Historic Game Featuring Rattlers and Eagles at Fenway Park

Take me out to the ball game!

Two HBCUs will face off against each other at the oldest ballpark in professional baseball, thanks to the Boston Red Sox and sponsors, according to reports.

The historic game at Fenway Park is important for both the Florida A&M and the North Carolina Central baseball teams in terms of improving Major League Baseball’s racial diversity among future players, and no matter who wins, FAMU’s interim athletic director D’Wayne Robinson says before any action begins, he must take a few groundballs when the teams plays on Saturday, April 25 at 10 a.m.

[quote_box_center]From the Tallahassee Democrat: “I told coach (Shouppe), I don’t care what happens but I have to get on the field and warm up with you guys,” Robinson said.[/quote_box_center]

“If I don’t do anything but toss the ball around or take a grounder at short(stop). … That’s the closest I will come at this point in my life to being on the field. It’s going to be exciting and we are really looking forward to it,” he added.

The Rattlers (11-15 overall, 7-5 MEAC) hopes to keep their four-game winning streak alive after coming off a three-game sweep of the Aggies at Moore-Kittles Field on Sunday. The Eagles (11-15 overall, 6-5 MEAC) plays the Trojans next at home.

According to Tallahassee.com, the historic matchup between FAMU and NCCU at Fenway Park was scheduled by the Red Sox to showcase the two Black college teams to the Boston area.

“On The Yard SU” Financial Aid Struggles

In Episode 6 of “On the Yard SU,” Perry White talks to Travis Richard, a student financial advisor at Southern University, about ways to avoid the hassles of dealing with financial aid. This episode also recaps an exciting Junior/Senior week at the home of the Jags.

“On the Yard SU” is a web series centered around Southern University to inform students, faculty and alumni on some of the things that are going on around campus. The show is meant to bring SU into a positive light.

Environmental Artist Tyree Guyton Explores ‘The Heidelberg Project and the Power of Art’ at Spelman College

ATLANTA  — Environmental artist Tyree Guyton will explore his work through a conversation, screening and performance art installation at Spelman College March 26-27, 2015. Presented by Spelman’s Distinguished Visiting Scholar in the Arts Aku KadogoConnecting the Dots: The Heidelberg Project and the Power of Art examines Guyton’s renowned 30-year-old outdoor art environment, which transforms rundown areas on Detroit’s eastside into vibrant urban neighborhoods. The mission of the project is for creativity to thrive and inspire individuals to appreciate and use artistic expression to enrich their lives and improve the social and economic health of their greater community. Kadogo, in partnership with Anne Dennington of Flux Projects, will host a special dialogue with Guyton at the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art and screen his film Come Unto Me. Kadogo and Guyton will also present a spontaneous, interactive art installation, Heidelberg TV: The Baby Doll Show, which will include participation from metro Atlanta artists.

All events are free and open to the public.

WHY:
“I am attracted to Guyton’s bravura, as he set out nearly 30 years ago to address the blight that overtook his community,” said Kadogo. “He also has a tremendous sense of play, and this is why I invited him to come to Spelman. Play is an essential part of the imagination and creativity.”

WHEN:
Conversation with Guyton and Screening of Come Unto Me
Thursday, March 26, 2015
6:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.

Heidelberg TV: The Baby Doll Show
Friday, March 27, 2015
2 p.m. – 5 p.m.

WHERE:
Spelman College
Camille Olivia Hanks Cosby, Ed.D., Academic Center
GPS Address: 440 Westview Drive, S.W., Atlanta 30310

About Tyree Guyton
Primarily a painter and sculptor, Tyree Guyton has also been described as an urban environmental artist. He has waged a personal war on urban blight on Detroit’s East Side, transforming his neighborhood into a living indoor/outdoor art gallery. Through his art, Guyton has drawn attention to the plight of Detroit’s forgotten neighborhoods and spurred discussion and action.

Media Contact:
Audrey Arthur
Spelman College
(404) 270-5892
aarthur3@spelman.edu
Twitter: @SpelmanMedia

Spelman’s 11th Annual Leadership Conference Empowers Women in the Digital Era

ATLANTA  — Spelman College will explore the theme “New School Leaders in the Digital Era” at its 11th Annual Leadership and Women of Color Conference May 13-14, 2015, at the Georgia International Convention Center in Atlanta.

During the intergenerational conference, prominent female leaders across all facets of technology and digital industries will share their experiences and knowledge of success in leadership roles. Attendees and experts will delve into this year’s theme, which will examine how to develop and sustain effective leadership strategies via change, innovation and influence. Experts will also address the importance and effects of technology, why leaders must be digitally-fluent and how to excel in today’s high-speed, globally-connected environment.

