CALENDAR
The university calendar includes several annual signature events, including the Benjamin Mays Lecture, the Kreuter Katz Lecture, the Groundbreaker event, International Education Week and more.
Event Calendar
Events are taken from the main university calendar.
Getting Onto the Belonging@GSU Calendar: Submit Your Public Georgia State Event
The Belonging@GSU calendar, both on this page and on the main belonging.gsu.edu homepage is powered by the University calendar system at calendar.gsu.edu.
Instructions for getting onto this calendar will be changing soon. In the meantime, you can submit events related to identity, placemaking and belonging by clicking this link to go to the website's news and event information submission form.
Panther Involvement Network: Track Your Participation and Find Organizations
The Panther Involvement Network (PIN) is a website which combines event listings as well as on-campus organizations, including student organizations, in addition to other information.
PIN also allows the GSU community to keep a record of their participation in events.
Religious Observances & Academic Affairs
Many students observe religious holidays essential to the practice of their faith. Because there are a large number of faiths represented at Georgia State, it is difficult to provide a comprehensive list of all religious holidays. Some of the widely observed religious holidays for the current academic year through AY 2028-29 are listed at the link below this text.
The following applies regardless of course modality.
Students must provide instructors with reasonable notice of the dates of religious holidays on which they plan to be absent and must be given an equivalent opportunity to make up missed work according to an agreed-upon schedule. Such accommodations might include rescheduling an exam or giving the student a make-up exam, allowing an individual or group presentation to be made on a different date, letting a student attend a different section for the same class that week, adjusting a due date or assigning the student appropriate make-up work that is no more difficult than the original assignment.
Absence for a religious reason should be counted as an excused absence and should not be counted against any other excused absences permitted by the instructor. Should a complicated situation arise related to religious accommodations (for example, clinical rotations), contact your department chair, dean’s office or the Office of Legal Affairs at 404-413-0500.
Signature Heritage Months
Heritage/History Months celebrate the customs, values, and traditions of different cultures, examining the issues and struggles of different communities as well as affirming their contributions to society. Heritage months are important in providing intentional space for teaching, learning and reflection. Each month, we celebrate the identities and histories of members of Georgia State’s global communities through vibrant performances, lectures, and activities that celebrate the wide array of our community's backgrounds and help us understand our shared history.
The university marks seven signature heritage months:
- Latin Heritage Month: September 15 - October 15
- LGBTQ+ History Month: October 1-31
- Native American/American Indian Heritage Month: November 1- 30
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Commemoration: January
- Black History Month: February 1 – 28
- Women's History Month: March 1 – 31
- Asian-Pacific Islander-Desi/American Heritage Month*: April 1 – 30
Additionally, Georgia State marks Summer Heritage Events, which includes Juneteenth and other observances occurring during the period from late May through the start of the fall semester.
This website has specific web pages for each of these months. Select the link below to learn more.
*Asian-Pacific Islander-Desi/American Heritage Month in the United States is generally celebrated in May, but Georgia State observes this month in April so that more students may fully participate before the spring semester concludes.
Signature Events
Several university units have regular events each year, bi-annually or at other intervals. More information about each event can be found in the university calendar as the events approach, but here are a few.
Benjamin E. Mays Lecture
College of Education & Human Development
The annual Mays Lecture encourages the discussion of issues facing urban educational leaders, honors the memory of Benjamin E. Mays and promotes his philosophy of excellence in the education of those typically least well served by the larger society.
In the spring of 1988, the Benjamin E. Mays Chair of Urban Educational Leadership was approved by the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia and established in the College of Education & Human Development at Georgia State University.
Its goal was and continues to be the improvement of the quality of educational institutions in urban areas of the country, with special emphasis on the problems faced by the leadership of large city school districts.
The founding holder of the Chair, Dr. Alonzo A. Crim, initiated the organization and sponsorship of the annual Benjamin E. Mays Memorial Lecture Series. By continuing to bring nationally prominent educators to Atlanta, each symposium, conference and lecture encourages the discussion of issues facing urban educational leaders.
Click the blue button below to learn more.
