NEWS & NOTES
- Have you seen the slide show running at the entrance of the Multicultural Resource Center? It’s a great way to get the word out about multicultural events on campus! Find out how you can get your event included in the show!
NOVEMBER EVENTS
- 3 : :
Contemporary Issues Forum
4 pm in EUC Joyner Room - 4 : :
Artist Reception
5 to 6:15 pm in the MRC - 10 : :
Kaleidoscope Open Forum
4 pm in EUC Phillips Room - 18 : :
American Indian Cultural Fair
11am to 2pm in Cone Ballroom AB
Dance and Drumming Exhibition
7pm to 9pm in Cone Ballroom AB
DECEMBER EVENTS
- 3 : :
Holidays Around the World
7 to 9 pm in EUC Auditorium
JANUARY EVENTS
- 25 : :
Empty Bowls painting all week!
Call us for schedule and locations - 26 : :
MLK Commemoration
Keynote Speaker Mae Jemison
7 to 9 pm in EUC Auditorium - 28 : :
MLK Commemoration
Interfaith Prayer Breakfast
8 am in Campus Ministries Building
FEBRUARY EVENTS
- 2 : : Contemporary Issues Forum
4 pm in EUC Joyner Room - 3 : : Artist Reception
5 to 6:15 pm in the MRC
OFFICE OF MULTICULTURAL AFFAIRS
- Nominations of UNCG students qualified for the 2010 MLK Service Award are now being accepted.
- Click here for the qualifications we are looking for.
- Click here for the online nomination form. Deadline for nominations is December 8, 2009.
- Holidays Around the World is coming Thursday, December 3, 2009 at 7pm. Great student org performances deserve a great audience!
Please support this special event! - Circle January 26 on your calendar for the annual MLK Celebration at 7pm in the EUC Auditorium! Dr. Mae Jemison, the first Woman of Color to travel in space, will be our guest keynote speaker. Free tickets will be available beginning January 19. Get details.
Martin Luther King Service Award
The Martin Luther King, Jr. Service Award was established in 1986 to honor the memory of the late civil rights leader, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. In 2010 the twenty-fourth annual award will be presented to student at UNCG whose community activities and involvement embody the spirit of Dr. King’s service to humanity. The award Selection Committee will look for one who has gone “beyond expectations” in making outstanding contributions in the area of social justice through service, particularly service to the UNCG community.
A qualified recipient could be described in Dr. King’s own words, in his “Conquering Self-Centeredness” speech given in Montgomery, Alabama, on August 11, 1957:
An individual has not started living fully until they can rise above the narrow confines of individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of humanity … Every person must decide at some point, whether they will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness. This is the judgment. Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, “What are you doing for others?”
The selection committee will consider the following criteria in choosing the award recipient:
- Commitment to Leadership
- Dedication to Service
- Impact of Involvement
A plaque and a $200 award will be presented to the recipient during the Martin Luther King Celebration on January 26, 2010.
Nominations for the MLK Service Award will be accepted beginning November 2, 2009. Click here to access the online nomination form using your Novell username and password. Deadline to submit nominations is December 8, 2009.
Dr. Mae Jemison, Keynote Speaker for MLK Commemoration 2010
- FIRST AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMAN IN SPACE
- FOUNDER AND PRESIDENT OF TWO MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY COMPANIES
Mae C. Jemison blasted into orbit aboard the shuttle Endeavour on September 12, 1992 as the first woman of color to go into space. Now the Founder and President of two technology companies, the space flight was just one in a series of accomplishments for this dynamic woman.
Born in Decatur, Alabama and raised in Chicago, she entered Stanford University at the age of sixteen on a scholarship, graduating with a B.S. in Chemical Engineering and fulfilled the requirements for an A.B. in African and Afro-American studies. She earned her doctorate in medicine at Cornell University Medical College.
