Wait for a tee time. Wait to hit again. Wait for the ball to drop. It’s a sport in which you even have to wait for the rain to stop.
Bethune-Cookman University, which lost its men’s tennis and golf teams this school year because of COVID-19, has a women’s golf team this fall but is going to have to wait a little longer for a complete one.
The Bethune-Cookman Wildcats women’s golf team can be found on a practice green in Port Orange — all three of them. The problem is, a team needs at least five golfers, and when the team plays in a tournament, the top four scores are counted.
“At the end of the day, all I wanted to is be able to do, is be able to play golf, “ says Kyleigh Leaf, who transferred to the team this summer. “Be able to have fun playing golf while getting an education.”
Coach Dan Venema is also waiting to see what options could present themselves for the spring semester.
“I’ve been trying to go in the transfer portal every day,” Venema explains. “Emailing girls, going on other recruiting websites and platforms.”
This fall, members of the team will play as individuals so they can get some tournaments and experience under their belts.
“Every score counts,” Emma Hastie, another transfer said. “We are just going to play as individuals. This is going to be good to get our feet wet with this new conference (Southwestern Athletic Conference).”
But like so many things in the world right now, this is not normal.
“It’s a littler nerve-wracking not knowing what to expect of the future,“ Leaf explained. “That’s just how it has been the past year or two, just the unknowing.”
What the three golfers and their coach do know is that the wait is over. They will play this fall.
Venema now has to wait out the fall to see who he can get to join his team in the spring.
“The right girls will come to this program,” Venema said. “When that happens, if I keep doing my job, as far as reaching out to as many student-athletes as I can, then they will come,”
Now everyone must wait to see how the team comes together in the spring.
According to Venema, the transfer portal includes more than 1,500 players right now, and the Wildcats also will consider athletes from other sports if they need to fill spots for a starting five in the spring.
Fort Valley State University is making renovations on Wildcat stadium.
A new track and turf will be coming to this particular venue.
“This is an unbelievable opportunity that we had,” says Athletic Director Anthony Holloman.
Soon FVSU’s football and track and field program will now have renovated playing surfaces.
“Not only put down a new play surface, but also our state of the art track. Wildcat Stadium is one of the nicest and largest stadiums in the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC),” says Holloman.
According to Holloman, this entire project which started in late July costs the university 1.5 million dollars.
The goal was to finish by the Wildcats home opener this weekend against Lane College
But they are going to slightly miss that deadline.
“The turf is down, but there are a few more things that need to be taken care of before we can open the stadium,” says Holloman.
Getting goal posts is on the list.
“Also putting up new play clocks. So, we had to move different wiring we are doing some different things with the fencing. To make it a better place to watch a football game,” says Holloman.
Because of the delays, Fort Valley’s home opener will be played at Peach County High School, this Saturday at 2 PM.
“Dr. Lionel Brown the superintendent was very good to us in allowing us to play a football game at their new facility,” says Holloman.
FVSU head football coach Maurice Flowers says because of the new turf, the early bird will get the worm.
“Turf brings ways for us to practice in the morning, and make sure all of our young men are up and ready to go to class. Studies have shown that once the athletes are up, they’re more than likely to go to class. That’s what it’s all about and that’s being a student-athlete,” says Flowers.
These renovations will be complete by October 9th.
Just in time for their home game against Central State University.
Athletes and others at North Carolina A&T State University are mourning the passing of former coach Gene Littles. The coach had a history at N.C. A&T and was even a member of the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame. Get the full story from N.C. A&T below!
The North Carolina A&T Athletics family mourns the passing of former A&T head men’s basketball coach Eugene Scape “Gene” Littles (June 29, 1943 – Sept. 9, 2021). Littles was 78.
Littles was the head coach for the Aggies from 1977-79, compiling an overall record of 40-15 (.727) and two Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) championships and the MEAC coach of the year honor in 1979.
Littles played his college ball at High Point University from 1965-69 and is regarded by many as the best player in school history. He was a three-time NAIA All-American and, in 1969, led High Point to a school-best 28-3 record and the quarterfinals of the NAIA Tournament. He is the school’s all-time leading scorer with 2,398 career points and his No. 14 jersey is in the rafters.
The Dallas Chaparrals of the American Basketball Association (ABA) and the New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association (NBA) drafted Little after his college days. He chose to play in the ABA.
The Carolina Cougars later claimed his ABA rights. Eventually, he became the starting point guard for the league’s all-rookie team and finished his career with the Kentucky Colonels.
Littles got his start in the coaching realm as an assistant for the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers before returning to North Carolina to join the staff at Appalachian State, where he was before coming to A&T.
Littles returned to the NBA as a head coach for the Cleveland Cavaliers for the remaining 19 games of the 1985-86 season. Then, midway through the 1990-91 season, the Charlotte Hornets named him their head coach, and he remained in that position until the end of the season.
His last stop was for the Denver Nuggets in 1994-95, where he was an assistant and even stepped into the head coaching role on an interim basis for the final 19 games of the season.
Littles is a member of the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame and the High Point University Athletics Hall of Fame.
Elizabeth City State University’s Master of Elementary Education and Master of School Administration degree programs have received advanced accreditation from the Council for Accreditation of Educator Preparation, or CAEP.
