Bethune-Cookman is the first of 59 historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in the Southeast to enter into an agreement with the Small Business administration to promote small, minority-owned businesses, according to Butts.
Participants at the SBA signing included (left to right) Dr. Weldon Blake, chair of B-CU’s School of Business; Hiram Powell, B-CU Provost; Aubrey Long, dean of the School of Business; Cassius Butts, SBA regional administrator; B-CU Interim President Dr. Edison Jackson and Wilfredo Gonzalez, SBA’s district director. (PHOTO COURTESY OF B-CU)
Dr. Weldon Blake, B-CU’s Business Department chair, was instrumental in coordinating the SAM.
Butts said HBCUs and their faculty serve as the foundation for strong and thriving communities.
“This partnership will foster young entrepreneurship, especially in minority communities,” Butts noted.
Jackson said the partnership with SBA is a milestone for B-CU.
“With the signing of this agreement, B-CU will be able to help the community that surrounds our campus, but more importantly, give our students the tools and resources they need to become successful entrepreneurs,” he explained.
Tuskegee University is America’s oldest black college marching band.
Historically black college football classics are three-day extravaganzas, where the HBCU community congregates in the name of football, common culture, music and, most important, tradition.
Similar to a bowl game, outside of the stadium there are parades, tailgating and barbecuing with stereos blasting along with elaborate step shows.
When Beyoncé was still part of Destiny’s Child, she performed at a Classic. In fact, a plethora of multiplatinum hip-hop and R&B artists — such as A Tribe Called Quest, LL Cool J and Stephanie Mills — made HBCU Classics the place to be.
“It’s an experience you only get at an HBCU, where the excitement over halftime [battles] between marching bands rival the actual game,” says Aaron Polley, a Washington Redskins drum line musician who is a former Hampton University band member and has played at several Urban League Classics.
Time will tell if HBCU Classics will become a casualty of inevitable social evolution or remain a cultural phenomenon for generations to come. Football was the first draw for the Classics, and with the loss of talented players to other high-profile schools, attendance is dwindling.
In 1968, Morgan State upset Grambling State during the first historically black college football game in New York City, which drew more than 60,000 frenzied fans to Yankee Stadium.
The immensely talented teams, Grambling’s growing national reputation and the mythical persona of its head coach, Eddie Robinson, coupled with the flamboyant marching band competition, inspired the other 103 HBCUs to embrace the cultural philosophy of big-stage football, academic excellence and artistic prowess that defines today’s HBCU Classics.
In the golden days of HBCU Classic football games — from the late 1960s through the late ’90s — stadiums jam-packed with students, faculty and fans were the norm.
But the journey to respectability was anything but easy for Grambling’s Robinson, who, during his 57-year career, became the coach with the most wins in NCAA Division I history, sending more than 200 players to the NFL.
Recently recognized at the Black Engineer of the Year Awards, alumna Dornesia Ward (‘08) credits ASU with igniting her passion to pursue a career in technology.
Each year the Black Engineer of the Year (BEYA) Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Conference recognizes the leaders and innovators in the STEM fields.
Among those recognized at this year’s BEYA Conference, which was held Feb. 7-9 in Washington D.C., was ASU alumna Dornesia Ward.
Ward, an IT specialist with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, was honored as a 2012 BEYA STEM Modern Day Technology Leader.
“To be recognized for what I do is motivation to continue to do more than what is expected,” Ward said.
The Birmingham native hopes that her award will inspire a new generation to pursue careers as STEM professionals.
“The STEM fields do not have a lot of minority participation, so hopefully my recognition, along with others who were recognized at the BEYA STEM Conference, will motivate and stimulate the interests of minorities and women to explore educational and career options in STEM fields.”
Ward came to ASU in 2004 at age 16; she graduated summa cum laude in 2008 with a Bachelor of Science degree in computer science, and she earned a master’s degree in information systems management from Walden University in 2011.
Former Howard University student, record producer, and renaissance man Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs took over Twitter last night when he announced a joint business venture with comrade Mark Wahlberg.
“As a brand architect, I am incredibly passionate and equally committed to every aspect of the businesses that I get involved with,” Diddy said in a press release. “Partnering with AQUAhydrate and Mark is an incredible opportunity for me and I am looking forward to making history in the process. It’s important for me to be part of something that drives me and is constantly pushing the boundaries, and that’s what AQUAhydrate does. Together, we’re going to take AQUAhydrate to the next level.”
