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Exploring Justice and Service at Juniata's MLK Convocation
(Posted January 12, 2026)
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Judge Marissa Gunn ’05
Judge Marissa Gunn ’05
HUNTINGDON, Pa.— Judge Marissa Gunn ’05 will present “Untitled” to open Juniata’s spring semester as keynote speaker at the annual Martin Luther King, Jr., Convocation. The convocation will take place at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, January 20, in Ellis Ballroom within Ellis Hall.
“We are looking forward to a wonderful 2026 academic year, and hearing from one of our alums on such an auspicious day is a great way to start,” Derek James, member of the Senior Leadership Team. “MLK's legacy of perseverance and justice should be a hallmark of all of our paths and we are lucky to have Marissa, one who embodies that path with us on January 20.”
Following her graduation from Juniata, Gunn served as an AmeriCorps Volunteer working as a case manager for a legal and social services organization in Washington, D.C. She then earned her juris doctor at Howard University School of Law in 2009. After law school, Gunn spent over a decade working for a legal service organization focused on providing legal services to vulnerable children and families in the District of Columbia.
Gunn initially served as a guardian ad litem, representing the best interests of children in foster care, and later represented adult caregivers working to get their young family members out of foster care (or to prevent them from entering care). Simultaneously, she trained and mentored hundreds of pro bono attorneys working at top law firms to provide high-quality legal representation in complex child welfare and child custody cases in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. Gunn was appointed as an administrative law judge for the District of Columbia Office of Administrative Hearings in 2021.
A native of Pennsylvania, she was born in Pittsburgh and raised in York. At Juniata, Gunn participated in many clubs and activities, including women’s soccer, symphonic band (where she played piccolo), and she was an intern in the Office of Diversity and Inclusion where she helped name and design Juniata’s Plexus program. She and her husband live in Washington, D.C., with their two sons, Oliver and Levi, and their geriatric cat, Georgia.
This event is free and open to the public.
Contact April Feagley at feaglea@juniata.edu or (814) 641-3131 for more information.