Manchester Magazine Spring 2016 | Page 7

MU| N e w s MLK colleague: Each of you can make a difference Nonviolence “begins in the human heart,” the Rev. Dr. Otis Moss Jr. told a Manchester audience at the 48th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Remembrance and Rededication Ceremony. “It’s about how we treat each other in all of our relationships.” Each year, a special lecture at MU commemorates the anniversary of King’s visit to Manchester on Feb. 1, 1968, his last on a college campus. Moss was a colleague and friend of King and spoke on “Learning from the Life and Teaching of Martin Luther King Jr. from Generation to Generation.” The civil rights leader and longtime pastor said he admires the work Manchester has done. “Thank you,” he said, “for what you have given to the nation and the world for more than a century.” Moss challenged each member of the audience to “build community in the midst of chaos.” Nonviolence, he said, “has never lost.” But we lose when we don’t believe in nonviolence and because “we have never truly tried it.” King would rather we continue his legacy than grieve his loss, Moss said. He would want us “to seek, to create, a better world and a more just society.” The retired pastor of Olivet Institutional Baptist Church in Cleveland, Ohio, Moss encouraged the predominantly student audience to reflect on what they’re doing with their lives. Remind yourselves, he said, that “in my time, in my space, I can make a difference.” Recent grads find success Most of Manchester University’s 238 spring 2015 graduates have jobs or are in graduate school. The 2015 success rate is 98 percent, nearly a full point higher than 97.1 percent in 2014. “Manchester graduates are well-prepared academically and have practical experiences that make them highly successful in the job market,” said Tish Kalita ’08, MU director of career and professional development. Year after year, MU’s newest graduates report success – at a five-year average above 95 percent. In MU’s accounting program, for example, virtually every spring 2015 graduate is employed, and many of them locked in their jobs months before commencement. Nearly 23 percent of the Class of 2015 are earning advanced degrees – at dentistry and law schools, and studying chemistry, physics and psychology. Some are at Manchester’s own Pharmacy Program in Fort Wayne, pursuing a four-year professional doctorate. Many of the graduate-degree seekers are research and teaching assistants at major universities. 98% 98 percent of MU’s 2015 graduates are successfully employed, in graduate school or in post-graduate activities. The employment rate of 2015 MU master’s degree recipients is 100 percent. Manchester | 7