Lisa Leslie announced as keynote speaker for Keeper of the Dream Awards at Oakland University

Photo Credit: Jordan Strauss/Invision/Associated Press

One of the WNBA’s great players will be on hand for the 2020 Keeper of the Dream Awards Celebration on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day on Jan. 20.

Lisa Leslie was announced as the keynote speaker for this year’s awards. Previous keynotes have included Jeff Johnson, Holly Robinson Peete, Common, Danny Glover, Andrew Young, Coretta Scott King, Edsel B. Ford and Martin Luther King III.


I am very excited and looking forward to having Lisa Leslie on our campus.

–Omar Brown-El, senior director of Oakland University’s Center for Multicultural Initiatives (per university release)


The Keeper of the Dream event honors and recognizes leaders in our community and Ms. Leslie is a Hall of Famer and an Olympic Gold Medalist who definitely has displayed strong leadership and dedication to the community.

–Omar Brown-El, senior director of Oakland University’s Center for Multicultural Initiatives (per University release)

The awards ceremony was first established in 1993 and honors King’s work on civil rights. It also awards scholarships to Oakland University students who have carried on his legacy of contributing to racial equality.

Along with Leslie’s WNBA accolades (two WNBA titles, three WNBA MVP awards and four Olympic gold medals among many others), she is fresh off leading Triplets to its first Big 3 championship as its head coach.