On the third Monday of each January, the nation pauses to celebrate the life and legacy of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. As a social activist, King played an integral role in the American civil rights movement, fighting for equality and human rights for African Americans, the economically disadvantaged, and victims of injustice - all through peaceful protest. 

Collage of students and quote from MLK

King was born in Atlanta and grew up in the city's Sweet Auburn neighborhood, just three miles from the Georgia Tech campus. Today, there are many ways to reflect on King's life and legacy right here in Atlanta, just minutes from campus. The King Center off Auburn Avenue offers events and programs to fulfill it's mission to prepare global citizens to create a more just, humane and peaceful world using King's nonviolent philosophy and methodology. Close by, historic Ebenezer Baptist Church, where King served as co-pastor with his father in 1960, is steeped in spiritual tradition and provides a quiet place to reflect. 

Georgia Tech recognizes the ongoing global struggle for social justice, social courage, and the need for sustainable social change. This year, the 2021 Georgia Tech Martin Luther King Jr. celebration and commemorative event series will take place virtually, with events offered until the end of the month. 

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art installation commemorating MLK

Engineering Diversity

Diversity and inclusivity are hallmarks of who we are and what we do in the College of Engineering. We embrace our differences and work together to discover and learn from one another. Here at the College, a multitude of different individuals, race, color, and creed, come together to find solutions to many of the world’s most vexing problems.  

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Adjo Amekudzi-Kennedy, leader of the Global Engineering Leadership Minor here at Tech, discusses how graduating students need to be equipped with the skills to solve global challenges, such as climate change, water scarcity and metropolitan congestion.

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Driving Research Forward

Interdisciplinary research brings great minds from a variety of academic disciplines together to solve problems. Hear from Raheem Beyah, the College's new dean and Southern Company chair, on work in Institute research initiatives. 

NSBE members with President Cabrera

Georgia Tech's National Society of Black Engineers Chapter Wins Chapter of the Year Award

Georgia Tech’s chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) won the 2019-20 Large Chapter of the Year Award, chosen as the Society’s “best exemplars and promoters of academic excellence, professional success, community service and cultural responsibility.”

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Project ENGAGES with Manu Platt

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Rosa Park statue at Tech
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sculpture work being done on the trailblazers monument

The stage is set for the 2021 Georgia Tech Martin Luther King Jr. celebration and commemorative event series.

From Jan. 11 – 26, the campus community and public are invited to a dozen mostly virtual events, including the Institute’s 10th annual MLK lecture featuring Nikole Hannah-Jones, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and creator of the New York Times Magazine’s landmark “The 1619 Project.”

The annual series is sponsored by Institute Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (IDEI) and the Division of Student Life. Many of the events are in collaboration with Atlanta’s Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change (“The King Center”), a resource center and community institution established in 1968 by King’s widow, Coretta Scott King, shortly after his assassination.

Upcoming Events

January 15-16, 2021
Georgia Tech Focus Program - Virtual

Focus is one of the nation’s premier weekend programs for raising awareness of graduate education among the brightest, traditionally underrepresented minority students. Visit: focus.gatech.edu

January 16, 2021
Engage Symposium - 10:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m., Virtual & Ferst Center for the Arts 

The symposium is open to all Georgia Tech students and will be presented in a hybrid format with in-person participants and synchronous live-streaming from the Ferst Center for the Arts. Students can register for some or all of the sessions by claiming tickets for in-person streamed sessions. Sessions will focus on leadership lessons and will feature conversations with leaders that include Georgia Tech alumni who have made considerable impact as local, regional and state leaders. Each leader will be interviewed by a current Georgia Tech student. Register and learn more: https://studentengagement.gatech.edu/content/engage-symposium

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