Schedule of MLK Week Events

The 2022 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration will officially begin on Monday, January 17, 2021.

Saturday, January 22nd, 10:30 a.m.

Note: The date for the Silent March has been shifted due to inclement weather forecasted for Monday, January 17th.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Silent March

Location: Galbreath Chapel

The Silent March will begin in front of Galbreath Chapel and end at the fourth-floor entrance of Baker University Center. This event is open to the public.

Note: In light of COVID-19 protocols, this year's Silent March will be hosted outside the chapel.

Sponsor: Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc

 Register

Saturday, January 22nd, 11 a.m. - 1 p.m.

Note: The date for the Silent March has been shifted due to inclement weather forecasted for Monday, January 17th.

Celebratory Brunch with Featured Speaker - Patricia Russell-McCloud, Esq.

Location: Baker Center Ballrooms (4th Floor)

Sponsors: Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., Division of Diversity and Inclusion, and MLK Jr. Celebration Committee

Note: The MLK Jr. Celebratory Brunch program will be offered in person. To reduce the risk of spreading COVID-19, attendance at the brunch will be limited to 175 pre-registered guests. Following the program, the meal will be offered to-go to reduce the need to be in the space without a mask. No tickets will be sold at the brunch event. All MLK Jr. Celebration events will be offered in formats that consider the community's safety, especially as it relates to COVID-19.

Tickets prices: (Tickets for the Celebratory Brunch are SOLD OUT)

• Non-student brunch tickets: $25 each 
• OHIO student brunch tickets: $15 each
• Non-student sponsorship* (includes a table of six seats): $300 per table
• OHIO student sponsorship* (includes a table of six seats): $150 per table
• $500 sponsorship (includes a table of six, certificate of sponsorship to be presented during the brunch program).

*Individuals, departments, organizations, and companies that purchase a table will be recognized as event sponsors.

Featured Speaker: Patricia Russell-McCloud, Esq. (expand to view bio)

Russell-McCloud is a “visual speaking experience.” With more than 20 years on the lecture circuit, she is categorized as being one of the nation’s best. Her speaking style is engaging, highly substantive, well-researched, pertinent to her audiences, and entertaining, whether for the public or private sector. She is distinguished and distinct. Her style is classified as "big, broad and animated", which leaves her audiences anxious for more.

She has received many honors, including being presented more than 300 keys to American cities. She has served as the 11^th National President of The Links, Inc., and the National Parliamentarian to the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. She has been named as one of the top five business motivators in the country by Black Enterprise Magazine, identified as one of the top 10 speakers in “America, Success Run in Our Race”; featured in ESSENCE Magazine, and in EBONY magazine as one of the most influential people in the United States, 2017 Inductee, HBCU Hall of Fame – Lifetime Achievement, and featured as the cover story of SPEAKER magazine, National Speaker’s Association 2007 (July/August Issue).

Tuesday, January 18, 7 p.m. - 8 p.m.

Featured Speaker - Reverend Dr. Bernard LaFayette, Jr.

Location: Hosted virtually via Microsoft Teams

Sponsor: OHIO’s Regional Campuses and MLK Jr. Celebration Committee

Register

About Rev. Dr. Bernard LaFayette, Jr. (expand to view bio)

An original Freedom Rider. This is the powerful harrowing and ultimately inspirational story of six months in 1961 that changed America forever, seen through the eyes of a 20 year old student, Bernard Lafayette. From May until November 1961, more than 400 black and white Americans risked their lives and many endured savage beatings and imprisonment – for simply traveling together on buses and trains as they journeyed through the Deep South. Deliberately violating Jim Crow Laws, the Freedom Riders met bitter racism and mob violence along the way, sorely testing their belief in nonviolent activism.

The Rev. Dr. Bernard Lafayette, Jr. co-founded the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in 1960, and was a core leader of the civil rights movement in Nashville, TN, in 1960 and in Selma, AL, in 1965. As part of the May 17^th Nashville Student Movement Ride, Lafayette endured jail time in Birmingham, riots and fire bombings in Montgomery, AL, and arrest in Jackson, MS, and jail time at Parchman State Prison Farm during June 1961. He directed the Alabama Voter Registration Project in 1962. He was appointed by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to be National Program Administrator for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and National Coordinator of the 1968 Poor People’s Campaign.

Dr. Lafayette earned his B.A. from the American Baptist Theological Seminary in Nashville, TN, and his Ed.M. and Ed.D from Harvard University.

In 2016, Dr. Lafayette was awarded the Mahatma Gandhi International Award for Reconciliation and Peace.

Dr. Lafayette is the author of, In Peace and Freedom: My Journey in Selma.

Wednesday, January 19, 4 p.m. - 6 p.m.

Well-Being Wednesday Resource Fair

Location: Hosted virtually. Log-in information will be forwarded to registrants.

Sponsor: MLK Jr. Celebration Committee and OHIO's Health Promotion

Register

Thursday, January 20th, 12 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.

Bridging the Gap: Unifying Our Community

Location: Hosted virtually. Log-in information will be forwarded to registrants.

Sponsor: Bobcats Lead Change and MLK Jr. Celebration Committee

Please join us in a conversation with students, faculty, and community members on how to best support each other as one holistic community.

Register

Thursday, January 20, 5:30 p.m. - 6:30 p.m.