Prior to joining NASA in 1987, Dr. Jemison worked in both engineering and medicine. She was a General Practitioner in Los Angeles with the INA/Ross Loos Medical Group. She then spent two and a half years (1983-1985) as Area Peace Corps medical officer for Sierra Leone and Liberia in West Africa. On her return to Los Angeles, she worked as a General Practitioner with CIGNA Health Plans of California.
Dr. Jemison served as a National Aeronautics and Space Administration astronaut for six years. As the science mission specialist on the STS-47 Spacelab J flight, a US/Japan joint mission, she conducted experiments in life sciences, material sciences and was a co-investigator of the Bone Cell Research experiment.
Dr. Jemison resigned from NASA in March 1993 and founded The Jemison Group, Inc. The company was established to focus on the beneficial integration of science and technology into our everyday lives. Company projects have included consulting on the design and implementation of solar thermal electricity generation systems for developing countries and remote areas and the use of satellite-based telecommunications to facilitate health care delivery in West Africa.
Most recently, Dr. Jemison developed a new business, BioSentient Corporation, a medical technology company that creates and markets mobile equipment worn to monitor the body’s vital signs and train people to respond favorably in stressful situations. BioSentient was created in July 1999 by The Jemison Group, Inc., which holds the exclusive license from NASA to commercialize this exciting new technology. Originally designed to control motion sickness, BioSentient’s technology presents significant opportunities across a wide spectrum of health and human performance areas.
In 1994, Dr. Jemison founded and currently chairs The Dorothy Jemison Foundation for Excellence, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. The Earth We Share (TEWS), a program of the foundation is an annual international science camp. Students from around the world, ages 12 to 16, work together to solve current global dilemmas, like "How Many People Can the Earth Hold?" and "Predict the Hot Public Stocks of The Year 2030." The four-week residential program builds critical thinking and problem solving skills through an experiential curriculum developed by Dr. Jemison.
Dr. Jemison also serves as Bayer Corporation's national science literacy advocate.
As an A.D. White Professor-at-Large at Cornell University, Dr. Jemison manages to stay connected to her Alma Mater though this program which brings select individuals to the campus to supplement the activities of permanent faculty. Dr. Jemison is a former professor of Environmental Studies at Dartmouth College. Between 1995 – 2002, she directed the Jemison Institute for Advancing Technology in Developing Countries. S.E.E.ing the Future: Science, Engineering and Education, an institute project and workshop, is a White Paper compiled and edited by Dr. Jemison that discusses a framework for prioritizing governmental funding of science and engineering research that was released in Spring 2002. She was the moderator for an IEEE-USA Technical Symposia Space Technologies for Disaster Mitigation and Global Health.
Dr. Jemison was elected into the National Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Medicine in 2001. She serves on the Board of Directors for Scholastic, Inc. and Valspar Corporation and the Texas Governor’s State Council for Science and BioTechnology Development. Dr. Jemison has received numerous awards and honors including: induction into the National Women's Hall of Fame; selection as one of the People magazine's 1993 "World's 50 Most Beautiful People"; Johnson Publications Black Achievement Trailblazers Award; the Kilby Science Award; National Medical Association Hall of Fame; selection as a Montgomery Fellow, Dartmouth College; Texas Science Hall of Fame; Rotary Club Chicago’s ROTARY/One Award; a number of honorary doctorates including Doctor of Humanities from Princeton University.
Dr. Jemison has presented to the U.N. on the uses of space technology, appeared weekly as the host and technical consultant of the World of Wonder series on the Discovery channel in 1994-1995, appeared in an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation and was the subject of the PBS documentary The New Explorers. She is an honorary member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority and is the namesake of an alternative public school in Detroit. In January 1999, she was selected as one of the top seven women leaders in a Presidential Ballot national straw poll conducted by The White House Project.
Dr. Jemison’s first book, Find Where the Wind Goes: Moments From My Life, autobiographical anecdotes about growing up, was written for teenagers and was published in Spring 2001.
