A Coppin State University alumna is making history in Oakland, California! Learn more about Michelle N. Phillips in the release from the City of Oakland below.
The Oakland Police Commission is pleased to announce that Michelle N. Phillips will serve as the City of Oakland’s first ever Independent Inspector General, effective early January.
This is a turning point for Oakland and demonstrates the community’s call for stronger police accountability, since the position of Inspector General was the result of a ballot measure expanding Measure S1 and passed with a resounding majority (81% of the vote, according to news reports).
“Michelle Phillips is a mover and shaker who will thrive here in Oakland. Her dynamic leadership in Baltimore showed she can implement the kind of transformative reform strategies the Oakland Police Commission is looking for from its inaugural Inspector General,” said Police Commission Chair Jackson.
Ms. Phillips brings to Oakland extensive experience as a criminal justice professional in areas of Community Policing and Police Science research. She previously served as the Deputy Inspector General of Investigations for the City of Baltimore, where she was responsible for streamlining and improving all aspects of the Investigations Unit to meet and exceed national best practice.
Prior to her work for the City of Baltimore, Ms. Phillips was responsible for managing large scale research projects dedicated to understanding and improving community policing at the National Police Foundation. She was also instrumental to the creation and integration of a national open-source database for officer involved shootings.
Ms. Phillips earned her B.S. in Criminal Justice from Coppin State University and her M.S. in Criminal Justice, with a specialization in Law and Courts from the University of Baltimore. Ms. Phillips is a certified fraud examiner and certified inspector general investigator.
“Ms. Phillips speaks with thoughtfulness and genuine humility and displays an underlying fierce commitment to a fair and just system. It’s because of this, and the agencies the community voted to put in place, that I believe Oakland is poised for its next chapter,” said Police Commission Vice Chair Milele.
Reporting to the Oakland Police Commission, the role of the IG will be to ensure the Oakland Police Department (OPD) is performing to the highest standards and complying with its policies and
constitutional policing practices. The IG will also be responsible for reviewing and investigating how the City of Oakland is handling police misconduct by reviewing the work and efforts of the Community Police Review Agency (CPRA), as well as how OPD is addressing and complying with federal reforms.
Upon her appointment to the position of Inspector General, Ms. Phillips said: “The City of Oakland’s passage of Measures LL and S1 displays the City’s undeniable dedication to positive, progressive and transparent police reform and accountability. I am excited to be a part of such a monumental time for the City of Oakland and am honored and committed to serving the people of Oakland.”
Spelman College has just received one of its largest donations in history! At $12 million, the donation will help Spelman to build a modern new academic building. Get the full story from the Spelman release below.
A $12 million gift from the Lettie Pate Evans Foundation will place Spelman College closer to opening the doors of a state-of-the-art academic facility designed to bring creative disciplines, technology, and innovation into close collaboration.
“Spelman College is an exceptional institution,” said Russ Hardin, president of the Lettie Pate Evans Foundation. “We are pleased to support the Center for Innovation & the Arts with a grant that will allow Spelman to fulfill its ambitions in arts, technology and innovation.”
The Center is designed to become a catalyst for interdisciplinary interaction by clustering together numerous arts departments, now scattered across the campus, to create a vibrant community of innovators, collaborators, artists, musicians, and scientists.
“The rapid convergence of art, technology, and entrepreneurship with the liberal arts and sciences are beginning to yield new solutions to old challenges,” said Mary Schmidt Campbell, Ph.D., president of Spelman. “This new facility will be a dynamic learning environment that encourages Spelman students to master their chosen fields, and utilize technology inspired solutions to solve persistent urban problems.”
This is the second largest gift that the College has received in support of the Center. In December 2018, The Center received its largest contribution; a $30 million gift from Ronda Stryker and her husband Bill Johnston. To date the College has raised $81.5 million toward the completion of the building.
“The Center stands to redefine the way the arts are accessed at Spelman and lead to groundbreaking, cross-disciplinary discoveries,” said Trustee Lovette Twyman Russell, C ’83.
“Spelman is one of the greatest assets to Atlanta and I’m happy to know that one of the city’s most influential foundations wants to invest in the success of our students by supporting the new Center for Innovation & the Arts,” said Russell. “The College’s demonstrated strength in STEM, coupled with its extraordinary assets in the arts, position Spelman to become an epicenter for artistic expression and digital innovation.”
The Center will be the home to Spelman’s existing Innovation Lab, the forthcoming Center for Black Entrepreneurship and will include a “ front porch” atrium that will link Spelman to its Westside community. Complete with community-facing spaces such as a second gallery for the Spelman Museum of Fine Art, “The Porch” will also include a dance performance studio, a high-tech digital black box theatre and a small café/retail outlet that faces a public plaza.
The Center will also include several digital media and gaming labs, and a multi-purpose classroom/event space. On the upper two levels of the building, a double-height atrium is envisioned as a multi-zoned area to enhance learning, teaching, practice, and the exchange of ideas across disciplines.
Lettie Pate Whitehead Evans was a generous philanthropist and accomplished businesswoman. She was the wife of Joseph B. Whitehead, one of the original bottlers of Coca-Cola. Gifts to Spelman from the Lettie Pate Evans Foundation and associated Woodruff and Whitehead Foundations over the last six decades total more than $36 million.
Morris Brown College is getting much-needed support after having its federal financial aid program reinstated! Get the full story from the Morris Brown release below.
Morris Brown College (MBC) is proud to announce its reinstatement to participate in the Federal Financial Aid program administered by the United States Department of Education. This announcement comes on the heels of receiving accreditation candidacy by the Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools (TRACS), a Virginia-based accreditation agency recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. This monumental achievement came after nearly 20 years of effort, marking a historical milestone for the 140-year-old college.
