ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ

Diversity isn't about the intention, "it's about the result," and as author and diversity speaker Lenora Billings-Harris shared Wednesday in ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ's annual Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative Program, today's students must use their knowledge and courage to continue building on the social progress made by previous generations of civil rights activists.

Author and diversity consultant Lenora Billings-Harris will be the keynote speaker on Wednesday at ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ’s annual MLK Commemorative Program, which honors the life of the slain civil rights leader. The program, free and an open to the public, begins at noon in Whitley Auditorium.

Two ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ students, juniors Christina Cooper and Qiao-Yi Joy Zhou, have been awarded Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarships to help fund their Spring 2010 semester study abroad experiences.

Leaders need to adapt to changing conditions. They need to communicate their ideas. And if you ask Dee Dee Myers, the first woman to serve as a White House press secretary who spoke Thursday night as ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ's sixth Isabella Cannon Distinguished Visiting Professor of Leadership, she’ll tell you that leaders can’t be afraid to fail.

A series of events to commemorate the life of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. will take place next week at ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ, from a special College Coffee to a candlelight ceremony and a “Day of Service” in conjunction with ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ First Baptist Church. The theme of this year's events is “His Past. Your Future. One Dream.”

More than 600 students are studying abroad over Winter Term, and the Isabella Cannon Centre for International Studies is hosting a blog for parents and friends to stay up-to-date on experiences taking place in nations such as China, South Africa and Greece.

Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof will headline a daylong celebration of the liberal arts and sciences on April 13, as ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ installs its new chapter of the Phi Beta Kappa Society.

Calling it a “symbol of an athletics program aspiring to do great things,” ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ leaders broke ground Saturday morning on Alumni Field House, a state-of-the-art 30,000-square-foot facility to be built adjoining the north end zone of Rhodes Stadium and named by the board of trustees to honor all ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ alumni.

The ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ Board of Trustees voted unanimously Dec. 14 to approve a $586 million strategic plan that will guide the university's development during the next decade. "The ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ Commitment: Engaged minds. Inspired leaders. Global citizens.," was created over the past 15 months, involving the entire community of students, faculty, staff, alumni, parents and friends in a discussion about ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ's future.

The Daily Beast, one of the leading new Web-based media outlets, has named ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ one of the decade's hottest colleges. The list of 15 colleges and universities ranks schools that make up a "whole new class of first-choice schools" that have "transformed the collegiate landscape" during the past 10 years.