The Michigan community is invited to attend the seventh annual EECS Juneteenth Celebration on Friday, June 19, at 11:00 a.m. in the Arthur Miller Theatre in the Walgreen Drama Center, followed by lunch in the Gerstacker Grove. Due to space restrictions in Arthur Miller Theatre, tickets for this event are limited and will be handed out on a first come, first served basis at the venue. Each attendee will receive a ticket to the program and a ticket for the food trucks.

The theme of this year’s event is “Celebrating Excellence and Innovation in Health Engineering”. It will feature a keynote presentation entitled “An Engineering Journey into the Neuroscience of Gut Instincts” by Todd Coleman, an EECS alum and Associate Professor of Bioengineering at Stanford University.

In addition to the keynote presentation, the program will include: Welcome remarks by College of Engineering Dean Mingyan Liu, live performance of “Lift Every Voice and Sing” by Nadia Johnson (School of Music Theatre and Dance) accompanied on piano by Herbert Winful (EECS), reading of the Emancipation Proclamation by members of the Graduate Society of Black Engineers and Scientists, remarks by EECS department leaders, presentation of the ECE Willie Hobbs Moore Distinguished Alumni Lectureship award to Prof. Todd Coleman and the finale - choreographed performance of “Someday We’ll All Be Free” by Kiana Cook (SMTD-dance)

The EECS department has partnered with three food trucks – Good Eats, Nacho Average Tostado, and Motor City Sweet Treats, to offer lunch in the Gerstacker Grove afterwards.

Juneteenth, celebrated on June 19th, is a national holiday that marks the day in 1865 when Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas, announced the end of the Civil War, and freed 250,000 slaves in Texas. This was two and a half years after President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation had formally freed slaves in the Confederate states. Juneteenth is considered by many as the country’s second Independence Day.