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January 9, 2003

Purdue to honor legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. with good works

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - In recognition of Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Monday, Jan. 20, a donation drive, National Day of Service, workshops and lectures will take place at Purdue University.

Applications are being accepted for volunteers to spend time with service agencies in Tippecanoe County during the day. Between 9 a.m. and noon, Purdue faculty, staff and students will spend their holiday working with a community agency. Lunch and a recognition ceremony will follow. To register, contact the Diversity Resource Office at (765) 494-7307.

The Diversity Resource Office also is organizing a non-food item donation drive for needy families in the 23 counties served by Lafayette Food Finders/Food Bank Inc. Donations may be brought to the Diversity Resource Office in the American Railway Building between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. or placed in drop boxes located throughout campus. The drive will conclude Friday, Jan. 17.

Horace Huntley, director of the Oral History Project at the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute will deliver a speech, entitled "Inspired by the Past: A Vision for the Future," at 7 p.m. Monday, Jan. 20, in Fowler Hall.

The Oral History Project, for which Huntley has served as director since 1994, has recorded more than 260 interviews with participants in the Birmingham movement and others affected by Jim Crow separatism of the city. Huntley also serves as an assistant professor at the University of Alabama.  A frequent lecturer, he is published in the "Encyclopedia of African American Culture and History."

Affirming the Dream workshops, conducted by experts in diversity, will take place from 1-5 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 30, and Friday, Jan. 31, in Stewart Center, Room 218. Craig Nelson, professor of biology and public environmental affairs at Indiana University, will serve as the keynote speaker. He will present an instructional strategies workshop that will focus on how to incorporate diversity in the classroom.

Dorothy Simpson-Taylor, Diversity Resource Office director, says she is pleased that Purdue continues to honor King in so many ways.

"'Affirming the Dream VIII: Acts of Kindness/Acts of Justice 2003' is a continuation of Purdue University's efforts to observe the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King," says Simpson-Taylor. "A community that cares, Purdue constituents have contributed almost 4,000 pounds of non-food items and donated service at many community agencies on the National Day of Service in the past two years. Collaborations with Housing and Food Services, the Black Cultural Center, African American Studies and Research Center, biology, the Lilly Retention Initiative and engineering have enabled the Diversity Resource Office to sponsor a variety of ways this year to embrace Dr. King's vision of a world that seeks common ground where people from all walks of life can live, learn and work together as equals."

All events are free and open to the public.

CONTACT: Dorothy Simpson-Taylor, (765) 494-7307, dro@purdue.edu.

Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu


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