Morris Brown College earning accreditation candidacy is a major achievement demonstrating the institution can meet quality standards and its engagement in continuous improvement. Candidacy indicates that the institution is compliant with the rigorous standards and criteria it has set forth, in addition to being evaluated by an on-site peer team, including the professional judgment of its evaluation team and the Accreditation Commission, based on the institution providing sound instruction and student services. As of July 1, 2020, the United States Department of Education holds all accrediting agencies to the same standard and it no longer holds a distinction between regional and national accrediting agencies. In 2002, Morris Brown’s accreditation was revoked due to debt and financial mismanagement, which barred students from applying for Federal Financial Aid. After obtaining accreditation candidacy, Morris Brown College became eligible to participate in the Federal Financial Aid programs.
Financial aid is any type of college funding that does not come from family, personal savings, or earnings. It can include grants, scholarships, work-study jobs, federal or private loan programs. Financial aid can be used to cover educational expenses such as tuition/fees, room/board, books/supplies, and transportation.
FAFSA can be used to determine eligibility for the following programs:
Federal Student Aid –Pell Grants, Student loans, and Federal Work-Study.
State Financial Aid – HOPE Scholarship and Grant programs.
Institutional Financial Aid – Institutional Scholarships offered by a college.
Private Financial Aid – Private Scholarships provided by businesses or other organizations.
“We are elated about the reinstatement of Federal Financial Aid at Morris Brown College- this is history! I want to thank the team for their hard work and for making this possible. Students can now pay to attend Morris Brown College which happens to be one of the most affordable colleges in the entire state of Georgia at $4250.00 each semester. It is my goal that our students graduate with little to no debt. Morris Brown College is now a viable option to everyone as we are historically a haven for all hungry souls. It is a new day for Morris Brown College. This is truly The Hard Reset!” as quoted by President Kevin James.
Founded by formerly enslaved religious leaders at Big Bethel AME Church in 1881, MBC is the first college in Georgia to be owned and operated by African Americans. The iconic Fountain Hall and the current Morris Brown College campus is where Dr. W.E.B. Du Bois wrote “The Souls of Black Folk” in 1903. Notable alumni include Alberta Williams King, mother of Martin Luther King, Jr., and James Alan McPherson, the first black writer to win a Pulitzer Prize for fiction.
Faculty at Florida A&M University have been awarded a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation! Get the full story from Andrew Skerritt at FAMU Forward below.
Photo caption: from left-top- Selina Darling-Reed, Karam F. Soliman, Arlesia Mathis, Fran Close; from left: bottom, Sandra Suther, Elizabeth Mazzio, Remelda Saunder-Jones, Sarah Buxbaum
A Florida A&M University (FAMU) College of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences, Institute of Public Health (CoPPS, IPH) team of researchers has secured a Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) grant to examine maternal and child health disparities in the Big Bend region.
The team led by principal investigator Selina Darling-Reed, Ph.D., associate dean and associate professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences, received $469,128 for 18 months from BMGF for a study titled “Maternal and Child Health Disparities: HBCU partnership initiative.”
Darling-Reed said the funding represents the University’s first BMGF research grant.
“We are grateful for the funding and opportunity that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has given us to gain a better understanding of the impact of socioeconomic, lifestyle and environmental factors on Maternal and Child Health in the minority community using a multidisciplinary approach,” she said. “We are hopeful that the results from this study could have a significant impact on health disparities and mortality inequities experienced in mothers and infants in the Big Bend Area of Florida and in many minority and underserved communities throughout the country.”
The study, which runs from October 2021 to April 2023 seeks to answer such questions as what is the relationship between lifestyle, including diet, factors, behaviors, and maternal and fetal health outcomes in minority women in Florida, using Florida Department of Health Office of Vital Statistics data; what nutritional services and educational services do minority women receive; what breakdown products of biological molecules are detected as an indicator of poor maternal outcomes and external changes to the DNA occur in minority women peri and post pregnancy that correlate to specific lifestyle health disparities.
Researchers are seeking to determine the impact of poor nutrition, environmental, or lifestyle factors on pregnant minority on maternal health and the future health of their infant in the Big Bend area. They also want to improve the poor maternal and child health outcomes among minority women, said Darling-Reed.
The seeds for the grant proposal were sown during a meeting with FAMU President Larry Robinson, Ph.D., and BMGF representatives. Following that meeting, Associate Dean for IPH in CoPPS, IPH Cynthia Harris, Ph.D., identified several faculty members with a track record of maternal and child health research. Harris then introduced those faculty members to BMGF representatives, who informed them of the opportunity to develop a maternal health research proposal.
“This is such a wonderful opportunity and opens up the door for a sustained fruitful research partnership with the Gates Foundation,” Harris said. “Dr. Darling-Reed will provide phenomenal leadership with an outstanding talented team of maternal and child health faculty in public health, basic sciences, economic, social and administrative pharmacy, and the health care community.”
The team includes co-principal investigators, Professor Fran Close, Ph.D.; Associate Professor Sarah Buxbaum, Ph.D., and Associate Professor Arlesia Mathis, Ph.D., faculty from the Institute of Public Health, and Professor Sandra Suther, Ph.D., director of the Economic, Social, and Administrative Pharmacy Division, and Associate Dean of Research and Distinguished Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences Karam F Soliman, Ph.D.; and Elizabeth Mazzio, Ph.D., assistant professor of research of Pharmaceutical Sciences Division in partnership with Primary Healthcare physician Dr. Remelda Saunders-Jones.
An adjunct professor at FAMU, Saunders-Jones has served the Big Bend region as a primary care physician for more than 20 years and is president of the Gunn Medical Society.
Technology is one of the most important things needed to keep a successful business running. Unfortunately, many entrepreneurs may have a great business idea, but may not be technology savvy. Thankfully, if you are an HBCU student interested either in technology, business, or both, a new program has emerged to provide a solid foundation of knowledge.
Black Students Talk Tech (BSTT) is an immersive opportunity for HBCU students led by Black tech leaders. The program was created by Black Women Talk Tech, an organization that provides a community to Black female owners and leaders of tech startups. Realizing that it is often information and connections that hinder Black entrepreneurs, they created BSTT to ensure students learned about business early. With the right foundation, these students can become the innovative professionals we need in the next generation. To be able to cover enough concepts, BSTT was created as a 6-week program, which will take place every Saturday from January 8th to February 12th 2022.
