in Marvel’s Eternals, opposite Angelina Jolie and Kumail Nanjani. Ridloff, who is also a former Miss Deaf America, received a 2020 BAFTA Breakthrough Award, recognizing the most promising stars of film and television.

The Distinguished Lecture will take place on Monday, December 11, at 5 p.m. at Kean’s Liberty Hall Academic Center, 1003 Morris Avenue, Union, New Jersey. 

Tickets for the general public are $20 each and can be purchased online. Tickets for Kean employees and students are free but limited to one ticket per person, and registration is required.

For more information, visit the President’s Distinguished Lecture Series webpage.

Tagged