Heidi M. Anderson was appointed provost and vice president for academic affairs at the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia. The university enrolls about 2,800 students, equally divided between undergraduates and graduate students. When Dr. Anderson takes office in July, the university’s two highest officials, president and provost, both will be African-American women. Helen F. Giles-Gee became the university’s president a year ago. Only 6 percent of the undergraduate student body at the university is Black.
Currently Dr. Anderson is vice president for institutional effectiveness at the University of Kentucky. She has been a faculty member and an administrator at the University of Kentucky for the past 11 years.
A native of Gary, Indiana, Dr. Anderson holds bachelor’s, master’s, and Ph.D. degrees, all from Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana.
article via Heidi Anderson Named Provost at the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia : The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education.
Posts published in March 2013
GOOD BLACK NEWS proudly celebrates its third anniversary today, with 4,367 Facebook followers, 2,803 Twitter followers and scores more via Pinterest, Google+ and Tumblr. Last September, GBN launched a dedicated website, goodblacknews.org, which allowed us to expand our presence on the internet beyond Facebook (we are also on YouTube and LinkedIn) and provide archives and search functions to you, our loyal readers.
The outpour of appreciation you’ve shown us via comments and e-mails means the world to us, and only inspires GBN to keep getting better. In the coming months, we aim to refresh and revise the look of goodblacknews.org to improve mobile access, provide more original content, and (if you sign up for it) a downloadable e-newsletter featuring GBN’s Top Stories of the Week.
Please keep helping us spread GBN by sharing, liking, re-tweeting and commenting, and consider joining our e-mail list via our “Contact Us” tab on goodblacknews.org. We will only use this list to keep you updated on GBN and send you our e-newsletter — nothing else. And, of course, you may opt out at any time.
GBN remains a labor of love, and our Founder/Editor-In-Chief (Lori Lakin Hutcherson) and staff are all unpaid volunteers. We believe in bringing you positive news, reviews and stories of interest about black people all over the world, and greatly value your participation in continuing to build our shared vision.
Thank you again for your support, and we look forward to providing you with more Good Black News in the coming year, and beyond!
Warmly,
The Good Black News Team
This month’s Billboard magazine’s Stars Tribute issue honors iconic singing legend, Chaka Khan, for her 60th birthday and the 40 anniversary of her career in entertainment. “Chaka has always been an innovator as an artist,” says Tammy McCrary of Chaka Khan Management. “In today’s market, it is just as important to be innovative technologically. This is why we chose to partner with Printergize.”
The new mobile app will go directly to www.chakakhan.com, where Chaka’s Billboard magazine cover image will come to life through the Augmented Reality app. At that moment, users will see Chaka introduce her 100 Days of Chaka campaign, which marks the 100 days from her birthday (March 23) to the anniversary of the release of her first recorded album with Rufus, “Rufus” (July 1, 1973), 40 years ago. This timeline will highlight daily, a series of historic moments in Chaka’s career, mixed with celebratory current events. The 100 Days of Chaka culminates with the release of “The iKhan Project: Alive!” on July 2nd.
article by Brittney M. Walker via Chaka Khan on the Cover of Billboard for 60th Birthday | EURweb.
Oprah Winfrey’s list of career accomplishments keeps growing. For the second year in a row, the iconic television host and philanthropist is number one on the Forbes’ list of most influential celebrities.
Snagging the 2013 No 1. Spot with 48 percent of people rating her as “influential,” Winfrey tops the list which includes several of Hollywood’s elite like Steven Spielberg (No. 2), Barbara Walters (No. 8) and Clint Eastwood (No. 10).
Winfrey’s reign over the media world has lasted for decades. After she ended her 25-year-run on The Oprah Winfrey Show in 2011, the mogul started her TV empire O.W.N., the Oprah Winfrey Network.
Halle Berry arrives at the premiere of Tri Star Pictures’ ‘The Call’ at the Arclight Theatre on March 5, 2013 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
After a string of box-office disappointments like last year’s “Cloud Atlas” and this year’s “Movie 43,” Oscar winner Halle Berry entered this weekend in need of a hit. It appears her new thriller “The Call” brought just what the doctor ordered.
According to box office estimates, the movie opened with $17.1 million, making it her third largest non-X-Men debut. Entertainment Weekly reports that, “Sony/TriStar, which acquired the $15 million R-rated film from Troika Pictures, effectively marketed “The Call” to women, and according to the studio, the opening-weekend audience was 61 percent female and 47 percent below the age of 30 — and it also played very well with African-American moviegoers. “The Call” earned a ‘B+’ CinemaScore grade.”
