Durham Tech welcomes state senator as guest speaker for 35th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day event

Durham Technical Community College
Jan 13, 2020

headshot of valerieDurham Technical Community College announces N.C. Sen. Valerie Foushee as the guest speaker for the College’s 35th annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., event.

Foushee represents District 23, which includes Orange and Chatham counties, and served on the Durham Tech Board of Trustees from 2008 to 2012. Durham Tech serves Durham and Orange counties.

“I am honored to be a part of this event, and I commend the administration, faculty, staff, and students for their support of commemorating the life and legacy of a great leader and a great American,” she said.

A lifelong Orange County resident, Foushee graduated from Chapel Hill High School and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she earned bachelor’s degrees in political science and African and Afro-American studies.

Foushee is the former House representative for District 50, which covers rural Durham and Orange counties, and was elected to her current position after it was vacated due to N.C. Sen. Ellie Kinnaird’s retirement in 2013.

Foushee supervised two units during her 21-year stint with the Chapel Hill Police Department and became a Leadership Triangle Goodmon Fellow in 2005. Last year, the NC Teacher Association of Teacher Assistants recognized her as Legislator of the Year, and the NC League of Conservation Voters named her Senator of the Year.

Foushee became the first African-American woman elected to the Orange County Board of Commissioners in 2004 and has served on the Board of Education for Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools and the Board of Directors for the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chamber of Commerce and for the Chapel Hill/Orange County Visitors Bureau. She was an executive officer of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro branch of the NAACP and led the North Carolina Black Alliance as chair.

The Durham Tech celebration will occur on Jan. 17. Mayor Pro Tempore Jillian Johnson and Durham County Sheriff Clarence Birkhead will also participate in this year’s event. The day will also include speeches by the winners of the I Have a Dream Award scholarship, songs from the MLK choir composed of Durham Tech faculty and staff, and a service project at Book Harvest, a Durham nonprofit supporting literacy for children.

The College began its event one year before Martin Luther King Jr., Day became a national holiday, according to Jacequeline Mitchell, Chair of the MLK Planning Committee.

The event is only for Durham Tech faculty and staff. 

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Contact Stephanie Turner, Marketing and Media Relations Coordinator, at turners@durhamtech.edu for more.