Because of his long history of achievement and paying it forward, we at the Buzz would like to congratulate Diddy on his new-found success.
AQUAhydrate, Inc. is a Southern California-based health and fitness water brand founded on innovative technology and science. It is this powerful synergy between alkalinity, electrolytes and minerals which fuels ultimate hydration, balance and performance, and which has made AQUAhydrate the water of choice for myriad health/fitness authorities, athletes, and celebrity endorsers. For further info on AQUAhydrate check out www.aquahydrate.com. Find them on Facebook and Twitter.
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Alcorn State University invites you to join us in honoring the courage, leadership, and dedication of a fellow Mississippian and Alcorn State graduate: Medgar Wiley Evers.
Medgar Evers was a civil rights activist who organized voter-registration efforts, demonstrations and boycotts of companies that practiced discrimination.
It was at Alcorn State University where Evers first became involved in civil rights activism. In his memory, ASU has established The Medgar Wiley Evers Heritage Village, a revolutionary student housing community, to enrich the living and learning experience at Alcorn State for years to come. Today, this endeavor lacks one final feature. But you can help complete it. And in doing so, you will also help support civil rights education, the arts, and tourism in our community.
A statue of Evers, commissioned by an acclaimed sculptor, is planned for the Lorman campus. It will feature an account of Evers’ most notable achievements and contributions to civil rights.
By giving to this campaign, you will help establish the newest highlight on the Mississippi Civil Rights Trail and the Mississippi Blues Trail, increasing tourism and civil rights education in our community as numerous visitors stop in Lorman, Mississippi, to learn about Evers’ legacy and alma mater.
Help us Honor the Legacy today. To become part of Honoring the Legacy, click here.
We thank you for embracing this worthy cause to salute the life of one of Mississippi’s most deserving sons and support the values his memory represents.
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INDIANAPOLIS — It’s been said that any play in which an offensive lineman has to run 40 yards in a straight line in probably a bad idea, but that doesn’t stop the NFL’s evaluators from studying just how well the big men run the 40-yard dash at the scouting combine. This year, those NFL guys got a real treat, as Arkansas-Pine Bluff tackle Terron Armsteadset a recent combine record with an unofficial 4.65 40-yard dash. His official time, announced later, was 4.71, but this still exceeded the previous mark since 2006 of 4.84, set by Allen Barbre in 2007.
Amstead just beat out Oklahoma’s Lane Johnson, who ran an official 4.72, and whose stock has been rising steadily since he impressed everybody at the Senior Bowl. While Armstead is NFL Draft Scout’s 10th-rated offensive tackle, Johnson is third behind Texas A&Ms Luke Joeckel and Eric Fisher of Central Michigan. Fisher ran a 5.05 40 and Joeckel’s was even higher, but don’t expect that to affect their draft stock. More than with other positions, NFL teams will go back to the tape with offensive linemen for the real story.
Armstead does have an interesting story, though. The 6-foot-5, 306-pound small-school star, who played well enough at the East-West Shrine Game to perk up further interest, and earn an invitation to the Senior Bowl as an injury replacement.
Alabama State University hosted leaders of the local faith community at the annual “It’s a Great Time Breakfast.”
Leaders of Montgomery’s faith community were invited the Alabama State University campus on Saturday, Feb. 23 for breakfast, updates and a tour of the New ASU Stadium during the annual “It’s a Great Time Breakfast.”
The event, which was held in the club lounge of the New ASU Stadium, featured a full breakfast provided by Gourmet Services Inc.
While dining, clergy and youth ministry leaders heard from officials about new and exciting developments occurring at ASU.
Attendees watched the special “Our House” video featuring acclaimed Hollywood actor Samuel L. Jackson that played before the inaugural game (Turkey Day Classic) in the New ASU Stadium in November.
Facilities management director Gina Jobe-Ishman shared fun facts about the stadium and instructions on how to reserve the facility for events. Vice President for University Relations Danielle M. Kennedy told the group about ASU’s new academic programs and recent recognitions, and ASU Interim President William H. Harris offered remarks.
Harris reflected on the success of the stadium’s opening and discussed how returning ASU’s football tradition to the campus will allow more people to see the totality of ASU’s offerings.
That day in November (Thanksgiving), there were more people on this campus of ASU than at any time in our history, and it was a great time to see that many people,” Harris said. “We need people to see ASU, so they can begin to see and feel where the University is, and that’s why we’re here this morning.”
An ASU professor is helping the Montgomery Police Department work to reduce violence in Alabama’s capital city.
