In his first visit to a college campus this year, literacy advocate and actor LeVar Burton encouraged an audience of more than 700 people to follow their dreams in Eisenhower Auditorium last night.

"Dreams do come true," he said. "I stand here living, breathing proof."

The speech was the fourth in the 2006-2007 Distinguished Speaker Series.

The Star Trek and Reading Rainbow star also discussed his childhood, his experiences with acting and the importance of the imagination. An announcement of his retirement from the PBS children's show came as a sad surprise for his fans in attendance last night.

Burton was interactive with the audience, a mixture of avid "Trekkies" and adoring Reading Rainbow fans, often stopping to make sure they were following his dialogue.

Touching on the ability of race to unite or divide our society, Burton encouraged his audience to watch the miniseries Roots, in which he portrayed the character Kunta Kinte at the age of 19.

"It catapulted America into a conversation about who we are, and more importantly, who we

are together," he said of the story.

Burton's announcement that he had recently shot his last episode of Reading Rainbow received sighs and moans from the audience.

He cited his discontent with the direction the show is going under its new owners as one reason for his retirement. "Their vision was not in alignment with what I stand for," he said.

Burton said he will continue with his other endeavors regarding children's literacy.

When asked at the press conference what he thought the biggest threat to literacy was, Burton simply replied, "people who don't read."

Burton then elaborated, citing video games and hundreds of television channels as the primary adversaries of imagination.

"We are living in a society where our relationship with the written word is being stretched far too thin," he said. "All this sensory overload is putting our ability to follow our own imagination at risk," he said.

Students said they were pleased and inspired by the speech.

"I think he is a phenomenal speaker," Alice Teeple, a graduate student studying integrative arts, said. "I eventually want to do children's television and I wanted to see what he is all about. I was very impressed."

Nick Palso, a graduate studying recreation, park and tourism management said he was pleasantly surprised that Burton's speech did not focus solely on Star Trek.

"It certainly wasn't what I was expecting," he said. "He definitely had some inspirational messages, and I loved hearing his perspectives on kids and learning."

A twenty-minute question and answer session followed his presentation and many fans expressed their gratitude for his work and asked Burton for advice.

"Be gentle with yourselves, and party on," Burton said in his closing remarks. "Seriously, party on."