Join the Black Student Alliance (BSA) and their featured guest, Melody Pannell, for this worship service developing this year’s theme of Black History Month at EMU, “Celebrating Black Excellence“. Melody Pannell’s address is entitled, Black Excellence: Revisiting Resistance, Resilience and Radical Hope based in part on Romans 5: 1-5 in the Christian scriptures.

Melody M. Pannell is a native of Harlem, New York City, where her interests developed concerning addressing social inequities and disparities. Pannell holds a Bachelors in Social Work from Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, Virginia, a Masters in Social Work from Fordham University in New York City and a Masters of Divinity and Masters in Christian Education from The Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology at Virginia Union University in Richmond, Virginia. Pannell also holds a Graduate Certificate in Restorative Justice from The Center for Justice and Peacebuilding at EMU. Pannell is also the Founder and CEO of Destiny’s Daughters Inc., a Therapeutic Spiritual Mentoring Program dedicated to the personal transformation, holistic development and self – empowerment of young women and girls and Embodied Equity Leadership Institute LLC. Recently, Melody was officially initiated as a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc., Charlottesville Alumnae Chapter and was accepted into the Inaugural Womanist Preaching Doctorate in Ministry Program at Memphis Theological Seminary.

Pannell was recently appointed as the inaugural Director of Diversity and Community Engagement at UVA Health in Charlottesville, VA. In her previous positions, Melody M. Pannell served as Assistant Professor of Social Work in the Department of Applied Social Sciences, Chairperson for the Diversity and Inclusion Committee and Vice – President of the Faculty Senate and Director of Multicultural Services at Eastern Mennonite University. Pannell also serves on the leadership of the Coming to the Table Charlottesville Local Affiliate and as the Board Chair of Anabaptist World Inc. It is her life’s mission to develop inclusive communities, build the capacity for resilience and embody social justice through the values and ethics of womanist theology and encourage those that she serves to engage in a transformative journey of racial reconciliation, holistic healing and human flourishing.