Dr. Earnest Blackshear, assistant professor of psychology and director of the ASU Community Violence Research Laboratory, has been appointed chairman of the Montgomery Police Department’s (MPD) newly formed Montgomery Task Force on Community Violence.
The task force will address what statistics show is the leading cause of death among black males in Alabama and in the nation — homicide by a firearm at the hands of another black male.
Blackshear, who is a clinical psychologist, said he was handpicked by Montgomery Mayor Todd Strange and MPD Chief Kevin Murphy to head the task force.
“I did a segment on ASU’s WVAS-FM’s 90.7 ‘Perspectives’ program where I discussed black-on-black violence. Word got back to the mayor, and he called a meeting with me and ASU’s director of Public Safety,” Blackshear said.
After developing a full presentation on black-on-black violence for the MPD, Blackshear said he then was selected as a consultant and chair of the new task force.
Murphy said Blackshear was an ideal choice to lead the task force because of his academic and real-life experience.
“I receive a lot of proposals for programs and initiatives … Dr. Blackshear’s methodology and the way he constructed his study and application to real-world problems of violent crimes was the best I’ve ever seen,” Murphy said. “He has real-world experience; he’s been in the field; he really gets it.”
Changes to a popular government student loan are making it difficult for thousands of students to afford college this school year.
That’s according to a new report about making the requirements to the federal PLUS loan program more stringent.
Adam Miller, a freshman at a local college, says it was a struggle to find the money to pay for his education.
“Very frustrating,” he recalled. “I was lucky with what I had. Now next year, I don’t know if it will look to good.”
The more stringent requirements have hit historically black colleges and universities (HBCU) hard since more of their students come from low income families.
But Bobby Henderson, an alum of Fayetteville State University and parent of high school junior, says it’s not just low-income families that are affected.
“It’s going to be very hard for our youth of today especially those youth that come from families that’s middle income and upper income,” he said.
In fact, Henderson isn’t sure how he’ll help his son pay for college in a couple of years.
“Basically you only really have two avenues: either you gotta be a heck of an athlete or you gotta be a very outstanding student,” he said.
Still, Henderson is committed to helping his son find a way.
“Still send your child to school,” he pointed out. “Cause that’s what it’s all about — higher education. But the method in terms of how it’s going to be paid for is going to be much harder now.”
The U.S. Department of Education made the changes to the PLUS loan program in an effort to make sure government loans line up with industry standards to decrease the rate at which students default on the loans.
This year, Talladega College’s speaker for the convocation will be Susan L. Taylor, Editor-in-Chief Emeritus of Essence Magazine. Taylor helped brand Essence as one of the top African American publications and one of the most revered black-owned businesses of the 21st century.
Taylor is from Harlem, New York. As a fourth-generation entrepreneur, Taylor started her own cosmetics company after working for her father in his women’s clothing store. That experience with fashion and beauty led to her securing the position as beauty editor with Essence, and the rest is history. She advanced to become the editor-in-chief and editorial director. Essence magazine acquired national and international fame as the most highly regarded African American women’s magazine. Taylor has won numerous, prestigious awards. The Magazine Publishers of America bestowed upon Taylor the Henry Johnson Fisher Award. She was the first and only African American woman to receive this award which is considered the industry’s highest honor. Her accolades also include honorary degrees from more than a dozen colleges and universities, and she was given the NAACP President’s Award for visionary leadership.
The Women Changing the World Convocation will be Wednesday, March 6, 2013 at 11 a.m. in DeForest Chapel on the campus.
Huntsville, Ala. —- The President of Alabama A&M University and a league of dedicate staff members will traverse the state of Alabama on a five-day bus tour of select metropolitan and rural areas February 25-March 1.
AAMU President Andrew Hugine, Jr., will be accompanied by student leaders, as
well as staff from Admissions and Alumni Affairs, on the first “Community Engagement Presidential Bus Tour.” The extensive bus tour will depart Huntsville for central Alabama, proceed for two days through the east central and Black Belt region of the state, continue down to the Gulf Coast region, and then conclude on March 1 in west Alabama.
“The tour provides a great opportunity for our alumni to involve themselves in efforts that further and positively expose our wonderful university throughout Alabama,” commented Sandra S. Stubbs, director of alumni affairs at AAMU. “It also opens doors for continuing engagement with community leaders.”
By Jim Wyatt | The Tennessean
Tennessee State tackle Rogers Gaines (75), who was named All-OVC second team as a junior and first team as a senior, will attend the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis beginning this week. / TSU Sports Information
As a cashier at Kroger in Goodlettsville the past seven years, Rogers Gaines received plenty of double takes.