The conference, first convened in 2004 by Jane Smith, Ed.D., C’68, executive director of the Center for Leadership and Civic Engagement at Spelman College, will  offer everyone from emerging leaders to veteran visionaries fresh leadership tactics, bold new-age strategies and life-changing skills to achieve in the digital age.

“The digital era has begun, and with that, technology is thoroughly integrated into our everyday lives,” said Dr. Smith. “As a result, discussing technology’s relevance is an important and necessary conversation for today’s leaders because of its impact in multiple areas of professional and personal development. During the conference, we’ll examine the effects of technology and digital culture as it relates to leadership on a global level; explore what diversity looks like in the digital space; and identify the skill sets and platforms New School Leaders use to cultivate and maintain success.”

Through timely workshops, impactful speaker/learning sessions, a media panel and numerous networking opportunities, attendees will leave feeling equipped to “change, innovate and influence.”

Scheduled events include the annual Game Changers: Digital Vanguard Luncheon and Legacy of Leadership Awards Dinner, which will herald women leaders who have excelled in their profession. Meanwhile, the interactive session titled, New School Leaders: What Does it Take to Thrive in the Digital Era?, will provide the foundation for the conference by defining and exploring the concept of New School Leaders and the best practices they use to balance and thrive in the digital era. A special Tribute to the Spelman College President will recognize Beverly Daniel Tatum, Ph.D., for the achievements and accomplishments earned during her 13-year tenure at the helm of the College. President Tatum will retire at the end of June 2015. These and other events during the conference will provide attendees with take-away information, real-world advice and leadership testimonies to succeed in their respective careers. For a detailed conference schedule, click here.

For more details and to register, visit www.spelmanwomenofcolorconf.com. Join the discussion for this year’s event and theme across all social media platforms by using the hashtag #SpelmanWOCC.

Media Contact:

Audrey Arthur
Spelman College
(404) 270-5892
aarthur3@spelman.edu
Twitter: @SpelmanMedia

5 HBCU Alum From 3 Black Colleges Gives Back to the Community

In 2012, five alumni from Hampton, Howard and Morgan State set out to shatter the perception that HBCU alumni don’t give back to their alma maters. Lauren Legette, (Hampton ’11), Alize Beal (Howard ’12), Brendan Francis (Howard ’12), Roger Rojas (Morgan State ’01), and Anastazia Neely (Hampton ’12) started the Puissance Scholarship.

The Puissance Scholarship was founded with the goal of “raising money for present HBCU students from greater New York City, to increase awareness about benefits of HBCU attendance for prospective students, and to provide a network of support as they transition into HBCU alumni.”

Each year a scholarship is awarded to an outstanding high school senior bound for an HBCU in the fall. In order to help raise money for the Puissance Scholarship, the five alumni started an event known as the Hillman Homecoming.

The Hillman Homecoming is an opportunity to celebrate and connect the HBCU graduates in the New York City area.

Lauren Legette, one of the founders of the Puissance Scholarship says, “Hillman Homecoming is a celebration of beautiful black professionals who made their start at Historically Black Colleges and Universities across the globe and are making a difference in the world.” Legette goes on to say there is no other event like the Hillman Homecoming and she is grateful to be apart of the movement.

Since its start, the Puissance Scholarship has been awarded to 5 scholars. To make a donation, visit here.

Spelman Sophomore Earns Arcus Foundation Scholarship

Comparative women’s studies major and sociology minor Lexus Phillips, class of 2017 has been named the first Spelman College student selected to receive an Arcus Foundation scholarship.

Established at Spelman College in 2014, the scholarship provides financial assistance to a student who has shown promise to become a strong leader and advocate for the LGBTQ community. The Arcus Foundation is a leading global foundation dedicated to the idea that people can live in harmony with one another and the natural world. The foundation works with experts and advocates for change to ensure that LGBT individuals and others thrive in a world where social and environmental justice are a reality.

A native of Memphis, Tenn., with a passion for social justice, Phillips serves as a member of Afrekete, Spelman’s LGBTQ organization. In her role with Afrekete, Phillips plans and executes various events at Spelman that provide visibility and advocacy for the equality of LGBTQ students on campus. Her social justice work extends beyond Spelman into the Atlanta community through SPARK Reproductive Justice NOW, a non-profit organization focused on reproductive justice for the LGBTQ community and individuals of color.

Upon graduation from Spelman, Phillips’ goal is to work as a community organizer in Atlanta and Memphis to garner resources and facilitate personal and professional growth for women of color and LGBTQ youth of color.

