Daddy’s Promise at Morehouse Highlights Importance of Father/Daughter Relationships
November 8, 2008
By ADD SEYMOUR JR.
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Lemuel Payne stood in Sale Hall and reflected on raising his daughter, Chrisette.“She wasn’t a hard kid to raise,” Payne said as his daughter laughed and rolled her eyes. “She had her situations in school, like the school bullies. I took her in the bathroom and said ‘Put up your dukes!’”
“Oh, Dad,” said the doe-eyed daughter, better known as R&B songstress, Chrisette Michele, who goes by her first and middle names.
“But daughters, you always try to teach them honor and to respect themselves - to be sweet and to be a lady,” Payne said. “I’m proud of Chrissy.”
Their bond is the kind of father/daughter relationship that journalist Ed Gordon hopes to encourage through his national Daddy’s Promise campaign. Fathers are being asked to sign a pledge that makes a public acknowledgement of love and support for their daughters.
Tuskegee University’s Booker T. Washington Economic Summit to feature ‘Apprentice’ winner
November 7, 2008
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The 13th Annual Booker T. Washington Economic Summit will be held Nov. 19-21, at the Kellogg Conference Center on the campus of Tuskegee University.
The meeting aims to inform the Summit’s members, partners and other supporters of the achievements and opportunities for community economic development in the upcoming year.
This year, the Alabama Association of Community Development Corporations-Education Fund Inc. will hold their annual meeting in conjunction
Dr. Randal Pinkett, entrepreneur, speaker, author and community servant
Environmentalist visiting Elizabeth City State University suggests green economy for the Albemarle
November 7, 2008
Majora Carter, an environmentalist who specializes in environmental justice and environmental racism, greeted guests at Elizabeth City State University to explore the development of a green economy for the Albemarle. Carter told her audience a green economy, entrepreneurship and a clean environment are factors community leaders must consider for a successful future. The audience consisted of guests from nearby towns, counties and economic development commissions.
Citizens shouldn’t rush to toss used items in the trash when they could be recycled for another purpose Carter advised.
Training men and women recently released from jail for green collar jobs is a crucial strategy she promotes to reduce the number of convicts returning to jail and to reduce the money the tax payers spend on correction facilities.
She has advised numerous cities, universities, communities and businesses of the virtues of green collar jobs and environmental sound planning measures.
Jackson State University president honored with 2008 Thurgood Marshall Education Leadership Award
November 7, 2008
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(JACKSON, Miss.) - Jackson State University’s President Ronald Mason Jr. was recently honored with a 2008 Education Leadership Award during the Thurgood Marshall College Fund’s 21st Anniversary Awards Dinner Oct. 27.
Mason, chief executive officer of the only university located in Mississippi’s capital since 2000, holds a bachelor’s and juris doctorate from Columbia University. He has led JSU through an impressive academic restructuring and campus revitalization that has expanded into the surrounding community of West Jackson. Most recently, Jackson State University announced plans to creating a mixed-use development center adjacent to the campus.
The Educational Leadership Award is the highest individual award presented to a sitting president or educational leader of a public HBCU. It is presented annually to an educational leader who has demonstrated outstanding business, academic and visionary leadership through effective management of his or her institution. Nominees are submitted by philanthropic, board, government, alumni, students and educational leaders nationally.
Dr. Donna Oliver named sixth president of Mississippi Valley State University
November 7, 2008
Dr. Donna H. Oliver has been announced as the sixth president to lead Mississippi Valley State University following a day of meetings with faculty, staff, students, alumni and community members. She will begin her presidency in early January 2009.
For more information, see the Mississippi IHL Web site
Alcorn State University to host 2008 Multicultural Festival
November 7, 2008
In a celebration of institutional as well as regional diversity, Alcorn State University is hosting its fourth Multicultural Festival. The Festival has been expanded to include more days and more activities this year. Festival activities are taking place on Monday, November 17 – Wednesday, November 19.
The major feast and activities will be happening Wednesday, November 19, 2-4 p.m. at the E.E. Simmons Gymnasium and 4-6pm at the Dr. Clinton Bristow Dining Facility on the institution’s main campus in Lorman, Mississippi.
Delaware State awards its 1st Shalita Middleton scholarship recipient
November 7, 2008
 Shalita Middleton %20250.jpg) Jennifer I. Gray |
Delaware State University recently named junior DSU student Jennifer I. Gray as first recipient of the Shalita Middleton Memorial Scholarship.
The scholarship was established in memory of Shalita K. Middleton, a freshman DSU student from Washington D.C. who was slain in September 2007.
Ms. Gray is a 3.7 GPA nursing and forensic biology double major from East Orange, N.J. She has recently been inducted in the National Collegiate Honor Society, and she is also a Thurgood Marshall Scholar, New Jersey Advocates for Education Scholar and a Ronald McNair Scholar.
The daughter of Lillian Gray of Jersey City, N.J., Ms. Gray plans to go to graduate school to work toward becoming a forensic pathologist. In addition to pursuing academic excellence, she is also the President of DSU Chapter of the NAACP Unit 2718. She also serves as a tutor in anatomy, physiology and English.
Howard University, Library of Congress host author Chinua Achebe
November 7, 2008
WASHINGTON (October 23, 2008) – The Howard University Ralph Bunche International Affairs Center, the African Studies Department, and the Library of Congress recently co-hosted a symposium and celebratory evening program in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the internationally acclaimed novel Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. The day long symposium featured prominent scholars, writers, and critics of African literature.
WHO: Featured speakers include Ghanaian author and playwright Ama Ata Aidoo, Dr. Ali Mazrui, Albert Schweitzer, Professor of Humanities at Binghamton University, Dr. Simon Gikandi, and Robert Schirmer, Professor of English at Princeton University. Participating Howard University faculty include: Dr. Mbye Cham, Dr. Eleanor Traylor, Dr. Victoria Arana-Robinson and Dr. Jeanne Toungara.
WHAT: A symposium and special exhibit in honor of Things Fall Apart. Featured speakers include internationally acclaimed author Chinua Achebe. Howard University faculty will revisit the nature and scope of Achebe’s groundbreaking novel, assessing its importance then and now. The event is free of charge and open to the public.
Fayetteville State Professor Wins National Grant
February 26, 2008
Sarah S. G. Frantz, an assistant professor of English at Fayetteville State University (FSU), won the 2007-2008 Academic Research Grant from the Romance Writers of America (RWA). The $5000 grant provides funding for the academic study of mass market popular romance fiction.Frantz teaches eighteenth-century and Romantic-era British literature at FSU, as well as popular literature and culture. She has published articles on Jane Austen and popular romance fiction and is currently editing two academic anthologies, one of which examines popular romance fiction from new theoretical perspectives. Frantz also blogs about popular romance fiction at Romancing the Blog and Teach Me Tonight. The research grant will provide summer funding for Frantz to write three academic articles on popular romance fiction.
Bethune Cookman Band Director Recognized
February 21, 2008
Donovan Wells calls himself a country boy who grew up fishing and tending patches of vegetables on the family farm in Virginia, even earning money for school by packing hams in Smithfield.But the director of bands — including the Marching Wildcats — at Bethune-Cookman University in Daytona Beach has reached out far beyond the banks of Virginia’s James River, and not only with his music.
This month, he’s among the ambassadors of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) featured in a free booklet titled “Profiles in Pride: March of the Mighty,” available at all Wal-Mart stores. Kraft, the other project sponsor, ensured the booklet’s food element, and Wells contributed the Crispy Fried Fish recipe he and his father have always used.
