Theme: Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community?
Keynote Speaker
CHAD DION LASSITER
Chad Dion Lassiter is a national expert in the field of American race relations. He has worked on race, peace, and poverty-related issues in the United States, Africa, Canada, Haiti, Israel, and Norway, and is called upon frequently by media outlets to provide commentary on race relations and potential solutions. In April 2023, Lassiter was appointed by President Biden to the Presidential Advisory Commission on Advancing Educational Equity, Excellence, and Economic Opportunities for Black Americans.
Lassiter is the current Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission, where, over his five years in this position, he has continued to push the Commonwealth forward in the spaces of DEI training, unconscious bias training, and anti-racism training. He developed and launched a "No Hate in Our State Townhall" to address the surge of white nationalism in Pennsylvania, as well as a "Social Justice Lecture Series" to provide an outlet for the communities in the Commonwealth to discuss imperative issues and serve as a Racial Reduction Response team for those communities impacted by hatred. He oversees a staff of 87 with three regional offices that serve the 67 counties in Pennsylvania and manages an annual budget of $11 million dollars.
During his appointment, Lassiter has also developed programs such as a "Global Social Justice Initiative," "Black and Jewish Beloved Community Dialogue," and the "College Race Dialogue Initiative."
Lassiter received his master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Social Work, where he was the A. Phillip Randolph Award winner in 2001 and received the prestigious University of Pennsylvania’s Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Involvement Award in 2008.
Lassiter is a co-founder and current president of the University of Pennsylvania School of Social Policy and Practice’s Black Men at Penn, the first Ivy League Black male group of social workers. Since 2003, this transcendent group has sought to recruit Black males into the profession, provide anti-racism and violence prevention training to urban and suburban schools around the country, and diversity and inclusion training for corporate entities and penal systems.
Lassiter has been recognized by The Philadelphia Tribune as “The Most Influential African American Leader from 2010-2022” as well as being listed in “Who’s Who among African Americans" 17th edition in 2004 with such notables as Colin Powell and Michael Jordan.
In 2019, Lassiter was inducted into the University of Pennsylvania School of Social Policy and Practice Alumni Hall of Fame. In 2021, Lassiter was chosen as the National Association of Social Workers, Pennsylvania Chapter Social Worker of the Year. He received the 2023 International Association of Official Human Rights Agencies’ International Award. He has also been recognized by City & State’s 2022 Pennsylvania Fifty Over 50, City & State’s 2022 Pennsylvania Impact 50, and City & State’s 2022 and 2023 Pennsylvania Power of Diversity: Black 100.
Honorees
DOROTHY KING, Ed.D.
Dr. Dorothy E. King began her Penn State career in 1994 when she was hired by the late Dr. William Mahar, director of the School of Humanities, to teach creative writing. She also taught Introduction to Theater, Effective Speech, and Slavery on American Film. From Humanities, she moved to the School of Behavioral Sciences and Education, where she taught sociology and education courses.
In collaboration with then-colleague Dr. Simon Bronner in the department of American studies, King linked African American and Jewish history. She planned bus trips for students to various cultural museums and The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati, Ohio.
In 2007, King organized a Storyteller Series featuring performers representing African American, Jewish, and Native American cultures. Building on this momentum, she planned a Cultural Folktales program in 2012, highlighting stories by African American, Korean, and Native American elders.
King also oversaw a panel presentation in 2010 by the surviving directors of the 1970s-era National Black Feminist Organization, of which she was a member. The panel spoke at Penn State Harrisburg and University Park.
King is the founder of PenOwl Productions Theatre Company and is well known as the creator of the Martin Luther King Campus Play Series at Penn State Harrisburg. From 1999 to the present, she has written and produced an original play for the annual campus-wide celebration.
King retired from Penn State Harrisburg in 2017 as an assistant professor of sociology. She is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority and the Central Penn Doll Collectors Club.
JOSEPH ROBINSON, JR.
Since its inception in 2009, Joseph Robinson Jr. has served as president of the Martin Luther King Jr. Leadership Development Institute, a local think tank and developer of community leaders trained in the tenets of Dr. King. Nearly 250 emerging and experienced professionals have completed the program and continue to serve in various leadership positions throughout the Commonwealth, neighboring states, and India. Most recently, he led a coalition of local for-profit and non-profit leaders to secure $3 million of county funding through the American Rescue Plan Act.
Robinson is a Strategic Consultant with Dame Leadership, providing executive coaching and diversity training. Also, since 2021, along with the Leadership Harrisburg Area CEO, he has jointly developed and delivered DEI training throughout the region to over 6,000 participants in both the public and private sectors. Notably, over 3,000 people have been trained in Robinson’s leadership model outlined in his book, 7 Leadership Imperatives from a Wild Man (Judson Press, 2008). He is a sought-after facilitator, mediation expert, and keynote presenter.
Robinson formerly served as Executive Director of the South-Central PA Sickle Cell Council, following his retirement from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation with 26 years of service, where he last served in a senior management position as Chief of the Performance Improvement and Metrics Division.
