Lou Cortina
The University of Maryland, Baltimore’s (UMB) Diversity Advisory Council (DAC) continues to make an impact by promoting diversity and inclusion across the University with programs, training, and events, including the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr./Black History Month celebration in February.
At this year’s MLK event, keynote speaker Angela Alsobrooks, JD ’96, exhorted the UMB community to “redeem the dream” of the legendary civil rights leader a half-century after his death.
“In his ‘I Have a Dream’ speech, Dr. King talked about this promissory note that America had written to us,” the Prince George’s County executive and University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law alumna told the crowd of nearly 400. “He said you had a right to expect that America’s promise and freedom and certain justices would apply to all of us. And to everyone in this room, we have the opportunity in this phase of our lives to make sure that we redeem the dream.”
The DAC is certainly doing its part. At the MLK event, the group handed out Diversity Recognition Awards to Larry S. Gibson, LLB, professor, Carey School of Law; Vanessa Gonzalez-Wright, student, School of Social Work (SSW); and Cherita F. Adams, MBA, MS, then in UMB Human Resources and now assistant dean in SSW.
Among its many initiatives, the DAC also supports affinity groups such as Latinos Unidos, sponsors a Diversity Speaker Series, provides resources for students in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) program, and offers training on how to work with diverse groups.
