UK Happenings

College of Social Work to Host Dean's Distinguished Lecture Series on April 1

LEXINGTON, Ky. (March 28, 2016) — As part of the annual Dean's Distinguished Lecture series, the University of Kentucky College of Social Work will feature Sam Brooke, a deputy legal director of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) Economic Justice Project, based in Montgomery, Alabama, from 2-4 p.m. Friday, April 1 in the UK Singletary Center for the Arts Recital Hall.

Brooke will present "With Liberty and Justice for All: Deconstructing America's Two-Tiered System of Justice." The event is free and open to the public.

The Economic Justice Project seeks to ensure that people living in poverty in the Deep South, especially minority communities, are not punished or exploited because of their economic status. Brooke joined SPLC as an Open Society Institute/Soros Fellow in 2009, and has worked extensively to restrain state-level immigration enforcement abuses in the Deep South, and to reform abuses caused by court debt. Brooke holds a juris doctor degree from the New York University School of Law and a master's degree in law and diplomacy from the Fletcher School at Tufts University. 

Ann Vail, dean of the College of Social Work, invites and encourages participation from both UK and Lexington communities.

“We are at a pivotal time where collectively and actively working towards solutions for the persisting problems that marginalized populations are challenged with every day, is crucial," Vail said. "It is our hope as educators, that bringing these important matters to light and preparing future social workers to face these issues head on are positive steps in the right direction.”

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Media Contact: Ann Blackford at 859-323-6442 or ann.blackford@uky.edu