Why Justice Seekers Need Co-Conspirators More than Allies

Location: Hosted virtually via Teams

Sponsor: MLK Jr. Celebration Committee

Register

In this forum, participants will consider the limitations of allyship while discovering steps they can take to work as co-conspirators who live in solidarity with justice-seeking people and communities.

About Rev. Jack Sullivan, Jr. (expand to view bio)

Rev. Jack Sullivan, Jr., D.Min., D.D., (BSC '83), Executive Director of the Ohio Council of Churches and Recipient of the 2020 Social Justice Award from the State of Ohio Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday Commission.

Friday, January 21, 6 p.m. – 7 p.m.

Virtual Social 

Location: Hosted virtually via Microsoft Teams

Sponsor: MLK Jr. Celebration Committee

Note: Due to newly revised COVID-19 protocols, this event has been shifted from a Variety Show to a virtual social. 

Register

Saturday, January 22

Mt. Zion Baptist Church Preservation Society Service Project

Time: 10 a.m. - 12 p.m.

Location: 32 W. Carpenter St., Athens, OH

Sponsor: MLK Jr. Celebration Committee

Support the Mt. Zion Baptist Church Preservation Society and their mission: to build a future for the Black community of Southeast Ohio by restoring the historic church into a vibrant community center.

Register

Day of Service - Write Your Reps! Campaign

Time: 1 p.m. - 3 p.m.

Location: Hosted Virtually - Log-in information will be sent to registrants prior to the event.

Sponsor: MLK Jr. Celebration Committee

Engage in our democracy by participating in an institution-wide letter-writing campaign to your local, state, or national representatives about the issues that matter to you.

Register

View all 2021 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Events

2021–22 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Committee Members

Co-Chairs

• Travis Gatling - Director, School of Dance, College of Fine Arts
  gatling@ohio.edu

• Vanessa Morgan-Nai - Coordinator for Multicultural Advising and African American Student Success, Office for Multicultural Success and Retention
  morganv1@ohio.edu

Committee Members

• Dr. Gigi Secuban (Ex-Officio) - Vice President for Diversity and Inclusion

• Jesean Williams, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. (representing members of the fraternity)

• Dr. Pam Kaylor - Professor of Instruction, Communication Studies and Women's Gender, & Sexuality Studies Department (Lancaster Campus)

• Rev. Dr. Jack Sullivan, Jr. - Executive Director, Ohio Council of Churches

• Micah McCarey - Director, LGBT Center

• Tia Jameson - Director of Women's Basketball Operations, Division of Athletics

• Elizabeth Pahl - Associate Director, University Event Services

• Courtney Lefebvre Little - Assistant Director, Center for Campus and Community Engagement

• Dr. Duane Bruce - Interim Assistant Director, Multicultural Center

• Pat Bungard - Administrative Services Associate, Office for Multicultural Student Access and Retention/Division of Diversity and Inclusion

Past Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Committee Members

2020 - 2021

Co-Chairs

• Travis Gatling - Director, School of Dance, College of Fine Arts
  gatling@ohio.edu

• Vanessa Morgan-Nai - Coordinator for Multicultural Advising and African American Student Success, Office for Multicultural Student Access and Retention
  morganv1@ohio.edu

Committee Members

• Dr. Gigi Secuban (Ex-Officio) - Vice President for Diversity and Inclusion

• Jaylen Braxton - President, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. (representing members of the fraternity)

• Damon Scott - EBN Representative, College of Communication '89

• Dr. Pam Kaylor - Professor of Instruction, Communication Studies and Women's Gender, & Sexuality Studies Department (Lancaster Campus)

• Katie Beth Miksa - University Interfaith Association

• Dr. Paula Miller-Buckner - Assistant Professor, Sociology & Anthropology, College of Arts & Sciences

• Dr. Ebony Green - Assistant Dean for Advising & Student Services, University College

• Rev. Dr. Jack Sullivan, Jr. - Executive Director, Ohio Council of Churches

• Micah McCarey - Director, LGBT Center

• Sheldon Andrus - Art Director, University Communications and Marketing

• Dr. Jason White - Associate Clinical Professor, School of Applied Health Sciences and Wellness, College of Health Sciences

• Tia Jameson - Director of Women's Basketball Operations, Division of Athletics

• Dr. Jason Rawls - Instructor of Teacher Education, Patton College of Education (Zanesville Campus)

• Pat Bungard - Administrative Services Associate, Office for Multicultural Student Access and Retention/Division of Diversity and Inclusion

2019 - 2020

Co-Chairs

• Tyrone Carr, Special Assistant to the Vice President for University Advancement/ Executive Director of The Interlink Alliance
  carrt@ohio.edu

• Tamika Williams, Assistant Director for Diversity and Inclusion, Career Network williat8@ohio.edu

Committee Members

• Student Representatives - Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.

• Caryn Bailey, Assistant Director of Development, Diversity & Inclusion, University Wide Initiatives Division of University Advancement 

• Dr. Winsome Chunnu, Director, Multicultural Center

• Dr. Theda Gibbs, Assistant Professor, Teacher Education

• Amanda Graham, Executive Assistant, Diversity and Inclusion

• Barbara Harrison, Assistant Director, Off-Campus Living

• Christopher Kennedy, Digital Designer, University Communications and Marketing

• George Mauzy, Multimedia Content Specialist, University Communications and Marketing

• Rev. Evan Young, Campus Minister, United Campus Ministry

• Lacey Rogers, Assistant Director, United Campus Ministry

• Nicole Smith, Assistant Professor of Instruction, College of Business