7 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2017;
Free admission to Schneebeck Concert Hall
TACOMA, Wash. – Julianne Malveaux, labor economist, author, and commentator, who has shared her candid views on television stations ranging from PBS to MSNBC to Fox News, will speak the 31st Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration at the University of Puget Sound.
Described by author and activist Cornel West as “the most iconoclastic public intellectual in the country,” Malveaux embraces views on race, culture, gender, and economics that help shape public opinion in 21st-century America. Her latest book is, Are We Better Off? Race, Obama, and Public Policy (2016).
Everyone is welcome to the free evening that will honor the life and work of Martin Luther King Jr., America’s Nobel Prize-winning 1960s civil rights leader. Julianne Malveaux’s keynote talk, plus messages from the Puget Sound community, will take place on Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2017, from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., in Schneebeck Concert Hall on campus—a day after the Monday holiday. The doors will open at 6:30 p.m. No tickets are required. See below for directions and a map of campus.
Puget Sound President Isiaah Crawford will address the audience and introduce Julianne Malveaux. Attendees also will hear from Shannon Woods, president of the Puget Sound Black Student Union, and Noah Lumbantobing, president of Associated Students of the University of Puget Sound. The song Lift Every Voice and Sing—often referred to as the “Black American National Anthem”—will be sung.
In addition, the annual Keep Living the Dream Award will be presented to a Puget Sound campus member(s) who has shown a commitment to work important to Rev. King, such as diversity and inclusion, justice, peace, and connecting spirituality and civic engagement. Just before 8:30 p.m., university Chaplain Dave Wright will make some closing comments. Everyone will be invited to a public reception in the Tahoma Room of Thomas Hall, near the campus center.
Keynote speaker Julianne Malveaux’s popular writing has appeared in USA Today, Diverse: Issues in Higher Education, Ms. magazine, Essence, and The Progressive. Her weekly column appeared for more than a decade (1990–2003) in newspapers across the country, including the Los Angeles Times, The Charlotte Observer, The New Orleans Tribune, Detroit Free Press, and San Francisco Examiner. She has hosted television and radio programs and appeared as a commentator on networks including CNN, BET, PBS, NBC, ABC, Fox News, MSNBC, and CNBC.
During her five years as president of Bennett College (2007–12), Malveaux was the architect of an innovative transformation at America’s oldest historically black college for women, including the identification of four areas of focus for students: women’s leadership, entrepreneurship, excellence in communications, and global awareness.
Since receiving her doctoral degree in economics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1980, Malveaux has taught at institutions including San Francisco State University; University of California, Berkeley; Michigan State University; and Howard University. A native San Franciscan, she sits on the Economic Policy Institute board. She is president and founder of the Economic Education Institute, a nonprofit headquartered in Washington, D.C., aiming to bring economic education to the public.
The 31st Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration at Puget Sound is sponsored by the Division of Student Affairs, Associated Students of the University of Puget Sound, and Office of Diversity and Inclusion.
For directions and a map of the University of Puget Sound campus: pugetsound.edu/directions
For accessibility information, please contact accessibility@pugetsound.edu or 253.879.3236, or visit pugetsound.edu/accessibility.
Press photos of Julianne Malveaux can be downloaded from pugetsound.edu/pressphotos.
Photos on page: From top right: Julianne Malveaux; Martin Luther King Jr. 1964 (Library of Congress, by Walter Albertin; Book by Julianne Malveaux.
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