CALENDAR
The university calendar includes several annual signature events, including the Benjamin Mays Lecture, the Kreuter Katz Lecture, the Groundbreaker event, International Education Week and more.
Event Calendar
Events related to diversity, equity and inclusion are taken from the main university calendar.
Getting Onto the DEI Calendar: Submit Your Public Georgia State Event
The Diversity, Equity & Inclusion calendar, both on this page and on the dei.gsu.edu homepage is powered by the University calendar system at calendar.gsu.edu. To appear on the calendar for this site, please follow the instructions located below.
Please note the following event guidelines:
The University Calendar is only for events organized, hosted, sponsored or cosponsored by Georgia State University departments, colleges, schools, centers and institutes, alumni organization and officially sanctioned student organizations. Georgia State will not accept events submissions from individuals or organizations outside of the university with the exceptions of conferences or events held in Georgia State venues.
Georgia State reserves the right to approve, reject, edit or make special consideration for any events submitted to the calendar. Submissions that don't have a complete description will not be accepted.
How to Correctly List Your Event for the DEI Calendar
It's very important to make sure that your calendar submission is properly noted as a Diversity, Equity & Inclusion event under the "Filters" section of the submission form. Due to the volume of events held at Georgia State, we cannot guarantee that your event will be included in our calendar without this information. The steps you need to take are listed below:
DIRECTIONS
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- Go to https://calendar.gsu.edu and select the red "Submit an Event" button on the right side of the screen. You will be asked to log in with your campus ID and password.
- The submission form will appear on the screen. Be sure to fill out the form with the title of the event, start and ending times, dates, whether the event is in-person or virtual, as well as the event website.
- To attract people to your event, make sure to fill out the description box at the top of the screen with sentences that explain what the event is, and if it's part of an event series, a sentence or two describing the series.
- When submitting your event to the university calendar, be sure to select "Diversity, Equity & Inclusion" under the "Event Types" drop-down menu in the "FILTERS" section, as depicted in the screenshot image below:
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- Continue filling out the form.
- Upload an image to help attract attention to your event - usually this will be a version of an image that you might use on an event flyer or on a display screen around campus. For a speaker series or similar type of event, the best photo would be one of the speaker themselves. This will be the image that appears next to or above the calendar listing for your event when it appears in the calendar feed.
- You can also enter a social media hashtag for your event, but this is not required.
- Submit your event once you have completed the form. An administrator for the university calendar will review your submission for approval.
If you have questions, please contact us here.
Religious Observances & Academic Affairs
Many students observe religious holidays essential to the practice of their faith. Because there are a large number of faiths represented at Georgia State, it is difficult to provide a comprehensive list of all religious holidays. Some of the widely observed religious holidays for the 2021-22 academic year are listed at the link below this text.
The following applies regardless of course modality.
Students must provide instructors with reasonable notice of the dates of religious holidays on which they plan to be absent and must be given an equivalent opportunity to make up missed work according to an agreed-upon schedule. Such accommodations might include rescheduling an exam or giving the student a make-up exam, allowing an individual or group presentation to be made on a different date, letting a student attend a different section for the same class that week, adjusting a due date or assigning the student appropriate make-up work that is no more difficult than the original assignment.
Absence for a religious reason should be counted as an excused absence and should not be counted against any other excused absences permitted by the instructor. Should a complicated situation arise related to religious accommodations (for example, clinical rotations), contact your department chair, dean’s office or the Office of Legal Affairs at 404-413-0500.
Signature Heritage Months
Heritage/History Months celebrate the customs, values, and traditions of different cultures, examining the issues and struggles of different communities as well as affirming their contributions to society. Heritage months are important in providing intentional space for teaching, learning and reflection. Each month, we celebrate the identities and histories of members of Georgia State’s global communities through vibrant performances, lectures, and activities that celebrate our rich cultural diversity and help us understand our shared history.