According to Dr. Joy Smith, dean of the School of Education and Business and director of Graduate Education, advanced CAEP accreditation means that students in these graduate degree programs in the “teacher leader track,” are now covered by this accreditation. CAEP is an organization created to advance the excellence in educator preparation “through evidence-based accreditation that assures quality and supports continuous improvement to strengthen P-12 student learning.”
ECSU Provost Farrah J. Ward announced the news to the university’s board of trustees during their quarterly meeting Tuesday, Sept. 14. She explained that these programs had previously been accredited by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education, but the accreditation responsibility has now moved to CAEP, which had accredited ECSU’s undergraduate teacher education program and Masters of Elementary Education’s initial licensure track two years ago.
“We received both of these accreditations (for the master programs) without recommendation,” Provost Ward told the trustees. Without recommendation means that CAEP is 100 percent satisfied that ECSU’s program meets its standards.
According to CAEP’s standards for advanced accreditation, these programs are defined as “educator preparation programs at the post-baccalaureate and graduate levels leading to licensure, certification, or endorsement.”
Advanced level programs such as those at ECSU are designed to develop pre-K through grade 12 teachers who “have already completed an initial preparation program, currently licensed administrators, other certificated school professionals for employment in P-12” schools and school districts.
Accreditation means that ECSU shows “evidence that the provider’s graduates are competent and caring educators,” and show “solid evidence that the provider (ECSU) has the capacity to create a culture of evidence and use it to maintain and enhance the quality of the professional programs they offer.”
Dr. Smith says the CAEP standards represent a “sea change” in the way programs are assessed by the accreditation organization. Programs, she says, that are CAEP accredited have shown how they assess their students and have “developed metrics that document evidence of the education received by their students.”
“Achieving CAEP Advanced-Level Accreditation shows the evidence of the focused and rigorous learning undertaken by graduates of these programs,” said Dr. Smith.
In January 2019, ECSU began offering its first online Master of Education degree program. In addition to the Master of Elementary Education Teacher Leader Track that prepares students to seek National Board Certification, the university also offers a Master of Elementary Education Initial Certification Program for anyone with a bachelor’s degree that chooses to become an elementary school teacher.
ECSU also offers a Master of School Administration degree. Many of the region’s public-school principals have graduated from this program and have going on to lead K-12 institutions.
ECSU continues to receive high rankings from national organizations such as the recent Washington Monthly top 20 for bachelor’s degree colleges nationwide or the Military Times Best Bet for Vets, and most recently U.S. News and Worlds Report for Top Public Schools in the Regional South, 10th for Top Performers in Social Mobility in the Regional South, 22nd in the nation for Top HBCU, and 33rd for Best Regional College South.
Elizabeth City State University is a UNC System constituent university in Northeastern North Carolina. ECSU offers 28 bachelor’s degrees and four master’s degree and is the only four-year university offering a bachelor’s degree in aviation science and unmanned aerial systems, or drones.
Clark Atlanta University has a new leader that will keep alumni relations and engagement together as an alumna herself! Get the full story on Lorri L. Saddler, Ed. D. and her excitement to get started at CAU below.
Serving in the new role as Vice President of Alumni Relations and Engagement and most recently Associate Vice President and Dean of Undergraduate Admission, Dr. Lorri L. Saddler is an experienced higher education administrator with a diverse background that combines a wealth of institutional responsibilities in addition to strategic marketing and program development that spans both the university and corporate realm.
In her role as Chief Alumni Officer, Dr. Saddler endeavors to inspire CAU alumni to engage in the life of the university through positive relationships integrating meaningful and impactful work that preserves lifelong connections to the university. “As a two-time alum of Clark Atlanta University and a proud parent of a CAU 2020 graduate, I am honored to serve in the new role of Vice President of Alumni Relations and Engagement. Building upon the rich history and legacy of leadership, I take hold of the baton with the momentum to propel us forward,” stated Dr. Saddler.
Honoring the historical traditions and leveraging current momentum, Dr. Saddler, has university-wide responsibility for engaging alumni from Atlanta University, Clark College and Clark Atlanta University facilitating support via their time, talents, and commitment to the university.
Under her leadership the department will benefit from a strategic planning process crafted to align the interests and ambitions of the University with the interest of its alumni. The team is uniquely positioned to continue building traditions that further engage undergraduate and graduate alumni across the world, implementing strategies that enhance participation of the university’s external constituents leading to a stronger alumni pipeline.
“With her proven administrative experience, Dr. Saddler will play a crucial role in advancing alumni engagement, cultivation and participation. Alumni relations will now have a seat at the Executive Cabinet level. Her voice as it relates to this constituent group is another example of the momentum and laser focus on alumni participation and financial support as we anticipate the launch of an aggressive Capitol Campaign,” said President George T. French, Jr., fifth president of Clark Atlanta University.
Dr. Saddler’s vision for the Office of Alumni Relations and Engagement is for it to be the primary point of entry for alumni, provide essential alumni support and to be the leader in higher education for alumni partnerships.
Register and enjoy the conference free September 29-30
There isn’t enough black representation in advertising, and the result is often embarrassing gaffes that could have been offset by the right people in the room. To help that, a conference appropriately named “Where Are All The Black People” (WAATBP) is bringing HBCU students and others an immersive way to enter and thrive in the industry. Filled with panels, workshops, virtual recruiting and more, the 2021 WAATBP Conference can help you reach new heights in your professional career. On Wednesday September 29 and Thursday September 30, you can learn lessons about creating conscious content, becoming a black executive, finding financial success and more. Plus, you can hear from over 30 engaging executives at Capital One, Disney+, and other partnering agencies.