If you are interested in BSTT, apply as soon as possible, as only 50 students will be accepted. Interest in technology and entrepreneurship is preferred, but all majors will be accepted. Students will need to enter the program already having a well-formulated plan for a pre-existing or future business. They are looking for undergraduate HBCU students in their second or third year with a 2.5 GPA or above.
Participants will be able to learn how to start a tech startup, apply start-up practices and learn scalable tech. They will also be able to pitch their business idea directly to tech companies, be matched to corporate mentors, and have access to career talks and office hours. In fact, the pitch competition winner will be offered an all-expense paid trip to New York City! Students will also be offered the opportunity to engage in workshop sessions, which include:Education & Office Hours with the tech industry’s best and brightest
How to scale your business
How to build an app with no code
How to build a product that users love
How to Build a Business Plan
How to Draft Your Pitch Deck
Careers in Tech
Leadership Skills in Tech and Business
Luckily, the application deadline has been extended! Now, students have until 11:59pm this Sunday December 12th to submit their applications. Click here to apply now.
Today is graduation day for Megan Thee Stallion! Many around the world are congratulating the super star for keeping up her TexasSouthern University studies despite being at the top of her rap career. Get the full story from Jade Lawson at Good Morning America below.
Megan Thee Stallion is getting hotter by one degree. The Grammy-winning artist received a bachelor’s degree in health administration from Texas Southern University on Saturday.
“Megan Pete, a.k.a. Megan Thee Stallion, is one of 843 graduates who will celebrate their accomplishments achieved at Texas Southern University,” the university announced in a statement.
Ahead of the big day, the hitmaker took to social media to share her excitement and inspire her fans.
“I want y’all to remember that you can do whatever you wanna do and be whoever you wanna be, cause look at me,” she wrote.
The Houston native started her college journey at Prairie View A&M University, another historically Black college or university in Texas. Pete is rooted in a rich legacy of HBCU alumni following in the footsteps of her mother, grandmother, aunt and uncle, who all attended PVAMU. She later transferred to Texas Southern, where she will cross the stage today.
Despite fame, she vowed to finish college not only for herself but for the influences in her family –- her grandmother and late mother, Holly Thomas.
The rapper has been a strong advocate for higher education, awarding several college scholarships to students over the last two years and proving to be an inspiration for millions of her fans.
Crossing the stage, she joins a prestigious roster of HBCU alumni who are activists and entertainers, including Vice President Kamala Harris, Oprah Winfrey, Jesse Jackson, Taraji P. Henson, Michael Strahan and Stephen A. Smith.
This has been a breakout year for Pete. She took home awards for best rap performance and best rap song for her No.1 hit “Savage” at the 63rd Grammys.
In November, she was honored at the 2021 Glamour Woman of the Year awards, when she took a moment to embrace her accomplishments as a college student rather than a hip-hop phenomenon.
“I win a lot of awards as Megan Thee Stallion, but tonight I choose to accept this award as Megan Pete,” she said, “a soon-to-be college graduate from Houston, a woman who has built a successful career in a male-dominated industry.”
Megan Thee Stallion plans to open an assisted living facility in Houston, which she has said will provide more opportunities for graduates and economically support her home city.
Texas Southern University will be represented well when alumnus Michael Strahan goes on a very important trip in Houston this weekend. This Saturday, the current host of Good Morning America, and former NFL star and will be blasting into space! Read the full story from Pooja Lodhia at local station ABC13 below to learn more about the student and professor that have been invited to witness when Strahan blasts off! It’s an opportunity that neither thought they would ever have.
Credit: ABC 13
When GMA host Michael Strahan blasts off on a Blue Origin rocket, one lucky student and one lucky professor from his alma mater will be there to watch.
“He told me, I was like, ‘Woah! Mind blown,'” laughed Angel Mata, a senior at Texas Southern University.
“I’m just completely blown away,” added aviation professor Ed Pataky. “I grew up with the space program. Never saw a launch, and now I get to do it.”
Texas Southern University is the only institution in the state that offers a four-year Aviation degree. At least 80 students are enrolled in the program.
“If you think about it, in some of these neighborhoods in Houston, you’re never going to get an opportunity to speak to a pilot or an aircraft mechanic,” explained TSU Director of Aviation Dr. Terence Fontaine.
Texas Southern is the only HBCU in the country with flight simulation programs.
Fontaine hopes the Blue Origin launch will inspire more students to pursue aviation – a field that has historically lacked diversity.
“It’s a beautiful field, aviation. I’ve loved it all my life, so just trying to give back and try to help these kids realize something I’ve realized my whole life,” Fontaine said. “For these kids to be able to talk to somebody like Michael, who walked the same hallway that he did, I think means a lot.”
With its December release, Steven Speilberg’s adaptation of West Side Story is perhaps the most highly anticipated musical of the year! Follow lovebirds Tony and Maria in the classic story as they fall in love despite being caught in the middle of a fierce neighborhood gang rivalry. Academy Award winner Speilberg directed and produced the film, while Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winner Tony Kushner wrote the screenplay!
Our exciting West Side Story HBCU Roundtable featured actresses Rachel Zegler (Maria), Ariana DeBose (Anita), and actor David Alvarez (Bernardo). If you’re familiar with the West Side Story play or original 1961 film, you’ll appreciate this ensemble. In the film, Maria is swept off her feet for the first time by Tony, who has tried to turn his life around after being a member of the racist Jets gang. But with her brother Bernardo serving as head of the rival Sharks gang, the relationship immediately becomes a problem. Through it all, in their shared apartment, it is Anita who tries her best to support the polarizing interests of the brother and sister.
We had the golden opportunity to sit down with a few cast members of the film, and we hand-picked several HBCU students to ask them the questions. From asking about the historical context of the film, to what it takes to make it in the industry, the students wanted to cover it all. Comedian Kyle of the Mic hosted the roundtable, with students representing HBCUs such as Bowie State University, Texas Southern University, Howard University, and Grambling State University.
Cameron Nolan of Morehouse College: In the 1961 West Side Story film, one could say the central theme was following your heart, and doing so despite what the world may say. So as actors, actresses, performers- really creators in general, how do you stay encouraged in pursuit of your dreams?
