Grant to help CSU establish research center

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WILBERFORCE — Central State University has received a $600,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to begin the groundwork for the school to become a competitive research institution.

The grant will bring together the expertise of several faculty members to develop a “sharable self-optimizing and cooperative control cyber sensors network platform” — which could be used, for example, to quickly alert police to a robbery based on video footage showing key behaviors that indicate suspicious activity, said Kimberly Kendricks, associate professor of mathematics at Central State.

A second application would bring together information from different sources to track environmental phenomenon, Kendricks said.

The grant is part of Central State’s effort to establish a Center for Research Excellence in Science and Technology or similar research center in two years.

“This research project will strengthen the research credentials of our university’s faculty, as well as the resources and facilities of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) departments,” Kendricks said.

The platform project brings together researchers at Central State who have been working independently, and along with Kendricks the project includes Yu Liang, assistant professor of computer science, and Xiaofang Wei, assistant professor of GIS, Remote Sensing.

“We can help each other’s research by collaborating,” Kendricks said.

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Spike Lee ’79 Urges Students to Follow Their Passions, Not Their Wallets

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Spike Lee ’79 didn’t come to Morehouse to study film. In fact, once he got to college, he had no idea what he wanted to study until he finally realized what he was passionate about.

“At the end of my sophomore year, my adviser told me to think long and hard about choosing a major over the summer, and I said, ‘Why?’ Lee said. “She said ‘because you have exhausted all of your electives.’ When I came back, I knew I wanted to be a filmmaker…I said I was going to do everything possible to become a filmmaker.”

That was just one of the stories Lee told during a two-hour visit to the Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel where he met with students and talked about his new film, “Red Hook Summer.”

Hosted by David Wall Rice ’95 and Stephane Dunn, co-directors of the College’s new Cinema, Television and Emerging Media Studies program, the event was an interview and autograph session that also helped promote Lee’s latest “joint.”

The film, which is set in his beloved Brooklyn neighborhood, also has other Morehouse ties. The Morehouse College Glee Club, led by director David Morrow ’80, performed the movie’s final song. Many of the church members in the film are Morehouse and Spelman graduates. And music department chairman Uzee Brown ’72 composed and arranged three spirituals that were sang by the church’s choir.

“I’m really privileged to be involved in this,” said Brown, who also wrote and arranged “I’m Building Me a Home” for Lee’s 1988 film, “School Daze.” “Spike called me and asked very specifically, ‘Uzee, can you give me some arrangements that I can use as part of the congregational kind of presentation in the movie?’ So I said, ‘Sure.’”

While most of the talk was about the film, Lee also gave advice to students who filled the Chapel’s lobby and plaza. Mostly, he urged them to focus on what they wanted to do in school and in life.

“Hopefully, you have not chosen a major based on how much money you think you can make,” Lee said. “That’s a recipe for disaster. While you are here, you should be trying to find out what it is you love. That’s the whole thing about a liberal arts college – you can get exposed to everything here.” READMORE

100-Year-Old Alumnae, Former First Lady to Lead TSU’s Centennial Homecoming Parade

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Mrs. Ivanetta Davis, former First Lady at Tennessee State University, celebrates her 100th birthday June 19 during the Centennial Day Celebration. Davis will be honored during this year’s Homecoming 2012 as Grand Marshall. (photo by Rick DelaHaya, Department of Media Relations)

Ivanetta Davis’ tie to Tennessee State University stands out in a very unique way. Alumnae and former First Lady – all at the same time – seem like a rare feat. But if you think that’s a lot, add Grand Marshal.

Yes, Grand Marshal of TSU’s Centennial Homecoming parade. And, who better for the role than the former First Lady – who also celebrated her 100th birth anniversary (June 19) this year.

“I am honored to be asked to serve as the Homecoming Parade Grand Marshal,” Davis said. “Tennessee State University is my school and I love to serve in any way I can.”

Speaking in her home recently about Tennessee State University of the past and her role as the Centennial Homecoming Grand Marshal, the Centenarian spoke highly about the growth the University has achieved over the years.

“Tennessee State has grown for the better,” she said. “Back when my husband was president, not only did the school help to educate the children, but it got a lot of help from the churches and the community. They all came together to help the students.”

As a student, Davis entered Tennessee State University, then Tennessee A&I, in 1936 as an elementary education major. While attending the University, she met and fell in love with the then head football coach, Walter S. Davis, who would later become the second president of the University. The two later got married and had a son, Ivan, who currently works at TSU in the Health Services.

Not surprising, Davis, as the close confidante of her husband, was a major contributor to the tremendous growth the University experienced during Dr. Davis’ reign as president of Tennessee A&I. Together, they gave the school 25 years of service. READ FULL

Tennessee State University athletes helped integrate Nashville

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They’re calling it an educational tour, but you might add that it’s a history lesson, as well. And it’s one in which you will have a chance to listen and touch some of the people who helped bring about a change in Nashville and American society.