Credit: Virginia Sherwood/Peacock
The people behind this conference are the real gems. Emmy Award-winning host, writer, and performer Amber Ruffin will be hosting for the entire two days! She will keep things going beginning Wednesday September 29 at 11am EST, opening up about how to thrive as a creative, and more gems like lessons she’s learned along the way in her career. Among the speakers are HBCU Buzz founder & CEO Luke Lawal Jr.; Jerome Frederick, the Associate Creative Director at Capital One; Jayanta K. Jenkins, the EVP and Head of Content Marketing at Disney +; Danielle Lee, the President of Warner Music Artist & Fan Experiences; Michael Refuerzo, the Global Head of Production at Beats by Dre/Apple Inc. and more.
A glimpse into the conference’s schedule emphasizes why you’ll truly be missing out if you don’t come. Across both days, participants will be offered the unique opportunity of portfolio reviews, where students, recent grads, and more can get the feedback they need to put their best foot forward. Another gem is virtual recruiting, where conference partner agencies will share a glimpse into their companies and their current openings!
The first discussion on day 1 will give viewers insight in getting paid what you’re worth and finding financial success. Other discussions include becoming a black executive, creating conscious content, and healing racial trauma in the workplace. HBCU students will especially enjoy Day 2, which will feature a discussion with Bowie State University graduate and HBCU Buzz’s own Luke Lawal Jr., plus Hampton University graduate and Danny Robinson, who is the Chief Creative Officer at The Martin Agency. Participants will learn about the professional journeys of the two executives, and then will be tasked with crafting a short pitch presentation for a viral homecoming at a hypothetical HBCU. In addition to learning about Danny and Luke’s journey, participants will be tasked with developing a campaign to draw attendees, alumni, and supporters for a virtual homecoming at a hypothetical HBCU. Other discussions for the day will address elevating black women in leadership, plus how to create a space for innovative leadership from the many heads in the marketing and advertising industry.
An exciting new addition to the 2021 conference is the HBCU Workshop and Virtual After Party. Launched especially for HBCU students, the HBCU workshop is a space where participants will be able to work on a creative campaign and win prizes. The virtual after party will be filled with reflection and the best R&B music you can find.Get more information about the 2021 WAATBP Conference and make sure you register when you click here.
The funds from an anonymous donation at Virginia State University will be used to match the donations through the university’ match gift challenge. Get the full story from the VSU release below.
Eric Kolenich/Tims-Dispatch
Virginia State University has announced that it will use an undisclosed financial gift from an anonymous donor to multiply the University’s fundraising over the next six weeks. In an unprecedented move, VSU announced that all alumni, faculty, and staff gifts to the university will be doubled or tripled through a matching gift from an anonymous donor beginning Friday, September 17- October 28.
Any gift from a first-time alumni donor will be matched twice using the funds from the anonymous donor. For example, if a first-time donor gives $1,000, the University will match that amount twice for a total give of $3,000 gift to the institution. All other gifts from alumni, faculty, or staff will be matched dollar for dollar, doubling the gift amount designated to the fund of their choice during that period.
“We believe in the power of giving back and this innovative challenge allows our alums, faculty and staff to have a larger impact on the institution through their matching gift,” says Tonya Hall, Vice President of External Relations. “This is also a way to multiply the gift amount from the anonymous donor to have a greater impact on our VSU students.”
Alumni can also double their gifts by participating in the Decade Giving Challenge. The decade that gives the largest amount by Thursday, October 21, will be declared the winner, and their gift amount will be matched. Endowed gifts will also be matched as part of the Match Gift Challenge during the six-week challenge. For example, a donor can turn a $5,000 contribution to their endowment into $10,000.
“Now is the perfect time to give whatever you can and invest in greater,” says VSU President, Dr. Makola M. Abdullah. “And the biggest benefit to doing so now is that any amount given will multiply for the benefit our students and to ensure that greater happens here at Virginia State University. So, this is the right time and we are calling on all of our faculty, staff, and alumni to give back by investing in our students the same way that someone once invested in you.”
VSU alumni, faculty and staff can get more information and participate in the Matching Gift Challenge by Clicking Here.
Alabama State University is honoring the right side of history, renaming a building after a civil rights icon after it was stripped of the name of a KKK member. Get the full story from Josh Moon at the Alabama Political Reporter below.
The historically Black university removed former Gov. Bibb Graves’ name last year due to his ties to the KKK
Out with a racist, in with a hero. The Alabama State University board of trustees voted on Friday to rename one of its residence halls in honor of Civil Rights icon Jo Ann Robinson, a catalyst in the Montgomery Bus Boycott and a former ASU professor. The decision comes a year after the trustees stripped the name of Bibb Graves, a former Alabama governor and Ku Klux Klan ally, from the building.
“I am extremely gratified that the Board of Trustees saw fit to rename this historic facility in honor of one of the University’s most iconic figures,” said ASU president Quinton Ross, who recommended the name change. “Jo Ann Robinson was one of the catalysts behind the Montgomery Bus Boycott and is representative of the many faculty and staff members who were instrumental in bringing about one of the most impactful periods in the history of civil rights in the United States. We are proud to be able to celebrate her contributions in this manner.”
Robinson was one of the most important and active — if somewhat less famous — civil rights activists. Her work during the Bus Boycott, in which she wrote and printed fliers, organized the carpool and led the Women’s Political Council, was instrumental in the protest’s success.
Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. once said that Robinson, more than anyone else, was “active on every level of the protest.”
Robinson was also a women’s rights activist, pushing for women to become more involved in the civil rights protests of the 1950s and 60s, and later, as a teacher in Los Angeles, working with a number of women’s rights groups.
After Florida A&M University was awarded $15.4 million in part from a 2016 grant by the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, the award has been doubled. The resulting funds include FAMU’s largest donation ever! Get the full story from Byron Dobson at the Tallahassee Democrat below.
“This is FAMU’s largest grant,” President Larry Robinson said.
The National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration — the federal government’s environmental sciences agency — is bolstering its investment in Florida A&M University, giving the historically Black public university a five-year, $30 million grant to support science studies.
In 2016, NOAA first awarded a $15.4 million grant to FAMU and five other universities included in the Center for Coastal and Marine Ecosystems, which is based at FAMU.
FAMU is the lead institution and President Larry Robinson is the center’s director and principal investigator of the project. NOAA is a lead agency on climate change, among other initiatives.
“This is FAMU’s largest grant. This NOAA grant is representative of the research that is carried out at FAMU,” Vice President for Research Charles Weatherford said.
The center’s goal is to introduce students from under-represented minority populations to studies in coastal and marine ecosystems education, science and policy.
The new $30 million grant is an extension of the original agreement. Robinson said the extension allows FAMU and the other universities to mentor and train minority students in studying climate change and other issues critical to coastal communities.
He said in a release Wednesday that “having underrepresented minorities who are experts not only enhances diversity but also ensures that we stay attuned to the needs of our most vulnerable populations as solutions are developed.”
Robinson, a nuclear chemist by training and distinguished professor and researcher in the School of the Environment at FAMU, served as director of the NOAA Environmental Cooperative Science Center also at FAMU 2001-10. His research interests include environmental chemistry, environmental radiochemistry, and environmental policy and management.
The center focuses on three primary areas: Place-based conservation, coastal resilience and coastal intelligence. Students get exposed to courses in artificial intelligence, cloud computing, genomics and environmental justice. Other university partners are: Bethune-Cookman University, California State University Monterey Bay, Jackson State University, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, and the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley.
HBCU athletic games are being welcomed with excitement after so long without such a staple in HBCU life. It’s turning out that the buzz is turning into big dollars for several campuses! Get the full story from David Squires at The Undefeated below.
N.C. A&T track, Texas Southern and Norfolk State basketball bring exposure and bragging rights to their schools
As college students head back to their classrooms, the enrolled — as well as alums — at three historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) can add some extra hop, skip and jump to their steps due to the unprecedented successes of their schools’ athletic programs.
That’s because — despite students being away from campuses and games either not played or played without audiences — North Carolina A&T, Norfolk State and Texas Southern combined to rack up nearly three-fourths of $1 billion in exposure, according to number crunchers and athletic officials at the three HBCUs and one of the conference offices.
The bulk of that is an estimate as high as $600 million in exposure for N.C. A&T, where the school’s track and field program was in the national spotlight for nearly a month after winning double-digit NCAA men’s and women’s track and field national championships and sending nearly a dozen athletes to the Olympic trials, four of whom went on to compete in the Olympics. Two of them, sprinters Trevor Stewart and Randolph Ross Jr., brought home three medals – two golds and a bronze. They were the first Olympic medals won by N.C. A&T athletes.
Appalachian State guard Michael Almonacy during the first half of a First Four game against Norfolk State in the NCAA men’s college basketball tournament on March 18 in Bloomington, Indiana. Doug McSchooler/AP Photo
N.C. A&T Chancellor Harold L. Martin, speaking at a recent faculty and staff gathering to open the fall semester, reviewed the track teams’ TV exposure from June through mid-August.
“Our track teams, men’s and women’s … you saw them on TV competing in the NCAA championships,” Martin said. “I don’t know about you, but I still look at those videos, and I still act like I don’t know the outcome. And then we saw them competing at the Olympic trials … and then we saw two of our student-athletes compete for the U.S. Olympics team and one for Liberia and one for Mexico.”
N.C. A&T economics professor Cephas B. Naanwaab estimated the value of the Aggies’ track exposure to be “in the low- to mid-hundreds …$200 million to $600 million.”
“There is a difficulty with putting a dollar value on this type of exposure,” Naanwaab said. “The challenge stems from not having the relevant data. We will need to know several data points: how many media ads featured A&T athletes, what is the viewership/readership of those media, what is the potential increase in enrollments resulting from this exposure, as well as increased philanthropic and alumni giving to the university.
“We know for sure that this exposure will further accelerate the strong enrollment growth N.C. A&T has seen over the past several years. Philanthropic donations, as we have seen over the past year, is also expected to increase following the success of A&T athletes at the Olympics and the attention that brought to the university nationally.”
Meanwhile, the success at Texas Southern and Norfolk State came during March Madness last spring — the zenith of college sports — when both teams won First Four games in the men’s NCAA basketball tournament. Those victories marked the first time that teams from the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) and the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) won games in the same tournament.
At Texas Southern, J. Kenyatta Cavil, a professor of sports management, sports studies and sports entertainment, took a couple of weeks to crunch the numbers at the request of The Undefeated.