Anita: It’s an ongoing thing every day is different, I can tell you that. I’ve personally been working in the industry for 10+ years and I’ve had lots of success and it looks very shiny on the outside, but you get to the sparkly moments it’s been a real roller coaster. So many different microaggressions I’ve experienced. It’s been really intriguing to see how I present. I’ve been deemed ethnically ambiguous. I’ve been told I’m not black enough for one part, I’ve been told I’m not Latina enough for another part. But if I could just live in the gray, I was very hireable. So I think ultimately in order to keep going in an industry where you don’t feel seen, you have to have undying faith in yourself. Belief that you have something to offer, and the realization that just because one door doesn’t open doesn’t mean that another one won’t. You keep knocking down the doors until the one door opens, or the two doors open, and the people that see you, those are your people. And you start changing their minds, because if you change one mind you can change another mind. Beyond that, there’s no recipe. I don’t think there’s a recipe for keeping yourself going beyond holding on so tightly to your dreams, and a decent amount of self-care!
David: I think a big thing is it’s really about persistence. It’s about having confidence in yourself and what you have to bring to the table. Because a lot of times people out there are just not gonna believe in you. They’re just not gonna believe in you. And you’ve got to be that person to look at yourself in the mirror and say ‘I can do this, I believe in myself, I know my worth and I have a lot to offer to this world.’ So it is a roller coaster ride like Ariana said. You have great moments, but behind those great moments is 1,000 failing moments and it’s about not letting those failures get to you. I mean now that we’re here it’s incredible to know that all this hard work, all these learning experiences and can be brought to the table in a meaningful way, and also being part of this project is opening so many doors for so many communities to be able to trust themselves and be valued and be respected. So I’m just very fortunate to be a part of this and it’s not an easy ride. It’s not an easy ride at all. But if you love the art, if you love what you do, it is worth it in the end.
Rachel: It’s remembering that other people’s success is not in any way your failure. Root for your friends, we notice. It’s putting good out and getting good back. The universe works in a very real way. But it’s also a lot of hard work and it’s not just showing up to every attempt it’s not showing up. You know in my case it’s not showing up to every audition for other people but it’s showing up for myself and making sure that I am there and I am centered and I am ready because I can’t give 100% if I’m not at 100%. So take care of yourself beyond everything and just remember to root for other people’s successes as well. Learn from them.
Kendal Robinson of Howard University: West Side Story was deemed significant by the United States Library of Congress, and was also selected for the National Film Registry in 1997. In this film, can we expect the same impact and significance in the Steven Spielberg 2021 film, and also what culturally relevant themes can we expect to see?
Rachel: I think it still holds the same cultural relevance so I do expect our film to have that same impact, but there’s also cultural sensitivity but I think the 1961 film lacked severely. It’s the way that the culture is represented on all fronts. There was a big historical context overhaul that was done with Tony Kushner’s script and it was a real conversation surrounding racial tension, political tension, social tension, the 1957 climate for someone and the Robert Moses clearance project that was displacing low income communities out of their homes if you lived in a certain 20 blocks to make away for the Lincoln Center for the performing arts which was a rich white person thing, that all of these low-income communities that were being forced out of their homes wouldn’t even be able to enjoy. So not only is that the reason I think it will be culturally impactful because it’s a conversation that’s still ongoing and that we’re still having surrounding gentrification today. But it’s also the type of cultural conversation you can expect from our film.
The full roundtable conversation is up now on our HBCU Buzz YouTube, so be sure to tune in. Just as importantly, make sure you watch the new West Side Story out in theaters beginning December 10, 2021!
The Alabama Community College System released an announcement today that a history-making decision has been made. H. Councill Trenholm State Community College has appointed its first female president with the selection of Dr. Kemba Chambers! Get the full story through the ACCS release below.
On Wednesday, Chancellor Jimmy H. Baker announced the appointment of Dr. Kemba Chambers as President of H. Councill Trenholm State Community College. Chambers is the first female to serve in this capacity at the college.
Chambers has 25 years of higher education experience and currently serves as Interim President at Trenholm. She previously served as Interim Associate Vice Chancellor of Teaching and Learning and Chief Instructional Officer at the Alabama Community College System, and Executive Vice President and Vice President of Instructional Services at Trenholm State. Chambers has served in various leadership roles at four of Alabama’s community colleges including serving as Interim President at Coastal Alabama Community College in Bay Minette and J. F. Drake State Community and Technical College in Huntsville. She also served at Calhoun Community College in Decatur and Chattahoochee Valley Community College in Phenix City.
“The future of Trenholm State is bright with Dr. Chambers at the helm,” Baker said. “Her familiarity with the college combined with her vision and commitment to creating opportunity for students and the greater community, makes her the ideal leader for Trenholm State. “
Chambers earned an Associate of Arts degree from Chattahoochee Valley Community College and a Bachelor of Science in Secondary Mathematics Education from Columbus State University. She earned a Master of Science in Secondary Mathematics Education from Troy University, an Educational Specialist in Educational Leadership from Troy University, and a Doctorate of Education in Higher Education Administration from Auburn University.
“Opportunities abound at Trenholm State and it’s an honor to serve as President at the college at such an exciting time,” said Chambers. “I look forward to working alongside not only our outstanding faculty, staff, and students at Trenholm but with community leaders across the River Region to continue to provide opportunities for a better future through education and workforce training.”
Dr. Chambers’ tenure as President at Trenholm State Community College will begin on December 15, 2021.
If you’ve gotten the life-changing opportunity to attend an HBCU, it’s easy to list examples about why the experience is top tier. From the community, to the culture, to the food, to the friends, to the classes and professors, it’s hard to pick any one reason to go. Yet for high school students preparing to choose a college for themselves, the choice may not be so clear-cut. Recently an episode of The Last O.G. did a great job of capturing that experience these young students have when they’re flooded with choices. It definitely made us be more grateful for choosing an HBCU!
