Thursday, March 28, 2024

Roadrunners to honor Martin Luther King Jr. in virtual conversation

Roadrunners to honor Martin Luther King Jr. in virtual conversation

Fred A. Bonner II of Prairie View A&M University will virtually present UTSA's MLK Annual Lecture on Wednesday, January 27.

JANUARY 22, 2021 — UTSA is commemorating the life, legacy and activism of Martin Luther King Jr. with its own virtual event.

The university has invited Fred A. Bonner II, executive director for the Minority Achievement, Creativity and High Ability Center at Prairie View A&M University, for a virtual conversation in this year’s MLK Annual Lecture on Wednesday, January 27 at 1 p.m. Bonner will present a lecture titled “Building on Resilience: Foregrounding Martin Luther King Junior’s Dream.”

Through several books and years of research, Bonner has illuminated the experiences of academically gifted African American males across the P-20 pipeline, as well as diverse faculty in academia and diverse populations in STEM fields. Among his many professional service-oriented activities, he also sits on the board of the American Association of Blacks in Higher Education, where he serves as a board member and is currently leading the AABHE Research Consortium in an effort to enhance and increase the professional research, scholarship, and publishing opportunities for members of that organization.


“As a community, we recognize that our work is about increasing knowledge, but also advancing engagement that reflects our values.”


Bonner has been the recipient of numerous awards including the American Association for Higher Education Black Caucus Dissertation Award and the Educational Leadership, Counseling, and Foundation’s Dissertation of the Year Award from the University Of Arkansas College Of Education.

“This annual time of celebration includes revisiting questions about what more we can be doing,” said Eliot Howard, director of Leadership and Volunteer Services at UTSA. “By bringing Dr. Fred Bonner to campus, we are highlighting important scholarship that speaks to courageous leadership in higher education.”

The MLK Annual Lecture also will include remarks from Myron Anderson, Vice President for Inclusive Excellence; Alejandra Elenes, chair of Race, Ethnicity, Gender and Sexuality Studies; and 2020 UTSA MLK Scholarship recipient Teanna Gomez. A live virtual reception for Bonner will follow the lecture at 2:30 p.m.

In an excerpt from “The Purpose of Education,” a piece King wrote in the February 1947 edition of the Morehouse College student newspaper The Maroon Tiger, he stated: “The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character — that is the goal of true education.” Bonner’s lecture and UTSA’s celebration will be rooted in that very sentiment King shared 74 years ago.

“UTSA’s efforts to celebrate the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. are a meaningful part of how we keep focus on that dual mandate,” Howard said. “As a community, we recognize that our work is about increasing knowledge, but also advancing engagement that reflects our values.”


PARTICIPATE

Register here for the MLK Annual Lecture.

The Roadrunner community will continue to advance engagement and reflect those values in February through the university’s annual celebration of Black History Month.

Valerie Bustamante and Shea Conner



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UTSA Today is produced by University Communications and Marketing, the official news source of The University of Texas at San Antonio. Send your feedback to news@utsa.edu. Keep up-to-date on UTSA news by visiting UTSA Today. Connect with UTSA online at Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and Instagram.


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