2023 Featured Speakers

Indiana State Senator Eddie Melton

For more than 30 years, Valpo has engaged students, faculty, staff, retirees, and the broader Northwest Indiana community in purposeful dialogue about the legacy of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and how to further this legacy today and beyond.

We are happy to announce the 2023 MLK Day celebration, titled “Celebrating the Value of Humanity,” will feature a keynote address from State Senator Eddie Melton. Indiana Senator Melton was born and raised in Gary, Indiana as the son of a railroad worker and proud Steelworks Local 188 Union member.

In 2015, he worked with President Barack Obama’s administration in implementing “My Brother’s Keeper,” an initiative designed to address persistent opportunity gaps facing boys and young men of color. He is a member of the Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Inc. and received a B.S. of Organizational Management from Calumet College of St. Joseph. Recently in 2022, Senator Melton authored a senate resolution urging the legislative council to assign the topic of providing an enhanced study on Black history in each high school United States history course to the appropriate study committee.

Just like Martin Luther King Jr., Eddie is spending his life working to give a voice to the voiceless.