Staff report

To celebrate the birth and commemorate the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his notable legacy of service and civic action, Pfeiffer University will again sponsor its Servant Leadership Week to be held Jan. 15-21. This year’s theme, “Unto the Whole Person” is a host of activities, guest speakers, lectures and community events to be held on the university’s Misenheimer and Charlotte campuses.

“This series of events is designed to be an extension of the classroom experience for our students,” said Dr. Tracy Espy, vice president of servant leadership at Pfeiffer. “In addition to celebrating the extraordinary legacy of Dr. King, Servant Leadership Week is another way to invite the community onto our campuses – and it allows us to continue to be immersed in service to our community.”

Sharrelle Barber, a senior biology major at Bennett College for Women in Greensboro, will serve as this year’s keynote speaker from 10 a.m.-11 a.m. on Jan. 17 in the Henry Pfeiffer Chapel on the Misenheimer Campus. Barber currently serves as president of the Student Government Association at Bennett College.

She has been instrumental in leading her fellow students, along with students from UNC-Chapel Hill and Duke University, in the effort to establish a Millennium Village in Morenyo, Kenya.

The sponsorship of this village is a $1.5 Million financial commitment that will be used to address issues such as malnourishment and agriculture, malaria and HIV/AIDS, water, primary education and women’s rights.

Inspired by professor Jeffrey Sachs at Columbia University’s Earth Institute, the Millennium Village model is part of the United Nation’s attempt to eradicate extreme poverty in our world.

Along with raising money for the village, this project has also heightened the students’ awareness about extreme poverty, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa.

Servant Leadership week is being sponsored by the Francis Center for Servant Leadership with support from various campus organizations including Student Ministries. For more information about Servant Leadership Week contact Ben Haywood, Pfeiffer’s community outreach coordinator, at (704) 463-1360 ext. 2533.