His assessment: “My analysis estimated Texas Southern University received between $90 million to $100 million in value for participating and winning an opening-round game in the 2021 NCAA tournament. Part of this analysis is based on the average cost of a 30-second TV commercial during the NCAA men’s Division I basketball tournament, among other factors.”
Cavil, co-editor of The Athletic Experience at Historically Black Colleges and Universities: Past, Present, and Persistence, also assessed the value of such exposure.
“From a branding perspective, the exposure to Texas Southern University and the Southwestern Athletic Conference, as well as Norfolk State University and the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, for that matter, is undeniably significant in the marketplace,” he said.
“The sporting HBCU diaspora associated with the HBCU sports culture is at a heightened pitch during the NCAA tournament prior to tipoff,” Cavil continued. “The fact that the Texas Southern Tigers won a game in the tournament empowers the Tiger fan base as well as SWAC and HBCU fans in general to express their fandom.”
Cavil said HBCUs also benefit from the “Flutie effect” (named for former Boston College quarterback Doug Flutie), where “having a successful college sports team increases the exposure and prominence of a university.”
“This will often lead to increased applications for admission to the university and therefore increased enrollment,” Cavil added.
Indeed, enrollments are trending upward at the three institutions. N.C. A&T’s Martin told that gathering of faculty and staff that the nation’s largest HBCU had broken the 13,000-student barrier for the first time.
Melody Webb, athletic director at Norfolk State, said the Spartans’ success in the NCAA tournament “has been positive for NSU and helped to increase our national profile both in tangible and intangible ways.”
Webb added: “After our win against Appalachian State, for 48 hours all eyes were on Norfolk State University. ESPN. Fox Sports. CBS and others.
“To have a team make the tournament and to perform successfully is a big deal. As athletics director, I believe this type of exposure helped to increase our visibility, future recruiting efforts and had millions of people look up NSU on their web browsers.”
Webb said this led to increased bookstore sales for NSU memorabilia, financial support to the athletics program, and potentially helped with enrollment.
Webb also noted that during the team’s tournament run, Norfolk State “was mentioned in more than 8,000 news stories, and we had a calculated publicity value of $36.1 million. In addition, our calculated advertisement value, measuring NSU coverage by print and digital advertising rates in addition to audience reach, was at $11.9 million.”
Norfolk State also received $421,426 from the NCAA, one-fourth of the MEAC’s $1.685 million intake. The league office also received a quarter share, with the remaining 50% ($842,852) split among 11 member institutions.
The SWAC did not release its NCAA tournament information despite repeated requests from The Undefeated, but Texas Southern’s success should have brought to its league numbers similar to those provided by the MEAC.
Cavil, of Texas Southern, and Carray Banks, Norfolk State’s faculty athletics representative, said the numbers tallied by NSU don’t give the full weight of the Spartans’ exposure. They agreed that because Norfolk State’s next game was against the tournament’s top-seeded Gonzaga, the exposure for the Spartans increased exponentially. (TSU’s next game was against the No. 1 regional seed, Michigan.)
“For every one person watching and talking about Texas Southern, there were five watching ours,” Banks said. “Whatever number Texas Southern comes up with, I would say ours would be larger, because we played Gonzaga.
“After winning that game [against Appalachian State], there was a lot of jubilation, because we knew that all eyes would be on us to either shock the world or be a thorn in Gonzaga’s side.”
But the school that really racked up in the publicity and exposure department was N.C. A&T.
Todd Simmons, N.C. A&T associate vice chancellor for university relations, points out that, “The football and men’s and women’s basketball teams join with both track teams in bringing incredible value to A&T year in and year out.
“At their best, intercollegiate athletics offer a great ‘front door’ to a university,” Simmons added. “They are often the first way that external constituents become familiar with us, and managed properly, as AD Earl Hilton unfailingly does, they can be a great and positive reflection on the university.
“After big bowl games or NCAA basketball tournament experiences, campuses consistently see application and enrollment growth and great growth in giving.”
The athletics success of N.C. A&T, Texas Southern and Norfolk State is part of a larger trend of HBCUs receiving national attention during the pandemic.
As recently as Aug. 28, the Cricket MEAC/SWAC Challenge in Atlanta gave North Carolina Central and Alcorn State a national platform on ESPN, including the network’s signature College GameDay show and First Take Live, and on ABC’s Good Morning America.
NBA All-Star Weekend 2021 provided more than $3 million in initial support to HBCUs through the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, United Negro College Fund (UNCF), National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education and Direct Relief’s Fund for Health Equity. HBCUs received widespread exposure and mentions during All-Star week, following up mentions and exposure in spring 2020 for several schools during the abbreviated NBA season in the bubble at the ESPN Wide World of Sports in Orlando, Florida.
Donations flooded into HBCUs beginning in the fall of 2019.
Morehouse College in Atlanta in the last two years has been the beneficiary of more than $100 million in donations. Howard University in Washington is nearing $100 million in donations, including a $40 million transformational gift from philanthropist MacKenzie Scott, a $32.8 million gift from former New York City mayor Mike Bloomberg, $10 million from the Karsh Family Foundation, and a $1.59 million donation from Bloomberg Philanthropies.
Soon afterward, Scott gave $560 million to 23 HBCUs across the country, with her donation levels ranging from $4 million to $50 million. For each university, her donation ranks as the largest gift received. Scott donated to the UNCF and the Thurgood Marshall College Fund as well.
