@UI&U - February 2010

Cohort Ph.D. Program Engages Community with MLK Luncheon

Rabbi Gary Zola, Ph.D and Bishop E. Lynn Brown address the audience.
“Faith is not for safety, but for taking risks,” said Bishop Brown.

As a distinct component of Union’s Cohort Ph.D, in Interdisciplinary Studies program, the Martin Luther King Jr. Specialization is relatively new to the university, but is steadily growing, attracting community leaders from across the country seeking to make Dr. King’s dream a reality.

This past January, learners in the MLK specialization converged in Cincinnati to take part in their cohort residency, and to participate in the university’s first annual MLK Luncheon, presented in partnership with the Martin Luther King Jr. Coalition of Greater Cincinnati. The luncheon featured a panel discussion with local community leaders Bishop E. Lynn Brown, Rabbi Gary Zola, Ph.D., and Edith Thrower, president of the local Southern Leadership Conference, the civil rights organization founded by Dr. King. The three panelists joined the doctoral learners for the discussion: “Can Martin Luther King Jr.'s Vision of the Beloved Community Shape the Future of World Economies Both Locally and Globally?”

Dr. Nancy Boxill, Fulton County, Georgia commissioner, UI&U alumna, and coordinator of UI&U’s Martin Luther King Jr. Specialization, moderated the discussion, and MLK learner Pastor Aaron Dobynes from Shreveport, Louisiana, opened the discussion with an impassioned reading from one of Dr. King’s speeches.

After the event, @UI&U met with some of the MLK learners at the luncheon to learn more about their work in the program and in their communities. Click here to read more.