Media Contact:
Audrey Arthur
Spelman College
(404) 270-5892
aarthur3@spelman.edu
Twitter: @SpelmanMedia

Busting Brackets

As many people fill out their brackets and predict who will be crowned the national champions after the National Collegiate Athletic Association tournament, two HBCU teams hope to serve as bracket busters and rise against the odds.

The two HBCU teams that qualified for the NCAA Tournament are Texas Southern, who have gotten there for the second consecutive year, and MEAC dark-horse Hampton. The two teams had varying degrees of success throughout the season and were able to be invited to the big dance after winning their conference tournament. Though they have initially been given low seeds, Hampton has to play in the first round which is a virtual play in, these two squads hope to go from unknown to the story of the tournament.

Hampton University (16-17, 8-8 MEAC) had a very up and down year finishing just under .500 for the season before their conference tournament. Throughout the year Hampton averaged one point less per game than their opponents and were very unspectacular across the stat sheet. In the conference tournament however, the Pirates came out of the gate motivated to dominate their opponents.

HU convincingly handled all of their match ups with their closest margin of victory being a five point victory over Maryland Eastern Shore. Throughout the conference tournament Hampton used an increased offensive prowess and tough defense to secure their victories and now hope to carry that over to their game against Manhattan for the right to be a 16th seed in the tournament.

Texas Southern University (22-12, 16-2 SWAC) is making their second appearance in the NCAA tournament in as many years after winning the SWAC Conference Tournament again. TxSU was able to dominate the SWAC all year behind a stifling defense and a modest offensive game plan.

After entering the SWAC tournament on an eight game winning streak, the Tigers were able to slip past Southern in a tight four point victory to give TxSU 11 straight wins heading into the tournament. They were placed in the 15th seed and will take on Arizona in their first game.

As these two teams look to be David and take on Goliath, it is their hope that they can bust everyone’s brackets but their own.

“On the Yard SU” Focuses on Career Services

Host Perry White, visits CTLE and the Office of Career Services to shed light on some of the options students have when graduating. The Souther University “Human Jukebox” Marching Band teams up with the Make-A-Wish Foundation to help make a teenagers wish come true.

“On the Yard SU” is a web series centered around Southern University to inform students, faculty and alumni on some of the things that are going on around campus. The show is meant to bring SU into a positive light.

Delaware State Loves the Kids

Delaware Online: The News Journal

Delaware State University students fanned out around the state Saturday to put in work on community service projects in an annual coordinated day of good deeds.

At the Boys & Girls Club on Simon Circle in Dover, that took the form of a block party for the whole neighborhood. The plan was to have moonbounces set up outdoors and a stage for live music, but unexpected snow flurries made it a gymnasium party instead, driving most of the festivities indoors.

For Ed Doxen, president of DSU’s Student Government Association, the club was familiar ground; he volunteers to mentor the kids who go there, and arranged for regular visits from other DSU students for tutoring and mentoring. read more…

FAMU Becomes First HBCU to Perform at Carnegie Hall

Amsterdam News

The Florida A&M University (FAMU) Wind Symphony makes final preparations for its Carnegie Hall performance at a dress rehearsal on Saturday at the New York Hilton Midtown Manhattan Hotel.

A ballroom on the third floor of the hotel was converted to a rehearsal hall for the nearly 60-piece band under the baton of band director Dr. Shelby Chipman. read more…

Professor Gets Obamas Attention, Now Asking HBCU Questions

Raider Nation Times

To inspire “hot” discussions in class, I often raise questions and let the students debate and use mathematical or statistical data to justify their viewpoints. Most of the time I find a way to use theOakland Raiders’ historical data to spur conversations and analytical thinking. I now know that my strategy is working and getting the attention of others.

A student came up to me after class on March 27, 2015, and thanked me for posing a question about the impact of proposed legislation to make two year colleges “free” or less expensive in the United States. I posed the question: If a two year college is contiguous to an HBCU, is it possible that the so-called “free” two year education may adversely impact the four year universities near the two year college?  read more…

Times Six: Affirming a Pluralistic Vision of Blackness

Herald Recorder

I read Akiba Solomon for the first time in the early 2000s when she was a senior editor at The Source magazine. Although Akiba’s penchant for crafting sentences was on par with some of the greatest scribes of that era, it was her ability to structure capabilities, interviews, and investigative pieces that produced the fledgling young writer in me so jealous. This underappreciated capability to thoughtfully and imaginatively curate and structure prose is most wonderfully on display in her book, Naked: Black Women Bare All About Their Skin, Hair, Hips, Lips, and Other Components. As the existing editorial director of Colorlines, Akiba has written and edited some of the most critical pieces in the nation around intersectional (in)justice. We are incredibly lucky that she agreed to be a part of our Instances Six series.

