Jacksonville, FL – September 24, 2019 – Stay Woke: The Edward Waters College (EWC) President’s Distinguished Speaker Series will commence on September 26, 2019 at 6:00 p.m. on the EWC campus, featuring New York City native, advocate for human rights and liberty, Tamika Mallory. The speaker series is a student and campus-wide academic and experiential engagement initiative intended to present a robust and varied collection of distinguished and scholarly speakers to the EWC campus community. This initiative, started in 2018, seeks to engage the views, ideas, and espoused ideals expressed by national thought leaders, authors, entertainers, activists, advocates, athletes, educators, business leaders, and opinion shapers who will be featured as a part of the series.

“Strong relationships between academia and our community are vital to accelerating our vision for the Edward Waters College of the future, summarily our vision is to widen our students’ overall academic experience beyond the classroom,” said EWC President & CEO, Dr. A. Zachary Faison, Jr. “Through this vehicle for interaction and exchange, we are continuing to prepare students holistically to advance in a global society, thus enriching insight and illumination into the critical issues of our time.”

The series is aptly titled ‘Stay Woke,’ as a timely colloquialism, evincing a focus upon the continuous expansion and development of the overall knowledge base of EWC’s academic community while also interfacing intentionally with culturally-based issues and promoting socially conscious and socially responsible activism in a millennial and post-millennial era.

Accordingly, the fiery, outspoken advocate Tamika Mallory, is an esteemed social justice leader, advocate, and activist. She has been applauded as “a leader of tomorrow” by Senior Advisor to President Barack Obama, Valerie B. Jarrett and was selected to serve on the transition committee of New York City Mayor-Elect Bill Del Blasio. She formerly served as the Executive Director of the National Action Network and had an instrumental role in creating New York City’s Crisis Management System, an official gun violence prevention program that awards nearly $27 million to violence prevention organizations annually. Similarly, she became internationally recognized as an integral voice for civil rights, social justice and the new wave of feminism as one of four co-chairs for the Women’s March on Washington, which was recorded as having participation from five million people worldwide. She has been recognized as a 2017 Time 100 Pioneers, as well as Fortune’s 2017 list of the World’s Greatest Leaders. The highly sought after speaker, currently serves as president of Mallory Consulting, a strategic planning and event management firm, and works with Fortune 500 corporations and organizations on flagship projects related to mass incarceration, gun violence and police brutality.

“We welcome Ms. Tamika Mallory to the EWC intellectual community that draws students and faculty scholars from around the world” said President Faison. “The speaker series supports our mantra ‘Emerging Eminence’ as we are preparing students to be pioneering leaders, insatiable learners, critical thinkers, and agents for positive change in every sector of our increasingly expanding society and world.”

The series, featuring Tamika Mallory, is free and open to the public and will begin Thursday, September 26, 2019 at 6:00 p.m. in The Milne Auditorium on the Campus of Edward Waters College. For more information and to register visit www.ewc.edu/staywoke/

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About Edward Waters College

Edward Waters College (EWC), accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) and member of the United Negro College Fund (UNCF), is a private, historically black, urban college which offers a liberal arts education with a strong emphasis on the Christian principles of high moral and spiritual values. EWC was established in 1866 and is an African Methodist Episcopal Church-related institution of learning. It is the first private institution of higher education in the State of Florida.