Theologian Diana L. Hayes will inaugurate the new “Women Wisdom” lecture series sponsored by the Newman Center of the UB Campus Ministry Association.

Hayes’ talk will take place at 7 p.m. April 28 in the Newman Center, 495 Skinnersville Road, Amherst. It is free and open to the public.

A Buffalo native and UB alumna, Hayes is the first African-American woman to earn a Pontifical Doctorate in Sacred Theology (STD), the highest theological degree in the pontifical university system of the Catholic Church. Her talk is titled “Standing in the Shoes My Mother Made: The Making of a Womanist Theologian,” which is also the title of the most recent of her eight books.

“Our new Pope has called on the church to develop a new theology of women,” says Msgr. J. Patrick Keleher, director of the Newman Center. “This lecture and the series it inaugurates begin our response to that call. It will permit us to hear the stories of women who will shape this new theology.”

Hayes, emerita professor of systematic theology at Georgetown University, received her undergraduate degree from UB and a JD from George Washington National Law Center, as well as a baccalaureate degree and a licentiate in sacred theology from the Catholic University of America. She received a PhD in religious studies, as well as her STD, from the Catholic University of Louvain (Belgium).

A recipient of three honorary degrees, Hayes is author of more than 75 articles in journals or edited books, as well as author or editor of eight books. Her latest book, “Standing in the Shoes My Mother Made,” will be available for sale and signing at her lecture.