COD and Benedictine University to Host 21st Annual MLK Breakfast Jan. 18

College of DuPage and Benedictine University will co-host the 21st annual Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Breakfast at 8 a.m. Monday, Jan. 18, at the Krasa Center Dining Room on the Benedictine campus, 5700 College Road in Lisle.

The event, which honors the civil rights leader and celebrates the diversity of community colleges, will feature speaker Arnette R. Hubbard, Ph.D., Judge of the Cook County Circuit Court, Law Division.

Judge Hubbard began her legal career as a staff attorney for the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. She entered into private practice in 1972 and in 1981 was sworn in as the first woman president of the National Bar Association. She focused on voters' rights as a member three-member Chicago Board of Election Commissioners beginning in 1989, and in 1992, became the first African American commissioner elected president of the Association of Election Commissioners of Illinois. She was also the first woman president of the Cook County Bar Association, the nation's oldest African American bar association.

Judge Hubbard was sworn in as judge in the First Municipal District in 1997 and was assigned to the Law Jury Section of the Law Division. Dedicated to social change and civil rights, Judge Hubbard is has received the Clarence Darrow Award in recognition of her contributions to social justice. She was also presented with the Obelisk Award for education and community service, and was the first woman inducted into the Scroll of Distinguished Women Lawyers by the National Bar Association. In 2009, Judge Hubbard was the recipient of the Margaret Brent Distinguished Achievement Award from the American Bar Association.

This event will also feature guest artist Keith M. Kelley, Executive Director and Lead Instructor for the Spoken Word Academy of Chicago. An award-winning arts educator, poet and musician, Kelley has conducted innovative workshops on poetry, music and performance with youth and young adults for Harold Washington Library Center, Chicago Public Schools, Smart Museum of Art (University of Chicago), Chicago Arts Partnerships in Education (CAPE), Chicago Children's Museum, Illinois Wesleyan University, Shanti Foundation for Peace, and After School Matters.

In addition, at the breakfast, College of DuPage and Benedictine will announce winners of the 2015 Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Scholarships. Each year two students from each school earn $1,000 based on an essay they submit detailing how Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. has impacted their lives and how his teachings have changed the way they treat others.

Tickets for this event are $25. To purchase tickets please visit the McAninch Arts Center website or call (630) 942-4000. A portion of the proceeds of this event benefits the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Scholarship Fund.

For more information, visit: www.cod.edu/MLK.