Graduate Student Congress to Host Rep. Charles Booker at ‘Civic Engagement Saturdays’
LEXINGTON, Ky. (Oct. 19, 2020) — The University of Kentucky Graduate Student Congress (GSC) will host Kentucky Rep. Charles Booker as part of its third “Civic Engagement Saturdays” series. The conversation will take place 1-3 p.m. EDT Saturday, Oct. 31, on Zoom. Registration is required.
The series, which began this semester, invites prominent Black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC) to speak with undergraduate, graduate, professional and postdoctoral students about recognizing yourself in politics, how to get involved in politics and effecting change in your community(ies).
The talks are held on the last Saturday of the month during the academic year, and in an effort to amplify the voices of BIPOC students on campus, the conversations are moderated by BIPOC student and postdoc leaders at UK. This month’s conversation will be moderated by Erome Hankore, a postdoc in the UK College of Pharmacy.
“I’m looking forward to learning about how people like me can engage in politics and do things like community engagement in a way that positively impacts our state,” Hankore said.
Booker is from Louisville and serves in the Kentucky House of Representatives for the 43rd District. He earned both his bachelor's in political science and his juris doctor from the University of Louisville, and he is currently Kentucky’s youngest Black state lawmaker. Booker serves as a member on multiple House committees (e.g., Economic Development and Workforce Development; Natural Resources and Energy), and he is a proud member of the Black Legislative Caucus. When not in session, Booker spends time with his family and helps his wife, Tanesha, raise their two daughters.
Hankore earned her doctorate from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and is currently conducting research on biochemical pathways in bacterial natural product biosynthesis at UK. She serves as representative for postdocs on the GSC and as an executive committee member in the UK Society of Postdoctoral Scholars (SoPS).
Any UK students or postdocs who would like to attend this virtual event should register at https://forms.gle/fwB8AUBQSKBL1ZKF8.
The GSC will also livestream the event on Facebook (@ukygsc), so even if interested students and postdocs cannot attend the live conversation, they can still watch it later at their convenience.
The Graduate Student Congress is the governing body for graduate and professional students and postdoctoral scholars at UK. The mission of the GSC is to unify and represent graduate and professional students and postdoctoral scholars at UK in matters affecting their quality of life, and to facilitate interdisciplinary collaboration and professional development through seminars, forums, outreach programming, advocacy and community enhancement.
As the state’s flagship, land-grant institution, the University of Kentucky exists to advance the Commonwealth. We do that by preparing the next generation of leaders — placing students at the heart of everything we do — and transforming the lives of Kentuckians through education, research and creative work, service and health care. We pride ourselves on being a catalyst for breakthroughs and a force for healing, a place where ingenuity unfolds. It's all made possible by our people — visionaries, disruptors and pioneers — who make up 200 academic programs, a $476.5 million research and development enterprise and a world-class medical center, all on one campus.
In 2022, UK was ranked by Forbes as one of the “Best Employers for New Grads” and named a “Diversity Champion” by INSIGHT into Diversity, a testament to our commitment to advance Kentucky and create a community of belonging for everyone. While our mission looks different in many ways than it did in 1865, the vision of service to our Commonwealth and the world remains the same. We are the University for Kentucky.