Brown University News Bureau

The Brown University News Bureau

1997-1998 index

Distributed December 8, 1997
Contact: Linda Mahdesian

Exploring partnerships in the community

President-elect Gee to visit Martin Luther King Elementary School

Brown University President-elect E. Gordon Gee will visit the Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School on Camp Street in Providence, at 2 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 9, meeting students involved in the Brown-MLK mosaic project and a class of fifth-graders.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- President-elect E. Gordon Gee will make his first visit to the Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School (MLK) on Camp Street in Providence at 2 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 9. His purpose is to meet with students and teachers at one of many schools in Providence where Brown has established community partnerships through undergraduate involvement in school activities.

During his 45-minute visit, Gee will speak with students in two settings: an art class of 14 students working with Professor Richard Fishman's freshman art class at Brown on a mosaic project, and a fifth-grade class selected by Principal Stephen Kane.

The mosaic project is part of the Rhode Island School of Design's Free for All Saturdays outreach to families program, which will be launched at the end of January. The mosaic project partnership between Brown and MLK will be unveiled during a Free for All Saturday, Feb. 28, between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. at the RISD Museum of Art on Benefit Street in Providence. The mosaic consists of 16 tiles. Fourteen were made through collaboration between Brown students and third-, fourth-, and fifth-graders from MLK. The remaining two tiles will be collaborative efforts by Gee and his wife, Constance Bumgarner Gee; RISD President Roger Mandle and his wife, artist Gayle Mandle; and MLK Principal Stephen Kane.

Editors: To arrange coverage of Gee's visit to MLK, please contact Linda Mahdesian at 401/863-2476. For more information on RISD's "Free for All Saturdays," contact Monica Smith at 401/454-6348.

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