Martin Luther King Jr. Day Observance to Feature Five Hampton Roads Leaders
Dr. L.D. Britt
Christine M. Darden
Jack L. Ezzell Jr.
Maurice A. Jones
Dr. Patricia King
Old Dominion's annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day observance, featuring five noted Hampton Roads community leaders, will be held Wednesday, Jan. 22, in the North Cafeteria of Webb Center (see biographies of the honorees below). The event will open with a reception at 7 p.m., followed by the formal program at 7:30.
The annual program, which comes two days after the MLK Day holiday on Jan. 20, when the university is closed, has adopted the theme of "A Legacy of Service Through the Eyes of Community Leaders of Hampton Roads." The theme recognizes the lifetime of service that King performed for the betterment of society.
This will be ODU's 30th annual observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The program is held each year to honor King for his work in civil rights and all the changes in society that occurred as a result.
Each of the five community leaders, who will speak briefly during the program, fits this year's theme, said Cecelia Tucker, ODU assistant to the president for community relations.
"We honor a towering figure in American history by working each day to make the world a better and more just place. These five individuals represent the ideals of hard work and compassion that Dr. King espoused," Tucker said.
The speakers are: Dr. L.D. Britt, physician, Brickhouse Professor and chair of the Department of Surgery at Eastern Virginia Medical School; Christine M. Darden, retired director of the Aero Performing Center Program Management Office at NASA Langley Research Center; Jack L. Ezzell Jr., president and chief operating officer of Zel Technologies, LLC; Maurice A. Jones, deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and secretary-elect of commerce and trade for the commonwealth of Virginia; and Dr. Patricia King, noted psychiatrist.
ODU will present the Martin Luther King Jr. Legacy of Service Award to Britt prior to the Jan. 22 program, while each of the other speakers will receive the Hugo Owens Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Award. This award recognizes individuals in the community whose lives mirror the principles of equality and humanity King fought for. The award's other namesake, Hugo Owens, was a former rector of the ODU Board of Visitors and a longtime champion of civil rights in Hampton Roads. (Britt is a past recipient of this award.)
The event is free and open to the public. RSVPs are requested by Jan. 17: visit www.odu.edu/ao/univents (event code: MLK14) or call 683-3116.
HONOREE BIOGRAPHIES
Dr. L.D. Britt
A native of Suffolk, Dr. L.D. Britt was the valedictorian of Booker T. Washington High School. He received a B.A. degree (with Distinction) from the University of Virginia and was a member of the coveted Raven Society. A graduate of Harvard Medical School and Harvard School of Public Health, Britt has had extensive surgical and critical care training.
The Brickhouse Professor and chair of the Department of Surgery at Eastern Virginia Medical School, he is the first African American in the country to hold an endowed chair in surgery.
Britt has held many national and international leadership positions, including president of the Society of Surgical Chairs, past chairman of the ACGME Residency Review Committee for Surgery, secretary of the Southern Surgical Association and executive director of the Society of Black Academic Surgeons. He was on the Executive Committee of the Board of Regents of the American College of Surgeons.
Britt is the recipient of the nation's highest teaching award in medicine, the Robert J. Glaser Distinguished Teaching Award, which is given by the American Association of Medical Colleges in conjunction with the national medical honor society, Alpha Omega Alpha.
Former Gov. Mark Warner appointed him to serve on the Board of Trustees for the Virginia Capitol Foundation.
Britt serves on several other state, national and international boards and is involved in numerous church and community activities. He was recently featured in Ebony magazine as being a member of the "power elite" (one of the 150 most influential blacks in America). Britt is the recipient of the 2010 Colgate Darden Scouter Citizen Award.
President George W. Bush recognized Britt's leadership role in medicine and nominated him to the Board of Regents of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. At the end of his tenure, Britt was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal. He currently serves as a consultant and is the Distinguished Visiting Surgeon in Combat Trauma Care for the U.S. Department of Defense.
In 2012, he was conferred an Honorary Fellowship from the Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland, the French Academy of Surgery, and the Colleges of Medicine of South Africa. Britt, who is author of the term "acute care surgery" and one of the principal architects of this emerging specialty, was the 2013 recipient of the prestigious Roswell Park Medal in recognition of his major contributions to American surgery.
Christine M. Darden
Raised by parents who emphasized the importance of education, Christine M. Darden became a leader in the field of sonic boom technology. Born in Monroe, N.C., she came to Virginia to study at Hampton Institute (now Hampton University), where she received a bachelor's degree in mathematics in 1962.
In 1967, after spending a year as an instructor at Virginia State University, Darden began her career at NASA as a data analyst. Five years later, she switched to an engineering position.
Through her research and the redesign of supersonic airplanes to minimize destructive sound, she became a leader in sonic boom technology. In 1983, she earned a Doctor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from George Washington University. During her career at NASA, Darden served as a senior program manager in the High Speed Research Program Office, working to develop the technology for building a supersonic airplane by the year 2015.
