The Elizabethtown College Community will honor Martin Luther King, Jr. with a week-long celebration of events open to the community from Jan. 19 through 25. Please find below a list of events and guest speakers:

MLK Day of Service

Monday, January 20, 2020
9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Sponsored by Center for Community and Civic Engagement and Office of Diversity, Inclusion & Title IX

    • No classes on MLK Day – take some time to serve others!
    • Transportation will be provided.
    • Lunch will be provided after return to campus.
    • Free long sleeve t-shirt if you sign-up by Friday, December 13.
    • Participate with your club, group, organization, or team.  Everyone participating needs to register.

Questions may be directed to Joel Janisewski at (717) 361-6048.

Vera Cornish: Dare To Dream

Monday, January 20
6 p.m., Gibble Auditorium
Meet & Greet 4:30-5:30 p.m., Masters Center Atrium
Sponsored by the Office of Diversity, Inclusion & Title IX

Speaker, Facilitator, and Strategist are three keywords that describe Vera Cornish. This dynamic inspirational speaker has garnered a reputation of meeting her audience where they are and leaving them energized and excited. As a speaker and facilitator Vera Cornish is thought-provoking. It is her belief that everyone has the power to choose and the innate ability to ReDefine, ReFrame, and ReCommit to both their professional and personal lives. Her book Dare To Dream is dedicated to the dreamers! Where would we be without those that take a concept and make it a reality! Learn more about Vera Cornish.

Podcast: Bridging Divides

Tuesday, January 21
3:30 p.m., High Library
Sponsored by the High Library and Office of Diversity, Inclusion & Title IX

Can we recognize commonalities with other people, even with those who seem at first to be extremely different from ourselves? In this discussion, we’ll listen to an episode of the Science of Happiness podcast – created by the Greater Good Science Center based at UC Berkeley – featuring Comedian W. Kamau Bell and his experience building common ground with his in-laws. Afterwards, we’ll try out the techniques featured in the podcast ourselves! Notebooks and pens will be provided.

PA State Police Major Kristal Turner-Childs: Leadership

Wednesday, January 22
11 a.m., Gibble Auditorium
Sponsored by the Office of Diversity, Inclusion & Title IX

Major Turner-Childs enlisted in the state police in 1998 and was promoted to corporal in 2005, a sergeant in 2007, a lieutenant in 2010, and captain in 2015. She is the first African-American woman in the history of the Pennsylvania State Police to command a troop, and the second African American woman to obtain the rank of major. Major Turner-Childs earned a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Elizabethtown College and a master’s degree in organizational leadership from Central Penn College. She is also a graduate of the Northwestern School of Police Staff and Command and the FBI National Academy. Read more about Major Turner-Childs here.

Podcast: Imagining a New America, with Ta-Nehisi Coates

Thursday, January 23
3:30 p.m., Mosaic House
Sponsored by the Chaplain’s Office and Office of Diversity, Inclusion & Title IX

Ta-Nehisi Coates says we must love our country the way we love our friends — and not spare the hard truths. “Can you get to a place where citizens are encouraged to see themselves critically, where they’re encouraged to see their history critically?” he asks. Coates is a poetic journalist and a defining voice of our times. He’s with us in a conversation that is joyful, hard, kind, soaring, and down-to-earth all at once. He spoke with Krista as part of the 2017 Chicago Humanities Festival.  Listen to the podcast.

Fake Fireplace: Real Conversation

Thursday, January 23
7:30-9:30 p,m., High Library Winter’s Alcove
Sponsored by the Chaplain’s Office

Drop-In conversation in the Winter’s Alcove of the High Library with free hot tea and small treats.  The special topic to discuss will be the speeches, sayings, and rhetoric of Martin Luther King Jr.