(Credit: TBS)
If you haven’t seen “The Last O.G.” yet, you’re missing out s. In the show, Tray (played by legendary comedian Tracy Morgan) comes home to Brooklyn after a 15-year prison sentence to find that his neighborhood has gone through a lot of changes. And as it turns out, his former girlfriend Shay (TIffany Haddish) had twins, a boy and a girl, that he had no idea about. Always one to work hard, Tray’s baby girl Amira (Taylor Mosby) is finally at the point where she’s preparing to pick the right college for her. Surprisingly for her, college presentation day at her high school doesn’t go as planned.
In what’s become our favorite episode of the fourth season, “Know Thyself” explores what it’s like for Amira to choose a college in the middle of an identity crisis. She initially believes she wants to attend a well-known Predominantly White Institution (PWI). In part, she is influenced by her white friends, who she feels she fits in with the most. During the college’s presentation, she is snubbed more than once by her dream school. Her father Tray wants to boldly call out how problematically she is being treated, but it only embarrasses her more. In this encounter, you can see her trying to distance herself (both with family and with her choice in school) from what may be considered too ghetto, or too Black.
Taylor Mosby plays Amira in “The Last O.G.” (Credit: Warner Media)
Without giving too much away, just know, ironically, that it’s an HBCU that ultimately validates her and encourages her to take up space. It’s a tough experience that many HBCU students can attest to. HBCUs were literally created because Black students were not welcome to be educated at pre-existing colleges and universities around the country. So while the acceptance to a PWI may feel like an honor to a student like Amira, it may not necessarily be the best choice to help them blossom in their own skin.
Make sure you catch the “Know Thyself” episode to discover which college Amira ultimately chooses. “The Last O.G.” airs on TBS every Tuesday at 10:30/9:30 CST.
Tennessee State University basketball player Hercy Miller arrived to the university to much fanfare, but unfortunately his stay was short lived. Get the full story on why she is leaving TSU in the story from Mike Organ at the Tennessean below.
Hercy Miller, left, with his hip-hop legend Master P., committed to play basketball Friday at Tennessee State. (Credit: Submitted to Tennessean)
Master P is committed to leveling the playing field for Historically Black Colleges and Universities, but for now his son Hercy Miller is transferring from the Tennessee State basketball program because of what the hip-hop mogul believes is a lack of medical resources within the athletics department.
Master P, whose name is Percy Miller, said his son did not receive proper medical attention after suffering a hip injury in the Tigers’ first game of the season Nov. 9 against Alabama A&M, and an improper diagnosis nearly led to the end of Hercy’s playing career.
“We’ve got a great program at Tennessee State, we’ve got great people, we loved the culture, we just don’t have enough trainers,” Master P said. “We don’t have enough medical people to take care of what needs to be taken care of. We don’t have the technology that the Dukes and all these major universities have. An injury like this could have been prevented.”
Master P told The Tennessean on Tuesday he does not blame the medical staff at TSU and instead blames the disparity in medical resources between major universities and HBCUs on an overall lack of funding.
Earlier this year, a report by the Office of Legislative Budget Analysis estimated TSU had been underfunded by as much as $544 million in land-grant funding over the years.
However, TSU athletics department officials told The Tennessean the school’s sports medicine department, which includes seven fulltime sports medicine employees, isn’t understaffed or underfunded compared to schools its size.
“The issue is not that we’re underfunded at all,” TSU director of sports medicine Trevor Searcy said. “It’s actually the opposite. The issue is that since (athletics director Mikki Allen) has been here we’ve been growing and when you grow your facilities have to grow as well and that’s what we’re in the process of doing now.”
However, Master P said he was never comfortable with TSU’s medical staff during Hercy’s time there and is perplexed by officials who are satisfied with the status quo.
“How can we help HBCUs if we’re going to sugar coat the truth? Then we are failing the next generation,” he said. “What do we need to fundraise for if staff members are saying we have everything we need?”
Timeline of Hercy Miller’s injury
Hercy Miller was cleared after the injury, Master P said, by TSU’s medical staff to play in the next game four days later. The freshman played nine minutes against Norfolk State and then 17 minutes in the following game against Fisk.
Master P remained concerned about Hercy’s injury, so TSU sent Hercy to a doctor who said he needed to take six months off to allow the injury to heal. Hercy was ruled out for the season on Nov. 30 after averaging 10.2 minutes in six games.
Master P then took Hercy to be evaluated by a specialist.
“The specialist said if we would have waited any longer he probably wouldn’t have been able to play basketball anymore because next his ACL was going to go out and all other kinds of injuries,” Master P said.
“That’s when I said I have to bring awareness to what’s going on at all these HBCUs — underfunding with no resources. I’m going to be with all the HBCU programs to bring awareness to this but I’m not going to sacrifice my son’s career and his future.”
Master P said Hercy has returned home and will begin rehabilitating the injury Monday and is open to returning to the Tigers if changes are made.
“If they got the right funding and resources and doctors and nutrition like all the rest of the state-funded schools,” Master P said. “He loved the coaches, he loved the school, he loved Nashville, my family loved Nashville.”
Tennessee State freshman Hercy Miller has reportedly entered the transfer portal (Credit: Tennessee State Athletics)
How TSU compares to other programs
Since he was hired in 2020, Allen has made it a goal to improve TSU’s sports medicine staff. On Tuesday, he said he is satisfied with the progress that has been made.
The staff works closely with orthopedic surgeon Damon Petty, who also serves as team physician for the Tennessee Titans.
The size of the TSU athletics medical staff pales in comparison to major college programs — Tennessee and Vanderbilt each have 37 staff members ranging from directors to athletic trainers to rehabilitation specialists to interns — but it is comparable to schools closer to its size.
Austin Peay, which competes in the Ohio Valley Conference along with TSU, has seven fulltime sports medicine staff members, including four fulltime athletics trainers, two interns and one graduate assistant. Austin Peay also has a team doctor who attends all home games.
Middle Tennessee State, which competes in the Football Bowl Subdivision, has 11 sports medicine staff members — six full-time certified athletic trainers and five certified graduate assistants.
“In terms of what we look like right now, I’m definitely comfortable with where we are,” Allen said. “I always want to grow and there are always going to be times when you have to assess the organization at-large and say ‘I need to make a tweak here from a personnel standpoint.’ But it’s all relative to the sports programs that we service and the amount of kids in our program and I feel good about that right now.”
