OSU Institute of Technology is offering opportunities for students and employees to learn more about Black History Month this February.

Aundrea Jackson, Miss Black OSU 2019, will visit the OSUIT campus and speak to students, faculty and staff during a ‘bring your own lunch’ session on Feb. 19 from 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. in the Student Union PSO Lounge. 

Jackson, a junior at OSU in Stillwater, is majoring in American Studies with a minor in Africana Studies. Her platform titled, “Acts of Activism,” focuses on the continuous conversation on discrimination.

She has been recently quoted saying, “Being Miss Black OSU gives me a platform to share my story with the world and to encourage others to share their stories with me. In my career, I want to deal with things like gender and sexual preference-based discrimination. We all come from different places, so I think listening to the beauty within each individual’s perspective is important to creating unity as a whole.” 

“These types of events are important to highlight culture diversity and awareness as OSUIT fosters the development of diversity, equity and inclusion among students and employees,” said Lisa Currington, one of the co-chairpersons of the OSUIT Diversity and Inclusion Committee.

Currington said that she hopes this event is seen as a progressive interest in advocating for issues facing the black community on a campus, local, state and nationwide landscape.

In addition to Jackson’s speech, resident students have been provided an additional resource to learn about Black History Month through a series of films being shown from the resident-only channel, OSUIT Cinema.

Bo Hudson, director of Residential Life, said resident students, whether living on campus or at the GOPO, have a wide range of popular films to choose from. This month, many titles have been highlighted to provide an educational outlet for Black History Month. 

“I think this is an important opportunity for students who enjoy learning about other things outside of the classroom,” he said. “This also gives students who may not prefer to read a book or cannot attend a speaker session to continue to learn about the importance of Black History Month. Sometimes, the visual impact of a movie or documentary may be stronger and help students connect more to the material.”

For more information on the OSUIT Diversity and Inclusion Committee contact Lisa Currington at lcurrin@okstate.edu.