Indiana University

News Release

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Last modified: Wednesday, January 9, 2008

IU's activities commemorating Martin Luther King to include presentation by Calvin Mackie

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Jan. 9, 2007

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Indiana University will celebrate Martin Luther King Jr.'s legacy with activities, Jan. 18-21, including a speech on Jan. 20 by Calvin Mackie, an award-winning speaker, author and Hurricane Katrina survivor.

Other events will include a day of activities for elementary school children at the IU School of Education, an interfaith prayer service, a leadership breakfast and a unity summit. Programs and observances also will be held in university residence halls. With the exception of the breakfast, all IU events celebrating King's life are free and open to the public.

Classes are not held on the King holiday, and many IU Bloomington students will use the day to honor King's legacy by volunteering in the community. "A Day On, Not a Day Off" -- a massive volunteer effort organized in cooperation with a number of nonprofit agencies, IU and the City of Bloomington -- will be held all day on Jan. 21.

Other IU students and faculty will travel to Washington, D.C., Jan. 18-20, to visit the Lincoln Memorial, the Mary McLeod Bethune Council House and the Metropolitan AME Church. They will meet with leaders there in a cross-cultural dialogue on current struggles and what King might do today to interrupt the cycle of oppression.

Mackie, IU's keynote speaker, is an internationally known motivational speaker, a successful entrepreneur and an associate professor of engineering at Tulane University in New Orleans. He will speak at 5 p.m. on Jan. 20 in the Whittenberger Auditorium of the Indiana Memorial Union, 900 E. Seventh St.

After starting college with remedial reading courses, Mackie concurrently earned a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from Georgia Tech and a bachelor's degree in mathematics from Morehouse College. He also holds a master's degree and a doctorate in mechanical engineering from Georgia Tech.

Following graduation, Mackie joined the faculty at Tulane, where he currently pursues research related to heat transfer, fluid dynamics, energy efficiency and renewable energy. In 1992, he co-founded Channel ZerO, an educational and motivational consulting company, and has presented to numerous civic, educational institutions and Fortune 500 corporations.

Committed to community service, Mackie is an active member of the National Speakers Association, the 100 Black Men of Metro New Orleans, and the New Orleans Computer Access Program, a nonprofit organization that places computers in the homes of New Orleans Public School first-graders.

Mackie is one of 33 board members of the Louisiana Recovery Authority, the guiding agency to lead the state's rebuilding efforts following Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita. He was featured prominently in Spike Lee's acclaimed documentary on HBO When The Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Parts. Mackie also has appeared on numerous news shows, such as the PBS News Hour with Jim Lehrer and the Tom Joyner Morning Show.

He is the author of the book, A View from the Roof: Lessons for Life and Business (Acanthus Publishing, 2005).

Other events centered around the holiday include:

Complete information about all IU King Day events is available at a special Web site at https://www.indiana.edu/~mlkjr/.


Web Version

https://newsinfo.iu.edu/news/page/normal/7146.html

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