Stetson University Professor Patrick Coggins has received the inaugural Torch of Hope Award from the local Martin Luther King Jr. Committee for his legacy in education, and efforts in the minority and Caribbean communities.

Coggins received the award and a Certificate of Recognition Friday night, Jan. 13, at the 2017 MLK Community Awards presentation at the DeLand Museum of Art.

Coggins, Ph.D., a Stetson professor of education and multicultural education, has worked with the MLK Committee for more than 20 years, planning the local events that surround the civil rights leader’s national holiday. He also serves as the committee’s liaison with Stetson University, which hosts the MLK Day Annual Breakfast, said Barbara Girtman, organizer of the MLK Community Awards.

Coggins wrote a book, “Tuskegee Airman Fighter Pilot: A Story of an Original Tuskegee Pilot Lt. Col. Hiram E. Mann,” and gave out 100 of the books last year to local students for MLK Day, so they could learn about the heroic airmen, she said. And he lobbied for teaching African-American history in public schools.

“Dr. Coggins is an educator who’s very well respected,” Girtman said. “He cares about the community. I know how much he’s involved in cross-cultural, multicultural, inclusion and access at Stetson and throughout the community. He’s a great mentor and resource for us.”

Girtman said this is the first year the MLK Committee has given out an award for an “Education is Key” category. The “Torch of Hope Award, David H. Staples Community Legacy Recognition,” is named in honor of the first African-American principal in Volusia County schools, she said. The award will be given out annually.

Coggins said he was surprised to receive the award, which he called important because it recognizes Stetson’s partnership with the community. About 730 people attended the MLK Day Breakfast on Monday in the Rinker Field House, including local politicians, more than 100 Stetson students and more than 30 faculty and staff, he said. Stetson President Wendy B. Libby gave the opening remarks.

“This partnership, especially in a time when we have all the interracial conflict, from my perspective is very important,” Coggins said. “For me, this is a healing event that brings all racial groups together to celebrate liberty and justice for all.”

Coggins, who was born and raised in Guyana, also serves as Chair of the Faculty Senate and is a member of the President’s Cabinet at Stetson.