As an African American woman engineer, Darden had to overcome the twin barriers of gender and racial discrimination. She has used her success to advocate increasing the number of women and minorities in the sciences by speaking on issues of gender and racial equality. Darden has been recognized with dozens of awards and honors, including two NASA medals, several NASA Outstanding Performance and Achievement Awards and the Black Engineer of the Year Outstanding Achievement in Government Award.
During her 40-year career at NASA Langley, Darden's contributions ranged from research in supersonic aerodynamics, where she was recognized as an international expert in the area of sonic boom minimization, to national program leadership of the environmental aspects of supersonic operations, to agency strategic planning, project and program management, and finally to the area of communications and education. Darden retired from NASA Langley in 2007. She received an honorary doctorate in 2012 from ODU.
Jack L. Ezzell Jr.
Jack L. Ezzell Jr. is the founder and chief executive officer of Zel Technologies, LLC (ZelTech), one of the nation's premier professional services, manufacturing and engineering firms. Ezzell is a graduate of North Carolina A&T State University and holds an M.B.A. degree from Ohio State University. He is a retired U.S. Air Force colonel who was recognized as a leader in applying advanced technology solutions to critical defense problems. Ezzell served in a number of significant military posts in the United States and Asia.
ZelTech has grown from a small consulting firm into a multi-faceted engineering, manufacturing and information technology corporation, and is a recognized leader in the introduction of leading-edge technologies to support critical national and homeland security activities. Headquartered in Hampton, ZelTech has operations in multiple locations throughout the United States and abroad.
Ezzell has received numerous awards. He was Virginia's Small Business Person of the Year, the state's Outstanding Industrialist and the Daily Press Distinguished Citizen of the Year. ODU awarded him an honorary doctorate and presented him with a Distinguished Entrepreneur Award. He has received community service awards from local and national organizations, including the prestigious Darden Award for Regional Leadership. He was an inductee into the Hampton Roads Business Hall of Fame, the 2012 recipient of the Peninsula Chamber of Commerce's Distinguished Citizens Award and a recipient of the WHRO Public Broadcasting Pioneer Award.
Ezzell is a strong advocate for individuals with disabilities and chairs the VersAbility Resources Inc. (formerly the Virginia Peninsula ARC) board. He is passionate about early childhood issues and established an innovative technology laboratory geared to children from kindergarten through fifth grade and to senior citizens. He is now actively involved in the establishment of a statewide STEM boarding school for ninth through 12th-grade students. Ezzell spends a considerable amount of his personal time mentoring small-business owners.
Maurice A. Jones
Maurice A. Jones served as deputy secretary for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development from April 2012 through January 2014. As the second most senior official at HUD, he managed the department's day-to-day operations, the annual operating budget and the agency's 8,900 employees.
Prior to his service at HUD, Jones was president of Pilot Media, the largest print and digital organization in Hampton Roads. He joined Landmark Media Enterprises, owner of Pilot Media, in 2005, serving as vice president of Landmark Publishing Group.
In 2006, he became vice president and general manager of Pilot Media, and in 2008 was named president and publisher of The Virginian-Pilot.
Jones also served as commissioner of the Virginia Department of Social Services and deputy chief of staff to then-Virginia Gov. Mark Warner. At the U.S. Treasury Department, Jones was special assistant to the general counsel and also served as legal counsel to the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund and as director of the fund during the Clinton administration. He also worked for the law firm of Hunton & Williams in Richmond, and was a partner at Venture Philanthropy Partners, a firm that invests millions in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area to assist low-income children.
He graduated from Hampden-Sydney College and attended Oxford University in England on a Rhodes scholarship. He later earned a law degree from the University of Virginia.
Jones was most recently appointed Virginia's secretary of commerce and trade by Gov. Terry McAuliffe.
Dr. Patricia King
Dr. Patricia King is a physician in the Greenbrier area of Chesapeake, where she has practiced since 1996. Her specialty is psychiatry. King was born Norfolk and attended local public schools.
After graduating from Booker T. Washington High School, she enrolled at Howard University, majored in chemistry and mathematics and graduated with a bachelor's degree in 1982. King returned to Norfolk and taught pre-algebra, algebra, life science and physical science at Norview Junior High School before deciding to attend medical school. She enrolled at Meharry Medical College in 1985 and graduated in 1989. She then returned to Norfolk to complete a one-year internship in internal medicine at Eastern Virginia Medical School.
After completing a three-year residency in psychiatry, King opened and became the first medical director of the Women's Center at Virginia Beach Psychiatric Center and served as a medical director of multiple hospitals and programs. She has owned, operated and managed her own private practice since 1996.
King is a member of numerous community service and professional organizations, including Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, The Links, the Friends of Hampton Roads, the Old Dominion Medical Society, the National Medical Association and the American Medical Association.
She has been named one of Hampton Roads' "Top Docs" by Hampton Roads Magazine the last two years.