Donna Brazile, former Chair of the Democratic National Committee and New York Times best-selling author, will be the keynote speaker at the University of Southern Indiana’s annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Luncheon at 11 a.m. Monday, January 21, 2019, in Carter Hall, located in University Center on the USI campus.
A veteran political strategist, Brazile was the first African American woman to serve as the manager of a major party presidential campaign when she served in Vice President Al Gore's campaign in 2000. O, The Oprah Magazine chose Brazile as one of its 20 “remarkable visionaries” for the magazine’s first-ever O Power List. In addition, she has been named among the 100 Most Powerful Women by Washingtonian magazine, Top 50 Women in America by Essence magazine and has received the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s highest award for political achievement.
Brazile has lectured at over 200 colleges and universities across the country on such topics as “Inspiring Civility in American Politics,” “Race Relations in the Age of Obama,” “Why Diversity Matters,” and “Women in American Politics.” In October 2017, Brazile was the recipient of the W.E.B Du Bois Medal, Harvard’s highest honor in African American studies. She has served as an adjunct professor at Georgetown University since 2002 and spent the fall of 2017 serving as a Joan Shorenstein fellow in Media, Politics and Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School. Brazile, a native of New Orleans, has a bachelor’s degree in industrial psychology from Louisiana State University.
Tickets will be available for USI students and employees beginning Monday, November 26 and will be available for the general public beginning Monday, December 10. All tickets may be purchased online on the USI website or at the USI Multicultural Center, located at Room 1224 in University Center East. Tickets are $5 for USI students, $10 for USI employees and $20 for the general public.
The annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Luncheon features a prominent, successful African American keynote speaker and attracts a large crowd from throughout the community. The luncheon encourages and inspires attendees to continue working for the cause of racial equality, for which King gave his life. The event is sponsored by the USI Foundation and the USI Multicultural Center and will include entertainment by student and community groups.
For more information, contact the USI Multicultural Center at 812-465-7188 or at USI.edu/mcc.