Joseph E. Marshall Jr., PhD, the executive director of the nationally recognized Omega Boys Club of San Francisco and a past recipient of the prestigious MacArthur "Genius Award," is this year’s UCSF Black Heritage Month keynote speaker.

His talk, "Saving Our Children in the New Century," will be held Friday, February 25, noon to 1 p.m., in HSW 300.

In 1987, Marshall co-founded the Omega Boys Club, an organization for youth and young adults which emphasizes violence prevention, academic achievement and non-involvement with drugs. With the support of the club, more than 140 young men and women have gone on to college and 62 have graduated.

Marshall, a teacher and administrator in the San Francisco Unified School District for 25 years, has received many honors for his work at the Omega Boys Club, including being named a MacArthur Fellow in 1994. Marshall received the Congressional Freedom Works Award in 1997, the National Trust Award in 1999, and he has been recognized by the State Legislature and the SF Board of Supervisors for his work. Marshall and the Omega Boys Club have been featured by all the major television networks and national newspapers, including the New York Times and Los Angeles Times.

The Feb. 25 talk is sponsored by the Black Caucus at UCSF, with support from the Chancellor’s Endowment Fund,