Athens, Ga. – The University of Georgia Franklin College of Arts and Sciences will bring faculty members and students from across campus together to discuss their professional and personal perspectives on the shooting of Trayvon Martin.
The event, which is free and open to the public, will be held at 2:30 p.m. on April 20 in room 248 of the Miller Learning Center.
“Our goal for this program is to stimulate a critical analysis of what occurred and to have a much needed conversation around how this tragedy has implications for everyone regardless of factors such as race, age, income and parental status,” said Kecia Thomas, professor in Franklin College’s industrial-organizational psychology program and senior adviser to the dean for inclusion and diversity leadership.
“We believe it is important to highlight as scholars how our disciplines may explain the events at hand and what needs to be done in order to avoid their reoccurrence,” she added.
In addition to Thomas, panelists are:
• Melissa Brown, undergraduate student, psychology and Germanic and Slavic studies
• Mark Cooney, professor of sociology
• Nekabari Goka, undergraduate student, economics and international affairs
• Gloria Howerton, graduate student, geography
• Hilda Kurtz, associate professor of geography
• Sandy Martin, professor and religion department head
• Stewart Thompkins Zellars, undergraduate student, statistics and economics
• Brian N. Williams, associate professor of public administration and policy
The event is sponsored by the Franklin College’s Office of Inclusion and Diversity Leadership and the department of geography.