I invite all members of the Northeastern community to join me at the University’s annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Convocation, on Wednesday, January 19, 2011, at 11:45 a.m. in Blackman Auditorium. The Honorable Roderick Ireland, PHD’98, H’98, recently confirmed as the chief justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, will deliver this year’s keynote address.

Appointed to the high court in 1997, Justice Ireland grew up in Springfield, Massachusetts. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Lincoln University, a JD from Columbia University Law School, and an LLM from Harvard Law School. He received a PhD in law, policy and society here at Northeastern, where he has also served as a member of our faculty since 1978. He is the first African American justice in the 318-year history of the court.

Each year, Convocation provides an opportunity to remember and recommit ourselves to the life and work of Martin Luther King Jr. It is also an opportunity for all of us to celebrate the vibrancy and diversity of our community.

I look forward to seeing you at Convocation on January 19.

Joseph E. Aoun
President