Alva Review-Courier -

Northwestern Oklahoma State University will play host to George Lee April 5 from noon to 1:30 p.m. for diversity training that is open to the campus and community.

The presentation, "Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion" will be available in the Student Center Ballroom at the Alva campus.

Lee is a self-described "Edutainer" who seamlessly mixes education and entertainment to be purposefully provocative. He has spent over 10 years being invited to engage in public speaking events for community groups, academic institutions and corporate organizational leadership seminars. He also has over five years of experience teaching in educational institutions.

Lee holds a bachelors in African and African American Studies, master's degrees in both Human Relations and Adult Higher Education as well as graduate certificates in Women and Gendered Studies along with Human Resource and Diversity Development from the University of Oklahoma. He is currently leading the nationally renowned University of Oklahoma debate team as the coordinator of policy debate while also being a language arts public high school teacher in the Oklahoma City Public School District. In addition to his other positions he holds a professorship in the social work department at the University of Oklahoma. Lee was celebrated as one of the best "debate-minds" in collegiate debate and was named in the top 20 College Policy Debaters of the past decade. He has been featured in The Washington Post, The Atlantic and The New York Times, and he co-hosts an original podcast called, "The Chop Up."

Lee's social media presence offers him the opportunity to engage hundreds of thousands of people at once with short educational messages that often inspire others to perform more research on their own. These social media platforms have been particularly effective as his reach grows daily, and his work is being shared by large public figures and media enterprises like This Is News, Cardi B, Democracy Now, BET and Vice.

Every year, the diversity committee at Northwestern strives to bring in relevant speakers who teach campus and community members about an issue in today's culture. These committee members include Dr. Luis Rocha Antunes, assistant professor of mass communication; Dr. Mariann Braten-Hall, assistant professor of education; Dr. Roger Brown, associate professor of business; Sarah Fry, instructor of criminal justice/sociology; Shawna Gilbert, assistant professor of library sciences; Mistie Kline, lecturer in psychology; Dr. Karsten Longhurst, assistant professor of music; Yosbelli Lora, student representative; Dr. Yvette Lowery, assistant professor of nursing; Dr. Steven Mackie, professor of education; Allissa Miller, instructor of psychology; Calleb Mosburg, dean of student affairs and enrollment management; Taylor Randolph, instructor of psychology; and Dr. Wei Zhou, associate professor of business.

"I am very excited to have George Lee visit Northwestern and be our guest speaker this year," said Brown, chair of the diversity committee. "George Lee has a very strong following on social media, especially TikTok, and it will be fun to hear from such an entertaining speaker. He has overcome several adversities and continues to push for change at the state and national level."

For more information, please contact Brown at 580-327-8509 or [email protected].