Submitted photo Dr. Robbie Quarles will be the keynote speaker at a Martin Luther KIng Jr. Day event at Davis & Elkins College on Monday.

ELKINS — Davis & Elkins College and the Woodford Memorial United Methodist Church are hosting events to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

The event at Woodford Memorial is scheduled for Sunday and will begin at 3 p.m. The program will include songs, keynote speaker Michael Jackson, and meaningful quotations from MLK.

Following the program, a potluck will be held in the church fellowship room, and there will be a symbolic march that will begin at the Jennings Randolph Federal Building on Third Street beginning at 2:45 p.m. The walk will conclude at the Woodford Memorial United Methodist Church.

The annual event is sponsored by the Randolph County Cultural Awareness and Enrichment Group.

On Monday, the event at Davis & Elkins College will begin at 11 a.m. in the Myles Center for the Performing Arts on the D&E campus. The event is open to the public.

Dr. Robbie Quarles, who is Dean of Student Affairs at South University — Richmond & High Point, will be the keynote speaker, and will lead a discussion. Quarles is a dedicated higher education administrator with more than a decade of experience in crafting transformative experiences for students.

Over the past six years, Quarles has delivered impactful presentations and led retreats at universities and organizations nationwide. He recently served as keynote speaker for the ‘Stronger Chapters, Stronger Councils multicultural student organization conference at the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon.

Quarles is an alum and former staff member at West Virginia Wesleyan College, where he excelled as director of Multicultural Programs and Services during his five years there.

The D&E event is sponsored by the President’s Initiative on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, which was launched in 2020 with a pledge to listen, learn and act intentionally to uphold the D&E institutional values and missions of thoughtful engagement in the world, act responsibly as citizens of multiple communities, and valuing human dignity and social responsibility, The initiative included multiple sessions of professional development, student workshops and public programming.

MLK Day is a federal holiday and is observed on the third Monday of January each year. President Ronald Reagan signed the holiday into law in 1983. King, who was born Jan. 15, 1929, was the chief spokesperson for nonviolent activism in the civil rights movement.