The university marks seven signature heritage months:
- Latinx Heritage Month: September 15 - October 15
- LGBTQ+ History Month: October 1-31
- Native American/American Indian Heritage Month: November 1- 30
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Commemoration: January
- Black History Month: February 1 – 28
- Women's HERstory Month: March 1 – 31
- Asian-Pacific Islander-Desi/American Heritage Month*: April 1 – 30
Additionally, Georgia State marks Social Justice Summer, which includes Juneteenth and other observances occurring during the period from late May through the start of the fall semester.
The DEI website has specific web pages for each of these months. Select the link below to learn more.
*Asian-Pacific Islander-Desi/American Heritage Month in the United States is generally celebrated in May, but Georgia State observes this month in April so that more students may fully participate before the spring semester concludes.
Diversity Dialogues
Diversity Dialogues
As reflected in the action plan for the recommendations for the Task Force for Racial Equality, Georgia State hosted in the 2020-21 academic year a series of Diversity Dialogues, important conversations meant to engage our community and help create pathways to eradicate structural racism. Conversations continue in the second year of the dialogues.
Signature Events
Several university units have regular events each year, bi-annually or at other intervals. More information about each event can be found in the university calendar as the events approach, but here are a few.
Benjamin E. Mays Lecture
College of Education & Human Development
The annual Mays Lecture encourages the discussion of issues facing urban educational leaders, honors the memory of Benjamin E. Mays and promotes his philosophy of excellence in the education of those typically least well served by the larger society.
In the spring of 1988, the Benjamin E. Mays Chair of Urban Educational Leadership was approved by the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia and established in the College of Education & Human Development at Georgia State University.
Its goal was and continues to be the improvement of the quality of educational institutions in urban areas of the country, with special emphasis on the problems faced by the leadership of large city school districts.
The founding holder of the Chair, Dr. Alonzo A. Crim, initiated the organization and sponsorship of the annual Benjamin E. Mays Memorial Lecture Series. It began in 1989 with Dr. Charles V. Willie, a social scholar at Harvard University, and has continued to past year’s lecturer, Dr. Jeannie Oakes. By continuing to bring nationally prominent educators to Atlanta, each symposium, conference and lecture encourages the discussion of issues facing urban educational leaders.
Click the blue button below to learn more.
Kreuter Katz Lecture Series on Health Equity
School of Public Health
Healthcare Georgia Foundation funds an annual lectureship focusing on health equity and disparities at the Georgia State University School of Public Health in honor of Dr. Marshall Kreuter and Mrs. Martha Katz.
Dr. Kreuter has extensive experience in engagement of communities in the planning, implementation and evaluation of public health programs. As a professor at Georgia State, he focused on health disparities in inner-city Atlanta, and the extent to which the presence or absence of social capital may be associated with the effectiveness of community-based initiatives. Prior to joining the faculty at Georgia State, Dr. Kreuter was a Distinguished Scientist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) where, for two decades, he served in several key leadership roles. While at the CDC, he worked to refine the epidemiologic study of physical activity, initiated research and programs focused on the early detection of breast cancer, added a greater emphasis on school health, and created the Planned Approach to Community Health.
Mrs. Katz began her career in public health working in the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, where she was part of the team that developed the first Healthy People: Objectives for the Nation in 1980. Later, as deputy director of the CDC for policy and legislation, Mrs. Katz advised the CDC Director on complex policy issues and provided leadership for the agency’s legislative initiatives, health communications programs, and relationships with external partners. Mrs. Katz was instrumental in the establishment of the CDC Foundation and currently serves on the boards of the Georgia Health Foundation and the James F. and Sarah T. Fries Foundation. As Healthcare Georgia Foundation’s Director of Health Policy, she also provided leadership for the strategic deployment of resources for effective health policy in Georgia.
Healthcare Georgia Foundation, a statewide, private, independent foundation, advances the health of all Georgians and expands access to affordable, quality healthcare for underserved individuals and communities.
Click the button below to learn more and to access recordings of past lectures.