Groundbreaker Lecture
Office of the Provost
Sponsored by the Georgia State Office of the Provost, the Groundbreaker Lecture was established in 2020 to recognize those who have made a major impact in the advancement of our society. Through the series, the university has honored those whose actions have created and continue to create significant change in the world, while fostering conversations to address ongoing issues and potential ways to meet these challenges.
The inaugural lecture was held in February 2020 and honored the "Ground Crew" of Myra Payne Elliott, Barbara Pace Hunt, and Iris Mae Welch, who sued to desegregate the university in the 1950s. The event speaker was Dr. Maurice C. Daniels of the University of Georgia, who outlined their fight as described in his book "Ground Crew: The Fight to End Segregation at Georgia State." The event also included a special recognition for Ms. Elliott, the last surviving plaintiff, her family, and the family of Ms. Hunt (the university was unable to locate family for the late Ms. Welch at the time of the 2020 event. When an honorary degree was bestowed by GSU on the three women a few years later, one of Ms. Welch's descendants represented her then).
Click the button below to access past lecture recordings. Content at both portals is the same; a GSU campus ID and password is required (@gsu.edu or @student.gsu.edu).
Women Inspire
Advancement of Women Initiative
The Women Inspire speaker series has showcased outstanding women faculty whose research is making a significant impact and who serve as powerful and inspirational role models to the campus community.
In 2018, the Women Inspire Speaker Series was integrated into the AofW. Previously established through a co-sponsorship of the Office of the Provost and the Women’s Philanthropy Initiative, this speaker series has provided a platform for outstanding Georgia State women faculty to share their research with a broader Georgia State audience.
Select the buttons below for more information.
Center for Studies on Africa and Its Diaspora (CSAD) Speaker Series
College of Arts & Sciences
The Center for Studies on Africa and Its Diaspora (CSAD) began its CSAD Speaker Series, set to be convened semi-annually through fall 2021, held its inaugural event on August 6. Through the series, CSAD invites the university community to participate in thought-provoking and engaging exchanges of ideas related to studies on the African diaspora, exploring the engagements, worldviews and influences of African peoples on worldwide social, cultural, economic, health and political systems.
The event, "Race and the Role of the Academy in the Post-Awakening World," discussed the power of Humanities and Africana Studies to chart the way for new pedagogical delivery through a lens of social justice and race.
Guests included three of the foremost scholars in African American and Africana studies: Dr. Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, the Victor S. Thomas Professor of History and African and African American Studies at Harvard University and president of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History; Dr. Amilcar Shabazz, professor, the W.E.B. Du Bois Department of Afro-American Studies at the University of Massachusetts and president of the National Council of Black Studies; and Dr. Keisha N. Blain, associate professor of history, the University of Pittsburgh, and president of the African American Intellectual History Society. Dr. Jonathan Gayles, chair of the Department of African-American Studies at Georgia State, moderated the panel.
International Education Week
Office of International Initiatives
Every November
As a joint initiative of the U.S. Department of State and U.S. Department of Education, the week celebrates the benefits of international education and exchange. Colleges, universities, high schools, and organizations are encouraged to host events that celebrate global education and foster cross-cultural understanding.
Mario A.J. Bennekin Black History Symposium
Perimeter College
Mario Bennekin was a history and political science professor at Perimeter who taught for 20 years and was instrumental in bringing the African-American Studies curriculum to the college. He was chair of the History and Political Science department when he died in 2019.
Following Bennekin’s death, faculty and staff from Perimeter’s departments of History and Political Science and Cultural & Behavioral Sciences championed the idea for a symposium to honor Bennekin, whose scholarship and teaching interests centered on the post-Civil War struggle of Black Americans, from the reconstruction era to the civil rights movement.
In the fall of 2020, supporters succeeded in a re-naming capital campaign that raised more than $50,000, the amount required by the University System of Georgia to endow the annual symposium and officially name it the Mario A.J. Bennekin Black History Symposium.
The Mario A.J. Bennekin Black History Symposium is scheduled as an annual event for Perimeter College. Future plans include continuing to grow the endowment to expand the symposium and award more student prizes, as well as a scholarship. Your gift to the Mario Bennekin Memorial Fund will help in this endeavor.