MU CELEBRATES MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.
2012 Martin Luther King, Jr. Award
Established in 2007, the University of Missouri Martin Luther King, Jr. Award recognizes and affirms those in the Columbia community who have made significant tangible contributions in the areas of race relations, justice and human rights. Each year, the MU Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration Planning Committee selects a Boone County resident or group to receive this award in recognition of extraordinary leadership and inspiration in furthering the goal of achieving greater cultural and ethnic diversity in the community. The award will be presented during the annual campus celebration commemorating Dr. King in January 2012.
Criteria
Those who have exhibited extraordinary leadership in one or more of the following areas are eligible for this award:
Past MLK Award Winners
- Michael Middleton
- Almeta Crayton
- West Boulevard Elementary School
- Minority Men's Network
- Both individuals and advocacy groups may be nominated, but nominees must be residents of Columbia or Boone County.
- Nominees must not include MU faculty and administrators.
- Nominees should be an individual who or organization that has made significant contributions in building a sense of unity among Columbia citizens.
- Nominees must work in the area of promotion and developing a mutual respect, understanding and appreciation for the cultural and ethnic diversity within our local and extended community (i.e., outside of the University academic community).
- Nominees should have demonstrated ability in building local communities through various activities and programs that help to revitalize areas and make Columbia a more wholesome and desirable place for living, learning and loving.
- Nominees should have been personally or corporately involved in making tangible, visible, and meaningful contributions to the advancement of race relations, justice, and/or human rights causes.
- In recognizing the personal commitment and example that Dr. King stressed and discussed in his speeches for academic achievement, nominees should have demonstrated a personal commitment to scholarship and/or attainment of educational goals despite significant barriers or obstacles (i.e. learning disability, poverty, etc.). Dr. King was known to challenge his followers to pursue excellence through a commitment to life-long learning. This dream still exists and nominees should demonstrate this desire.
- Nominees should demonstrate specific accomplishments in reducing barriers that have hindered under served groups from attaining academic excellence. Specific activities or accomplishments could include, but are not limited to, mentoring, tutoring, innovative pre-school programs, highly effective pre-college programs, provision of scholarships, etc. Special consideration will be given to the nominees who provide children access to the tools of technology (i.e., computers, Internet, etc.) and incorporate effective parental involvement.
The heart of the award is to recognize individuals who give their time and service freely to those in need without question. We seek to recognize the person who does this work and their work often goes without recognition (i.e., they work behind the scenes). This award seeks to honor those quiet individuals who promote Dr. King’s legacy and attempt to try to make a difference in the lives of others through their own selfless service.
Winners of this award should stand as role models for others to emulate. The recipient should be an individual or group who has gone far beyond the normal duty of being a good neighbor, a good teacher, a good businessman/woman, a good counselor, etc. It is the individual who watches the children when no one else is there. It is the person who organizes children’s games to get them off the streets. It is the person who buys backpacks or books so that children can be ready for school. It is the individual who does what no one else will do and he/she does it because that is who they are.
