Seventh annual Diversity Breakfast is Feb. 23 at Marshall University

 

Marshall University’s seventh annual Diversity Breakfast takes place from 7:30 to 8:50 a.m. Friday, Feb. 23 in the Memorial Student Center’s Don Morris Room on MU’s Huntington campus.

 

Dr. T. Maurice Lockridge, an assistant professor in Marshall’s Lewis College of Business, will deliver the keynote address. MU President Stephen J. Kopp will extend greetings to those attending.

 

The event is presented by Black United Students in collaboration with Marshall University Multicultural Affairs, Office of Student Affairs, College of Liberal Arts, Office of Academic Affairs, Student Activities Planning Office and International Programs.

 

“At this stage of time in the history of the world, down to the smallest communities in which we live, the need to recognize, accept and to proactively seek understanding of our differences is imminent,” said Maurice Cooley, director of Marshall’s Center for African American Students’ Programs. “Increasing the stability of the lands in which we live is based upon recognizing the true value of myriad schools of thought, ideology, beliefs, values and ethnic differences.  Marshall University embraces these concepts and the annual Diversity Breakfast is a moment when we join together in fellowship to promote these beliefs.”

 

The breakfast features special music and Muslim, Jewish and Christian blessings of the food.

 

Lockridge, whose area of teaching is accountancy, previously taught at Lander University, the University of Texas at Dallas and Texas Christian University. He received his doctor of philosophy degree with a concentration in accountancy from the University of Memphis, his MBA from Memphis State University and his Bachelor of Science degree from Chicago State University.

 

Lockridge was one of the first eight African Americans to enroll in an undergraduate degree program at Vanderbilt University, just four years after the infamous Nashville lunch counter sit-in that occurred less than two miles away. He has been a quiet trailblazer for diversity since. He was the first African American to rise to the position of Division Controller within Household International, a Fortune 100 company, and within GATX Corporation in San Francisco. He was the first African American to hold the Chief Financial Officer position at the Oakland (Calif.) Public Schools.

 

Cost to attend the Diversity Breakfast is $11 per person, or $105 for a table of eight. Payment in advance is preferred, but not required. To pay in advance, persons may visit Marshall’s Center for African American Students’ Programs in Room 1w25 of the Memorial Student Center. Or, call Fran Jackson at (304) 696-6705.