COMMERCE, Texas – Four-time Grammy Award-winning singer and songwriter India.Arie will address the Texas A&M University-Commerce community as the featured presenter in the next installment of the William L. Mayo Prestigious Speaker Series. The event will be held in Ferguson Auditorium on April 10 at 7 p.m. A private reception will follow. 

India.Arie’s speaking engagement will include select musical performances and will be open to A&M-Commerce students, faculty, staff and the community. 

In 2001, India.Arie released her debut album Acoustic Soul, which was certified double-platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. She has released four additional albums to critical acclaim and Billboard chart success, including the most recent Songversation, which she released in 2013 after a four-year hiatus. India.Arie has sold more than 10 million albums worldwide, and in addition to Grammy Award wins, she has secured wins or nominations from the MTV Video Music Awards, the NAACP Image Awards and others. 

Well-known for singles such as “Video,” “Get It Together” and “I Am Not My Hair,” India.Arie has also branched out from music to expand her label imprint Soulbird into a company that houses her entrepreneurial endeavors in jewelry making, film production, book publishing and other trades. As a philanthropist, India.Arie has served as an ambassador for UNICEF and the Stop Breast Cancer for Life Campaign, while maintaining a public voice on issues in the entertainment industry. 

“We are so excited to have India.Arie on our campus. She has an incredible story, and we look forward to her sharing her purpose with our campus community,” said Assistant Director of Student Activities & Special Events Deepti Vanguri. 

Tickets are available in limited quantities in The Club of the Rayburn Student Center and may also be purchased online. Admission for A&M-Commerce students is free. Faculty and staff tickets are $5, and members of the community may purchase tickets for $10. 

The eponymous William L. Mayo Prestigious Speakers Series honors the founder of A&M-Commerce and brings notable personalities to the university each year. Previous featured speakers include Ben & Jerry’s Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, Olympic gold medalists Ryan Lochte and Misty May-Treanor and journalist Dan Rather. 

Additional details about the series are available online. Please address questions to the Student Activities and Leadership desk at 903-886-5811 or email Wendy Morgan, director of the Rayburn Student Center, at wendy.morgan@tamuc.edu. For more information about India.Arie, visit her website www.soulbird.com.

About Texas A&M University-Commerce: Founded in 1889, Texas A&M University-Commerce is a member of The Texas A&M University System.  Located in Northeast Texas, A&M-Commerce is home to more than 12,000 students, four academic colleges, a thriving graduate school and more than 100 degree programs.  As the region’s focal point of higher education, A&M-Commerce offers students facilities ranging from a world-class science building and student center to a fully equipped recreational facility and music hall.  The university also has convenient facilities in Corsicana, Midlothian, McKinney, Mesquite, Rockwall and downtown Dallas. 

About The Texas A&M University System: The A&M System is one of the largest systems of higher education in the nation, with a budget of $3.3 billion. Through a statewide network of 11 universities, seven state agencies and a comprehensive health science center, the A&M System educates more than 120,000 students and makes more than 22 million additional educational contacts through service and outreach programs each year. Externally funded research expenditures exceed $730 million and help drive the state’s economy.