{"602054":{"#nid":"602054","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Keith Oden: Standing on the Shoulders of Giants","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EFebruary is Black History Month, a special time set aside to celebrate the contributions of African Americans. The College of Sciences joins the celebration by inviting the perspectives of African-American colleagues through a two-part Q\u0026amp;A.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.cos.gatech.edu\/leadership\u0022\u003EKeith Oden\u003C\/a\u003E is Director for Academic Diversity in the College of Sciences and Diversity Coordinator for the \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/centerforchemicalevolution.com\/\u0022\u003ECenter for Chemical Evolution\u003C\/a\u003E, a Georgia Tech-based National Science Foundation Center for Chemical Innovation.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ETo advance diversity and inclusive excellence at Georgia Tech, Oden designs and implements programs to prepare and recruit students from groups that are underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). He also mentors students and is a frequent speaker about, and resource person for, recruitment and retention of students from underrepresented minority (URM) groups and enrolment of URM students into STEM programs, from K-12 to graduate school.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EOden is the adviser of the Georgia Tech student chapter of \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.nobcche.gtorg.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ENOBCChE\u003C\/a\u003E (the National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers), Georgia Tech\u0026rsquo;s \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/mapsgt.weebly.com\/\u0022\u003EMinority Association for Pre-Medical Students\u003C\/a\u003E, and \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.gtjuniorstem.com\/about-1.html\u0022\u003EJunior STEM\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat is the accomplishment you are proudest of so far?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nGod, family, and giving back embody what I am proudest of in my life.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EI am proud of being a spiritual person and having God as the center of my life. My spirituality has been my guiding light in good times and bad times. My family provides me with my daily strength. My career at Georgia Tech and my work in the community have allowed me to give back by reaching the lives of others and helping them achieve their dreams.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat does Black History Month mean to you? \u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nBlack History Month is a reminder that African Americans today stand \u0026ldquo;on the shoulders of giants\u0026rdquo; \u0026ndash; people who sacrificed and lost their lives, who fought for racial equality to pave a better tomorrow for people of color.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EBlack History Month is a time for rejoicing, celebrating, and thanking heroes and \u0026ldquo;sheroes\u0026rdquo; of color for giving African Americans hope, faith, and inspiration through their words, actions, and achievements. Hundreds of African Americans, living and dead, are heroes and sheroes. Some of my favorites include:\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cul\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003EBooker T. Washington (1856-1915), who was born a slave but rose to become one of the most influential African-American intellectuals in the 19th century\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003EThurgood Marshall (1908-1993), the first African-American justice of the U.S. Supreme Court\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003EDorothy Vaughan (1910-2008), Katherine Johnson (born 1918), and Mary Jackson (1921-2005), the African-American mathematicians who made significant contributions to NASA during the early stages of the U.S. space program and inspired the 2016 movie \u0026ldquo;Hidden Figures\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003EJohn William Coltrane (1926-1967), the saxophonist and composer who helped pioneer the use of modes in jazz and later was at the forefront of free jazz\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003EMartin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968), the civil rights leader and activist who espoused nonviolent protest during the Civil Rights movement in the 1950s and 1960s\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003EOprah Winfrey (born 1954), the pioneering African-American media personality and proprietor\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003EBarack Obama (born 1961), the first African American to be elected President of the United States\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\u003C\/ul\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EBlack History Month is also a time to celebrate the resilience of African Americans. As the poet and civil rights activist Maya Angelou (1928-2014) wrote in a poem \u0026ndash; \u003Cem\u003E\u0026ldquo;\u003C\/em\u003E\u003Cem\u003EBut still, like dust, I\u0026rsquo;ll rise\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/em\u003E \u0026ndash; despite mistreatment, racism, prejudice, sexism, we all must strive to rise above injustice to improve our society.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EBlack History month is a time for all Americans to recommit to making the world \u0026ndash; and especially our own diverse nation \u0026ndash; a better place by our words and actions. We should commit to understanding others by saying words and taking actions that heal, harmonize, unify, and bring about a common positive bond.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAs a nation, we have accomplished much toward equality and equity, but we still have many mountains to climb together \u0026ndash; and we will.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Academic diversity leader reflects on Black History Month"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EFebruary is Black History Month, a special time set aside to celebrate the contributions of African-Americans. The College of Sciences joins the celebration by inviting the perspectives of African-American colleagues through a two-part Q\u0026amp;A.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"The College of Sciences celebrates Black History Month by inviting the perspectives of African-American colleagues."}],"uid":"30678","created_gmt":"2018-02-07 17:27:15","changed_gmt":"2018-02-14 20:26:49","author":"A. Maureen Rouhi","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2018-02-20T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2018-02-20T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"602053":{"id":"602053","type":"image","title":"Keith Oden","body":null,"created":"1518023945","gmt_created":"2018-02-07 17:19:05","changed":"1518023980","gmt_changed":"2018-02-07 17:19:40","alt":"","file":{"fid":"229464","name":"2018 Keith Oden CoS N18C10407 DSC_4735 by Georgia Tech.square250.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/2018%20Keith%20Oden%20CoS%20N18C10407%20DSC_4735%20by%20Georgia%20Tech.square250.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/2018%20Keith%20Oden%20CoS%20N18C10407%20DSC_4735%20by%20Georgia%20Tech.square250.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":58698,"path_740":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/2018%20Keith%20Oden%20CoS%20N18C10407%20DSC_4735%20by%20Georgia%20Tech.square250.jpg?itok=SLOsl_Xp"}}},"media_ids":["602053"],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"177030","name":"2018 Black History Month"},{"id":"4896","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"177043","name":"Keith Oden"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EA. Maureen Rouhi, Ph.D.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nDirector of Communications\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nCollege of Sciences\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["maureen.rouhi@cos.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}