UMaine, NAACP to Host 2012 MLK Breakfast

The Greater Bangor Area NAACP and the University of Maine will present the 2012 Martin Luther King, Jr. Breakfast Celebration Monday, Jan. 16 from 8:30-10:30 a.m. at the UMaine Wells Conference Center.

Doors open at 8 a.m., when the UMaine women’s student singing group Renaissance is scheduled to begin a 30-minute performance. University of Maine President Paul Ferguson will offer remarks. The Bangor Community Chorus will perform at the close of the program.

Professor Denise Patmon, director of the undergraduate teacher licensure program at the University of Massachusetts at Boston, will serve as this year’s keynote speaker. Patmon has taught at Wheelock College and at Lehman College (CUNY)’s Hiroshima, Japan campus. For the past 16 years, she has taught at UMass Boston and has been invited to serve as the 2011-2012 Libra Professor at the University of Maine.

Patmon teaches courses in writing and literature and supervises field experiences in urban schools. Her writing has been heavily influenced by her experiences as a black person involved in the National Writing Project.

Tickets for the 2012 Breakfast are $20 for adults, $15 for seniors 65 and over, $10 for high school and college students with ID, and $10 for children 12 and younger. Those interested in attending are encouraged to purchase tickets early. For ticket sales information, please call (207) 581-4094. Ticket purchases are nonrefundable.

In addition, the UMaine Bodwell Center for Service and Volunteerism, the Office of Multicultural Programs, and UMaine Athletics will lead a free Martin Luther King Jr. Day event, Jan. 16 from 11 a.m-3 p.m. at the Old Town/Orono YMCA. Students in grades 3-5 and their parents are invited to participate in a variety of activities about diversity and the life and ideas of Martin Luther King.

Contact: George Manlove, (207) 581-3756