MU Diversity News
Claire Hanan, Columbia Missourian
MU faculty, students and community members met Monday afternoon to discuss President Barack Obama's role in achieving Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream and what it might mean for African-Americans in the 21st century.
Evan Spaulding, The Maneater
A Friday discussion in Ellis Auditorium debunked stereotypes and presented attendants with everyday situations that can be credited to Islamic culture, such as getting stitches, drinking coffee or going to class.
Daniel Everson, The Maneater
Members of the MU and Columbia communities joined together Monday to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day and the past, present and future of the vision King expressed in his "I Have a Dream" speech.
Leslie Beddingfield, Columbia Missourian
Students gathered at the Gaines/Oldham Black Cultural Center at MU earlier Tuesday to watch the inauguration of President Barack Obama and came together again that night to celebrate.
Andrew Van Dam, Columbia Missourian
Among other things, 6-year-old Isaac Van Doren knows that Northwest American Indians used seal intestines to create waterproof clothing, that the four character types in a traditional Thai puppet drama are joker, princess, hermit and demon, and that Mesoamerican peoples used an elaborate calendar system to name children after the day on which they're born.
Call for Papers, Proposals, Entries. Information about conferences, scholarships, internships, and fellowships.
The Museum of Art and Archeology
A national juried exhibition highlighting the works of young emerging artists with disabilities, Driven (January 24—April 19, 2009)
features the works of fifteen finalists, aged sixteen to twenty-five. Centered on the theme of "Driven," the works of art relate to
the artists' attempts to pinpoint the motivational force behind their artistic expression and to identify the catalyst that sustains
their creative energy. These exemplary pieces of contemporary art present the diversity of art today and its place in the broader
history of art
Information about Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund Corporate Legal internship opportunity.
Information about 2009 Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund Undergraduate Summer internship opportunities.
Information about 2009 Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund Summer internship opportunities.
Sarah Garber, Mizzou Magazine
You’ve seen it in the movies: A motivated, young individual helps struggling high school students graduate and attend college. You’ve seen it in the news: Urban high schools in the United States face low student attendance and graduation rates. This is the real thing.
Jenna Youngs, Columbia Tribune
Finding ways to increase self-confidence through classroom work might help recruit and retain women in traditionally male-dominated engineering fields, a University of Missouri researcher said after conducting a study that looks at how self-perception can affect women’s success in the field.
Off Campus Diversity News
Jenna Youngs, Columbia Missourian
King panel at MU gauges election’s effect on blacks.
Michael Schrantz, Columbia Missourian
The Rev. Joseph Lowery’s benediction at President Barack Obama’s inauguration last week sparked intense online debates about whether his closing comments were racist.
Robby Lewis, Columbia Missourian
Nothing is going to inspire women to get involved in sports more than hearing an Olympic Gold Medalist tell them her story.
Jenna Youngs, Columbia Tribune
Smith, a Stephens College graduate, was one of three students awarded a weeklong visit to South Africa by an organization promoting AIDS/HIV awareness.
Stephanie Clark, The Maneater
Mental health patients in Columbia are gradually becoming limited with their treatment center choices.
In the past year, budget cuts caused largely in part by the economic recession, have been affecting mental health patients throughout Columbia and law enforcement officials who help with the Missouri Department of Mental Health.
Associated Press, Columbia Missourian
Text of President Barack Obama's inaugural address on Tuesday, as prepared for delivery and released by the Presidential Inaugural Committee.
Annee Tousseau, Columbia Missourian
All day Monday, Columbians turned out to celebrate the life and work of Martin Luther King Jr.
At events around the city, people gathered to honor the birth of the iconic leader of America's civil rights movement who riveted the country with his "I Have a Dream" speech in 1963.
Staff and wire reports, columbia Missourian
Barack Obama was inaugurated as the 44th president of the United States at 11 a.m. CDT. Check back here often as we update photos from throughout the day.
Jenna Youngs, Columbia Tribune
Martin Luther King Jr. Awards honorees Lorenzo Lawson, center, and Patrick McMurry of Love INC, right, applaud the reading of the poem “Resistance” by Krysten Hill at a presentation ceremony last night in Windsor Auditorium at Stephens College.
