• Seton Hall University
• College of Arts and Sciences

In honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., one of America's most revered advocates for racial justice and social change, the College of Arts and Sciences is pleased to present a multi-part program for its 2026 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day symposium. Now in its eighth year, the program will be offered in-person.

• Undergraduate students looking to earn the one-credit must register via PirateNet for the credit and attend both events (the keynote lecture on Friday, January 16 and the symposium on Monday, January 19).
• Undergraduate students looking to obtain the University Life engagement credit can attend either the keynote lecture (Friday, January 16) or the Service Project (part of the Symposium on January 19) from 11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. 

All Seton Hall and external community members are welcome to attend either or both events; however, pre-registration is required for planning purposes.

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Keynote Lecture

Friday, January 16, 2026 |  9 – 10:30 a.m. | University Center, Event Room
Presented by Professor Khyati Y. Joshi, Ed.D., Fairleigh Dickinson University

• About the Speaker »

  About Khyati Y. Joshi, Ed.D.

  Khyati Y. Joshi is a Professor of Education, Peter Sammartino School of Education, at Fairleigh Dickinson University. She is a public intellectual whose social science research and community connections inform policy-makers, educators, and everyday people about race, religion, and immigration in 21st century America. She has lectured around the world and published ground-breaking scholarly and popular work in her field, while also serving as an advisor to policy-makers and as a leader in the South Asian American community. Her most recent book is White Christian Privilege: The Illusion of Religious Equality in America (NYU Press, 2020). She is also the co-editor of the new book Envisioning Religion, Race, and Asian Americans (University of Hawaii Press, 2020), and was an author and co-editor of Teaching for Diversity and Social Justice 3rd edition (Routledge, 2015), one of the most widely-used books by diversity practitioners and social justice scholars alike. Learn more »

 

 

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Schedule of Events

8:30 -  9 a.m.	Arrival and Check-In Light refreshments will be available.
9 a.m. - 10:45 am.	Opening Program
	Welcome and Opening Prayer Monsignor Joseph R. Reilly, S.T.L., Ph.D. President, Seton Hall University
	Statement of Academic Purpose Jonathan Farina, Ph.D. Dean, College of Arts and Sciences
	Our 250th Year: “The Quotable MLK" Reverend Forrest Pritchett, Ph.D. Director, Martin Luther King Jr. Leadership Program
	Contemporary Approaches in Social Justice: “MLK Speaks and Influences”    Student Voices, MLK Scholars, Class of 2029
	Panel I Larry Green, Ph.D.,  History “The role of colonial New Jersey in the foundations of American history” Carm Almonor, Ph.D., Africana Studies, Political Science  “The Tripartite African American Revolutionary Freedom Aspirations of Crispus Attucks, Phyllis Wheatley, and James Forten—and their continuing call for fulsome American freed”
10:45 a.m. - 11 a.m.	Break
11 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.	Opening Program (continued)
	Panel II Nkosi Anderson, Ph.D., Africana Studies and Religious Studies “A review of impact of Frederick Douglas; the Supreme Court decision Dred Scott v. Sandford and Martin Luther King, Jr. " Stephanie Harris, Ph.D., Africana Studies Resources for teachers
	Service Activity
	Closing