EUGENE, Ore. — Lane Community College will celebrate the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in an event featuring academic, author and NAACP leader Dr. Ivory A. Toldson on Thursday, January 12, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. The hybrid event will occur in Building 19, Room 226, main campus, 4000 E. 30th Ave., Eugene, as well as a streamed/virtual option via Zoom. The event is free and open to the public. Registration is required to attend the event virtually on Zoom.
Dr. Ivory A. Toldson is the national director of Education Innovation and Research for the NAACP, professor of counseling psychology at Howard University and editor-in-chief of The Journal of Negro Education. Previously, Dr. Toldson was appointed by President Barack Obama to devise national strategies to sustain and expand federal support to HBCUs as the executive director of the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities (WHIHBCUs). He also served as president and CEO of the QEM Network and contributing education editor for The Root, where he debunked some of the most pervasive myths about African-Americans in his Show Me the Numbers column. Dr. Toldson is the executive editor of the Journal of Policy Analysis and Research, published by the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, Inc. He is also the author of Brill Bestseller, No BS (Bad Stats): Black People Need People Who Believe in Black People Enough Not to Believe Every Bad Thing They Hear about Black People. Dr. Toldson is ranked among the nation’s top education professors as a member of Education Week’s Edu-Scholar Public Influence Rankings, an annual list recognizes university-based scholars across the nation who are champions in shaping educational practice and policy.
The event’s theme focuses on Dr. King’s words, “A right delayed is right denied.” “There are continuous deficit perspectives and pathological tropes associated with Black/African Americans especially Black/African American boys and men,” said Dr. Lawrence Rasheed, faculty coordinator of LCC’s African American Student Program. “Dr. Toldson has empirically pushed back against such tropes with his scholarship and advocacy. We are very grateful that Dr. Toldson will be our keynote for Lane Community College's annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration.”
The event will also feature a facilitated Q&A session with Toldson, as well as the presentation of the LCC Black Student Union’s Dr. King 2023 Service Award.
For accommodations to attend these events, contact the Center for Accessible Resources at 541-463-5150 (voice), 711 (relay), or email AccessibleResources@lanecc.edu one week in advance.
Lane Community College educates over 25,000 students annually at six locations across Lane County and online. Students and alumni from all 50 states and 79 countries create more than an $850 million dollar impact on the local economy, helping to support more than 13,000 local jobs. Lane provides affordable, quality, professional technical and college transfer programs; business development and employee training; academic, language and life skills development; and lifelong personal development and enrichment courses.