“Education is important in terms of people understanding where they have come from and the possibilities for a brighter future,” Dick Barnett, who is spearheading this particular tour that deals with race, economics and social behavior, told me recently.

Barnett, now in his 70s, is Tennessee State University’s all-time leading basketball scorer and played on the school’s teams that won a record three NAIA championships from 1957 to 1959. He also played for 15 years in the NBA — one of those with the 1971 world champion New York Knicks.

With this being homecoming week at TSU — and a celebration of the school being open for 100 years — Barnett and a few teammates are coming back to Nashville to let the public know through newspaper articles, photographs and testimonies not only the greatness of their teams but what it was like to help integrate this city.

They also plan to discuss the challenges and benefits of education and the importance of passing the baton of history from one generation to another.

“We want young people, especially, and regardless of who they are and where they come from, to know that things have not always been the way they are now,” Barnett said. “When we were at Tennessee State in the late 1950s, we could not walk downtown and sit at the lunch counters.

“Things have changed dramatically, but we still have plenty of work to do to make life better for everyone. You shouldn’t just take things for granted.”

Barnett and his teammates, along with their coach, the late, great John B. McLendon, were determined to be winners in a segregated society. They felt they could compete with anyone, given the opportunity. It was also TSU’s president at the time, Walter S. Davis, who believed in seeing that his student-athletes received not only a good education but a strong athletic program.

McLendon, who died in October 1999, was the first black head coach of a professional basketball team. He attended the University of Kansas and was an undergraduate student under James A. Naismith, who invented the game.

NCCU Notes the Passing of Ruth Russell Williams

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The NCCU community notes with sadness the passing of Ruth Russell Williams, 78, an acclaimed North Carolina folk artist. A resident of Henderson, she died Friday at Durham Regional Hospital. Her work was showcased at the NCCU Art Museum in a 2009 exhibit, “Ruth Russell Williams: Master Storyteller.” When the exhibit opened, Museum Director Kenneth Rodgers described Ms. Williams as “one of North Carolina’s most original artists.”

Ruth Russell Williams was born in 1932 in the Vance County community of Townsville. Her parents were sharecroppers. At age 8, she began picking cotton to earn enough money to go to the State Fair. Later, her paintings would portray scenes from this early work and from many other childhood experiences, including memories of going to work with her grandmother to the home of a plantation owner. She developed her talent along a path that took her from these humble beginnings to beauty salon owner and cosmetologist to national recognition as a self-taught artist.

In 1948 she married Odell Russell and they had four children but would later divorce. In 1974 she married building contractor Samuel Williams. Initially drawn to ceramics, she taught ceramics at Vance-Granville Community College. When her children were mostly grown, she began painting, although she initially thought her paintings lacked merit. At an art exhibit at Kerr Lake in 1985, Williams was quite satisfied showing her work to laymen and women, but when she learned that North Carolina A & T art professor James McCoy was nearby, she grabbed her paintings and hid behind bushes, fearful of presenting her work before a professional. McCoy, however, immediately recognized Williams’ unique aesthetic sensibility. He told Williams that she was a gifted folk artist and predicted that she would one day become widely recognized. For the next two decades, Williams produced hundreds of paintings, each one telling a story of life as she saw it, in a simple, straightforward — and vividly colorful — way. READ FULL

Bowie State homicide spurs state’s attorney to host Sisterhood Summit

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Ever since Bowie State University freshman Alexis Simpson, 19, of District Heights was charged with fatally stabbing her roommate during an alleged dispute over an iPod last September, Prince George’s County State’s Attorney Angela Alsobrooks said she has been unnerved.

She said it was that case, which is scheduled for trial Nov. 13, that drove her to create an event she hopes to hold annually to foster better self-esteem and anger management in the lives of girls and women.

The state’s attorney’s office will hold the Sisterhood Summit on Sept. 29 at Prince George’s Community College in Largo. It will feature guest speakers and organizations with backgrounds in conflict resolution.

“While [Simpson] is innocent until proven guilty, just the fact that a woman is dead and another college student is in prison is just disturbing to me,” Alsobrooks said. “Today, there is a lack of ability to connect on a very basic level. They don’t have human interaction and they’ve diminished human contact, and it’s affecting the ability to resolve conflict.”

According to crime statistics from the FBI, the number of assault cases among girl

ls in the United States rose 24 percent while the number among boys declined 4.1 percent from 1996 to 2005. According to a U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration study in 2009, one in four teenage girls have participated in a violent crime within the past year.

Judge Glenda Hatchett, a juvenile court judge and star of the nationally syndicated television show “Judge Hatchett,” will deliver a keynote speech to the more than 300 teens ages 13-18 expected to attend. As of Sept. 18, 175 teens had registered for the 8 a.m.-to-3 p.m. summit.

