Contact:
Leah Seupersad, 404-413-1354
Public Relations and Marketing Communications
Tonya Cook, 404-413-1580
Intercultural Relations
ATLANTA – Steve Perry, CNN education contributor and best-selling author, will speak at Georgia State University at 4 p.m., Jan 24 in the Student Center Main Ballroom as part of the university’s 30th Anniversary Martin Luther King Jr. Convocation.
Perry is the keynote speaker for the event, which pays tribute to King for his work in the areas of social justice and human rights. The theme of this year’s MLK convocation and awards ceremony is, “The Dream Continues…Reshaping the Nation.” This event is free and open to the public.
Perry, author of the education best-seller “Push has Come to Shove,” has been recognized nationally for his work in reducing the education gap in America.
Perry founded in 1998 the Connecticut Collegiate Awareness Program at Capital Community College, which successfully prepared 100 percent of its low-income first-generation graduates to attend four-year colleges during the first six years. Then In 2004, Perry founded Capital Prep, one of the nation’s most successful middle/high schools, which sent all of its graduates to college for three consecutive years.
In addition to Perry’s keynote address, the Convocation will include pioneer awards honoring Annette Lucille Hall and Barbara Hunt, who helped desegregate Georgia State 50 years ago. A reception and book signing will follow the program with music provided by Kevin Spears, who is known as the Kalimba Man.
Prior to the convocation, the 2013 recipients of the Torch of Peace Award and the Hosea Williams Award for Community Activism will be recognized at an MLK Awards Ceremony at 12:30 p.m., Jan. 24 In the Speaker’s Auditorium. The Torch of Peace Award honors an exemplary undergraduate and graduate student, faculty member, staff member, student organization and alumnus who have demonstrated leadership and service in the promotion of intercultural relations. The Hosea Williams Award honors an individual and a community-based organization for their public service efforts. It will be followed by a reception, with music by pianist James Taylor III.
The MLK Convocation and awards ceremony are sponsored by Georgia State’s Intercultural Relations and supported by student activity fees.
The Georgia State Student Center is at Gilmer and Courtland streets. For more information, contact 404-413-1580.
Jan. 18, 2013