Another big splash came in September 2020 when SWAC member Jackson State hired NFL Hall of Famer Deion Sanders to guide its football program. In the first nine days after Sanders’ hire, school officials estimated its marketing and promotional value had increased by $19 million. ESPN elevated several Jackson State spring broadcasts from lower-tier to upper-tier programming, to ESPN2 and ESPN.
In April, Tennessee State hired former Heisman Trophy winner and College Football Hall of Famer Eddie George to be its head football coach.
Sanders and George guided their teams against one another on Sept. 11 in the annual Southern Heritage Classic at the Liberty Bowl in Memphis, Tennessee. Jackson State won 38-16.
Meanwhile, in February 2020, ESPN began broadcasting Why Not Us,an eight-part docuseries that focused on the basketball program at N.C. Central and its legendary coach LeVelle Moton. The show’s executive producers were NBA star Chris Paul and ESPN commentator Stephen A. Smith, an alum of Winston-Salem State.
Also, during the NBA bubble in spring 2020, Paul, then with the Oklahoma City Thunder, gave shout-outs to and/or wore outfits representing some 20 HBCUs, including Southern University, Florida A&M, Alabama State, Savannah State, N.C. A&T, N.C. Central and his hometown Winston-Salem State.
Cavil, of Texas Southern, noted the significance of HBCUs receiving recognition beyond their playing fields and arenas — particularly being highlighted as Black achievement in the current era of Black Lives Matter, George Floyd/Reform the Police and Rock the Vote.
“While the sporting life at HBCUs is an integral part of these institutions’ missions,” Cavil said, “the exposure to a broader audience is especially important in this current landscape.”
Often called “The Greatest of All Time,” Muhammad Ali became a monumental figure in American history for reasons that streched far beyond his athleticism in the ring. By the time of his passing at the age 74, he was an Olympic gold medalist, three-time heavyweight champion, a Presidential Medal of Freedom honoree, a father of nine, and so much more.
27th May 1963: Supremely confident American boxer Cassius Clay holds up five fingers in a prediction of how many rounds it will take him to knock out British boxer Henry Cooper. (Photo by Kent Gavin/Keystone/Getty Images)
It takes seeing footage of the legend, and hearing his booming voice, to really feel the impact of the legend. Thankfully, a stunning new four-part documentary by Ken Burns, Sarah Burns, and David McMahon is bringing us just that in all its glory! “Muhammad Ali” is on its way to PBS this Sunday September 19 at 8/7c, and you won’t want to miss it.
Ali captured the hearts of millions around the world with his precision and power in the ring, and his charm and grace outside of the ring. Through this film, viewers will be able to experience Ali’s perseverance, power, and daily respect for the training it took to become the greatest. He began boxing at the tender age of 12, and kept at it. He became the youngest boxer to dethrone an incumbent heavyweight champion when he beat Sonny Liston, hardly a minute into the first round. When he was only 18 years old, he made winning seem so effortless when he beat opponent after opponent in the 1960 Olympics in Rome to win gold. He went on to become the first boxer to win a heavyweight title three times.
Activism was just as much part of Ali’s identity as boxing was. As a black man, he fought racism like an opponent in the ring. He was an unapologetic legend, whose matter-of-fact quotes always let you know where he stood. He once said: “I’m always going to be one black one who got big on your white televisions, on your white newspapers, on your satellites, million dollar jets, and still look good in your face and tell you the truth, and one hundred percent represent my people and not leave em and sell em out because I’m rich…” In fact, the legend initially began fighting as Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr., before his thoughts on the tumultuous racial history in America eventually led him to rename himself what we all call him now: Muhammad Ali.
See “Muhammad Ali” weave the story of the legend’s unforgettable history when you watch the film beginning this Sunday September 19th at 8/7c on PBS!
Through a grant of over $40,000 from the US State Department, business officials at Delaware State University have been able to cross international waters to create inroads with entrepreneurs in Uganda! Get the full surprising story from the official DSU release below!
The College of Business’ Global Entrepreneurship Education Initiative has launched a new initiative to train entrepreneurs in the Central African country of Uganda.
Supported by a $44,308 grant from the US State Department, the initiative is a part of the mission of the Global Entrepreneurship Education Initiative to provide entrepreneurship education in emerging and developing countries, to contribute to the emergence of local entrepreneurs.
Through the Garage (the COB’s innovation and maker’s space), and the Delaware Center for Enterprise Development (DCED), the COB will offer a curriculum tailored to current and prospective entrepreneurs in Uganda in partnership with Feminature Uganda, a women-led and youth empowerment organization in Arua, Uganda. The DSU Team will also work closely with the US Embassy in Kampala, Uganda on this program.
Through this curriculum, participants will be trained to develop the entrepreneurial mindset so that they can eventually take the plunge of starting their own ventures. Participants with a business idea will be coached to prove their business concept, conduct a feasibility analysis, write their business plan, and develop the skills necessary to raise the funds needed to finance their ventures. Participants will also learn the skills and techniques required to successfully manage their ventures and scale their business.
The COB Global Entrepreneurship Education Initiative was created by Dr. Constant D. Beugre, Professor of management and entrepreneurship and includes Ms. Lillie Crawford, Director of the DCED (Delaware Center for Enterprise Development) and Ms. Troy Farmer, Director of the Garage.
“Through the Global Education Initiative, the College of Business is helping to grow entrepreneurs in developing and emerging counties,” Dr. Beugre said.
