March 5, 2024

Columbus State University will focus on inclusion and belonging during its annual Legacy Celebration Awards Banquet on Wednesday, March 27. The dinner event, and a professional development workshop earlier that afternoon, will take place in its Cunningham Conference Center on the university’s Main Campus.

The evening’s Legacy Celebration Banquet will begin at 6 p.m. and will honor the work of individuals who have fostered inclusion and belonging at Columbus State and throughout the community. A dozen Legacy Awards will recognize students, employees, alumni and community partners for their advocacy, leadership and accomplishments.

The banquet will also feature remarks by former Columbus city councilor Mimi Woodson, the city’s first Hispanic member of the city council. At the same time, she became the first person of Hispanic descent elected to any public office in Georgia, as well as the state’s longest-serving Hispanic elected official. A native of Puerto Rico who served for 15 years in the U.S. Army, she lived in Columbus for only two years before being elected to represent District 7 on the Columbus City Council in 1994.

In 2022, she chose to retire from council service at the end of her term. During her 28-year tenure, she was known as a champion for public safety, mobility, economic development, and age-friendly policies and services like affordable housing, recreation, and community restoration and redevelopment. She continues to be involved in programs like the city’s annual Tri-Cities Latino Festival, which she co-founded in 2013, as well as a host of other service, humanitarian and multicultural programs and organizations.

Tickets to the banquet are on sale now through March 22 and range from $25 for individuals and $200 for a table of eight.

Tickets to the banquet also include admission to a professional development workshop Wednesday afternoon from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. During that session, Gina Moreno (pictured) of Aflac will share perspectives on belonging and inclusion inspired by the book “A Peacock in the Land of Penguins.” The book, by BJ Gallagher and Warren H. Schmidt, brings to life the story of Perry the Peacock and the challenges he and his fine feathered friends face as they struggle to be successful in the conformity-minded Land of Penguins.

Moreno is a corporate professional with more than 20 years of facilitation experience. Through her current and past corporate roles, her focus has been on diversity, inclusion, leadership development and employee facilitations.

The annual Legacy Celebration grew out of the university’s Diversity Conference, first held in 2012 as a partnership between the Mayor's Commission on Unity and Diversity (formally One Columbus) and Columbus State. Since then, it has remained affiliated with the Mayor’s Office to explore the broad range of issues reflecting the diverse lives of many throughout the Columbus region regarding race, religion, gender, sexuality, disability, education, nationality, poverty and privilege.

This year’s Legacy Celebration is sponsored by Aflac, Aramark, Barnes & Noble and the Columbus State Bookstore, Buffalo Rock, Coca-Cola UNITED, Enterprise, Kinetic Credit Union, St. Thomas Episcopal Church, the Tri-City Latino Festival, TSYS (a Global Payments Company) and Waffle House.

For more information about the Legacy Celebration, visit the Legacy Celebration website or contact Victoria Buchanan at 706.507.8591 or buchanan_victoria@columbusstate.edu.

Media contact:
Michael Tullier, APR, Executive Director of Strategic Communication + Marketing, 706.507.8729, mtullier@columbusstate.edu

Related news coverage:
CSU set to host annual Legacy Celebration Awards Banquet event (March 8, 2024, WTVM-TV)