The 2017 Penn State Law Diversity Banquet will be held from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. on Saturday, February 11, at the Atherton Hotel Regency Ballroom in State College, Pennsylvania. The Penn State Law Student Bar Association established the diversity banquet to honor members of the legal community who have contributed to the development of the legal profession. The banquet also celebrates the Penn State University Park campus for being culturally diverse, inclusive, and equitable. All members of the Penn State and State College communities are welcome and encouraged to attend. Registration for this event is now closed, however, admitted students may register for the event until Friday, Feb. 3. Please contact the Admissions Office for a link exclusively for prospective members of the class of 2020.

This year, the theme of the banquet is “Bridging the Gap.”  Bridging the Gap envisions a society in which all members of the community are valued, respected, and treated equally. Diverse populations often feel ostracized or isolated because of the misunderstanding regarding the “gaps,” such as their race, ethnicity, gender, religion, sexual orientation, etc. By closing these “gaps,” by trying to understand one another, we pull the distance closer and bridge the gap, thereby creating a welcoming community suited for all.

Penn State alumna The Honorable Tanya R. Kennedy will serve as the event’s keynote speaker and will receive the Diversity Award for Leadership in the Legal Profession. Justice Kennedy is a New York Supreme Court justice and former supervising judge of Civil Court, New York County. After her election to Civil Court in 2005, Justice Kennedy presided in the Criminal and Civil Courts of the City of New York, as well as the Family and Supreme Courts of the State of New York. She also served for 10 years as an adjunct professor at Fordham University School of Law. She is the president-elect of the National Association of Women Judges (NAWJ) and former treasurer, Finance Committee chair, vice president of publications, vice president of districts, secretary, and New Judges’ Committee chair of NAWJ. She is also a member of the Metropolitan Black Bar Association, where she is a board member, the Association of Black Women Attorneys, and the New York State Bar Association.

Some of her recent honors include the 2014 Award from the New York County Lawyers’ Association Civil Court Practice Section; the 2014 NAACP Mid-Manhattan Branch Outstanding Community Service Award; the 2015 Salarie Kee Activism Award from the Harlem Hospital Center Community Advisory Board; and the 2016 Outstanding Family Award from the Juneteenth-Kingfest Committee of Masjid Malcolm Shabazz at the Juneteenth Day Parade in Harlem, New York, where Justice Kennedy served as a grand marshal.