BETSY TAYLOR (AP), Columbia Missourian
At an Omnimax movie theater in St. Louis, hundreds of residents rose to their feet Tuesday as Barack Obama took his oath of office. They wiped away tears, broke into applause — and munched on popcorn — as he was sworn in as the 44th president of the United States.
Missourian staff, Columbia Missourian
People made time to mark the special occasion.
Annee Tousseau, Columbia Missourian
Tuesday's inauguration of the nation's first black president marks a moment in history. But for the black community, the event had an even greater significance as a day of national pride.
Jacob Beran, The Maneater
Memory, joy and optimism stretched from Park Avenue to East Ash Street, the route of a vigil candle walk in remembrance of Martin Luther King Jr. on Monday.
Annee Tousseau, Columbia Missourian
On any other Tuesday morning, Donna Clayborne would be working in the accounting office at Stephens College.
Today, she took time off to watch the inauguration of President Barack Obama at a celebration held at Nephew's Nite Life in Columbia.
Juana Summers, The Maneater
The country looked back Monday in celebration of slain civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s 80th birthday. At the same time, crowds in Columbia looked to Tuesday when President-elect Barack Obama will be sworn into office as the country's first black president.
Associated Press, Columbia Missourian
On the same day the nation watched the historic inauguration of Barack Obama, an eastern Missouri city welcomed its first black mayor.
Annee Tousseau, Columbia Missourian
Tuesday's inauguration of the nation's first black president marks a moment in history. But for the black community, the event had an even greater significance as a day of national pride.
Janese Heavin, Columbia Tribune
Sims felt that spirit last night among Obama supporters of all races and backgrounds. "I’m very touched by the union of people, not only here or in America but all over the world," he said. "Change is going to come."
Katy Steinmetz, Columbia Missourian
“Multiculturalism” sure sounds good. It conjures up those ideas of diversity and equality that make U.S. citizens want to high-five one another in the street. The very roots of the word seem to connote the egalitarianism we all imagine emanating in great red, white and blue clouds from the Founding Fathers and everything they wrote. But connotations can be deceiving.
Leslie Beddingfield, Columbia Missourian
Locations in Columbia Missouri where you can gather to watch the inauguration
of Obama.
Juliana Barbassa, Columbia Missourian
When three newly elected Chinese-American city supervisors climbed on stage in Chinatown, flanked by dragon dancers and lit up by camera flashes, they were hailed for making history in a city their forebears have shaped since the Gold Rush Days.
Errin Haines (AP), Columbia Missourian
The third Sunday in January, known as "King Sunday" in Atlanta after Martin Luther King Jr., easily could've been called "Obama Sunday" this year.
David Espo and Ben Feller (AP), Columbia Missourian
"Martin Luther King walked so that Barack Obama could run," said one boy. "Barack Obama ran so that all children could fly," added another, standing a few feet away from the first African-American elected president.
John Christoffersen (AP), Columbia Missourian
Rosa Parks was an icon of the civil rights movement, but she didn't think she was important enough to have her portrait painted when artist arrived.
Columbia Missourian
Local events in honor of Martin Luther King Jr.
Rose Brack-Kaiser, Columbia Missourian
About 30 people gathered at St. Luke United Methodist Church for the first meeting of the Black Parents Association of Columbia Public Schools on Thursday night. Nathan Stephens, a founding member, organized the meeting to help provide a platform for parents' voices and opinions to be heard.
Tracy Greever-Rice, Columbia Missourian
In the late 1980s, James Robnett Jr., 55, explained his philosophy of direct action to youthful student protesters concerned with MU's continued investment in South Africa.
"They thought of direct action as disruptive action, but I explained they might need to change their tactics and suggested they focus on educating the student body rather than disrupting board meetings," Robnett said.
T.J. Greaney, Columbia Tribune
Members of the Candace Ingram Dance Ensemble perform a Rwandan dance this morning during the 2009 Columbia Values Diversity Celebration at the Columbia Expo Center.
Kyle Spradley, Columbia Missourian
The 16th annual Columbia Values Diversity breakfast was held Thursday morning at the Holiday Inn Expo Center.
Marguerite Halley, Columbia Missourian
A Chinese dancer pins her white beaded headpiece as African and ballet dancers stretch against the plush theater chairs in the auditorium of the Missouri Theatre Center for the Arts. The director, David A. White III, shouts "Places, please," and streams of children and dancers in cultural dress file up the steps to go backstage.
