MEDIA ADVISORY
TO: News Directors, Education Reporters and PSA Directors
FROM: University Relations
SUBJECT: UAF to Host Celebration of Alaska Civil Rights
LOCATION: UAF Campus
DATE & TIME: Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2002 from 2 - 4 p.m.
Alaska attorney Mahala Ashley Dickerson will be the featured keynote
speaker at the University of Alaska Fairbanks celebration of Alaska Civil
Rights Day. The event will take place on Tuesday, Jan. 22 in the Wood
Center Mall from 2 – 4 p.m.
Dickerson was Alabama’s first black female attorney admitted to
the bar in 1948; Indiana’s second black female attorney admitted
in 1952; and Alaska’s first black attorney of either sex admitted
in 1959. She was also the first black president of the National Association
of Women Lawyers in 1983-84.
In observance of the holiday, UAF offices will be closed for regular
business Monday, Jan. 21, 2002. The University of Alaska Board of Regents
approved the holiday and changed the name to Martin Luther King Jr. Day
in Celebration of Alaska Civil Rights. University of Alaska Civil Rights
Day has been celebrated at UAF since it was originally established by
the board of regents in 1994 to honor Martin Luther King Jr., Alaska Native
leaders and organizations, and others who have led civil rights initiatives
benefiting all Alaskans.
The schedule for the UAF event on Jan. 22 will be as follows:
- Songs, Shall We Gather By the River and Stand – Jean Henderson
- Mistress of Ceremony – LaJuana K. Williams, Office of Multicultural Affairs
- Welcome – Chancellor Marshall Lind, University of Alaska Fairbanks
- Keynote speaker – Alaska attorney Mahala Ashley Dickerson
- Closing Thoughts – UAF Dean of Student Services Carla Kirts
- Song, Amazing Grace – Jean Henderson
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CONTACT: LaJuana Williams, UAF Office of Multicultural Affairs
at (907) 474-7300 or Carla Browning, Public Information Officer at (907)
474-7778.
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