At 6-foot-7, he was noticed for his size — if something was needed off the top shelf on aisle 10, Gaines was the guy — but also for his demeanor.
“He was like the Jolly Green Giant,” store manager Don Cox said. “And the customers loved him because he always had a smile on his face. He was a giant all right, but I don’t think anyone around here has ever seen him mad.”
This week at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis, Gaines wants to turn heads for another reason.
After flying under the national football radar at Tennessee State, the 335-pound offensive tackle will try to impress NFL scouts and prove himself draft-worthy.
“I am going to shock a lot of people,” Gaines said. “I know I am a sleeper, most definitely, coming from Tennessee State. But if you can play, you can play, and I’ve worked my butt off to put myself in this position. So hopefully it will pay off for me.”
Gaines, a two-sport star coming out of White House High School, initially attracted some bigger programs, including Tennessee, but he wasn’t an immediate qualifier and ended up at TSU.
He made the most of his opportunity.
After two seasons as a backup, Gaines was All-OVC second team as a junior and first team as a senior, when the Tigers led the Ohio Valley Conference in rushing. (TSU lineman Sherman Carter also has attracted attention from NFL scouts, but he wasn’t invited to the combine.)
As a senior, Gaines played left tackle and didn’t allow a sack.
“You could really start to see his transformation last summer,” TSU coach Rod Reed said. “I thought he really put his time in and worked hard to turn into the player he’s become. … And (scouts) found him. If there are 32 NFL teams, 29 teams have been in to look at him.”
Glenda Bakin is TSU’s 8th President, having graduated from the great University more than 30 years ago.
NASHVILLE – Twelve-hour days. Seventeen speeches. Eleven receptions. More cold calls than she can count. And a personal check for $50,000 toward an unprecedented alumni fundraising goal.
She arrived at a Tennessean editorial board meeting wearing a crisp suit in the school colors: blue and white. Glover, a 1974 TSU alum, makes an engaging first impression. She says “it’s good to be back” in Nashville, and her smile shows she means it.
She is charming, and looks you in the eye. She listens well. She doesn’t resist answering hard questions. There’s not a hint of defensiveness, something TSU’s administrators have had in the past. She conveys a new day of openness.
Glover’s goals are ambitious, and Nashville and the TSU community should embrace them. She has a vision of academic progress, customer service to better serve students and their parents, strong fundraising, a campus with an emphasis on diversity and inclusion, and “shared governance,” where faculty and students have a voice. The latter, she stresses, comes with a caveat: She has the final say.
Her focus so far, Glover said, has been “internal unity.” Her predecessor, Portia Shields (who served as interim president), did a world of good in cleaning up many things at TSU, but there is still a deep rift between faculty factions. Glover said she’s actually been surprised that tension hasn’t been more apparent.
“I don’t see it like I thought I would see it,” she said. “I can’t say it’s not there. But it’s not to the extent it’s making me lose sleep at night.”
She is also determined to personally reach out to businesses and attend community events, to push Nashville to embrace the university as it never has.
As part of that goal, she wants to hear from you. Glover will hold a town hall meeting at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday at Kean Hall on the TSU campus. It is free and open to the public. There will be designated parking and a shuttle service.
“Some questions may not be kind,” she said. “It is what it is.”
The chairman of J.C. Watts Companies hopes to merge the Black Television News Channel (BTNC) with Florida A&M’s School of Journalism & Graphic Communication (SJGC), bringing a 24-hour news channel to the university.
J.C. Watts is the chairman of the J.C. Watts Companies, a multi-industry holding company headquartered in Washington, DC, with operations in Texas, Oklahoma, and South Korea.
J.C. Watts Jr., along with the company’s management team, toured the SJGC and met with faculty Thursday.
The BTNC program consists of a news channel geared towards the African-American demographic. Its programming targets a high-growth and loyal consumer who is bombarded with news about sports, crime and entertainment.
The program’s mission is to provide intelligent programming that is informative, educational, inspiring and empowering for its African-American audience, according to the company’s business plan.
Watts said his colleagues have had their eyes on the SJGC for many reasons.
“The people involved in the network know of the university and the human resources, as well as the students at the School of Journalism here, would be very beneficial to a news channel,” he said.
Watts said 80 percent, or $4 million, has already been funded for the program.
