Official Start of the Spring Semester
At MLK Winter Convocation, new and returning students, faculty and staff are welcomed to a new semester. Music is provided by Susquehanna students, who are prominently featured during the program. Organized by the Center for Diversity and Inclusion, the event also celebrates the life and legacy of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. by featuring a speaker or performance that ties the civil rights movement to current events.
2025 Winter Convocation
Commemorating the legacy of
the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
GREETING
Jonathan Green
University President
LIFT EVERY VOICE AND SING
Led by Kayla Reed ’26
Audience participation is welcome.
INVOCATION
Rabbi Nina H. Mandel
Director of Jewish Life
INTRODUCTION OF SPEAKER
María L. O. Muñoz
Chief Inclusion and Diversity Officer
LECTURE AND Q&A
From Civil Rights to Digital Rights
Erin Reddick
Founder and CEO of ChatBlackGPT
LIFT EVERY VOICE AND SING
Words by James Weldon Johnson,
music by J. Rosemond Johnson, arr. by Lloyd Larson
Lift Every Voice and Sing was publicly performed first as a poem during a celebration of President Lincoln’s birthday in 1900, by hundreds of African American schoolchildren at the segregated Stanton School in Florida. Later set to music as an uplifting spiritual, it became a way for African Americans to express their patriotism and hope for the future.
Lift every voice and sing, till earth and Heaven ring,
Ring with the harmonies of liberty;
Let our rejoicing rise, high as the listening skies,
Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.
Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us,
Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us;
Facing the rising sun of our new day begun,
Let us march on till victory is won.
(Audience joins)
God of our weary years, God of our silent tears,
Thou Who hast brought us thus far on the way;
Thou Who hast by Thy might, led us into the light,
Keep us forever in the path, we pray.
Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met Thee.
Lest our hearts, drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee.
Shadowed beneath Thy hand, may we forever stand,
True to our God, true to our native land.
From Civil Rights to Digital Rights: How Black Technologists Are Shaping the Future of AI
Erin Reddick
Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, 7 p.m.
Degenstein Center Theater
As artificial intelligence increasingly shapes the way we live, work and interact, the question of who controls and develops these technologies has never been more important. This keynote will explore the parallels between historic civil rights struggles and today’s fight for digital equity, emphasizing the importance of Black representation in addressing algorithmic bias and preventing the reinforcement of systemic inequalities.
Artificial intelligence cultural technologist Erin Reddick is founder and CEO of ChatBlackGPT, a culturally inclusive platform providing perspectives from the Black and African American communities. With a career encompassing significant roles at major tech companies, including Meta, Microsoft and AWS, Reddick’s journey in tech — marked by her identity as a Black woman — led her to become a certified ChatGPT expert and prompt engineer with the goal of addressing the racial biases she found present in AI.