Alsobrooks said that unlike other summits for teen growth and wellness, this event will include partnering organizations from around the county including Sisters for Sisters and Big Brothers Big Sisters National Capital Area. The event’s largest sponsor is United Way. All will encourage attendees to join their mentorship programs and work on improving their character and personality. Alsobrooks said her goal is to reduce violence among teenage girls and end the culture of disrespect and lack of emotional control.

“If we talk and go home, we fail,” Alsobrooks said. “This is more about following up with them. That’s the whole component for this.”

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WSSU To Host Entrepreneur Summit on October 4th

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Several notable local business leaders and media personalities will participate when Winston-Salem State University (WSSU) hosts an Entrepreneur Summit on Oct. 4 at 5 p.m. in the Albert H. Anderson Conference center on the WSSU Campus.

Sponsored by WSSU’s University College and Lifelong Learning’s Office of Continuing Education and Summer Sessions, the summit will focus on strategies for building a successful business. The speakers are successful entrepreneurs, whether as owners of small businesses, leaders of not-for-profit organizations, or media personalities whose entrepreneurship happens daily in the way they market their unique skills to find new opportunities.

Tracey McCain, WFMY 2 Good Morning Show field anchor, will serve as master of ceremonies.  Speakers include:  Skip Brown, First Community Bank Triad region president and founder of the former TriStone Community Bank; Algenon Cash, managing director at Wharton Gladden, a boutique real estate investment banking firm headquartered in Greensboro; Busta Brown, former WQMG radio personality;  Joy Cook,  director of strategic communications, Welfare Reform Liaison Project in Greensboro;  John Davenport, civil engineer consultant and former NCDOT engineer;  Andrew Dreyfuss, fund executive at Piedmont Angel Network (PAN),  an early stage committed capital fund based in the Triad;  Derwin Montgomery, Winston-Salem city councilman;  Nadia Moffett, Miss North Carolina USA 2010 and an active leader in the state; and Michael Suggs, executive director of Goler Community Development Corporation and former marketing and government relations executive with RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company. Read More.

Albany State SGA makes big push to register voters

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Citizens across America have different reasons to vote in the presidential election, students at Albany State University are no exception.

“Federal aid is one of the issues that for me as a student, is very big”, said ASU junior Brandon Nelson.

Other students say they’re concerned about the job market after they graduate.

The student government association is trying to make sure everyone on campus has a say in the November election. One way they’re doing this is by calling on members of the college community to get as many students registered to vote as possible.

“A lot of organizations on campus that students are drawn too; we try to get them involved.  The staff members and the faculty members on campus, we communicate with them and have them communicate with their students in their classes to come out and register to vote,” said Kevius Bass of the Student Government Association.

On Monday they held a voter registration drive, and utilized social media to spread the word. read more…

Drowned ASU student officially identified by GBI

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A Georgia Bureau of Investigation report Wednesday stated that a medical examiner using dental records officially identified Taylor Clayton Terrell as the body recovered from the Flint River on Sept. 18.

Earlier, the GBI listed Terrell’s cause of death as drowning. The manner of death remains part of the investigation, officials said. The Albany State University sophomore’s death remains under investigation by the Albany State University Police Department, the Albany Police Department and the GBI office in Sylvester. more info…

Alabama State University to hold gospel musical performance

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Alabama State University will hold a performance of the gospel musical “Crowns” at 7 p.m. nightly Thursday through Saturday.

Representatives of the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival will evaluate the performance for possible inclusion at a regional festival in Daytona, Fla., in 2013.

The university’s Department of Theatre Arts will perform the musical at the Leila Barlow Theatre on campus.

The inspiration for “Crowns” was a photo-bibliography by photographer Michael Cunningham and journalist Craig Marberry that collects the stories of women who wear church hats.

General admission is $8 and $6 for students with a valid ID. read more…

Alabama A&M lawsuit against research institute set for trial

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A lawsuit filed by Alabama A&M University last year against the Alabama A&M Research Institute has been set for trial.

Madison County Circuit Court Judge Billy Bell has set a trial date of Dec. 3, according to court records. The trial will be a bench trial, which means there will be no jury and Bell will render a verdict.

The university filed the lawsuit in June 2011 because of a litany of issues with the research institute. Among the issues expressed in the lawsuit were concerns by Alabama A&M that actions by the research institute could jeopardize the school’s accreditation with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS).

In December, Alabama A&M announced it had been cleared of any issues by a SACS inquiry prompted by complaints from alumni.

The inquiry started with concern expressed over Alabama A&M’s relationship with the research institute and the school’s finances. As the inquiry progressed, the issues became more defined. read more…

Alabama State needs to ‘play better’ against Alcorn State, coach Reggie Barlow says

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Alabama State’s not pressing the panic button at all.

