Finalist to Direct MLK Center to Visit Campus

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Aug. 7, 2018) — The University of Kentucky brings Jason Brooks, the preferred candidate for the role of director of the UK Martin Luther King Center, to campus Wednesday, Aug. 8.

Jason Brooks is currently assistant dean of students for diversity, equity and inclusion at Emporia State University, in Emporia, Kansas. The campus community is invited to meet him from noon to 1 p.m., Aug. 8, in the MLK Center, located in A230 Gatton Student Center.

“The MLK Center is one of the most important offices in our campus community that helps to prepare students to become global citizens, irrespective of their identity,” said Sonja Feist-Price, UK’s vice president for institution diversity. “Also, the MLK Center is situated in the living room of our campus, the Gatton Student Center. The MLK Center director plays an important role helping to achieve the university’s goals.”

Serving the entire university, UK’s MLK Center director is responsible for strategic oversight of many of the most integral institutional initiatives focused on diversity, inclusion and belonging that impact thousands of students, faculty, staff and other community members each year. The director plays a key role in the recruitment, retention and graduation of UK's diverse student populations and collaborates with faculty and staff to support a welcoming and sustaining campus climate.

Working from the most state-of-the-art inclusion-focused center in the country, the MLK Center director regularly interfaces with and contributes to national social justice dialogues. With the vision and temperament to collaborate effectively and efficiently with other institutional diversity directors and key stakeholders across the campus and Commonwealth, the director fosters new and expanded intercultural and cross-cultural dialogues. The position supervises a full-time professional team of three with a sizable budget and has flexibility to incorporate scholarship and teaching related to the ideal candidate’s discipline.