Rockford Mayor Charles E. Box, the first black chief executive of Rockford, will speak at NIU Tuesday.

Box will give a lecture entitled “Politics of Urban Centers” at 7:30 p.m. in the Holmes Student Center’s Carl Sandburg Auditorium.

The free lecture is sponsored by the Black Student Union and is one of the events in February’s Black Heritage Month observance at NIU.

Box, elected mayor on April 24, is a native of Rockford and a 1969 graduate of Rockford’s Auburn High School. He received his bachelor degree from Dartmouth College in 1973 and in 1976 he earned his law degree from the University of Michigan.

Box practiced law until 1981 at Connolly, Oliver, Gooddard, Coplan & Close, a Rockford law firm. He then became Rockford’s legal director and later was named city administer.

Box, vice president of the Illinois Municipal League, is also a member of the community development, housing and economic development committee of the U.S. Conference of Mayors.

He is a member of the Northern Illinois Mayors’ Association and is active in many civic, religious and community groups.

For further information, contact the NIU Center for Black Studies at 753-1709 or the mayor’s office at (815) 987-5590.