Bernard and Shirley Kinsey have entrusted their collection of African-American treasures to Walt Disney World Resort for the “Rediscovering America: Family Treasures from the Kinsey Collection” exhibit at Epcot. Take a look at a few of the pieces that have truly made their mark in Black history. (Photo: David Roark)
via The Kinsey Collection at Epcot | Black History Collection Makes Its Disney Debut | News | BET.
Nathaniel Adams Coles (March 17, 1919 – February 15, 1965), known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an American singer and musician who first came to prominence as a leading jazz pianist. He owes most of his popular musical fame to his soft, baritone voice, which he used to perform in big band and jazz genres.
Cole was one of the first African Americans to host a television variety show, The Nat King Cole Show, and has maintained worldwide popularity since his death from lung cancer in February 1965, based on his classic renditions of “Unforgettable,” “Mona Lisa,” “Laura,” and “The Christmas Song.” Learn more about his life and music here, and watch his uncomparable version of “Nature Boy” below:
article by Lori Lakin Hutcherson
UNITED NATIONS – Lesedi Mogoatlhe has dedicated her life to empowering African youth by helping them to find their voices through radio journalism.
In a time of economic, cultural and political challenges, young South Africans face extraordinarily difficult issues. As teens, they worry about their friends, families, education and social standing, but must as South Africans also deal with the harsh realities of poverty, disease and violence.
A trainer with Children’s Radio Foundation(CRF) in South Africa, Mogoatlhe focuses on building interest in social issues, provoking critical thinking and nurturing communication.
“It’s tempting to list the number of challenges and inequalities faced by the people on the continent, to talk about how the natural resources are being misused, or how corruption has become synonymous with African leadership,” Mogoatlhe told IPS, “but this seems like a futile exercise if I can’t contribute solutions to these problems.”
Having a voice is essential to having a livelihood, and through organizations like the Children’s Radio Foundation and trainers like Mogoatlhe, more and more youth are becoming equipped with basic communication skills that do more than simply allowing them to say how they feel.
Joan Erakit spoke with Mogoatlhe about her work in radio journalism for youth in South Africa and its impact on young people’s lives. Excerpts of the interview follow.
Q: You train youth to empower not only themselves but also their communities through radio journalism. What sort of trends have you begun to see?
A: Youth that come from rural environments are hungrier for knowledge than youth in urban environments. They seem to be more focused and curious about opportunities that come to them, and they tend to be better at organising themselves and using everything that the platform of radio brings their way.
I’ve also realised that the first moment of empowerment that occurs for the youth happens when they have a microphone to speak through. Something about having their voices amplified seems to also amplify everything else about them.
As with Black History Month, the focus on already well-known figures has been an ongoing criticism of Woman’s History Month. When it comes to black women, Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, Ida B. Wells and Rosa Parks are on repeat. What makes these much-needed theme months thrive, however, is the spirit of discovery. It’s doubtful that the names Elizabeth “Mum Bett” Freeman, Callie House, Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin or Johnnie Tillmon even draw a glint of recognition but they should. In their own ways, each of these women made important contributions to the ongoing struggle for freedom and justice.
Even as a slave, Elizabeth Freeman, known as Mum Bett most of her life, had the audacity to sue for her freedom. Born into slavery in Claverack, New York around 1742, Freeman, at a reported six months old, was sold, along with her sister, to John Ashley of Sheffield, Massachusetts, a judge in the Massachusetts Court of Common Pleas. Enslaved to Ashley until she was almost 40, Freeman was spurred to action when the mistress of the house Hannah Ashley tried to hit her sister with a heated kitchen shovel. Freeman intervened and was hit instead, leaving the house, vowing to never come back.
Malik Kofi playing the cello: photo courtesy Mario Page
Malik Kofi is extraordinarily talented; a child prodigy, musical genius, awe-inspiring orator, with intellectual gifts well beyond his years. Not only is the 11-year-old academically brilliant but his superior musical abilities leaves audiences spellbound. An impressive multi-instrumentalist, Kofi plays the piano, drums and guitar. However, his passion is for the cello.
“Malik is a musical prodigy,” says Craig Hulgren, a cellist in the Alabama Symphony Orchestra, who has been Kofi’s teacher for the past five years. “He has advanced technological and interpretative abilities as a child. Beyond that he also puts in the hard work to develop those talents.”
Born into a working-class family in Birmingham, Alabama, Kofi’s unique story is a testimony to excellence against all odds. The product of a teenage mom, Kofi’s maternal grandmother, Ruby Cox, has raised him as her own since he was an infant. She says Kofi came out of the womb curious and eager to learn.