Raquel Willis, the executive editor of Out Magazine and a black queer transgender activist and writer, will speak Monday at Oregon State University in Corvallis. The presentation will be livestreamed to OSU-Cascades as part of the Bend campus’s celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
The free event is open to the public and will take place from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. in Tykeson Hall, Room 111. Following the livestream, Erin Rook, diversity coordinator at OSU-Cascades, will host a discussion on the keynote’s themes.
The Bend campus celebration will also include the fourth annual Day of Service, a day of community volunteerism coordinated by students.
Event organizers anticipate that more than 50 students, faculty and staff members, and members of the public will volunteer at nonprofit organizations throughout Bend including Camp Fire Central Oregon, Central Oregon Humane Society Thrift Store and Shelter, Habitat for Humanity ReStore Central Oregon, Locavore and Ronald McDonald House.
Willis is dedicated to inspiring and elevating marginalized individuals, particularly transgender women of color. She is part of Echoing Ida, a national black women and nonbinary writers’ collective. She is also a former national organizer for the Transgender Law Center in Oakland, California.
To register to attend the livestream or volunteer during the Day of Service, visit OSUcascades.edu/mlkday or contact studentlife@osucascades.edu.
About OSU-Cascades: Oregon State University’s campus in Bend, Ore. features outstanding faculty in degree programs that reflect Central Oregon’s vibrant economy and abundant natural resources. Nearly 20 undergraduate majors, 30 minors and options, and three graduate programs include computer science, energy systems engineering, kinesiology, hospitality management, and tourism, recreation and adventure leadership. OSU-Cascades expanded to a four-year university in 2015; its new campus opened in 2016.