Jan 15, 2008 3 min read

CALIFORNIA – On Thursday, California University of Pennsylvania will present its Fifth Annual Day of Service observing the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The event will begin with an 11 a.m. program in Vulcan Theatre, located on the first floor of the Natali Student Center on the Cal U campus.

Following the program, Cal U students from various student groups and organizations will then perform volunteer work at several locations on and off campus.

Several places where students will provide a variety of services such as painting or cleaning include The California Borough Office and Center in the Woods.

Inspiring this event was a visit to the Cal U campus by the late Coretta Scott King, wife of the late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on Jan. 28, 2003. She referred to Martin Luther King, Jr. Day as, “A day on rather than a day off.”

Sponsoring Cal U’s Fifth Annual Martin Luther Jr. Day of Service are The Office of Student Development and Services, The Office of Multicultural Affairs, Black Student Union, Student Government, and Frederick Douglass Institute.

Following remarks by various student representatives from the Black Student Union (BSU) and Student Government and a video about the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service titled “Now Is The Time,” the guest speaker for the Vulcan Theatre portion of the day will be Dr. Anthony B. Mitchell.

Mitchell is the assistant director of university-community programs in the Division of Continuing Education at Penn State Greater Allegheny.

For more information, contact Lamont Coleman, assistant dean for student development/student activities at 724-938-5697 or e-mail at coleman_lm@cup.edu.

Mitchell also serves as an instructor in the Department of African and African American Studies and teaches several courses including one that examines the Life of Martin L. King.

In recent years, he has participated in the “Return to the Roots of the Civil Rights Movement” tours facilitated by Rev. Robert Graetz, a white minister who pastored an all black congregation in Montgomery, Ala., during the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

This Western Pennsylvania program annually takes participants by bus to historic sites in the Deep South and meets with civil rights leaders and foot soldiers who helped abolish segregation.

Active in the community for more than 20 years, Mitchell has worked with a host of K-12 schools, organizations, and institutions that provide educational and social service interventions to disadvantaged youth and adult populations. His leadership efforts have resulted in recognition by various local and national organizations.

In 1994, the 100 Black Men of Western PA and the Gang Peace Council of Western PA recognized his community service and leadership efforts in promoting urban peace and social justice.

In 1999, Mitchell’s Diversity Outreach Programs unit at Penn State received the University Continuing Education Association Award for “Excellence” for drug intervention and prevention outreach programming.

More recently, he received the Community Empowerment Association Award for community education in 2004 and the Penn State Continuing & Distance Education Exemplary Program Award for Outreach in 2007.

Mitchell is a graduate of Geneva College.

He holds a masters in education from Penn State, and a doctorate in administration and leadership studies from Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

His message will honor King’s Birthday and examine the life, legacy, and unfinished dream of King in the 21st Century.