Kent State University at Stark proudly presents educational and entertaining events to celebrate the many contributions that African Americans have made in our country. Each event will take place on the Stark Campus, 6000 Frank Avenue NW in Jackson Township. All events are free and open to the public. No tickets are required.
African Americans in Film
Thursday, Feb. 12 at 1 p.m.
315 Main Hall room
Leslie Heaphy, Ph.D., associate professor of history at Kent State Stark, will discuss the complex history of African Americans on the silver screen, from stereotypical portrayals to positive images and diverse roles for people of color. This event is co-sponsored by the Stark Campus History Club. The presentation will include an opportunity for questions from the audience. Light refreshments will be provided.
African Americans in Science
Thursday, Feb. 19 at 1 p.m.
315 Main Hall
Robert Hamilton IV, Ph.D., assistant professor of biology at Kent State Stark, will discuss various African-American men and women in fields, such as chemistry, biology, engineering and mathematics, who have contributed to the advancement of science and engineering. The presentation will include an opportunity for questions from the audience. Light refreshments will be provided.
Love, Relationships and the African-American Family -- Canceled due to inclement weather
Friday, Feb. 20 at 7 p.m.
Main Hall Auditorium
Shea M. Dunham, Ph.D., associate professor in the Division of Psychology and Counseling at Governors State University, is a counselor, educator and marriage and family therapist specializing in emotionally focused couple’s therapy. She also works with parents and their adult children, as well as African-American and intercultural couples. She has published and/or presented on such topics as African Americans and intimacy, poisonous parents and their adult children, emotional skillfulness in African-American couples, training counselors, marriage and family therapists and family social advocacy. She is currently working on her second book on African Americans and emotionally focused couples therapy. Dunham adds to the field of counseling and marriage and family therapy/counseling by seeing clients in private practice settings at Liveworks Counseling Agency in Oakbrook, Illinois.
Electric Blues by the Wallace Coleman Band
Featuring an opening performance by Jody Getz & Friends
Thursday, Feb. 26 at 6 p.m.
Main Hall Auditorium
Wallace Coleman, a 10-year veteran of the Grammy Award-winning Robert Lockwood Jr. Band, started his own band in 1996. He later established his own record label, which he named Ella Mae Music, in honor of his late mother. Coleman has released four, critically acclaimed CDs on his label, including his latest release, Blues In The Wind, Remembering Robert Jr. Lockwood. Coleman has won a Living Blues Award for fan favorite, as well as garnered two nominations for outstanding harmonica. He has been named an Ohio Heritage Fellow. His performance embodies an American art form that has all but disappeared from the African-American music landscape and is certain to captivate blues lovers of all ages.
For more information on Kent State Stark’s diversity events, call 330-499-9600 or visit kent.edu/stark/diversity-events.