Registration for MLK breakfast, nominations for Social Justice Awards open
Posted on: October 8, 2024; Updated on: October 8, 2024
By Collyn Taylor, collyntaylor@sc.edu, 803-777-3691
Registration is now open for USC’s annual MLK Commemorative Breakfast, and nominations are still being accepted for the Office of Access and Opportunity’s Social Justice Awards.
The breakfast will be 7:30-9 a.m. Jan. 17, 2025, in the Russell House Ballroom. It’s free and open for any USC student, faculty or staff as well as members of the community. You can register online on the Office of Access and Opportunity's website.
It’s a chance to reflect and celebrate the legacy of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. with music and a keynote address from bestselling author and writer at The Atlantic Clint Smith.
Smith wrote How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning With the History of Slavery Across America, which was a New York Times bestseller and voted one of the 10 best books of 2021. The work also won National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction.
Smtih also has written two award-winning poetry collections and writes for The Atlantic magazine. He previously taught high school English in Maryland.
The recipients of the annual MLK Social Justice Awards are also honored at the breakfast each year. Those wanting to nominate someone can do it on the Office of Access and Opportunity’s website. Email questions to access@mailbox.sc.edu.
Those awards are presented to people at USC and in the community who exemplify King’s philosophies. There are five awards given out annually:
- Faculty, staff and student awards.
- The Unsung Hero Award, which is a new award given to a campus contract worker who is not considered faculty, staff or a student.
- The Community Partner Award, which will be given to a group not at USC doing good work in the community.
Nominations, which are due by Oct. 31, should include biographical information and a brief letter detailing the nominee's accomplishments.