In her speeches, Dr. Jemison inspires and encourages audiences. A fierce advocate of a liberal arts education with a natural aptitude toward the sciences, Dr. Jemison addresses a myriad of topics, from general motivation, to science literacy, to technological and medical innovations, always bringing her sense of humor to each story she tells. The product of a middle American upbringing, Dr. Jemison, a precocious student who found her role models in teachers, parents and mentors who guided her along life's path, traces her education from her mother’s school teacher encouragement, through her undergraduate years as a science major at Stanford, into Cornell and her “humbling” as a medical student. She takes the audience on an exciting and diverse voyage which mirrors her life, encompassing a journey from Africa to Outer Space – focusing on exploration of the frontiers of science and human potential.
Dr. Jemison resides in Houston.
Special Activities for MLK Commemoration 2009
| Dining Services MLK Birthday Party! Tuesday, January 20, during normal dinner hours in the Caf Join Dining Services at their MLK birthday party! Enjoy a meal fit for Dr. King, including prime rib, shrimp, the whole 9 yards! (**Regular meal prices apply) Contact Colleen Schorn at schorn-colleen@aramark.com for more information. |
| Annual MLK Celebration Tuesday, January 27, at 7 pm in Aycock Auditorium Featuring keynote speaker The Reverend Al Sharpton and presentation of the MLK Service Award. Admission is free but ticket is required. Contact UNCG box office at 336.334.4849 for more information. (All seats not claimed by 6:45 pm will be released to the general public.) |
| Roundtable Discussion: Dr. King’s Legacy of Activism Wednesday, January 28, 5–7 pm in EUC Cone Ballroom Join scholars in a discussion about the activist and his legacy as they consider: How does Dr. King's activist philosophy resonate in America today? Discussants: Dr. William Hart (UNCG Department of Religious Studies), Dr. Thomas Jackson (UNCG Department of History), Ms. Tiffany Quaye (NCA&T Lecturer), Moderator: Dr. Tara T. Green, UNCG African American Studies Co-sponsored by OMA and African American Studies |
| Interfaith Prayer Breakfast Thursday, January 29, from 8 to 9:30 am in the Associated Campus Ministries Building Attendance is open only to the UNCG community and is limited to 100. RSVP to Alta Mauro at aethornt@uncg.edu by Friday, January 23. |
The Office of Multicultural Affairs wishes to thank our partners for helping to bring these special events to the annual MLK Commemoration:
|
Martin Luther King Celebration
January 27, 2009
Keynote speaker: The Reverend Al Sharpton
Aycock Auditorium at 7:00 pm
Ever since his surrogate father, the Godfather of Soul, James Brown, told him, "you can't set your sights on nothing little—you got to go for the whole hog," Reverend AI Sharpton has been doing just that. Whether it was his run for United States Senator in 1992, in which he received more votes than a sitting New York City district attorney, or a prospective run for President of the United States in 2004, "The Rev" as he is affectionately called by his closest friends and supporters, has rejuvenated the Civil Rights movement while raising the bar for political participation for people of color.
In his recent book, Al On America, Sharpton says, "Presidential politics has become too narrow. It has become an exclusive club for white males, of a certain income, of a certain age." "People are living in fear and we have to break that cycle and offer them more than words." He states: "I am running for president to finally put the issues concerning most Americans on to the front burner..." "...I'm qualified, probably more qualified than any other person who is expected to be on the Democratic ticket for 2004, because I actually have a following and I speak for the people..." "I'm running to bring liberalism back to the Democratic Party because liberalism works for the working class."
Reverend Sharpton's record speaks for itself. In a 1999, when a young unarmed African immigrant was gunned down in the vestibule of his home by four New York City police officers, Sharpton led 1,600 people in the civil disobedience protest arrest. The throngs that followed him to jail in this protest included former mayors, congressman and religious and community leaders across racial, ethnic and political lines.
