Award nominations open in preparation for Martin Luther King Jr. Week events

Northwest Missouri State University’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion will commemorate the work of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. with its annual celebration week, beginning Thursday, January 16, and concluding Monday, January 20.

The activities are free and open to the public, including a peace brunch featuring keynote speaker Bilal Clarance, an university alumnus and Northwest Foundation member .

“I think it’s important to acknowledge that there are people on campus – faculty, staff, students and even the Maryville community, who value the work of Martin Luther King and are still continuing to do that work,” Dr. Shay Malone, Northwest’s assistant vice president of institutional excellence and global engagement, said.

Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion Awards

The office of diversity and inclusion is now giving Northwest employees, students and community members the opportunity to nominate faculty and staff for its annual Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion Awards.

All individuals are invited to nominate a faculty or staff member who has demonstrated a longstanding commitment to Dr. King’s principles and ideals of freedom, equality, justice, liberty, individuality and respect and furthering Northwest’s commitment to those principles and ideals.

Peace Brunch

The Northwest community is invited to attend the annual MLK Peace Brunch from noon to 2 pm Friday, January17, in the JW Jones Student Union Ballroom. The brunch will honor King’s life and legacy while featuring Northwest alumnus Bilal Clarance as the keynote speaker.

Clarance received a bachelor’s degree in interactive digital media with a computer science emphasis at Northwest in 2005 and currently is employed as director of engineering for Google’s graph serving team. He also serves on the executive committee and governance committee of the Northwest Foundation Board of Directors.

As an undergraduate student at Northwest, Clarance was a member of the Bearcat men’s basketball team. He went on to play professionally in Madrid and Germany, in addition to captaining the Danish national team. Since retiring in 2009, he has built his career as a software engineer, working for startups and companies including Apple, Capital One and now Google.

“I really appreciate seeing how alums continue in some of the legacy of MLK and how they are doing that in their own worlds,” Malone said. “I really think it’s a good idea for our campus to see how they’re still taking the values of Northwest throughout their time.”