FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

February 2, 2009

Contact: K.E. Schwab  

724.738.2199

 karl.schwab@sru.edu

Lectures, movies, music highlight SRU’s Black History Month

SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – Lectures, movies, music and memories will be part of Slippery Rock University’s Black History Month celebration. Events run through the month of February.

            Events open today with “Black History Month Kick-off Day” from 4-8 p.m. in Bailey Library. The event, sponsored by SRU’s Frederick Douglass Institute and the library, will include an open mike session for poetry, rap and short story readings. The film “Do the Right Thing” will be shown at 5:30 p.m. 

           A major event for the month is the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Remembrance planned for 3 p.m. Feb. 23 in the University Union. Rev. Michael Robinson, an award winning corporate and community leader in the Philadelphia region, will deliver the keynote address. 

           The SRU Chosen Generation Gospel Choir will perform along with students in SRU’s dance program. 

           SRU’s annual Civic Engagement Awards will be presented as part of the program. Nominations are due Feb. 9. Award nomination forms and criteria details are available at: http://www.sru.edu/pages/15386.asp. 

           The remembrance program is being organized by Paula Olivero, assistant vice president for student development.

           The SRU Women’s Center, in conjunction with Black AIDS Awareness, will sponsor “Epic Lives: Women of Black History,” an interactive display of African-American women in history, in the University Union from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Feb. 3-4.

           Diebeke, an African game, will be staged from 12:30-1:30 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays throughout February in the Robert N. Aebersold Student Recreation Center. The game, similar to soccer, involves 12-member teams that alternately defend a goal.

           Michelle McCollin, assistant professor of special education, will deliver a lecture titled “The Strength of My People: Power, Poise and Perseverance” at 6 p.m. Feb. 4 in the University Union. The lecture is sponsored by SRU’s Black Action Society.

           SRU’s Chosen Generation Gospel Choir will offer a Gospel Fest at 7 p.m. Feb. 7 in the Advanced Science and Technology Hall.

           The month will be peppered with films, including the 7:15 p.m. Feb. 5 screening of “The Lost Boys of Sudan.” The film will be shown in Bailey Library and is sponsored by the Frederick Douglass Institute, Bailey Library and Pan-Africanism and Leadership. Gabriel Ajang, a 2007 SRU graduate, was one of the “Lost Boys” who wandered the Sudan to escape violence in his nation’s civil war.

           Most of the films are sponsored by SRU’s Frederick Douglass Institute and will offer refreshments. 

           “Rosewood” will be shown at 1 p.m. Feb. 7 in the library sponsored by FDI, and “Dream Girls” will be shown at 6 p.m. Feb. 11 in the University Union sponsored by BAS. The documentaries “Electric Purgatory” and “Afro Punk” will be screened as a double feature at 7:15 p.m. Feb. 12 in the library. The biographical feature film “Malcolm X” will be screened at 1 p.m. Feb. 19 in Bailey Library.

           “Jazz,” the 10-part epic documentary by Ken Burns which aired on PBS, will be shown over two days. Segments 1-5 will be shown Feb. 23; segments 6-10 will be shown Feb. 24. The segments will air from 9 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. both days in Bailey Library. 

           “Higher Learning,” a film portrait of college life in the 1990s dealing with race, gender and ideology, will be shown at 1 p.m. Feb. 26 in Bailey Library.

           A panel discussion on healthcare, poverty, the economy, the Iraq War, and education titled “Challenges Today, Solutions Tomorrow,” will be staged at 4 p.m. Feb. 17 in the University Union. The Commonwealth Association of Students and Students Organizing for America are sponsoring the event.

           “Black Jeopardy,” testing contestant’s knowledge of African-American history, will be at 6 p.m. Feb. 18 in the Advanced Science and Technology Hall.

           Faith Adiele, an assistant professor of English at the University of Pittsburgh, will present “Obama’s and My Life Story” at 7 p.m. Feb. 25 in Bailey Library. Adiele will describe both she and President Obama had African fathers whom they met late in life, were both reared by Anglo-American mothers and grandparents, came of age in Southeast Asia, were schooled at Harvard and are involved in community activism. 

           The annual Ebony Ball, sponsored by BAS, will be at 7 p.m. Feb. 25 in the University Union.

Slippery Rock University is Pennsylvania’s premier public residential university. Slippery Rock University provides students with a comprehensive learning experience that intentionally combines academic instruction with enhanced educational and learning opportunities that make a positive difference in their lives.