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Students, faculty and staff celebrate culture, diversity at annual Harambee

More than 50 students, faculty and staff gathered this month for the School of Social Work’s annual Harambee multicultural event, which celebrates ethnic, racial and cultural diversity through food, art and performances.

This year’s event, which was co-sponsored by the International, Black Student and Latinex student caucuses, showcased dancing, spoken word and shared cultural experiences. Participants also celebrated with a potluck buffet.

Kokou Nayo served as this year’s master of ceremonies and introduced presenters, who included: professor Iris Carlton-LaNey, who led the group in a traditional African libation; Rebecca Datus, who discussed Haitian Creole culture and performed a traditional dance celebrating Soup Joumou, a traditional food enjoyed to mark Haitian independence; professor Kim Strom-Gottfried, who shared about her experience traveling to Saudi Arabia last year, where she led academic leadership workshops for female deans, vice deans and chairs from various Saudi universities; and Meinkeng Fonge, a spoken word artist who performed an original piece, “Things that the government never told us and that our parents were too scared to.”