Holiday declared in honor of UW staffer

For Dr. Millie Russell, today is more than just a birthday. Having devoted more than 40 years to the support of the University's minority community, she will be recognized for her achievements in a ceremony establishing Oct. 29 as official Millie Russell Day in the city of Seattle.

Russell currently serves as assistant to the vice president of the UW's Office of Minority Affairs [OMA], and has helped to develop many of the OMA's outreach projects.

Russell helped found the Multicultural Alumni Partnership [MAP], with which she is still heavily involved. Vivian Lee, who currently heads the organization, expressed great admiration for Russell, calling her "one of the biggest contributors" to the MAP.

"Everyone loves Millie," said Lee. "You'll find her at two or three events in one evening sometimes, speaking to high school students to let them know about the accessibility of the University."

Russell was also a founding member of the Ron McMair Overnight Program, which allows groups of elementary and middle school minority students to attend a two-day seminar at the University's Sciences Center. She helped establish the Seattle/Mombasa Sister City Association, which facilitates humanitarian aid and educational development by Seattleites in the Kenyan community of Mombasa.

University-sponsored youth programs like the Early Scholars' Outreach Program, which Russell had an integral role in planning, have been used as a model for the nationwide Gear-Up program.

She is deeply involved in Blacks in Science, Africare, the NAACP and many other programs and groups that work for minority interests. "She does a lot of networking," said Tom Hundley, OMA staffer and protege of Russell. "She always works on linking education to business and the government."

Lee expressed admiration for Russell's humility, in particular.

"She always downplays her role, doesn't ask for any special recognition ... she seldom draws attention to herself," she said.

Russell feels her greatest contribution to the UW lies in the connections she has established between campus, its minority students and the Seattle community in general, as well as the time she has spent to personally welcome students from underprivileged backgrounds.

"I remember one student who asked, 'Where are the gangs?'" said Russell. "I told him that there were no gangs, and he said, 'Wow! This is a great place to be!'"

The grandchild of freed slaves, Russell said she has always been expected to achieve great things.

"My parents always told us we were going to college ... They didn't know where the money was coming from, but they wanted us to take advantage of whatever opportunities were available to us."

She enrolled in the UW to study dance, but at her parents' behest she decided to pursue biology.

During the civil-rights movement in the '60s, Russell got the opportunity to teach a life sciences class at Garfield High School, which motivated her to start teaching secondary school full-time. The UW offered her a position within the OMA a few years later, and while she enjoyed working with disadvantaged students, she felt that the opportunity to promote minorities' goals at the college level could not be passed up.

She has been working for the University's minority community ever since, as well as teaching courses in biology.

The ceremony honoring Dr. Russell will be taking place at the Immaculate Conception Church, 820 18th Ave., from 6 to 8 p.m.