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Posts tagged as “HBCUS”

Update: Rachel Jeantel Accepts Tom Joyner’s College Scholarship Offer

By goodblacknews on July 19, 2013
Tom Joyner Rachel Jeantel Nancy Grace
UPDATED 7/18/13: On “Nancy Grace,” Rachel Jeantel publicly accepted Tom Joyner‘s college scholarship offer, responding amid a large smile, “Yes, I will [go to college]“
This week, radio host and philanthropist Tom Joyner (pictured) appeared on Piers Morgan Live to explain why he felt moved to offer friend and star witness in the George Zimmerman trial Rachel Jeantel (pictured below) a free college education at any Historically Black College or University (HBCU) of her choosing. According to Joyner, both the media’s and lawyer’s treatment of Jeantel inspired him to make a lasting impact on her her future.  (Video of Jeantel accepting offer below.)
For Joyner, seeing the barrage of criticism Jeantel received while she was on the stand disturbed him,Rachel Jeantel tom joyner“Well, it all started of course at the trial. And when she testified, the reaction to her testimony was very troubling to me. People were criticizing her and her education and communication skills. The way the lawyer was just beating her up on the stand just really moved me.”
Still, Joyner didn’t get the idea to offer her a college scholarship until she appeared on the “Piers Morgan Live” show Monday night, “And then last night when I saw her on your show, you did a follow-up question that [asked her] what do you want to do in life.
“That’s when the light bulb went off. I said I want to help her. We have a foundation that helps students in historically black colleges and universities. The Tom Joyner Foundation has been around since ’98 and since then, we’ve donated and raised more than $65 million to that end.”
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oD2g02gf9jI&w=560&h=315]
To Joyner, seeing Jeantel being still in high school at the age of 19 and struggling with the tragic death of friend Trayvon made him come to one conclusion: “She deserves a chance.  All this criticism about, you know, how the system has failed her or she’s failed the system. She’s 19 years old and she’s a senior in high school. Right, OK. So in the past year-and-a-half her life has been turned upside down. She’s been back and forth with depositions and appointments and everything, plus sad about her best friend being killed. So her senior year is all a wreck.”
When Piers Morgan asked Joyner whether he thinks Jeantel will manage in college, Joyner responded that he and his team are willing to do the work to get her ready, “It’s going to take some work, first of all, to get her high school diploma and get her ready for the SAT test … and then entered in to college. But we are going to do that…I told her she can go to any historically black college she wants to.”
article via newsone.com

President Obama, First Lady Address Graduates at HBCUs

By goodblacknews on May 17, 2013
First lady Michelle Obama delivers the commencement speech during the Bowie State University graduation ceremony at the Comcast Center on the campus of the University of Maryland May 17, 2013 in College Park, Maryland. Obama received and Honorary Doctor of Laws degree before addressing the 600 graduates of Maryland's oldest historically black university and one of the ten oldest in the country. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
First lady Michelle Obama delivers the commencement speech during the Bowie State University graduation ceremony at the Comcast Center on the campus of the University of Maryland May 17, 2013 in College Park, Maryland. Obama received and Honorary Doctor of Laws degree before addressing the 600 graduates of Maryland’s oldest historically black university and one of the ten oldest in the country. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Graduation season is under way and students and their families are joined by a few special guests as they celebrate their achievement.  Among them: President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama, who are addressing students at several of the nation’s historically black colleges and universities at graduation ceremonies this year.
On Sunday, the president will make his way to Atlanta, Georgia to address the graduating class at Morehouse College — a landmark all-male school that once enrolled civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King at the age of 15.
Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack and senior adviser to the president Valerie Jarrett are also participating in commencement exercises at HBCUs.  So far, Secretary Vilsack has addressed graduates at Tuskegee University, where he also received an honorary degree. Meanwhile, Mrs. Obama  delivered a speech at Bowie State University on Friday.
Aside from President Obama’s highly-anticipated arrival at Morehouse College in the coming days, Jarrett and Secretary Duncanare were expected to participate in commencement services at Clark Atlanta University and Morgan State University this weekend.
article by Lilly Workneh via thegrio.com