Jackson State University alumna Felicia Neal Daniel has been chosen for the rewarding position of CFO at one of Atlanta’s most prestigious museums. Learn more in the JSU release below!
Source: Hisour
Atlanta’s High Museum of Art has appointed Jackson State University alumna Felicia Neal Daniel as chief financial officer in Georgia. Daniel is responsible for development of financial strategy, annual and long-term financial planning, and ongoing financial reporting and operations.
“I am delighted to join the High Museum of Art and am deeply honored to serve the community in this capacity,” Daniel said. “I am energized by the High’s people, its mission and its commitment to diversity and inclusion that is embedded in the organization’s core values as a museum with an international footprint. I am devoted to upholding the High’s legacy of nurturing a climate of fiscal sustainability.”
For the past eight years, Daniel held leadership positions with the city of Atlanta’s Department of Finance, serving as revenue director from 2013 to 2017 and chief revenue officer from 2017 to 2021. In that role, she spearheaded the city’s annual strategic revenue budgeting process, including the development of financial models to inform the mayor’s fiscal priorities.
Her other responsibilities included operational oversight, revenue forecasting and administration of revenue accounting, billing, collections, budgeting and cash operations. From 2009 to 2013, she was accounting manager for the Cobb County Tax Commissioner, and she held previous finance positions in the property management and travel/hospitality sectors.
Daniel is a Certified Treasury Professional (CTP) with the Association of Financial Professionals, a Certified Government Financial Manager (CGFM, Association of Government Accountants) and a Certified Public Finance Officer (CPFO, Government Finance Officer Association). She holds a certificate of public financial management from Georgia State University’s Andrew Young School of Policy Studies – Center for State and Local Finance and was a member of Atlanta’s 2017-2018 cohort class of the KPMG Executive Leadership Institute for Women.
Daniel earned a Master of Business Administration degree from Kennesaw State University and a Bachelor of Business Administration/Accounting degree from JSU.
Nicknamed “DaCakeGoat,” Mississippi Valley State University student Corterrius Allen has developed craft of making cakes tremendously since he first started. A popular network has taken notice, and now the student majoring in social work is heading to TV! Get the story from Donell Maxie at MVSU below.
Corterrius “DaCakeGoat” Allen started his journey and love of making and designing cakes with a $35 baking kit and two cupcake pans that his mom, Jacquelyn Allen, purchased.
He made his first cake for a friend, and while he says, “the cake was ugly,” his friend loved it and told him, “It was delicious.”
Fast forward a couple of years, and the 20-year-old Mississippi Valley State University Social Work major has come a long way since that $35 baking kit.
Allen now has a thriving business, and he is excited to announce that he will be competing in Halloween Wars on Food Network, which will air on Sunday, September 19 at 9 p.m. (EST), 8 p.m. (CST). Allen will be teamed up with Holly Webster from Las Vegas, Nevada, and Amy Strickland from Orlando, Fla.
“I was on google searching for an opportunity to test my skills. I felt I was getting better, and I wanted to find a competition that would challenge me. I found a company called Super Delicious and reached out to them. They emailed me that I could apply for Halloween Wars. So I signed up, did an interview and a call sometime later that I made it, and they flew me out,” said Allen.
The Shelby native said walking into the competition was a nervous experience, but he allowed his personality to speak for him quickly adjusted.
“Walking in seeing all the cake decorators made me nervous in the beginning, but I knew it would give me the chance to learn from these seasoned bakers while also helping me measure where my skills are,” Allen said.
Additionally, he explained that he was the youngest person in the competition.
A native of Shelby, Miss Allen said his love of designing cakes just came out of nowhere. “My senior year, I worked at a bakery in Cleveland called “The Sweetery,” While working, I was making buttercream, washing dishes, and baking, but I never cake decorated,” he explained.
Following graduation, Allen attended Coahoma Community College, and it was during his time there when he started to explore baking on an entirely different level.
“There is something therapeutic about baking and designing cakes. I love the designs and coming up with different levels of creativity. One day I want to own my cake studio,” said Allen.
“My motto is that, ‘Every day is somebody’s birthday.’ That means every morning, I have the opportunity to help place a smile on someone’s face and share in their happiness,” he explained.
In his short time in the field, Allen said he had experienced criticism, but he takes every mean comment and uses it for positive outcomes.
“I want every person to learn how to take the criticism and use it for motivation. It would be best if you always believed in yourself and never be satisfied because it can always be better,” Allen said. I want people to be fine standing out and being themselves.”
As a social work major, Allen believes that much of what he learns inspires him to do other things with baking.
“I love people, and I love making kids smile. I want to use my platform to help kids by providing cakes to children with special needs,” he added.
You can follow Allen’s Instagram at dacakegoat or his Facebook page at CJA’s Cakes and Cupcakes.
Fettered gifts represent “mistreatment for African American institutions”
While several HBCUs have received millions in unrestricted donations from donors like Google and philanthropist MacKenzie Scott, there is something to be said about unusually restricted donations to these institutions. Learn how restricted donations are becoming a thing of the past in the full story from Bloomberg Equality by Simone Silvan below.
Credit: Erik S. Lesser/Getty Images
Historically Black colleges and universities have long been saddled with corporate donations with overly specific conditions, Prairie View A&M University President Ruth Simmons said Wednesday in a Bloomberg Virtual Equality Briefing.
