CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Academy Award-winning actress Octavia Spencer will be the keynote speaker at the Cuyahoga Community College Foundation's 2017 Presidential Scholarship Luncheon.
The event to benefit student scholarships will be held at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, Oct. 4, at the Renaissance Cleveland Hotel on Public Square.
Since its inception in 1992, the luncheon has raised more than $17 million to help Tri-C students with financial need pursue higher education.
"Students who have benefited from academic scholarships tell us that this assistance is life-changing," Trina Evans, chairperson of the Tri-C Foundation, said in a statement. "The support of the Presidential Scholarship Luncheon and events like it ensure that our students find success through academic pursuits or workforce training and keep our region strong."
Spencer won the Academy Award, Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild, British Academy of Film and Television Arts and Critics' Choice Movie Award for best supporting actress as the feisty and unflappable Minny Jackson in the film "The Help."
She received Academy Award, Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild nominations for her most recent role as mathematician Dorothy Vaughan in the drama "Hidden Figures," the true story of several African-American mathematicians at NASA who were critical to the success of the space race in the 1960s.
Tri-C's Minority University Research Education Project Aerospace Academy, funded by a NASA grant, exposes historically underrepresented K-12 students to multiple hands-on activities related to the fields of science, engineering, mathematics and aerospace. The academy seeks to increase the number of students in the identified populations who enroll in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) majors in college.
Spencer will soon be seen in Guillermo del Toro's "The Shape of Water"and the independent drama "Small Town Crime," for which she also serves as a producer. This year, Spencer starred in "The Shack," based off the highly successful novel of the same name.
Past speakers at Tri-C's luncheon include former Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, basketball legend Earvin "Magic" Johnson, former Prime Minister Tony Blair, journalists Ted Koppel and Tom Brokaw, and Secretaries of State Madeleine Albright, Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice.
Tri-C does not provide information on the fee paid to speakers. Kent State University paid Spencer $100,000 to speak for 20 minutes at the first all-university commencement on May 13.
Most luncheon speakers donate their fee back to Tri-C for scholarships, Tri-C said.
For ticket information, call the Tri-C Foundation at 216-987-4868 or visit tri-c.edu/give.