One of the Nation of Islam’s most prominent leaders visits NIU today in the final presentation of the eighth-annual African-American Leadership Conference.

The Rev. Ava Muhammed, national spokeswoman for Louis Farrakhan, will round off a week’s worth of speakers and presentations at 7 p.m. at the Holmes Student Center’s Duke Ellington Ballroom.

The minister’s topic is “The Power to Define: A New Agenda for a New Leadership.” Margaret Mahdi, president of the NIU Nation of Islam Student

Association, is excited.

“This will be the highlight of the African-American Leadership Conference,” Mahdi said. “We’re lucky to have the opportunity to sum up such a successful conference with such a wonderful speaker.”

In 1998, Farrakhan appointed Muhammed the first female to head a mosque, designating her as administrative and operational authority over the Nation of

Islam’s southern regional headquarters in Atlanta. She graduated from the Georgetown University Law Center and is a criminal defense attorney and member of the New York Bar Association.

Muhammed also has written books including “Real Love” and “Queen of the Planet Earth: The Birth and Rise of the Original Woman.”

Mahdi said the Northern Black Choir and a drill team from Chicago also will perform today. The events are free and open to everyone.

Also included in today’s schedule is a presentation by Denene Millner and Nick Chiles, a husband-and-wife team, at 1 p.m. at the Holmes Student Center’s Heritage Room. The subject is “What Brothers Think, What Sistas Know: The Real Deal on Love and Relationships.”