Skip Navigation

OU to Devote Week Toward Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

OU to Devote Week Toward Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

The University of Oklahoma is taking the week of Jan. 20 to celebrate and promote the importance of diversity, equity and inclusion throughout the OU community.  

A series of events on all three campuses will mark the inaugural OU Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Week, which begins on Monday’s national holiday honoring Martin Luther King Jr. Students, faculty and staff are encouraged to participate and reflect on how the University can continue working toward creating and sustaining a more inclusive culture.

For more information, contact specialevents@ou.edu or (405) 325-1701, unless otherwise noted.

 

Featured Events

 

All Week

Norman Campus: Donate to the OU Food Pantry

The Office of Diversity and Inclusion is collecting perishables and toiletries for the OU Food Pantry. Donation boxes will be located in the Oklahoma Memorial Union Food Court, Copeland Hall and Evans Hall.

 

Health Sciences Center Canned Food Drive

The HSC Office of Diversity and Inclusion is hosting a canned food drive Jan. 21-24.

 

Monday, Jan. 20

41st Annual Tulsa MLK Day Parade
11 a.m., Downtown Tulsa

More than 50 OU-Tulsa students, faculty and staff will represent the University in the 41st Annual Tulsa MLK Day Parade. Participants will march with the OU Physicians-Tulsa Mobile Clinic and will sport crimson OU-Tulsa hoodies in celebration and support for the commemoration.

For more information and to RSVP, visit https://calendar.ou.edu/tulsa/view/event/event_id/82177 or contact Bonnie Rucker at brucker@ou.edu.

 

Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Concert and Meet the Composer
3 p.m., Sharp Concert Hall, Catlett Music Center, 500 W. Boyd St., Norman

The OU School of Music will honor the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. in a celebration concert, presented in collaboration with the Norman Philharmonic, the Richard Zielinski Singers, the OU Combined Choirs and community choruses. The concert is a Sutton Music Series event and will be conducted by Professor Richard Zielinski.

The celebration concert will explore the music of nationally renowned composer Rosephayne Dunn Powell by presenting “The Cry of Jeremiah,” a four-movement work that combines narration, chorus, organ and orchestra. Powell will be in attendance, and audience members will have the opportunity to meet her after the concert. The event also will feature guest speakers and audience sing-alongs of civil rights songs and popular music from the 1960s.

Tickets may be purchased by phone at (405) 325-4101 or in person at the OU Fine Arts Box Office 500 W. Boyd St., on the OU Norman campus. Advance purchase tickets are $9 for adults or $5 for students, OU faculty and staff, seniors and military. Tickets purchased at the door are $10.

 

Tuesday, Jan. 21

Martin Luther King Jr. March
9:30 a.m., Begins at Evans Hall

Members of the OU and the Norman communities are invited to march in unity to commemorate the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. The march will begin at Evans Hall and proceed to the South Oval.

 

Wednesday, Jan. 22

Diversity Ally Training: Unlearning Racism
8-10 a.m., Bird Library Faculty Atrium, Health Sciences Center

The training is intended to help our campus community have safe and meaningful conversations about differences, to increase awareness of personal and community bias, and to promote inclusion at work and in the classrooms.

For more information, contact the HSC Office of Diversity and Inclusion at (405) 271-3044

 

Dedication of the Office of Diversity and Inclusion
1:30 p.m., Copeland Hall, Norman

All members of the OU community are invited to celebrate a new space for the Office of Diversity and Inclusion – a welcoming place for students, faculty and staff that will serve as the gateway for belonging at OU.

 

An Immigration Curriculum for Our Times
3-5 p.m., Andrews Academic Tower Room C, 1st Floor, Health Sciences Center

In this workshop, Mark Kuczewski, Ph.D., HEC-C, will discuss basic skills, knowledge and strategies to guide healthcare professionals in their interactions with immigrant patients.

For more information, contact the HSC Office of Diversity and Inclusion at (405) 271-3044.

 

Thursday, Jan. 23

Equity is Intersectional
Noon-1 p.m., Health Sciences Center Student Union

This event will allow participants of various backgrounds to visualize the intersection of all their respective identities through an interactive activity.

For more information, contact the HSC Office of Diversity and Inclusion at (405) 271-3044.

 

Dedication of the Gender + Equality Center
2 p.m., Beaird Lounge, Oklahoma Memorial Union, Norman

OU students, faculty and staff are invited to a ceremony marking the new location for OU’s Gender + Equality Center.

 

Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women: An Evening with Abigail Echo-Hawk
6 p.m., Will Rogers Room, Oklahoma Memorial Union, Norman

Abigail Echo-Hawk, director of the Urban Indian Health Institute and chief research officer at the Seattle Indian Health Board, will present a public lecture to shed light on how the rates of missing person reports and homicide are disproportionately higher among indigenous women. The evening also will include a live painting and a benefit auction featuring Oklahoma Native artists. For more information, contact Jessica Blanchard at jessicawalker@ou.edu.

 

Friday, Jan. 24

Reception Welcoming Dr. Belinda Higgs Hyppolite, Vice President of Diversity and Inclusion and Chief Diversity Officer
1 to 3 p.m., Boyd House, 407 W. Boyd St., Norman

Interim President Harroz extends an invitation to the OU community to attend a come-and-go reception in honor of Dr. Belinda Higgs Hyppolite, who recently joined OU as vice president of diversity and inclusion and chief diversity officer.

 

Saturday, Jan. 25

Clara Luper Legacy Honors Gala
7:30 p.m., Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History, 2401 Chautauqua Ave., Norman
Note: This event is invitation-only.

At an inaugural gala honoring its namesake, OU’s Clara Luper Department of African and African American Studies will recognize the 13 individuals who launched Oklahoma City’s sit-in movement in August 1958, a campaign led by Luper to desegregate restaurants and diners. The gala’s keynote speaker will be attorney and law professor Anita Hill.

For more information, contact the Clara Luper Department of African and African American Studies at (405) 325-2327.

 

Wednesday, Jan. 29

Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Featuring Dr. Bernice King
11:30 a.m. Reception | Noon Presentation, OU Children’s Nicholson Tower Conference Center, 940 NE 13th St., Oklahoma City

Dr. Bernice King, daughter of the late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King and chief executive officer of The King Center, will be the keynote speaker at the OU Health Sciences Center’s 2020 Martin L. King Jr. Celebration, presented by the OU HSC African American Student Association.

Starting at noon, Dr. King’s presentation also will be simulcast to the Norman campus in Beaird Lounge and to the OU-Tulsa campus in the Learning Center Room 231.

For more information, contact OU HSC Student Affairs at (405) 271-2416.

Article Published: Wednesday, January 15, 2020