UK Happenings

UK Muslim Student Association Celebrates 50th Anniversary on Campus

LEXINGTON, Ky. (April 8, 2022) —  The University of Kentucky Muslim Student Association (MSA) will hold its 50th Anniversary Celebration Banquet and fast-a-thon at 6 p.m. on April 16  in the Gatton Student Center Grand Ballroom ABC. This academic year marks five decades of Muslim Wildcats impacting UK. Participants will engage in fellowship, sisterhood, community and ultimately, breaking their fast with the Muslim community at sunset. April 2 marked the beginning of Ramadan for the Islamic community all over the globe. 

The UK Muslim Student Association’s banquet is hosted in collaboration with other culturally-based registered student organizations (RSOs) and is sponsored by the Office for Institutional Diversity, the Martin Luther King Cultural Center and Student Government Association, inviting all to an Iftar for the entire UK community, Muslims and non-Muslims alike.

“The MSA board is so excited to host this 50th Anniversary Banquet on campus,” said Zaib Amatullah, current executive board member and program coordinator of the Muslim Student Association. “We have been planning [it] for the past 10 months. This celebration is vital for our community to motivate future generations to come and make a difference and for current and future UK MSA students to strive for our goal of building brotherhood and sisterhood, learning and teaching about Islam and serving the campus and community, all while having fun."

You can find a list of events at the Martin Luther King Center website and below:

Fast-a-thon Pledge to fast

  • The fast-a-thon will be from April 11 to April 16 to break fast for the 50th Celebration Banquet/Iftar. 
  • The MSA and MLK Center encourage members of the community to pledge to fast, sun up to sundown in solidarity with their Muslim friends. 
  • No registration is required.

Muslim Student Association’s 50th Anniversary Celebration Banquet

  • Saturday, April 16 2022 | 6-9 p.m. (Doors open at 5:30 p.m.)
  • Grand Ballroom ABC in Gatton Student Center.
  • Parking FREE at Cornerstone Garage.
    • Park on the third level to use the pedestrian walkway directly to the Gatton Student Center. 
  • Attire: participants are welcome to wear formal attire or clothing that reflects their cultural heritage, independent of global origin. 

For more information about the 50th Anniversary Celebration and other programs, or to ask questions about the events (i.e. attire, parking, etc.,) contact González Jiménez at ruth.gonzalez@uky.edu or call the MLK Center at 859-257-4130.

You can further connect to the MLK Center by joining the weekly email listserv by emailing mlkc@uky.edu, or following on Instagram @UK_MLKCenter.

You can follow the Muslim Student Association at @UKYMSA on Instagram or check out their website at ukymsa.com. 

You can donate to the Bilal Ibn Rabah Scholarship, created by Muslim Student Association alumna and William C. Parker Scholar Hadeel Abdallah

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.