The goal of the collaboration between the BTNC program and FAMU would be to benefit students’ educational experience, as well as to contribute to the delivery of important news to the African-American community.
FAMU officials think the program will provide learning, internship and employment opportunities to students.
Ann Kimbrough, dean of the SJGC, is excited about the changes the university could undergo as a result of this partnership.
“There are many exciting features to this proposed partnership,” Kimbrough said. “School of Journalism & Graphic Communication students and faculty will have fresh opportunities to participate in newsgathering and related worldwide distribution of news content.”
When Gov. Rick Scott held a press conference on Wednesday to announce that he wants Florida to participate in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, known as “Obamacare,” my heart skipped a beat.
Scott, who is running for re-election in 2014, needs this to improve his image with voters. The magnitude of that announcement was huge and the implications for everybody are tremendous.
For those who do not have health insurance, this allows you to see the doctor and have regular checkups without having to worry about co-payments and suffering in silence while you have medical ailments.
These problems can affect a student’s ability to focus in class, socialize and function. Plus, we do not have the funds to dish out for new patient fees and doctor visits. It can get quite expensive just to stay healthy.
Notably, in Florida, which is one of the hardest and stingiest states to receive Medicaid benefits, you must be blind, pregnant, disabled or handicapped to receive assistance. And Medicare is only for senior citizens.
Scott made it his mission to rally his fellow Republican governors to have Obamacare overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court, claiming that it was unconstitutional. But in 2012, the Supreme Court disagreed and ruled to uphold the law as constitutional. The Supreme Court included in its ruling that the federal government could not force states to participate in Medicaid programs but that it was voluntary.
The ball was in Scott’s hands on how he was going to proceed after being defeated by the Supreme Court, but he still had the opportunity to deny Floridians the benefit of Obamacare. With the desire to stay in office, Scott is flip-flopping on his position in an attempt to procure more votes.
February 26 will mark one year since 17-year-old Trayvon Martin was killed by a gun wielded by self-appointed neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman after he saw Trayvon walking home from a 7-Eleven with a bag of Skittles and bottle of Arizona iced tea.
Black children, youths, and families know first-hand that the killing of Black children by gun violence is not new but a relentlessly unreported and under-reported plague that has been disproportionately snuffing out Black child lives for a very long time. Fifteen percent of children and teens are Black but 45 percent of all children and youths killed by guns in 2010 were Black. Black boys 15 to 19 years old were 28 times more likely than White boys the same age to be killed in a gun homicide.
Shortly after President Kennedy’s assassination, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote that it was time for our nation to do some soul-searching, and while the question “Who killed President Kennedy?” was important, answering the question “What killed President Kennedy?” was even more critical. Dr. King believed the answer was that “our late president was assassinated by a morally inclement climate”: “It is a climate filled with heavy torrents of false accusation, jostling winds of hatred, and raging storms of violence. It is a climate where men cannot disagree without being disagreeable, and where they express dissent through violence and murder. It is the same climate that murdered Medgar Evers in Mississippi and six innocent Negro children in Birmingham, Alabama.” Dr. King further noted that the undercurrents of hatred and violence that made up this morally inclement climate were fueled by our cultural embrace of guns: “By our readiness to allow arms to be purchased at will and fired at whim, by allowing our movie and television screens to teach our children that the hero is one who masters the art of shooting and the technique of killing, by allowing all these developments, we have created an atmosphere in which violence and hatred have become popular pastimes.”
The same winds of hatred, storms of violence, and easy access to and glorification of guns that Dr. King believed killed President Kennedy would soon also kill Dr. King. Fifty years after Dr. King described our morally inclement climate, the outward signs of racial intolerance and hatred have undoubtedly diminished but there are still far too many reminders of the dangers lurking everywhere that devastate us all — like Trayvon’s senseless death for walking home while Black. Between 1963, when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, and 2010, nearly 60,000 Black children and teens were killed by guns, over 1,200 every year for 48 years. This is 17 times the number of reported lynchings of Black Americans of all ages since 1882 but we have not had an equivalent Black community anti-lynching movement to save our children from gun violence.
Alabama State University hosted leaders of the local faith community at the annual “It’s a Great Time Breakfast.”
An ASU professor is helping the Montgomery Police Department work to reduce violence in Alabama’s capital city.
By Donald Remy | The Famuan
February 26 will mark one year since 17-year-old Trayvon Martin was killed by a gun wielded by self-appointed neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman after he saw Trayvon walking home from a 7-Eleven with a bag of Skittles and bottle of Arizona iced tea.