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UWF Rite of Passage lecture series presents Glenn Breed and Dr. Wilson Maina

The University of West Florida Rite of Passage lecture series will honor Glenn Breed and Dr. Wilson Maina on Sept. 22. The event will be held in the Argonaut Athletic Club on the UWF Pensacola campus at 2 p.m. It is free and open to the public, with a reception immediately following.

Rite of Passage celebrates University faculty recently promoted to full professor and gives them an opportunity to share life lessons outside the classroom with colleagues, students, friends and community members.

Breed, a professor of costume design and technology, will present “Keeping You In Stitches, the Pun and Fun of Theatrical Costume Design and Technology.” He joined the UWF faculty in 2006, specializing in costume design and construction for theatre and opera.

As the resident costume designer for the Pensacola Opera, Fiesta of Five Flags and Janiec Opera Company at Brevard Music Center, Breed creates original costume designs for more than 10 stage productions each year. His costume designs were recognized by the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival with the Distinguished Faculty Costume Design for “The House of Bernarda Alba” in 2008 and “A Piece of My Heart” in 2006.

Breed received a bachelor’s degree in theatrical design from St. Edward’s University in Austin, Texas and a master’s degree in costume design and technology from University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.

Maina, professor of philosophy, will present “We Are Therefore I Am (Sumus Ergo Sum): The Ubuntu African Philosophy and University Discourses.” He teaches biomedical ethics, African philosophy, ethics, world religions and philosophy of religion.

A native of Nairobi, Kenya, Maina has written several peer-reviewed journal articles on various aspects of philosophy of religion and African philosophy, which were published in the Journal for the Study of Religions and Ideologies, Pacifica and African Christian Studies. He is also an author of two books. In 2012, Maina received the Bi-Annual Prize in the field of Religion and Human Rights from the Journal for the Study of Religions and Ideologies for his contribution to human rights.

Maina received a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from St. Augustine College affiliated with Urban University in Rome, a master’s degree in ethics from Boston College and a master’s in philosophy and doctorate in theological ethics from Fordham University in New York.

For more information, visit the Rite of Passage webpage.