Two of the inquiries in this series concentrate on memory, love, misogyny, and blackness. Two of the queries place us at 12 years old, the very same age Tamir Rice was when he was gunned down by police in Cleveland Ohio and the exact same age Davia Garth was, who was killed by her stepfather in the similar city. One of the questions asks us think about two extremely required national policy proposals. The final query ponders how black lives can actually matter in 2015. read more…

UAPB Baseball Defeats New Orleans 8-3

HBCU Sports

New Orleans, La. – Blake Estep’s strong performance on the mound and Rashawn Tillman’s hot bats at the plate helped the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff (11-11, 6-3 SWAC) defeat the University of New Orleans Privateers 8-3 at Maestri Field at First NBC Ballpark on Saturday afternoon.

With the win the Golden Lions set up a game 3 rubber match with the Privateers (9-17, 2-7 Southland Conference) Sunday at 1:00p.m.

Estep was stellar on the mound after pitching a season high- complete game, earning his third win of the season (3-2). Estep struck out seven batters, allowing one run on seven hits and three walks. read more…

SAE Chant Taught at National Leadership Event

The Root

Nearly two weeks after issuing a strong condemnation of a racist chant that reverberated across the nation and resulted in the closing of the University of Oklahoma’s Sigma Alpha Epsilon chapter, SAE leaders on Friday acknowledged that the song was likely taught at a national event four years ago, CNN reports.

Members of the group’s University of Oklahoma chapter “likely learned a racist chant while attending a national Leadership School about four years ago,” executive director Blaine Ayers said in a statement about the annual event, which involves hundreds of leaders during a six-day conference. read more…

Erin Winters, Howard University Wins Hearst Journalism Award

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Erin Winters, a junior Broadcast Journalism major, won a Hearst Journalism Award placing in the Top 10 of the Radio News and Features category.

Thirty-five students were presented with the Foundation’s top academic award for earning a cumulative grade point average of 3.75 or higher during the 2013-2014 school year. Each award winner received a certificate and a cash award during the Foundation’s Recognition Luncheon.

Following is a list of the award recipients:

Jourdyn Alli, University of Maryland
Tomas Barron, University of Florida
Sydney Bowden, Western Mich. Univ.
Brian Cheung, Syracuse University
Tanya Chichester, Franciscan University
Aimee Cho, Cornell University
Pierce Conway, USC
Sean Crenshaw, Virginia Polytechnic
Carlos Cribeiro, Florida State University
Barbara Daughenbaugh, Univ. of Utah
Amanda DiLella, University of Florida
Jillian Duran, Arizona State University
Kirsten Elliot, University of Florida
Parker Enix-Ross, Union County College
Luisa Garcia, College of New Rochelle
Nicole Godreau, Ithaca College
Jourdan Henry, Howard University
Olivia Johnson, Georgia State University
Megan Kee, Hampton University
Jennifer Lee, College of William & Mary
Justina Lee, Brown University
Raven McClendon, University of Oregon
Dave Patel, Northeastern University
Christina Perry, Ohio University
Ayana Phoenix, Rutgers University
Rachel Scott, USC
Erica Shaper, Kennesaw University
Isaiah Sierra-Baron, Univ. of CO.
Scott Tang, USC
Murugi Thande, American University
Taylor Turner, Univ. of TX, Austin
Beth Vang, College of St. Benedict
Drew Washington, New York University
Erin Winters, Howard University

CONGRATULATIONS! Erin Winters, a junior Broadcast Journalism major, won a Hearst Journalism Award placing in the Top 10 of the Radio News and Features category.

Posted by Howard University on Friday, March 27, 2015

Why Must I Defend My HBCU Education to Black People Who Went Elsewhere?

Gawker: Julian Kimble

I was destined to attend a historically black college or university (HBCU) once my parents met at Delaware State decades ago. Fate resulted in a childhood characterized by religious viewings of A Different World. Aside from sending me on an early quest for my real-life Denise Huxtable, the Cosby Show spinoff helped frame the black college experience that my parents and their friends had long told me about. This made the decision to attend an HBCU simple, especially after dealing with the “too black, not black enough” paradox of growing up in an all-black neighborhood, attending a predominantly white high school, and not fitting perfectly into either environment.

My parents conditioned me to anticipate casual patronization about my decision to attend a black college, so I was war-ready by the age of 18. But what I’ve learned through the years is that I’m often defending my college experience to other blacks the most vehemently. read more…