Stoughton, MA FUN Enterprises Speakers, a leadership and motivational speakers bureau, would like to congratulate Joel Christian Gill on his selection to receive the 2016 Boston University College of Fine Arts Distinguished Alumni Award. This award is in celebration and recognition of his outstanding professional accomplishments. Joel graduated from Boston University with a Masters in Fine Arts (MFA) in 2004 and joined FUN Enterprises Speakers in 2015.
You are an exceptional role model for todays students and have made your alma mater enormously proud. You have a unique voice and talent that is propelling your medium and your storytelling is a powerful tool for changing narratives, wrote Lynne Allen, Dean ad Interim.
Joel is a speaker, author, illustrator and professor at the New Hampshire Institute of Art. He is the nationally recognized author of Strange Fruit: Uncelebrated Narratives from Black History and Bass Reeves: Tales of the Talented Tenth.
Joel believes black history is American history - Stories of black people in America have been marginalized. Black history has been confined to one 28-day period. The stories of black people ARE the stories of America. Black people in America are the true rugged individualists, and if we don't share our stories, the stories of everyday people, then we will never get past that place where we are the exotic other. #28daysisnotenough
Boston Universitys Bostonia recently highlighted Joels accomplishments in the article [Drawing Black History](http://www.bu.edu/bostonia/fall15/drawing-black-history/).
Boston Universitys College of Fine Arts Distinguished Alumni Awards is the most prestigious honor conferred by the College. The award will be given to Joel in Boston at the CFA Distinguished Alumni Awards ceremony, held during BUs Alumni Weekend, on the evening of Friday, September 30, 2016.
About FUN Enterprises Speakers: [Fun Enterprises Speakers](http://www.funentspeakers.com/) is a leadership and motivational speakers bureau established in 2010. Speaker presentations inform, educate and entertain students, employees, clients and customers. Programs and trainings can be on designated topics or can be crafted presentations that match the organizations goals, objectives and needs.
