IRONTON — Ohio University Southern will pay tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. with three events on its campuses in Ironton and Proctorville throughout January.

The Annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Community Celebration will kick off the events on the holiday, Monday, Jan. 16, at 6 p.m. in the Bowman Auditorium. The 2012 theme is “The Dream Lives in You: Service, Community, Teaching.”

In the words of Dr. King: “An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.”

The keynote speaker for the event will be Dr. Brian Bridges, Ohio University Vice Provost of Diversity, Access and Equality. The community celebration will also include Boy Scout Troop 106, the Yvonne DeKay School of Dance, music from local residents, a special tribute honoring the Ironton Martin Luther King Community Celebration, the announcement of the Second Annual MLK Essay Contest winners, and more. Refreshments will be served following the program.

Bridges, according to his university provided biography, is “charged with leading efforts to increase the compositional diversity on campus and promoting a climate that embraces difference.” Prior to becoming vice provost, he served as the Associate Director of the Center for Advancement of Racial and Ethnic Equity for the American Council on Education, where he served as a lead author on the monograph “Broadening the Leadership Spectrum: Advancing Diversity in the American College Presidency,” and co-coordinated the Bridging the Gap Initiative designed to cultivate collaboration between multi-cultural education and internationalization on college campuses. Prior to that he was an assistant professor of higher education administration at The George Washington University, and Associate Director at the Indiana University Center for Postsecondary Research.

The following Wednesday, Jan. 18, OUS will host a performance by student Katie Owens entitled “Remembering Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.” as part of its Brown Bag Concert Series. The concert will begin at noon in the rotunda.

On Jan. 31, Ohio University’s Proctorville Center will host a brunch in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. from 10:30 a.m. until noon. Details will be announced in the coming weeks.