Successful Events Bring People Together
The Office of Community Relations and University Events (CRUE) works with on- and off-campus partners to execute academic and institutional events for the university.
We work with you closely to help define goals for your events, and then we partner with everyone involved to create events that successfully reach those goals. We do this by advising you on how to manage, coordinate, and move forward details like invitations, hotel rooms, menus, guest lists, liaisons, room sets, and more.
The Event
On Tuesday, January 17, 2023, UMass Amherst welcomed campus and local community members to the inaugural Martin Luther King Jr. National Day of Racial Healing Community Brunch. This event focused on the theme “a legacy of social justice” and celebrated King’s legacy of the civil rights movement and its impact on the civil rights movements of the present.
The featured speaker for this brunch was Ndaba Mandela, author, activist, spokesperson, and entrepreneur. He is the grandson of Nelson Mandela and co-founder and co-chairman of the Africa Rising Foundation, an organization dedicated to promoting a positive image of Africa around the world and to increasing its potential for growth in the areas of education, employment, and international corporate alliances for profit and partnership. He is also the longest serving Global Ambassador to UNAIDS, which seeks to end discrimination around HIV/AIDS.
CRUE worked with the Office of Equity and Inclusion to develop and execute the event from the initial idea for the event to its execution.
Outcome
The event was attended by over 200 UMass Amherst faculty, students, and staff, as well as local community members both in person and online. The success of this event was attributed to the partnership between CRUE, the Office of Equity and Inclusion, News and Media Relations, Marcom, and Auxiliary Enterprises.