BCI Event & Humanities Summit

On Tuesday, November 27,  the VT-VUU Beloved Community Initiative (BCI) held its 2018 Essay Contest Awards Ceremony and Humanities Summit. During the event, three of the six winning students read their essays to the event participants and engaged in a conversation about their essays with Dr. Virgil Wood (Church Leader, Educator, and Civil Rights Activist) and Prof. Corey Walker (VUU Vice President, Dean and Professor of Religion and Society) .

Following the award ceremony, Afira Devries (President & CEO, United Way of Roanoke Valley), Dr. Owen Cardwell (Distinguished Chair of Education, University of Lynchburg), Prof. Corey Walker, and Dr. Virgil Wood each spoke about how they are working to address inequality and advance social and economic justice.

The photos below (taken by Prof. Peter Magolda) capture several moments from the event.

To close the event, Rachel Weaver (Assistant Professor, Creative Technologies, School of Visual Arts, Virginia Tech) announced the launch of the BCI video project to document the narratives, histories, efforts, and visions of those working to advance Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s conception of the Beloved Community in the 21st Century.  The project’s teaser video below can also be found on the new BCI YouTube channel.