Groundbreaker Lecture
Office of the Provost
2022 Edition: Feb. 15, 4 to 5:30 p.m.
Sponsored by the Georgia State Office of the Provost, the Groundbreaker Lecture has been established to recognize those who have made a major impact in the advancement of our society. Through the series, the university honors those whose actions have created and continue to create significant change in the world, while fostering conversations to address ongoing issues and potential ways to meet these challenges.
The inaugural lecture was held in February 2020 and honored the "Ground Crew" of Myra Payne Elliott, Barbara Pace Hunt, and Iris Mae Welch, who sued to desegregate the university in the 1950s. The event speaker was Dr. Maurice C. Daniels of the University of Georgia, who outlined their fight as described in his book "Ground Crew: The Fight to End Segregation at Georgia State." The event also included a special recognition for Ms. Elliott, the last surviving plaintiff, her family, and the family of Ms. Hunt (the university was unable to locate family for the late Ms. Welch).
Click the button to read more and to view both the lecture and a mini-documentary by the School of Film, Media & Theatre.
Women Inspire
Advancement of Women Initiative
The Women Inspire speaker series showcases outstanding women faculty whose research is making a significant impact and who serve as powerful and inspirational role models to the campus community.
In 2018, the Women Inspire Speaker Series was integrated into the AofW. Previously established through a co-sponsorship of the Office of the Provost and the Women’s Philanthropy Initiative, this speaker series provides a platform for outstanding Georgia State women faculty to share their research with a broader Georgia State audience.
Select the buttons below for more information.
Center for Studies on Africa and Its Diaspora (CSAD) Speaker Series
College of Arts & Sciences
The Center for Studies on Africa and Its Diaspora (CSAD) began its CSAD Speaker Series, set to be convened semi-annually through fall 2021, held its inaugural event on August 6. Through the series, CSAD invites the university community to participate in thought-provoking and engaging exchanges of ideas related to studies on the African diaspora, exploring the engagements, worldviews and influences of African peoples on worldwide social, cultural, economic, health and political systems.
The event, "Race and the Role of the Academy in the Post-Awakening World," discussed the power of Humanities and Africana Studies to chart the way for new pedagogical delivery through a lens of social justice and race.
Guests included three of the foremost scholars in African American and Africana studies: Dr. Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, the Victor S. Thomas Professor of History and African and African American Studies at Harvard University and president of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History; Dr. Amilcar Shabazz, professor, the W.E.B. Du Bois Department of Afro-American Studies at the University of Massachusetts and president of the National Council of Black Studies; and Dr. Keisha N. Blain, associate professor of history, the University of Pittsburgh, and president of the African American Intellectual History Society. Dr. Jonathan Gayles, chair of the Department of African-American Studies at Georgia State, moderated the panel.
International Education Week
Office of International Initiatives
Every November
As a joint initiative of the U.S. Department of State and U.S. Department of Education, the week celebrates the benefits of international education and exchange. Colleges, universities, high schools, and organizations are encouraged to host events that celebrate global education and foster cross-cultural understanding.
Mario A.J. Bennekin Black History Symposium
Perimeter College
2022 Edition: Feb. 21-25
Mario Bennekin was a history and political science professor at Perimeter who taught for 20 years and was instrumental in bringing the African-American Studies curriculum to the college. He was chair of the History and Political Science department when he died in 2019.
Following Bennekin’s death, faculty and staff from Perimeter’s departments of History and Political Science and Cultural & Behavioral Sciences championed the idea for a symposium to honor Bennekin, whose scholarship and teaching interests centered on the post-Civil War struggle of Black Americans, from the reconstruction era to the civil rights movement.
In the fall of 2020, supporters succeeded in a re-naming capital campaign that raised more than $50,000, the amount required by the University System of Georgia to endow the annual symposium and officially name it the Mario A.J. Bennekin Black History Symposium.
The Mario A.J. Bennekin Black History Symposium is scheduled as an annual event for Perimeter College. Future plans include continuing to grow the endowment to expand the symposium and award more student prizes, as well as a scholarship. Your gift to the Mario Bennekin Memorial Fund will help in this endeavor.