MLK Student Appreciation Event

As a part of UAA's commemoration of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., we are recognizing UAA students who make positive contributions to our institution by:

• serving in a variety of leadership roles in student organizations,
• working behind the scenes for numerous departments, and
• giving of themselves in their courses above and beyond the expected.

Taken from Dr. King's theme, "Everyone makes a difference," we are proud to honor the Seawolves who Make A Difference in our community!

 

Which students can be recommended?

UAA has many students who give of themselves in ways that are often not recognized. This is your chance to acknowledge any student who has made a difference.

Who can recommend students?

Any UAA staff or faculty member may recommend students. We request you limit recommendations to up to five students.

The deadline for recommendations is Friday, January 13, 2023.

We look forward to celebrating our students and the legacy of Dr. King at the 2023 MLK Student Appreciation.

If you have any questions about this event, please call (907) 786-1219 or email uaa_mlk@alaska.edu.

  Nominate Seawolves Who Make A Difference Here

Join us at the Wendy Williamson Auditorium  on Thursday, February 2, 2023 at 7:00 PM to 8:30 PM as we honor students recommended by UAA staff and faculty as making positive contributions to their community and to celebrate the ideals of Dr. King. 

Featuring Keynote Speaker Fredrika Newton

Fredrika is the President and Co-founder, The Dr. Huey P. Newton Foundation, Former Rank and File Member of the Black Panther Party-Oakland Chapter, Widow of Black Panther Party Co-founder Dr. Huey P. Newton.

Fredrika Newton, the daughter of activists and former member of the Black Panther Party, says she learned how to march before she learned how to walk. Activism has always been in her blood, but no one was more surprised than her the day that Black Panther Party co-founder, Huey P. Newton, showed up at her parents’ home for lunch. Her mother, a Jewish housing activist and real estate agent for the Party, invited Huey over when Fredrika was home from college. During their brief exchange at the dining room table, both Fredrika and Huey’s lives would change forever. 
Fredrika’s vivid stories of her time in the Black Panther Party are incredible and inspiring. She worked side-by-side with Party members to support many of its community “Survival Programs” including the Oakland Community School, the Free Breakfast Program for Schoolchildren, and voter registration drives. After serving in the Party for a few years, she left to return to her educational pursuits. Several years later, Fredrika and Huey reconnected and began their marital journey of revolutionary love.
Through the Black Panther Party and like every member of it, Fredrika lived a life of service and activism in the name of love for her community. It was after Huey’s murder that she co-founded the Dr. Huey P. Newton Foundation, and her activist spirit was renewed again. Like many others, she knew the true and accurate history of the Black Panther Party had never been told, and worse, was tarnished beyond recognition because of the FBI’s now well-known and widely condemned counterintelligence program, COINTELPRO. In the wake of her husband’s death, she started a nonprofit to counter the false narratives of the Black Panther Party presented by the FBI, police departments and media outlets.

The Dr. Huey P. Newton Foundation exists to preserve and promulgate the history, ideals and legacy of the Black Panther Party. Through that mission and under Fredrika’s stewardship, the Foundation developed multiple programs and events, as well as maintained and exhibited historical archives. In 2021, the Foundation instituted a new public history vision. In February of last year, Fredrika had a street renamed for her late husband, Dr. Huey P Newton Way, in West Oakland. To commemorate the 55th anniversary of the founding of the Black Panther Party, on October 24, 2021, a bronze bust of Huey was unveiled on the street near where he took his last breath, and which bares his namesake. In 2022, the foundation announced the launch Dr. Huey P. Newton Center for Research & Action, which is located in downtown Oakland. Under Fredrika’s leadership, the Foundation is also working with the National Park Service to create a Black Panther Party Park Unit that will include several historic landmarks and a visitor’s museum. In addition, she co-hosts a podcast and is working on other media platforms to deliver on the mission of the Foundation.
Fredrika received her bachelors in Sociology at Wesleyan University and her RN degree at College of the Redwoods.

Website: hueypnewton.org

Frederika will be talking about: Revolutionary Love: Inside the Black Panther Party