Dr. Ben Carson, President Donald Trump’s first-term secretary of Housing and Urban Development and once-rumored pick for surgeon general, will appear twice in Southeast Tennessee in 2025.
Carson will be the featured speaker for Bryan College’s annual scholarship dinner April 10 in Chattanooga, the school announced Thursday. The dinner raises funds for the Bryan Opportunity Scholarship Program, which aims to help make the private, Christian college accessible to Tennessee residents who qualify academically and are first-time college students with a family income of $60,000 or less.
The college’s fundraising dinner is only for adults, but there is no admission charge, said Jennifer McKinney, spokesperson for the school. Anyone who wants to attend the dinner must register by April 3. The dinner is set for 6:30 p.m. in the Portman Ballroom of the Westin hotel on Pine Street.
“Bryan College is honored to host Dr. Carson and looks forward to an inspiring evening celebrating the impact of the Bryan Opportunity Scholarship Program,” Janice Pendergrass said in a statement. Pendergrass is the school’s associate vice president of advancement.
Carson, born in Detroit, is the founder and chair of the American Cornerstone Institute, a “think tank/do tank” with a mission to promote the four founding principles he describes as the country’s cornerstones: faith, liberty, community and life, alongside “common sense solutions that challenge conventional groupthink,” according to biographical information provided by the college. At 33, Carson was the youngest major division director in history at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center and spent nearly 30 years as director of pediatric neurosurgery.
In 2008, Carson received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from then-President George W. Bush, as well as the Spingarn Medal, the highest honor bestowed by the NAACP, in 2006, for his accomplishments in neurosurgery, his biography states.
Carson and his wife co-founded the Carson Scholars Fund, which recognizes young people of all backgrounds for exceptional academic and humanitarian accomplishments, according to the biography. The fund is operating across the nation and this year is celebrating the 25th anniversary of the first awards ceremony. In honor of the milestone, the organization has awarded more than 11,000 scholars and more than $8 million in scholarships. Before the end of 2024, Carson Scholars will have installed more than 270 Ben Carson Reading Rooms around the country.
In a second Chattanooga region appearance, Carson was tapped as the keynote speaker for the Athens Area Chamber of Commerce annual benefit event in McMinn County in June. In November, chamber officials said tickets, which range from $30 to $300, had been sold to buyers in Tennessee and at least five other states.
There are about 300 tickets available for the Bryan scholarship dinner in Chattanooga, McKinney said in a phone interview. While admission is free, attendees will be encouraged to contribute to the scholarship program during the evening.
Bryan’s event in 2024 featured performances by Alicia Williamson Garcia and the Bryan College Chorale, according to statements on other years’ programs, and in 2023 included a performance by Point of Grace, a Grammy-nominated contemporary Christian music group.
Contact Ben Benton at bbenton@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6569.