Dr. James Dobson to Speak at IWU Sept. 8
By Alan Miller
7/19/05 -- Updated 9/2/05

Dr. James C. Dobson, founder and chairman of the board of Focus on the Family, will speak at Indiana Wesleyan University's fourth annual Academic Convocation at 11 a.m. Thursday (Sept. 8) in IWU's Luckey Arena.

The convocation also will be broadcast live in the auditorium of Phillippe Performing Arts Center, which is located just south of Luckey Arena. Seating in the auditorium is free and open to the public.

Dobson will be the third person inducted into IWU's Society of World Changers. The Society was established by the IWU Board of Trustees to honor people who demonstrate their Christian faith through the quality of their work in a secular world.

Inducted previously were the late Bob Briner, an Emmy Award-winning TV producer and sports producer, and Frank Peretti, a Christian author who has more than nine million books in print.

Dobson founded Colorado-based Focus on the Family in 1977 out of concern for the American family. The nonprofit organization produces Dobson's internationally syndicated radio and TV programs that are heard daily by more than 200 million people.

Before founding Focus on the Family, Dobson was an associate clinical professor of pediatrics for 14 years at the University of Southern California School of Medicine. He previously served 17 years on the attending staff of Children's Hospital in Los Angeles

Dobson has a Ph.D. from the University of Southern California in the field of child development. He is a clinical member of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy.

IWU's annual academic convocation is designed to introduce the freshman class and other new students to some of the academic traditions and heritage of the University. A second purpose is to allow students to hear a nationally recognized speaker who represents excellence in academics.

Alan Miller is the University Relations Director at Indiana Wesleyan University.