Robinson serves as Vice President of the Harrisburg Public Schools Foundation and on the NAACP Executive Committee. He also serves the New Birth of Freedom Boy Scout Council, annually raising over $50,000 as chair of the Harrisburg Breakfast, and as a member of the Governing Board of Central Penn College. An active Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. member, he was chosen Commonwealth of PA Big Brother of the Year in 2013. In 2019, he received the Dauphin County District Attorney’s Outstanding Service by a Citizen award and Leadership Harrisburg Area’s Platinum Servant Leader award in 2021.
Because of his breadth of community involvement, the Patriot News invited Robinson to serve as a monthly guest columnist in 2011. He has appeared as a guest on the Pennsylvania Cable Network’s “Public Affairs Call-In Program,” Terry Madonna’s “Pennsylvania Newsmakers” on WGAL, Scott Lamar’s “Smart Talk” on WITF, and Allentown, Pennsylvania talk show host Tony Ianelli’s “Business Matters.” In 2019, the Pennsylvania Cable Network (PCN) broadcast live, statewide, his presentation, "Dr. MLK: The Man, The Myth, The Martyr.”
Robinson earned his Bachelor of Arts in English at the University of Virginia (UVA) and in 2016 was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters for Community Service by Central Penn College. He has also served as a Central Penn College adjunct faculty member, teaching African American history and was invited to speak for the “Batten Hour” at UVA’s Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. He is a 2011 graduate of Leadership Harrisburg’s 25th Anniversary class. He has served as an ordained deacon of The Greater Zion Missionary Baptist Church in Harrisburg since 1986 and has served in many capacities, including the first Director of Ministries for 70 ministries of the church.
Robinson is married to Edna M. Robinson. Their son Michael resides in Kuwait, with wife Seneca; daughter Brittany, a graduate of Howard University, resides in Bowie, Maryland, with her husband, Rejinal Bernard, and their children: Elijah Joseph, Harper Judith, Xavier Alexander, and Rose Kerlande Arius. His extended family includes his BB/BS “little,” Dontae Davis.
ANN VAN DYKE
Ann M. Van Dyke was a civil rights investigator and trainer for the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission from 1979-2012. She worked with communities and schools where hate crimes were committed, where there was tension because of population change, and where racial supremacist groups were rallying and recruiting. Van Dyke also conducted police/community relations training for municipal police departments. She often worked as a team with the Pennsylvania State Police, the U.S. Department of Justice, the Pennsylvania Office of the Attorney General, and the Pennsylvania and U.S. Departments of Education.
Van Dyke has sponsored 11 refugees from Vietnam, Bulgaria, and Afghanistan, six of whom were her foster children.
Since retiring, she has continued volunteering for civil rights, violence prevention, and poverty via The Community Responders Network, Heeding God’s Call to End Gun Violence, The Common Ground Community Center, and Gather the Spirit for Justice.
Her motto is, "Do good and have a good time."
DR. SHAREE LIVINGSTON
Dr. Sharee Livingston was born and raised in the inner city of Harrisburg. She always knew she wanted to become a physician and expressed particular interest in women’s health at an early age. She started working as a candy striper at Community General Osteopathic Hospital at age 9.
She received a Bachelor of Science in Biology from St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia and received her medical degree from the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. She completed a rigorous Obstetrics and Gynecology residency at Penn State Hershey Medical Center in Hershey, Pennsylvania.
In 2006, she began practicing as an OB/GYN at UPMC Lititz and is currently serving as the OB/GYN department chair. She is a member of the UPMC Lititz Board of Trustees. She is the highest-volume female robotic surgeon in Lancaster County.
Livingston is a Founding Board Member of Patients R Waiting, a non-profit organization that is very dear to her. The mission of Patients R Waiting is to eliminate health disparities by increasing diversity in medicine. Patients R Waiting aims to increase the pipeline of minority clinicians, make this pipeline less leaky, and support minority clinicians in practice.
She is a Co-Founder of the Diversifying Doulas Initiative, which aims to improve maternal outcomes through doula support and Co-Founder of FLOW (For the Love of Women). FLOW seeks to eliminate menstrual inequity by providing free menstrual hygiene products to vulnerable women and people in Harrisburg and surrounding areas.
Livingston was appointed to Governor Shapiro’s Advisory Commission on Women. She serves as the Chair of the Healthcare Subcommittee.
Livingston Co-Founded and Co-Chairs the UPMC Health Equity NOW Committee. The mission of UPMC Health Equity NOW is to decrease maternal morbidity and mortality in racially and ethnically diverse populations delivering in UPMC birthing hospitals.
She is most honored to be one of the founders and presidents of MOKA Moms (Moms of Kids Advancing – mothers of color in medicine).
Livingston gains all her pride and joy as the wife of Ivan T. Anderson, her childhood friend and neighbor. They are blessed to enjoy two daughters, Addison and Ainsley, and twin boys, Ivan and Troy.