Allen said he is not discouraging Master P from trying to help HBCU programs.
“What it looks like in the HBCU space, Master P has been on other campuses and what it looks like there it might not look like here so I can’t speak on that,” Allen said. “But I’ll tell you that we’re the best in this space and not only in this space but I’ll put us up there with other conferences as we continue to grow and reach heights we’ve never reached.”
Transfer won’t impact Hercy Miller’s NIL deal
Hercy Miller agreed to $2 million name, image, likeness sponsorship deal with Web Apps America after signing with TSU.
He was a three-star prospect who said he also has scholarship offers from Vanderbilt, LSU, UCLA, Southern Cal, Missouri, South Carolina, Arizona and Georgetown.
Master P said Hercy’s NIL deal is still intact as long as he remains a college athlete.
Artist Sean Kernick takes a break from his mural to honor NCCU coach LaVelle Moton on Salibury St. in downtown Raleigh on Tuesday, Nov. 23. 2021. (Credit: Juli Leonard)
The last name of the accomplished coach and leader is painted in five, giant letters on a wall in the city that saw him rise from a childhood of struggle to college basketball stardom.
N.C. Central University basketball coach LeVelle Moton is seeing his life and those who helped him on his journey celebrated in a new mural on South Salisbury Street in downtown Raleigh.
Moton, 47, says he wanted the piece to represent something his grandmother told him: “When you leave this earth and people remember you as a basketball player, you’ve done a poor job of living.”
“It’s an ultimate blessing,” Moton told The News & Observer in an interview. “It’s not really about LeVelle Moton, it’s about the people and organizations that supported me.”
Moton’s story is one of the hope and perseverance, he said.
He was raised by his single mother, Hattie McDougald, amid economic struggle in a neighborhood with drugs and violence in southeast Raleigh.
The mural is just a short drive from Lane Street park, the “sanctuary” where he spent his childhood playing on the court, which he told The N&O in June formed “the fabric, the foundation, of who I am.” The park was named after him in 2019, and he has since invested in fixing it up.
Focusing on basketball and his future led Moton to chase his dreams in Durham, where he became a college star.
Moton was one of the nation’s best NCAA Division II players and has won several Outstanding Coach and Coach of the Year awards, taking the Eagles to Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference men’s basketball tournament wins three years in a row.
But he didn’t to it alone. Moton said.
“I wanted (the mural) to serve the community, and I wanted the community to feel they had a helping hand and lending hand in that guy on that wall,” he said.
He has worked to pay it forward, investing in affordable housing near his neighborhood, and running the Velle Cares Foundation, a philanthropic effort to educate and enrich organizations that work with young people and families.
Moton said the basketball season has kept him too busy to see Raleigh-based artist Sean Kernick’s work in progress. But excited friends and fans have been sending him photos and posting about it on social media.
You’re cordially invited to the mural unveiling this Friday, December 10th at 12pm…at the intersection of Salisbury & Hargett St… pic.twitter.com/SiDEqmzJwm
Talks with the city about commissioning a mural began before the pandemic, around the time his childhood park was named after him, he said. The Raleigh Murals Project helped to finalize the plan, which Kernick began working on in October and is supported by funding by the PepsiCo South Division.
The initial design was developed by Moton’s friend Adam “Azhea” Williams, an artist and designer who came up with an idea of a photo collage of Moton. He then pitched shifting the design to a series of collages: Moton’s family, his upbringing and the other people and places that shaped his journey, such as the Jones Street apartment he grew up in, and a logo of the Raleigh Boys & Girls Club.
It would have been unjust to exclude the support a poor child from southeast Raleigh found on his rise to success, he said.
Tasked with bringing the design to life is Kernick, using a vast array of spray paint cans to create the meticulous detail of the mural.
Artist Sean Kernick works on the finishing touches of his mural to honor NCCU coach LaVelle Moton on Salibury St. in downtown Raleigh on Tuesday, Nov. 23. 2021. (Credit: Juli Leonard)
This mural speaks to this area, this community, in terms of someone who grew up here, has contributed to here,” Kernick said. “I think that’s a key component for murals to have impact, is for them to actually connect to the places where they exist.”
The mural, about 40 feet high, is on a wall connected to a parking deck building owned by McNeill Mays Properties and faces a parking lot owned by The Car Park.
It’s among the largest in downtown Raleigh and one of the bigger pieces of public art to use photorealistic elements in the area, Kernick said.
The centerpiece of the mural is the “T” of Moton’s last name, under which he’s painted sitting coolly in a gray suit surrounded by his trophies.
“Hopefully, kids and people in general can look at that mural and use it as purveyor of hope,” Moton said. “Even when times get tough, when adversity and opposition kicks in, they have to know that God has put them on this earth for a reason.”
Former Prairie View A&M University football head coach Eric Dooley is heading to a head coaching Southern University at Baton Rouge! Get the full story from The Advocate, written by Jim Kleinpeter with a contribution from Perryn Keys.
The-Prairie View coach Eric Dooley speaks to reporters July 13, 2018, in Birmingham, Ala. Dooley, a New Orleans native and longtime Souterhn assistant, is set to take over as the Jaguars’ new head coach. (Credit: Andrea Mabury)
Eric Dooley is coming home.
The Prairie View head coach and former longtime Southern University assistant has agreed to take over the Jaguars, the school announced Monday.
Dooley, who guided Prairie View to the Southwestern Athletic Conference championship game this season, will be introduced in a news conference at noon Tuesday in the A.W. Mumford Field House.
Dooley, 56, replaces interim coach Jason Rollins, who took over in May when Dawson Odums resigned following the SWAC’s abbreviated spring season. Odums spent nine-plus seasons at Southern, winning four Western Division titles and the outright SWAC championship in 2013.
Rollins led the Jaguars to a 4-7 record this fall. They dropped four of their final five games, including losses to their top three rivals — Florida A&M, Jackson State and Grambling.
