February is Black History Month and Oswego State has been keeping with their recent trend of hosting diverse speakers with impressive credentials.

Dr. Bernice A. King spoke at the beginning of the month. King is the daughter of Martin Luther King Jr. Oswego State has held more than a dozen Martin Luther King Jr. celebrations since 1986 and King’s talk Feb. 4 was powerful. Smokie Norful, a Grammy-winning gospel singer, also performed that evening.

Additionally, Morehouse College professor Marc Lamont Hill spoke to the school Wednesday night. According to Oswego State’s website, Hill is the host of BET news, the inaugural host of HuffPost Live and a CNN political contributor. The event was also part of Black History Month.

Oswego State has over 7,000 students and is one of many SUNY schools in New York. However, these speakers are impressive. They have done many things for big organizations and are fairly big names. The college has clearly been making an effort to have great speakers and to promote diversity.

In addition to the lineup of Black History Month speakers, other notable figures have visited the school this month. Their names are less well-known but their accomplishments are still imposing.

Brian Ronan, who has won two Tony Awards as a sound designer, spoke Thursday in the Hewitt Union Ballroom. Ronan graduated from Oswego State in 1984. Ronan has been a part of over 25 musicals and was able to share his experience going from Oswego to Broadway with students. Elias Williams, an acclaimed photographer, also spoke Thursday. Williams’ work has been published in the New York Times and showcased in museums.

An upcoming speaker of note is Chong-Jin Oh, a visiting professor from the University of Foreign Studies in Seoul, South Korea. Oh is giving a talk entitled “The ‘Korean Wave’ and Social Media in Turkey.” This adds to the list of speakers available for students to learn from outside the classroom.

The theme of the 2015 Media Summit was “A Mile in their Shoes: Reflections on Equality and Diversity in the Media.” At that event, representation of all kinds of people was emphasized. Oswego State has done an admirable job continuing that theme into 2016. The inclusion of a wide variety of speakers has shown resolve to give students quality programs.

After classes are finally over for the day, it can be tough to summon the energy to go out again and listen to a speaker. However, these events are high quality and available to us for free. Being able to hear recognized names speak about their experience and share lessons they have learned is an opportunity we should capitalize on. Let’s resolve to attend a few of the upcoming programs this semester and invite friends to do the same. It’s a privilege that we should take advantage of.