Ithaca pastor to keynote diversity conference

10/23/2023 

Rev. Terrance A. King, a former special education teacher and current pastor and doctoral student focused on the role of Black male educators and inclusive education, will deliver the keynote speech during the 2023 SUNY Cortland 13th annual Student Diversity Conference on Saturday, Nov. 4, in Corey Union.

Lea Webb, a member of the New York State Senate for the 52nd district, will give welcoming remarks to open the conference, which is expected to attract more than 200 attendees from 10 educational institutions across the state. The Student Diversity Conference will take place from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. in Corey Union.

The annual student-led event allows participants to examine problems and concepts across a wide range of disciplines. Diversity-related topics — explored through the prism of the presenter — may include race/ethnicity, class, gender, culture, sexuality or orientation, disabilities/abilities, religion or age.

The day’s activities seek to promote open-mindedness, celebrate diversity and promote awareness of divergent views on the university campus and within its communities. In addition to King’s speech, there will be three educational sessions with multiple offerings and cultural performances.

Jade Entien, a musical theatre major from Bronx, N.Y., and the current vice president of SUNY Cortland’s PRIDE club, will give the annual student speech at 9:50 a.m. in the Corey Union Function Room. Entien values equal opportunities for all people regardless of their identities and for people to be able to live their lives without fear of death because of who they are.

Anyone can attend the conference. There is no registration cost for the SUNY Cortland community. The registration cost for non-SUNY Cortland students is $25 and for non-SUNY Cortland faculty/staff, alumni and community members is $30. 

The deadline to register to attend the conference is Tuesday, Oct. 24.

Those who wish to attend should visit the campus community registration website, a second site for groups or individuals who aren’t affiliated with SUNY Cortland, or the virtual registration site, which will only feature the welcome address and keynote speech.

For more information, contact multicultural.life@cortland.edu.

Terrance A. King

King, 37, the pastor of Ithaca’s historic St. James A.M.E. Zion Church, will present “We Shall Overcome: White Privilege and Spirit Murder in Higher Education,” at 1:30 p.m. in Corey Union Function Room.

Currently a doctoral student at Syracuse University who also works as an educational consultant, King was born in South Bronx and raised in Mount Vernon, N.Y. He  is the oldest of three brothers and the first person in his family to graduate from college.

In 2003, he began his collegiate career at Le Moyne College in Syracuse, receiving a bachelor’s degree in sociology with a criminal justice minor in 2008. In 2013, King moved back to Bronx, N.Y., to earn a master’s degree in education with dual certification in general and special education from Metropolitan College of New York. While in Bronx, he worked as a special education teacher and continued his service and participation in Church at Caldwell A.M.E. Zion Church. He gave his trial sermon in 2013.

In July 2020, King received his first pastoral appointment with the historic St. James A.M.E. Zion Church congregation in Ithaca, N.Y., and a month later began his doctoral studies in special education on a Syracuse University scholarship. King worked as a special education instructor at Clary Middle School in Syracuse.