Southern did not specify what role, if any, Rollins will have with the program moving forward and has not yet announced contract terms for Dooley, who finished his fourth season in charge at Prairie View.
Dooley’s coaching journey has brought him back where he started. He is an alumnus of the Southern system, having earned his undergraduate degree at SUNO in 1999 and his master’s degree from the Baton Rouge campus in 2005.
A New Orleans native and Fortier High School graduate, he was a wide receiver at Grambling in the late 1980s, and after a brief playing career in Canada, Dooley got his big break in 1997, when joined Pete Richardson’s staff. He stayed at Southern through 2010, working for 13 years under Richardson and one more under Stump Mitchell.
Dooley had several duties at Southern but spent most of his time as wide receivers coach, playing a vital role in some of the most dominant offenses in the SWAC.
The Jaguars won four SWAC titles during that time (1997-99, 2003) and two Black college national championships (’97, ’03).
All the while, Dooley, with his easygoing nature and earnest approach, earned a reputation as an effective recruiter, reeling in some of Louisiana’s best hidden-gem athletes to Baton Rouge.
Dooley left Southern in 2011 to become offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Arkansas-Pine Bluff under Monte Coleman. The Golden Lions’ offense improved each year on Dooley’s watch, and in 2012 they won their first outright SWAC championship since 1966.
Dooley then moved to Grambling, where his offense averaged at least 31 points per game and ranked first or second in the SWAC in scoring each of his final three seasons.
That led to Dooley’s fourth stop at a SWAC school. At 52, he got his first shot at being a head coach, taking over at Prairie View in 2018.
He got off to a slow start. Prairie View went .500 over his first two years, and the Panthers managed just three wins in the 2021 spring season, undone by COVID-19.
This year, however, was a breakthrough. Prairie View roared out of the gate, winning seven of its first eight games to claim the Western Division.
The Panthers entered Saturday’s SWAC championship game on a losing streak, having dropped three straight — including a surprising 24-19 home defeat against Mississippi Valley.
Dooley coached four seasons at Prairie View and compiled a 20-16 overall record with a 16-9 mark in SWAC play.
Jackson State defeated Prairie View 27-10 in the title game.
Two days later, Southern announced Dooley as the 20th head football coach in school history.
He takes over a program teeming with potential but in need of a boost. Though the Jaguars came close several times under Odums, their SWAC championship drought now stands at eight years. Since the legendary Arnett W. Mumford retired in 1961, the Jaguars have gone through 12 coaches. Only two of them won an outright SWAC title — Richardson (five times) and Odums (once).
Norfolk State University recently announced a big surprise to its students: Pharrell Williams will be delivering the commencement address for graduates later this month! The musical legend has worked tirelessly to support HBCU students, and now, he will be able to share his admiration for their hard work in person! Get the full story from the Norfolk State University release below.
Pharrell Williams, the Grammy-winning producer and Oscar-nominated songwriter from Virginia Beach, will speak during the in-person ceremony at Joseph G. Echols Memorial Hall on campus on Dec. 11 (Credit: Stephen M. Katz/Daily Press)
Pharrell Williams will deliver commencement address to Norfolk State University’s December graduates
Music superstar Pharrell Williams will deliver the commencement address to Norfolk State University’s December graduates of the Class of 2021, the university announced.
The ceremony will take place in-person at Joseph G. Echols Memorial Hall on campus on Dec. 11, starting at 9 a.m. It will also be available to view via livestream on NSU’s website, www.nsu.edu.
Williams, a Virginia Beach native, has been an advocate for racial justice in his home state. The Grammy-winning producer and Oscar-nominated songwriter played a critical role in Gov. Ralph Northam’s announcement last year that Juneteenth would become a paid holiday for state employees.
Williams also helped organize Something in the Water, a music festival at the Oceanfront, which debuted in 2019. But he said the event would not return in 2022 with a letter to Virginia Beach city officials in October.
The letter attributed his decision to the city’s “toxic energy” and what he described as the city’s failure to take a stand on the fatal shooting of his cousin Donovan Lynch by a Virginia Beach police officer earlier this year.
In addition to conferring degrees for nearly 400 students at the ceremony, NSU will also award Williams a Doctor of Humane Letters honorary degree.
To attend the ceremony, all invited guests must have a ticket, which is provided by their prospective graduate, according to a release from the university.
NSU also requires attendees either provide proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test result within 72 hours of the commencement ceremony.
Spring 2022 will signify the first semester that Bowie State University will offer fully online degree program. Get the full story from the BSU release below.
The Bowie State University College of Education, building on its legacy as the first program at the university, leads the way into the future by offering BSU’s first fully online degree programs beginning in the spring 2022 semester.
Bowie-are now accepting students into the cohort based online programs. Partnerships have been established with school districts in Maryland and Pennsylvania to enhance professional and leadership development of their local educators, but the new online offerings open the door for more students to opt in.
“These programs that we’ve traditionally offered in on-campus and hybrid formats have produced educational leaders in the classrooms and administrations of local school districts for many years,” said Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Carl B. Goodman. “The addition of this new fully online option will enable educators in more distant school districts to the north, south or even far west to benefit from our research-based programs.”
Goodman noted these programs are the forerunners of five additional program that will be available online in fall 2022. Two graduate programs, computer science and management information systems and three undergraduate programs, computer science, computer technology and criminal justice, are accepting applicants for fall enrollment. The undergraduate programs will primarily target adults seeking to change careers.
“This expansion of some of our strongest programs into the online modality is part of our strategic goal to diversify program offerings at Bowie State to better accommodate the varying needs of prospective students,” said Goodman. “In addition to specifically redesigning the courses for online delivery, our faculty have undergone extensive professional development to enhance online teaching practices to improve student engagement, persistence and course completion.”
Goodman said the cohort model was selected for BSU’s initial online programs as it provides opportunities for students to move through the programs taking the same classes together. “The students get to know each other and develop a bond to support each other to succeed,” he said. “That commitment to a supportive academic environment is at the core of the Bowie State University experience.”
The doctorate degree program in educational leadership is designed for educators who are already serving in leadership roles in K-12, higher education and district level leadership. It focuses on applying analytics in educational management, instruction, communications, policy and organizational performance.