But Hornets coach Reggie Barlow is pushing a few points of concern to his players, following the Hornets’ 24-21 loss to Arkansas-Pine Bluff this past Thursday, a game which was aired live on ESPNU.

Specifically, Barlow stressed defense during the Southwestern Athletic Conference’s weekly coaches teleconference Monday.

The Hornets have allowed a 100-yard rusher in three of its four games this season. Pine Bluff gained 466 yards against the Hornets, including 246 on the ground.

“Our defense is not performing up to our expectations,” Barlow said. There ain’t a whole lot of good tackling going on. There’s guys running free, running backs not being touched until they’re at least five yards down the field. So, there are some things that we definitely have to clean up.”

Alabama State (2-2, 2-1) will travel to Lorman, Miss. to face Alcorn St. (1-3, 1-1) Saturday. The Braves are on a three-game skid since defeating Grambling State 22-21 in their opener. They fell 56-0 at Arkansas State in their Week 4 matchup.  read more…

Alabama A&M VP Kevin Rolle files federal lawsuit for conspiracy over incorrect marijuana charge

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Kevin Rolle, executive vice president at Alabama A&M University, filed a federal lawsuit last week against five individuals for acting in a conspiracy to spread malicious information about his 2008 guilty plea on a U.S. military base.

According to the lawsuit, Rolle was charged with and pleaded guilty to “Less Than Safe Driving — Alcohol Use” on a military base in Georgia on Dec. 12, 2008. But a clerical error reflected that Rolle was convicted of Driving Under the Influence of Marijuana.

Rolle was not hired at Alabama A&M until almost a year later in October 2009.

The defendants — which include Alabama A&M trustee James Montgomery and former Alabama A&M VP Dorothy Huston — spread information about the incorrect record to damage Rolle and seek to have him fired as the university’s top assistant to President Andrew Hugine.

Montgomery said he had not seen the lawsuit and declined to comment. Attempts to reach Huston have not been successful.

Also named as defendants are former trustee Tom Bell, Alabama A&M Research Institute compliance officer Kevin Matthews and Alabama A&M alum Tony Smith. read more…

Black Colleges Receive $228M In Grants From U.S. Government

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The Education Department is awarding $228 million in grants to historically black colleges and universities.

The five-year grants will go to schools in 19 states plus the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Schools can use the money to expand their campuses, acquire science equipment, develop counseling programs and train faculty.

Education Secretary Arne Duncan says the grants will enable historically black colleges to help students who grapple with financial challenges as they pursue post-secondary education.

Most of the schools receiving grants are in the South.

The largest grants will go to Florida A&M University in Tallahassee; Southern University and A&M College in Baton Rouge, La.; Jackson State University in Jackson, Miss.; and St. Philip’s College in San Antonio. Those schools will receive more than $5 million each. more info…

Annual HBCU Conference Features Green Initiatives, Fundraisers

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Hundreds of educators and agencies that support education from around the country converged on the Grand Hyatt hotel in Washington D.C. on Sept. 26-27 for the 2012 National Historically Black Colleges and Universities Week Conference.

Workshops were held on everything from the role of HBCUs in international development to how the colleges can enhance their relationship with the federal government. The keynote speaker at the Sept. 26 luncheon was William H. Gray III, chairman of Gray Global Strategies, Inc. The former Pennsylvania congressman and previous president of the United Negro College Fund told the audience that the HBCUs must market themselves effectively to enhance their fundraising efforts. At UNCF, he said, he improved fundraising by having students to tell their stories about how various institutions helped them to achieve, instead of asking for money on behalf of the organization or schools.

In one panel, experts discussed driving science, technology, engineer and math (STEM) opportunities for liberal arts colleges into high gear. The UNCF Special Programs Corp. is working on a Building Green Initiative to create sustainable minority-serving campuses across the country. read more…

How I Chased the Hillman Dream to an HBCU

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Twenty-five years — that’s how long it’s been since the first episode of A Different World aired on NBC. The Internet’s been standardized, the skyscraper bang has been beaten into obscurity and stars have blazed across the fickle stage of celebrity and fizzled, remembered only through the randomness of reality shows and VH1’s I Love the 90s. But after 25 years, A Different World is still relevant, not only because TV One so graciously continues to breathe life into its syndicated reruns, but because it was the only show to paint a realistic picture, for an entire generation of kids, of what life is like on a black campus. Many of them were the first in their families to even have a shot at going to college and some went on to serve their four years in the hallowed halls of higher education. I was one of them….

By the time my predominantly white high school years thankfully, finally, heaved their last few breaths, I was all set to enroll at Lincoln University, the first HBCU in the country and not completely unlike that fictional — but very realistic — Huxtable alma mater … read more…