University Celebrates Life and Work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Numerous events and activities designed to stimulate discussion and reflection on diversity and civil rights will be held throughout the day on Monday, Jan. 19, in celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. President Jared L. Cohon's annual State of Diversity address will begin the activities at 12:30 p.m. The president, chairman of the university's Diversity Advisory Council, will review the progress Carnegie Mellon has made toward its goal of increasing diversity across campus and outline next steps in the process.

Following the president's address, winners of the Martin Luther King Jr. Writing Awards will read their entries. The program, sponsored by Carnegie Mellon's Creative Writing Program, presents cash awards to local high school and Carnegie Mellon students who submit poetry or prose about their own experience with racial difference and discrimination.

A panel of local experts will discuss issues relating to the work of Dr. King during the Community Conversation at 2:30 p.m. Students and staff will pay tribute to Dr. King's work through artistic expression during the Community Collage at 3:45 p.m.

During the afternoon, two programs will be held specifically for children. "The Treehouse," a puppet show about racial harmony, will take place at 2 p.m., followed by a puppet-making workshop for children. The nonprofit organization Beginning with Books will also read stories to children.

A candlelight vigil will begin at 4:30 p.m. at the Fence and process to the University Center, where Dr. Mary Frances Berry will give the keynote address, "Where Do We Go from Here? Human Rights in Crisis Times."

Berry is the Geraldine R. Segal Professor of American Social Thought at the University of Pennsylvania, where she teaches history and law. In 1980, U.S. President Jimmy Carter appointed her to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. After President Ronald Regan fired her for criticizing his civil rights policies, she sued him and won reinstatement in federal district court. In 1993 President Bill Clinton designated her chairperson of the Civil Rights Commission. She was reappointed in January 1999.

Berry is one of the founders of the Free South Africa Movement, which instigated protests at the South African Embassy to support that country's struggle for democracy. She was Assistant Secretary for Education in the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare in the Carter administration and has served as provost at the University of Maryland at College Park, and chancellor at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Berry has received 30 honorary doctoral degrees and numerous awards for her public service and scholarly activities. Among those awards are the NAACP's Image Award, the Rosa Parks Award of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and the Hubert Humphrey Award of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights. She is a past president of the Organization of American Historians.

Berry's seven books include "The Pig Farmer's Daughter and Other Tales of Law and Justice"; "Race and Sex in the Courts, 1865 to the Present"; "Long Memory: The Black Experience in America"; "The Politics of Parenthood: Child Care, Women's Rights and the Myth of the Good Mother"; and "Black Resistance/White Law: A History of Constitutional Racism in America."

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—Susan Cribbs