Wake Forest MLK ‘Building the Dream” award winners announced

Religion professor Derek Hicks and two students Rose O’Brien and Cazandra Rebollar have been named Wake Forest University’s 2017 Martin Luther King Jr. “Building the Dream” award winners.

The award is traditionally presented to a professor or administrator and a student from both Wake Forest and Winston-Salem State University who exemplify King’s qualities and promote diversity within the community. This year, one faculty member and two students were selected as winners at Wake Forest.

Faculty award winner Derek Hicks is an assistant professor of religion and culture in Wake Forest School of Divinity and Department for the Study of Religions, and the Henry Luce Diversity Fellow. He joined Wake Forest in 2011.

Hicks has spoken nationwide and in the Winston-Salem community at various churches and events to discuss and provide insight on current race relations in America. He works closely with community leaders such as Melissa Harris-Perry, Rev. William A. Lawson, Dr. John Mendez, and Wake Forest President Nathan Hatch to ensure meaningful discussions continue that build and enhance community relations.

“It is an honor for the School of Divinity to have the contributions of one of our faculty members recognized with this award,” said Gail O’Day, dean of the divinity school. “Dr. Hicks’s scholarship, teaching, student mentoring, and community engagement do indeed help bring the dream of racial justice closer to a lived reality for all of us.”

More information is available here.