The master’s degree in culturally responsive teacher leadership promotes equity, access and inclusivity in teaching, while helping educators become influential leaders in diverse learning communities. Students can complete this accelerated program in 12 months, with eight-week course sessions. Students pursuing the master’s degree in reading education learn to guide and instruct different age groups and reading levels as they develop both literacy knowledge and pedagogical practices to use in the classroom and other settings as reading and literacy specialists.
Apply online for spring and fall enrollment. Applicants should indicate interest in online programs on the application.
Tate was a challenging and authoritative voice on everything from hip-hop to hardcore, and also made his own significant musical impact with projects like Burnt Sugar
Greg Tate, one of the most incisive, insightful, and influential cultural critics of the past 35 years, has died. His publisher Duke University Press confirmed the author’s death to ARTnews, though a cause of death was not confirmed.
“Hard to explain the impact that Flyboy in the Buttermilk had on a whole generation of young writers and critics who read every page of it like scripture,” The New Yorker’s Jelani Cobb wrote on Twitter, aptly summing up the effect that Tate’s iconic 1992 essay collection had on the world. “It’s still a clinic on literary brilliance.”
Tate was born in Dayton, Ohio and, after studying journalism and film at Howard University, moved to New York in the early Eighties. Along with future Living Colour guitarist Vernon Reid, singer D.K. Dyson, and producer Konda Mason, he co-founded the Black Rock Coalition in 1985. The collective asserted the Black authorship of rock & roll, and sought equitable treatment for Black artists across genres. “The BRC opposes those racist and reactionary forces within the American music industry which undermine and purloin our musical legacy and deny Black artists the expressive freedom and economic rewards that our Caucasian counterparts enjoy as a matter of course,” reads the organization’s manifesto.
Tate joined the staff of The Village Voice in 1987 and quickly established himself as a challenging, encyclopedic, and brilliantly witty voice on everything from hip-hop to hardcore and free jazz. (His first cover story was on Nigerian singer King Sunny Adé.) “Being a 25-year-old music freelancer for the Voicemeant your number-one goal in life — free passes to any show at any venue in the city — was answered,” Tate wrote in a 2017 remembrance of his early days there. “But it also gave you street cred you didn’t even know you had among a wide swath of characters — club bouncers, burly Latino locksmiths from the Bronx who took your check and proclaimed themselves fans of your byline, label execs, musical icons, and rising rap stars.”
Five years later, he published the now-classic Flyboy in the Buttermilk, where he turned his critical eye on Ice-T, Ornette Coleman, Miles Davis, Public Enemy, George Clinton, and more. “Those who dismiss Chuck D as a bullshit artist because he’s loud, pro-black, and proud will likely miss out on gifts for blues pathos and black comedy,” he wrote in a 1988 piece on Public Enemy’s It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back. “When he’s on, his rhymes can stun-gun your heart and militarize your funnybone.”
“[W]hen the Brains play hardcore it is with a sense of mission and possession more intense than that of any of the sadomasochistic Anglo poseurs who were their models,” he wrote in a 1982 appreciation of Bad Brains. “And yet, though locked into the form by faith and rebellion, the Brains inject it with as much virtuosic ingenuity as manic devotion.”
Tate’s writings paid tribute, but also took his subjects to task when necessary — even when that meant questioning his literary heroes, like Amiri Baraka. “The beauty as well as the bullshit of Baraka has always been how eloquently he’s managed to confuse his head with the Godhead, his mental problems with the world’s ills, his identity complex with those of all black people,” reads one passage in Flyboy. And when chronicling the music he loved, he never shied away from feminist critique. “Last album PE dissed half the race as ‘Sophisticated Bitches,’ ” he wrote, calling out Public Enemy’s portrayal of Black women. “This time around, ‘She Watch Channel Zero?!’ a headbanger about how brainless the bitch is for watching the soaps, keeping the race down.”
“Part of what’s so valuable about Tate’s role as a cultural critic is the way he negotiates the contradictions that underlie Black American culture,” noted scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. wrote in the introduction for Flyboy. “What Tate understands is that culture, Afro-American culture in particular, is never a matter of either-or. He can both celebrate the energizing pull of cultural nationalism and register its limitations, moral and intellectual.”
Tate kept writing for the Voice through 2005; contributed to The New York Times, Rolling Stone, and many other outlets; and would go on to publish several other noteworthy books, including Midnight Lightning, which Tate called “a Jimi Hendrix Primer for Blackfolk,” and a Flyboy sequel that featured pieces on Sade, Björk, Azealia Banks, and Joni Mitchell, as well as further examinations of Baraka, Hendrix, and Davis. (Tate praised Banks for “how effortlessly [she] rains snappy rhyme combinations on heads like Sugar Ray Leonard once bongo-drummed on furthermuckers’ noggins.”)
Throughout his career, he stayed current and remained a passionate advocate and potent critic of the work that moved him. His instantly recognizable style fused Black vernacular with a deep historical savvy and the interdisciplinary spirit of academia. (In 2015, reviewing Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly for Rolling Stone, he wrote, “Roll over Beethoven, tell Thomas Jefferson and his overseer Bull Connor the news: Kendrick Lamar and his jazzy guerrilla hands just mob-deeped the new Jim Crow, then stomped a mud hole out that ass.”) He was also active in music for decades, establishing his own inter-genre ensemble Burnt Sugar, where he played guitar, conducted spontaneously in the manner of New York avant-jazz trailblazer Butch Morris, and brought together his diverse musical interests, from free jazz to funk and psychedelic rock.
Upon the news of his death, a slew of prominent writers posted tributes. “[N]o language for how thankful I am to have lived in a time where I could learn from Greg Tate,” wrote Hanif Abdurraqib. “[T]he first step to it is mimicry and who we are all mimicking is greg tate…the greatest…and the kindest, so generous with his time and that brain,” wrote Doreen St. Felix. “Just heard that my friend, my mentor, one of the greatest writers of his generation Greg Tate passed away last night,” wrote Touré. “He was a genius and his writing was amazing and I learned a ton reading him.”
