• Join the UI Day of Service: Each year, a Day of Service takes place during which we come together to serve our community alongside local non-profits.

• Benjamin Rezny, DO, MA, FAAEM, clinical assistant professor, will present “Introduction to Human Trafficking – Developing Awareness for the Healthcare Professional” for the Anesthesia Grand Rounds via Zoom.
• Join your colleagues as Lynette Cooper, DNP, ARNP, FNP-C, clinical assistant professor in the UI College of Nursing, will present “It Starts with Us: A Look at the Responsibility of the Nursing Profession to Improve Health Equity” from noon to 1 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 17, via Zoom.
• Join Ariangela Kozik, PhD, for a virtual science seminar entitled “Deciphering Microbial-Immune Relationships in Asthma” via Zoom.
• Plan to attend a free screening of the film “Selma” presented by FilmScene at The Chauncey theater at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are available.

International Cuisine: Thailand

• UI Hospitals & Clinics, Fountain Dining Room (Elevator C, Level 1)
  • 10:45 a.m. to 2 p.m.
• Enjoy vegan red curry over jasmine rice with steamed pot stickers and coconut mango tapioca pudding.

• A service project opportunity with Meals on Wheels and UI AmeriCorps is available from 10 a.m. to noon. Contact paulina-solis@uiowa.edu with questions.
• MLK Human Rights Week Distinguished Lecture will be delivered by Donald Warne, MD, MPH, co-director of Johns Hopkins Center for Indigenous Health, entitled “Innovative Pathways to Indigenous Health Equity,” from noon to 1 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 18, in Prem Sahai Auditorium, room 1110A in the Medical Education Research Facility. RSVP for the lecture.
  • A reception will follow the lecture in the Robillard Atrium from 1 to 2 p.m.
• Watch a screening of the documentary “Just Us” at 6 p.m. within the UI College of Law. Stay after the screening for a panel discussion on the film from UI College of Law and Beloved Community. Contact shalisa-gladley@uiowa.edu with questions.

International Cuisine: Greece

• UI Hospitals & Clinics, Fountain Dining Room (Elevator C, Level 1)
  • 10:45 a.m. to 2 p.m.
• Try a chicken gyro or falafel bowl with a Greek salad and baklava.

• Internal Medicine Grand Rounds will feature a lecture from Katie Robinson, MD, PhD, entitled “Health Inequities, Barriers, and Challenges Experienced by People in Larger Bodies” from noon to 1 p.m. in the Medical Alumni Auditorium (Elevator B, Level 3).
• Join a virtual seminar with Ariangela Kozik, PhD, entitled “Confronting Inequity as a Mechanism of Health Disparities: The Role of Science and Medicine” via Zoom. 
• FilmScene is sponsoring a screening of “Within Our Gates” at the Chauncey Theater at 7 p.m. The film is the earliest surviving film by an African American director, Oscar Micheaux directed the film in 1920.
• UI Athletics is sponsoring an event titled “Standing on the Shoulders of Giants.” Check back for time and location. 

International Cuisine: Cuba

• UI Hospitals & Clinics, Fountain Dining Room (Elevator C, Level 1)
  • 10:45 a.m. to 2 p.m.
• Enjoy ropa vieja, a traditional beef dish, with baked plantains as well as some Cuban rice and beans. Don’t forget about dessert with some tres leches cake.

• Attend Pediatrics Grand Rounds from noon to 1 p.m. with William Ming Liu, PhD, professor  of counseling psychology at the University of Maryland, as he presents “Places that Feel Racist: How the Built Environment Re/Creates White Racial Space and Time” in the Pediatric Conference Room, 2415 JCP (Elevator F, Level 2), and via Zoom.

• Ashley Howard, PhD, assistant professor of history at the UI, will speak at an event with the UI College of Law at 12:40 p.m. More details to come.
• Carver College of Medicine students are sponsoring a United Action for Youth (UAY) literacy kit making event from noon to 1 p.m. Sign up online to participate.
• A Volunteer Fair will be held at The Center. Time TBD.
• A service project opportunity is available with House into Homes. Time and location TBD. Contact paulina-solis@uiowa.edu.

International Cuisine: Italy

• UI Hospitals & Clinics, Fountain Dining Room (Elevator C, Level 1)
  • 10:45 a.m. to 2 p.m.
• Featuring chicken piccata and lemon orzo with a Sicilian vegetable blend and a tiramisu for dessert.

• Join your colleagues at noon for a discussion to reflect on this year’s Human Rights Week and the impact of its activities. The discussion will be held in the Seebohm Conference Room, room 283 of the Eckstein Medical Research Building. Please register in advance. Lunch will be provided for in-person participants. A zoom link will be provided for those who choose to attend virtually.
• The Department of Surgery will hold a virtual Grand Rounds with Bonnie Simpson Mason, MD, the first Medical Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for the American College of Surgeons. Title and Zoom information are TBD.

Learn more about how the University of Iowa will celebrate Human Rights week.

• Review the Department of Psychiatry’s Mental Health Equity Grand Rounds.
• The Carver College of Medicine Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion has resources available for faculty, staff, students, and volunteers.

Celebration of Human Rights

Recognition of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthdate has been a tradition at the University of Iowa since 1969, and the national holiday has been observed through human rights programs since its inception in 1986. In 1990, the university initiated the Human Rights convocation program. Afternoon classes were canceled to encourage student, faculty, and staff participation in programs that encourage dialogue about diversity and reinforce the principle that the University is a forum for the free exchange of ideas. The convocation has been an opportunity for serious thinking by all of us about issues of social justice, human rights, and world peace.

An official University holiday was designated in 1995 to provide an opportunity to engage the University community in a discussion of the human values that the King holiday epitomizes. These initial events have grown into a campus-wide celebration that engages faculty, staff, students, and community members to give lectures, discussions, and cultural arts presentations.

Check back for updates to this page on how UI Health Care will celebrate the week. Watch for more details from the UI on how it will commemorate the week in 2023.