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Valda Boyd Ford |
“Many people may not know or have forgotten that Dr. King had a great interest in world events, especially the conditions of the world’s colored peoples,” said Ford, director of UNMC/The Nebraska Medical Center Community and Multicultural Affairs. “Dr. King was very well-read and active in supporting major causes for peace and justice all over the world. I am proud to offer reflections relative to this lesser-discussed aspect of Dr. King’s legacy.”
Since 2001, when State Sen. Ernie Chambers drew more than 450 people, the annual address, which is sponsored by UNMC, The Nebraska Medical Center and the Campus Employee Diversity Network, has been one of the city’s best-attended events on the Dr. King Holiday. This year’s event will start at noon, is free and open to the public and will include free refreshments for the first 350 people.
After five consecutive presenters from outside of Nebraska since Chambers, the event sponsors looked within for the presenter of the 2007 Martin Luther King Jr. Commemoration.
Ford is an internationally-acclaimed educator and strategist on diversity and multicultural initiatives, including extensive experience providing health services at some of the world’s largest refugee camps. She will focus on this aspect of her career during her lecture, which is titled, “Extending the Dream: Realizing the Nightmare of Third World Refugees.”
A self-proclaimed “daughter of the South” (born and raised in segregated North Carolina), Ford brings a homespun, down to earth informality to her presentations that makes her one of the most intellectually disarming and humorous — yet effective — presenters on race, ethnicity, privilege and cultural competency in the nation.
She uses a combination of self-effacement and “Can we talk?” attitude that can swing from virtual stand-up comedy (describing her first experience with a “public toilet” in a West African refugee camp) to lump-in-the throat poignancy (explaining how to defuse rage and resentment when confronted by mean-spirited racial comments during public presentations or the culturally incompetent health service that led to the death of her first child.)
She is a living library of cultural competency “case studies” because of the sheer expansiveness of her own personal travels and cross-cultural experiences. Ford has a must-be-seen-to-believe repertoire of story telling, singing and dramatic soliloquy that creates a relaxed intimacy in even the most staid conference settings.
Ford was appointed director of community and multicultural affairs at the UNMC in September 2001. She hosts the long-standing cable access television talk show, “Valda’s Place,” and founded “The Center for Human Diversity,” one of the nation’s leading training institutes on cultural competency.
Ford has a bachelor’s of science degree in nursing from Winston-Salem State University in North Carolina; a master’s degree in public health, health policy analysis and administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a master’s of science degree in nursing administration from Creighton University.
Her nursing career included years of service in Saudi Arabia, Sweden, Denmark, Jamaica and the United States. She has made presentations on public health and cultural competency in at least 25 states in the U.S., as well as in Poland, Ghana, Saudi Arabia, Denmark, Jamaica, Mali, Sierra Leone, Afghanistan and Australia.
Ford is also director of Refugee Services for Unite for Sight international medical relief organization that targets eye care and vision-related diseases among the world’s poor.
Some of Ford’s honors and appointments include:
- 2006 Nebraska Women of Distinction Award presented by first lady Sally Ganem;
- 2006 Unite for Sight International Volunteer of the Year Award;
- In 2005, Ford was chosen by the National Institutes of Health to serve on the Director’s Council of Public Representatives and work with directors of the National Cancer Institute and the National Mental Health Institute on the Office of Portfolio Analysis and Strategic Initiatives planning projects; and
- In 2004, Ford completed the prestigious Health Partners Fellowship Program, which is sponsored by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. Ford and her 11 co-fellows were selected from 140 international applicants to spend 24-months studying the linkages between communities and academic institutions in Chicago; El Paso, Tex.; Ciudad Juarez, Mexico; and Newcastle, Australia.
“I have spoken all over the United States and around the world, but being selected to speak at our own commemoration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is especially meaningful to me,” Ford said. “So much of what is affecting America today is rooted in the social, economic and political difficulties affecting the world’s undeveloped nations and their people. Today, Nebraska is the home of people who speak more than 67 languages. The world truly has come to our doorstep in the last 40 years. I’m looking forward to this unique opportunity to bridge Dr. King’s legacy with contemporary world events.”