RADFORD – L. Douglas Wilder, the Commonwealth of Virginia’s 66th governor and the first African-American governor in the United States, will be the keynote speaker for Radford University’s celebration of the life of Martin Luther King, Jr., on January 22, 2009.

The evening celebration begins at 6 p.m. in the foyer of the newly dedicated Douglas and Beatrice Covington Center for Visual and Performing Arts, named for Douglas Covington, the first African-American president of RU, who served from 1995 to 2005.

 “How thrilling it will be to celebrate the life of Dr. King inside the Covington Center, in the presence of our nation’s first African-American governor, all in the same week we inaugurate our first African-American president,” said Dean of Students Trae Cotton.

In addition to Governor Wilder’s keynote speech, the event will feature musical selections by the William Fleming High School Choir of Roanoke, and remarks by RU President Penelope W. Kyle and Student Government President Matthew Williams.

The grandson of slaves who was elected Virginia’s governor in 1989, Wilder is a lifetime member of Omega Psi Phi fraternity. Members of Omega Psi Phi from RU and Virginia Tech will recite a poem and introduce Governor Wilder. The RU-Virginia Tech chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity will recite a litany honoring King, who was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha, and Cotton will recite one of King’s speeches. A candlelight march from the Covington Center to the campus fountain will conclude the evening’s events.

The commemoration is sponsored by the Office of Multicultural and International Student Services, National Panhellenic Council, Black Student Awareness Club, the Dean of Students Office, Student Government Association, Men of Standards, Chi Upsilon Sigma, the RU student chapter of the NAACP, Black Awareness Programming, and Club Programming. The event is free and open to the public.

To learn more, call (540) 831-5765 or e-mail diverse@radford.edu.