“When we know they are going across town to a White institution and making a very generous, unrestricted gift, and they come to us, and make a very limited, short-term gift with all kinds of restrictions, that’s tantamount to continuing a tradition of mistreatment for African American institutions,” Simmons said at the Bloomberg event HBCUs: The Path to Prosperity. “So we have to stand up to them and say, ‘I’m sorry, but that won’t do.’”
That’s changing with a wave of multi-million dollar unrestricted donations to HBCUs from billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott, which were followed this year by grants from companies, including Bank of America Corp. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google. Simmons, the former president of both Brown University and Smith College, spoke alongside presidents of Spelman College and Dillard University, which also received funds from Scott.
Bank of America gave $10 million to form the Center for Black Entrepreneurship at Spelman and Morehouse College without any additional strings, said Spelman President Mary Schmidt Campbell. She added that Scott’s donation would endow faculty for decades.
Google also granted $50 million in unrestricted funds to 10 HBCUs, including Spelman and Prairie View. The HBCU presidents at the event agreed that Scott’s gift set a new standard for the philanthropic landscape.
The money also helped shore up institutions that had been struggling even before the pandemic decimated college enrollment.
“What we thought was the beginning of the end for HBCUs,” said Dillard University president Walter Kimbrough. “was a new beginning.”
Morris Brown College is restoring Fountain Hall, a building with beautiful architecture that has remained on the campus for over 100 years. Learn about the work now being done to the building after a $500,000 grant was given in the release below.
The windows are boarded upinside in the Morris Brown College classroom where W.E.B. DuBois wrote “A Litany of Atlanta” in 1906 in response to the Atlanta Race Massacre.
Fountain Hall, nearly 140 years old, has sat dormant and decaying for more than a decade.
Sunlight peers through a stained glass window in the abandoned chapel space at Fountain Hall on the campus of Morris Brown College, Thursday, December 5, 2019. (ALYSSA POINTER/ALYSSA.POINTER@AJC.COM)
But there is hope.
The private college received $500,000 from the National Park Service Historically Black Colleges and Universities Grant Programto start the process of restoring all of the windows in the building, including two stained glass windows honoring Atlanta University’s Founder Reverend E. A. Ware and his wife Jane Twichwell Ware.
Last year, the college received $500,000 from the park service to repair the building’s roof, iconic bell tower and clock face.
“Fountain Hall is our iconic symbol of strength and perseverance,” said the college’s president, Kevin James. “Students who went to Morris Brown experienced so many milestones in that building. We are going to need that building.”
Credit: Photo by Stan Coleman
Once a key member of the Atlanta University Center, Morris Brown College became a shell of its former self after losing its Southern Association of Colleges and Schools accreditation in 2003 because of financial mismanagement. The school filed for bankruptcy in 2012.
Loss of accreditation meant the loss of federal funding, which meant the loss of students who depended on financial aid. At its peak, Morris Brown had a student body of 2,700 students in the mid-1990s.
Now, 75 students are enrolled there — an improvement over the 20 it had in 2019. This past spring, the Virginia-based accreditation agency Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools approved Morris Brown’s application for candidacy status, though the school is not yet accredited.
“But we are restoring Morris Brown one brick at a time,” said James.
Founded in 1881 by the Georgia Conference of the African Methodist Episcopal Church and named for one of its bishops, Morris Brown was the first institution of higher education in Georgia created by Black people for Black people.
Credit: alyssa.pointer@ajc.com
Fountain Hall, originally named Stone Hall, was built in 1882 by Atlanta University on the crest of Diamond Hill, one of the highest points in the city. The four-sided clock atop Fountain Hall can be seen for miles and rang every hour.
Atlanta University used the three-story, red brick, High Victorian-style building from 1882 until 1929 primarily as an administration building, chapel and library.
Du Bois’ office, which he maintained from 1897 to 1910 while teaching at Atlanta University, was in Fountain Hall. It was made a National Historic Landmark in 1975.
Inside the building today, the rooms are littered with peeling paint, shattered windows and dead squirrels. What hasn’t been vandalized has deteriorated in the years since the building was functional.
The windows project could total as much as $1 million, and the school still has to raise millions more to completely restore Fountain Hall, said R. Candy Tate, who wrote the grant as the chair of the Hallowed Grounds Committee of the Atlanta Branch of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History.
Credit: BEN GRAY / AJC
“In the grand scheme of things, we have raised a lot of money in grants, but this is a $30 million project,” Tate said.
In May, the college announced that Chick-fil-A was awarding Morris Brown $500,000 to train student leaders.
There are also nascent plans for Hilton to build a hotel on campus. And, maybe one day, Morris Brown will rejoin the Atlanta University Center Consortium, a collective of the city’s historically Black colleges.
In 2019, Morris Brown was awarded $75,000 by the National Trust for Historic Preservation to hire consultants to advise on raising funds for the restoration of Fountain Hall
“We are hopeful,” James said. “We believe that, as we are showing our resurrection, corporate donors will begin pouring in for Fountain Hall, because they will see a good project.”
On October 23, they will hear it.
In the middle of a raging pandemic and without a football program or even electricity in Fountain Hall, Morris Brown plans to hold homecoming, the annual return of alumni to campusthat Black colleges look forward to all year.
For the first time in more than two decades, the bell enclosed in the clock with four new faces will ring out across Diamond Hill.
“That bell hasn’t been heard in 25 years,” James said. “It would mean so much to so many.”
