Rabbi Charles Phillip Sherman, a leading voice in Oklahoma’s interfaith community, will present Rogers State University’s annual Maurice Meyer Distinguished Endowed Lecture on Thursday, November 8, 2012.
His lecture, entitled “Are They Humanity Too?,” will be held at 11 a.m. in the Will Rogers Auditorium on RSU’s Claremore campus. The event is free and open to the public.
Rabbi Sherman has been the spiritual leader, teacher and counselor of the Temple Israel congregation since 1976. He also gave the inaugural Meyer Lecture in 2000, when he presented, “Is Tolerance Enough?” in keeping with the series’ mission of understanding different cultures.
Rabbi Sherman is past president of the Southwest Association of Reform Rabbis and the only person to serve as president of both the National Conference for Community and Justice, Tulsa Region (now OCCJ) and Tulsa Metropolitan Ministry (TMM). Actively involved in all areas of Tulsa’s Jewish Community, he regularly participates in Tulsa’s interfaith activities and has become one of this city’s leading clergy spokespersons.
His work has been recognized with many awards, including the Community Interfaith Understanding Award, the Ron McDaniel Recognition, the Judy Halpern Religious Freedom Award of the Oklahoma Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, the Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays’ (PFLAG) national Swan Award, the Russell Bennett Spiritual Inclusion Award from Oklahomans for Equality and the Russell Bennett Faith and Courage Award. He also has been honored by the NCCJ, inducted into the Tulsa Historical Society Hall of Fame and is listed in Who’s Who in Religion.
A native of Pittsburgh, Pa., he graduated in 1963 from the University of Pittsburgh, B.A., Honors Major in Philosophy. He earned a Bachelor of Hebrew Letters and a Master of Arts in Hebrew Letter at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati, Ohio where he was ordained in June, 1969. The seminary awarded him an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree in 1994.
The Maurice Meyer Endowed Lectureship was established at RSU by Mr. Irvin Frank in honor of his uncle, Sergeant Maurice Meyer. Maurice Meyer was a member of Company A, 357 Regiment. He served with distinction as an officer of the 90th Division during the St. Mihiel campaign in France during World War I. He was wounded by German shrapnel on Sept. 23, 1918. He died the following day and was accorded a hero’s funeral in Tulsa on May 3, 1922.
In 1920, the first barracks were built on the campus of the Oklahoma Military Academy (RSU’s predecessor institution). The building was named the Maurice Meyer Barracks in honor of Oklahoma’s fallen war hero. Today, the same building, now Meyer Hall, houses the RSU president’s offices and the Oklahoma Military Academy Museum.
The Maurice Meyer Distinguished Endowed Lectureship is held annually to honor the legacy of the Meyer family and the life of an American who died defending freedom and democracy. The goal of the lectureship is to foster an appreciation for diversity and humanity and to promote tolerance and understanding of other cultures, people and ideas.
For more information, visit www.rsu.edu/lectureships/meyer or call 918-343-7767.