His platform against racial profiling and police brutality has reached an international audience, and his work on human rights issues has taken him recently to Sudan, Israel, Europe, and further, forming an alliance with international peace activists across the world. In Sudan, Sharpton visited the slave camps in a country whose religious war has left thousands of women and children at the hands of terrorist groups. In his visit to Israel and Palestine, he met with both Prime Minister Shimon Peres and Palestinian Leader Yassir Arafat calling for peace between the warring nations. Sharpton also visited Cuba, meeting with President Fidel Castro, after meeting with Jamaican Prime Minister, P.J. Paterson in Montego Bay.
But perhaps his most significant international visit was his sojourn to Vieques, Puerto Rico in 2001. Sharpton and three Latino elected officials from New York visited Vieques to protest the U.S. Naval bombing exercises on the island, a practice that has endured for over 60 years. After visiting with hundreds of Puerto Rican citizens who have suffered physical and mental infirmities as a result of the bombing exercises, Sharpton and the other members of the “Vieques Four” led the protest at the U.S. Naval Base there. They were subsequently arrested, tried several weeks later and sentenced to forty to ninety days-Sharpton received the longest sentence-in federal prison for their protests. While Sharpton was in jail, he fasted, losing eighty pounds, and even managing to influence the local mayoral election. Because of the stand that the "Vieques Four" took that summer, President George W. Bush addressed the issue and ordered the Navy to end their exercises in 2003.
Sharpton's stance on behalf of the disenfranchised has taken him, in his own words, "from the streets to the suites." In 1999, in a united voice with African -American advertising agencies and marketing and media outlets, he launched the "Madison Avenue Initiative" (MAI). The Madison Avenue Initiative, a program of the National Action Network---the not-for-profit civil rights organization that Sharpton founded in 1991---seeks to ensure that corporations and others doing business with advertising outlets around the country deal even-handedly with agencies, media outlets and publications run by people of color. Sharpton's work with the MAI has targeted major corporations, including PepsiCo, Colgate-Palmolive, Microsoft, and others, who have subsequently extended their advertising dollars to reach more of African-American and Hispanic communities. MAI has closely scrutinized federal-government advertising contracts and is moving into cable industry regulation. Each year Sharpton convenes the MAI's Invitational Summit on Multicultural Marketing and Media-an event that annually brings together more than 300 advertising, marketing and media leaders, that "collectively, African-American, Hispanic-American and Asian-American populations form a trillion-dollar consumer base. Advertisers still do not know this information, and they should."
Over the past decade, Sharpton's harshest critics have become his closest allies and supporters. Those who once shunned his outspoken position on issues affecting people of color now crowd his rallies, loudly chanting their encouragement. While the pundits acrimoniously speak of politicians who visit Sharpton's headquarters to "kiss the ring" of the leader who was recognized by Coretta Scott King, widow of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. as the "future leader of the civil rights movement. Within a few short years he has opened 24 National Action Network chapters around the country.
Some would say that Alfred Charles Sharpton, Jr. was always destined for greatness. Counting among his mentors the late New York congressman and minister, Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., the Godfather of Soul, James Brown, and another well known civil rights preacher, Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. Rev. Sharpton has emerged, according to TIME Magazine, as the most important Black leader in the city of New York.
Martin Luther King Service Award
The Martin Luther King, Jr. Service Award was established in 1986 to honor the memory of the late civil rights leader, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. In 2009 the twenty-third annual award will be presented to an individual staff or faculty member at UNCG whose community activities and involvement embody the spirit of Dr. King’s service to humanity. The award Selection Committee will look for one who has gone “beyond expectations” in making outstanding contributions in the area of social justice through service, particularly service to the UNCG community.
A qualified recipient could be described in Dr. King’s own words, in his “Conquering Self-Centeredness” speech given in Montgomery, Alabama, on August 11, 1957:
An individual has not started living fully until they can rise above the narrow confines of individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of humanity … Every person must decide at some point, whether they will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness. This is the judgment. Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, “What are you doing for others?”
The selection committee will consider the following criteria in choosing the award recipient:
- Commitment to Leadership
- Dedication to Service
- Impact of Involvement
A plaque and a $200 award is presented to the recipient during the Martin Luther King Celebration.
See a complete listing of service award winners and keynote speakers since 1987.