Arkansas Tech University will observe Martin Luther King Jr. Day 2023 with two on-campus events on Monday, Jan. 16.
There will be a service event sponsored by the ATU Office of Civic and Community Engagement and Leadership Development at 10 a.m. in the Hull Building Student Union. Participants will build hygiene kits for those in need.
The ATU Office of Diversity and Inclusion will host a silent march beginning at 6 p.m. at Tucker Coliseum. The march will conclude at Ross Pendergraft Library and Technology Center.
ATU students, faculty and staff as well as members of the surrounding community are invited to attend these events.
Arkansas Tech has incorporated a community service project into its observance of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day since 2016.
During that first project seven years ago, ATU students, faculty and staff packed 37,000 non-perishable meals for neighbors in need. The following year, a similar community service project aligned with ATU’s observance of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day provided 40,000 meals for people who are food insecure in the Arkansas River Valley.
Since 2018, the emphasis for ATU’s Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day service projects has shifted to packing hygiene kits and providing them to local service organizations.
This year marks the 94th anniversary of King’s birth. A federal holiday scheduled to coincide with his birthday has been observed since 1986.
Learn more about the namesake of the holiday at https://thekingcenter.org/about-tkc/martin-luther-king-jr.
