Celebrate Diversity Awards Banquet: Scholarship Fundraiser

Each fall, the Office of Institutional Diversity hosts the Celebrate Diversity Awards Banquet to generate scholarship funds for deserving students, while also recognizing those within the Texas Tech and Lubbock communities who exemplify Inclusive Excellence. Additionally, the recipient(s) of the Senator Robert L. Duncan Community Champion Award are recognized.

This year's Celebrate Diversity Awards will be presented virtually on Thursday, April 29th at 7:00 p.m. The speaker will be professor, author and media professional, Dr. Melissa Harris-Perry.

Dr. Harris-Perry received her B.A. degree in English from Wake Forest University. She is the first African American woman to earn her Ph.D. degree in Political Science from Duke University. She also studied theology at Union Theological Seminary in New York.

After serving on the faculties of some of America's most prestigious universities, Dr. Harris-Perry returned to her undergraduate alma mater in 2014. She is currently the Maya Angelou Presidential Chair in the Department of Politics and International Affairs and the Department of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Wake Forest. Dr. Harris-Perry is the founder and president of the Anna Julia Cooper Center, an independent organization advancing justice through intersectional scholarship and action.

For nearly two decades, Dr. Harris-Perry has contributed to American public life through her distinct combination of scholarly analysis and grounded wisdom applied to analysis of race, gender, politics, and power.

Dr. Harris-Perry hosted the award-winning television show “Melissa Harris-Perry” from 2012-2016 on weekend mornings on MSNBC and in 2016, won the Hillman Prize for broadcast journalism. Along with Dorian Warren, she co-hosts the podcast System Check, with The Nation.

To register for this FREE event click here

Past speakers for the event include; James Edward Olmos, Terrence Howard, Soledad O'Brien, John Quiñones, former U.S. Poet Laureate, Juan Felipe Herrera, Grace Gealey, Dr. Michael Benitez, Ana Navarro and Cyntoia Brown-Long.

Award Recipients

Senator Robert L. Duncan Community Champion Award

Inclusive Excellence Award Recipients

For more information regarding the Celebrate Diversity Awards, please email diversity@ttu.edu or call 806-742-7025.