Nathan Stephens, Columbia Missourian
As early as I can remember, my mother hounded me about my education.
Before I was allowed to hang out with friends at the J.W. Blind Boone Center or Douglass Park , I was told to "hit the books." To this day the phrase “do it while it is fresh in your mind” brings a smile to my face.
David A. Lie, The Associated Press
A state home health care law discriminates against some people with mental disabilities by denying them coverage, the Missouri Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday.
Jim Salter, The Associated Press
A state appeals court ruling could give a big financial boost to 3,000 blind Missourians.
A lawsuit filed by the Missouri Council of the Blind and seven blind people claimed that over the last 16 years, the state Department of Social Services used millions of dollars from the blind pension fund to pay for unauthorized expenses. The result, the lawsuit said, was a miscalculation that left blind pensioners with too-small monthly checks.
City of Columbia Missouri
Calendar of Columbia's annual celebration of the life and teachings of Dr.Martin Luther King, Jr.
Marguerite Halley, Columbia Missourian
This year’s breakfast, “Columbia Values Diversity: This We Believe,” honors the city’s commitment to cultural and racial understanding.
Hollis said this year’s celebration has special significance now that the nation has elected its first minority president. “I’m glad that the country is affirming what we here in Columbia value, which is diversity,” Hollis said.
Donna Baxter, Springfield News-Leader, Columbia Missourian
Although he is legally blind, photographer Bob White does not let that stand in the way of his passion. Using a 300-mm telephoto lens, he captures the beauty of rural life around him — plants, buildings, wildlife and people.
AP, Columbia Tribune
Amira Khairy is mobbed by housewives kissing her cheeks in greeting as she arrives to give a lesson on reciting the Quran to women at the Al-Sedeeq mosque in a Cairo suburb. Students set up chairs for the class, and soon the hum of chanting female voices fills one of the building’s larger chambers.
Janese Heavin, The Columbia Tribune
Imagine a student walking into an American school where teachers don’t know how to speak English, and you might have an idea of what it’s like on the Missouri School for the Deaf campus, some employees there say.
Emily Wzx, The Washington Post, Columbia Missourian
NEW DELHI, India — For couples about to be married here, the global economic crisis has forced the big fat Indian wedding onto a crash diet. Gone are the so-called helicopter grooms of last year's wedding season — the most opulent on record — where in a still-booming economy some husbands-to-be abandoned the traditional white horse procession and arrived at their nuptials on landing pads, amid a whirl of wind.
Angela K. Brown, AP, Columbia Missourian
Moments after flying headfirst onto the arena floor dirt, the man gets up and brushes off his protective vest as rodeo clowns rush in to distract the still-bucking bull. The crowd cheers as the announcer reveals he's fine, just before the chute opens with another cowboy atop a menacing bull.
The Columbia Missourian
Tens of thousands of women could qualify for new health services being offered by the state of Missouri.
The program launched Wednesday could provide pelvic exams, cancer screenings and family planning services to an estimated 83,000 women.
Join the Single Mom Monthly Support Group
Announcement
This group will meet once a month and is open to single moms over the age of 18. The purpose of the group is to create a safe space for single moms to process emotions and issues they may be facing by supporting each other and supporting themselves. Childcare and snacks will be provided. There will also be a short lesson on a topic pertinent to single moms at each monthly meeting. Please pre-register by calling 573-268-8549 as space may be limited. All meetings will be held from 6-7:30pm at Parent Link, located on 4800 Santana.
Lauren Fredman, Columbia Missourian
Nine girls fidgeted as they waited for the Friday R.I.S.E. meeting to begin on a biting day in late November. The group of girls at Benton Elementary School gets together weekly to talk about ways to define respect for themselves and others.
Morven McColluch, Jennifer Gordonk, Katlin Chadwick, Columbia Missourian
On a Monday morning in December, it takes a few minutes for the fifth-graders at Grant Elementary School to settle into art class. Today, they are finishing up their holiday cards for cancer patients.
Mitch Stacy AP, Columbia Tribune
A year to the day after she buried her son, Joanie Halgrim rode in a minivan down a rocky dirt road not far from the airport in Nairobi, Kenya. Her stomach turned from the stench of rotting garbage and raw sewage mingling with exhaust fumes and the acrid smoke from sizzling meat peddled by street vendors.