Mo’Nique Talks to Spelman Students About Healthy Living

By goodblacknews on May 3, 2013
(Photo: Derrick Salters/WENN.com)
This week, Academy Award-winning actress Mo’Nique took the stage with other dynamic women to talk to Spelman College’s students about obesity and its health-related issues. The event, “The Best Advice I Ever Got: Conversations With Wise Women,” is part of Spelman’s push to better the health of its Black women on campus.
Mo’Nique talked about how for years she embraced her large size, believing it was an act of resistance against a culture that tells women that skinnier is better and fat shames those who don’t fit into that mold. She also talked about how Black women are encouraged to be thick in our community.  But on stage, she told the crowd that her husband made her realize the reality — she weighed too much. The Washington Post wrote:
When her husband asked her weight, she told him, “proudly, as sexy as I could, ‘262 pounds.’ ”  When her husband responded, “That’s too much,” Mo’Nique was dumbstruck. Until he added, “I want you for a lifetime.”
No loved one had ever told her, “That’s too much weight.” Deeply moved, Mo’Nique reflected on all she secretly carried that was “too much”: too much depression, too much anger, too much shifting the “poison” of her rage onto others. Her “best advice” to Spelman students: Shush the “fraudulent” inner voice that suggests you settle for less. “Will yourself to win.”
Since that day, Mo’Nique embarked on a fitness journey and lost a total of 70 pounds with the help of regular workouts with her trainer, cutting out junk food and eating healthier. And these are exactly the types of messages that Spelman wants for its students to hear.

Morgan State University Wins Academic Championships at Honda Campus All-Star Challenge

By goodblacknews on April 12, 2013

honda campus all-star challenge

The team from Morgan State University celebrates on stage after winning their second consecutive title at the 2013 Honda Campus All-Star Challenge.

After two days of intense competition among 250 students representing 48 competing teams, Morgan State University claimed its second National Championship title in a row at the 24th Annual Honda Campus All-Star Challenge (HCASC), an annual academic event featuring the best and brightest students from the nation’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). Enduring a year-long program of study and preparation, the Morgan State University team emerged victorious at the National Championship Tournament held on the Los Angeles-area campus of American Honda Motor Co., Inc., and took home $50,000 in grants for their school.
Surviving 10 games against tough competition, Morgan State University clinched the National Championship over second-place finisher Florida A&M University after answering the following question correctly:
In 1975 the Himalayan kingdom of Sikkim joined what very large neighbor to its south? Correct Answer: India
The Morgan State University team included Craig Cornish (Captain), senior, History Major; Kyle De Jan, senior, History Major; Micheal Osikomaiya, junior, English Major; and James Hayes-Barber, sophomore, Electrical Engineering Major.
The fast-paced, suspenseful competition tested the students’ abilities to quickly and accurately answer questions on a broad range of topics including world history, science, literature, religion, art, social sciences, popular culture and African-American history and culture. The top two teams from each of the eight competing divisions advanced to the “Sweet 16,” a single-elimination playoff. The final two teams then battled it out for the national title in a best 2-out-of-3 finals.

HBCU Elizabeth City State University Opens a New Art Gallery

By goodblacknews on March 23, 2013

guitaplayerjones
“Guitar Player” by Leonard Jones

Elizabeth City State University, the historically Black educational institution in North Carolina, recently opened its new Kermit E. White Graduate and Continuing Education Center. The center houses the university’s art gallery.
One section of the gallery will display pieces from the university’s permanent collection of African and African American art. The other part of the gallery will exhibit a rotating selection or a visiting collection.
Professor Alexis Joyner, chair of the art department at the university, loaned eight pieces from his personal collection for the opening exhibit. In addition, works by Leonard Jones, a former professor at Virginia State University and Charles Joyner of North Carolina State University are in the opening exhibit.
The accompanying illustration shows one of the pieces in the exhibit, “Guitar Player” by Leonard Jones.
article via jbhe.com

Film Independent + FOX HBCU Media Alliance Award Nekisa Cooper Inaugural Fellowship, Grant

By goodblacknews on March 14, 2013
It was exactly a month ago when it Fox announced what it called “a transformative new partnership” with Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) designed to further the development of diverse voices across the company’s entertainment businesses.

Called the FOX/HBCU Media Alliance (FHMA), the union would bring HBCU students, faculty and alumni together with executives from Fox’s media and entertainment businesses in an effort to build a stronger pipeline for students interested in pursuing careers in the film and TV industry, and advance the careers of HBCU alumni already working in media and entertainment within Fox businesses.
As part of that partnership, FOX Audience Strategy established and funded the first-of-its-kind Fox Film Grant that will enable one FHMA member to participate in Project Involve, the year-long program of Film Independent.
A month later, it’s been announced today that producer Nekisa Cooper (Pariah) will be the first recipient of this newProject Involve Fellowship, which comes with a $10,000 production grant from FHMA that will go towards production of a feature film she’s producing (to be directed by her Pariah collaborator, Dee Rees) titled Bolo, described as a Southern crime thriller about a Memphis police detective who investigates a murder in her community, which in turn challenges her notion of home, human nature, and the difference between right and wrong.

116 Years Ago Today: Historically Black College Langston University was Founded

By goodblacknews on March 12, 2013

Langston University was founded in Langston, Oklahoma, on March 12, 1897.  It is Oklahoma’s only historically Black college or university. Because African-Americans were not allowed to attend colleges and universities in the state, the Black settlers of Langston raised the money to build an instruction where their children could learn and grow.  

Originally founded as the Colored Agricultural and Normal University, the school operated with the mission to instruct both male and female students in the fields of agriculture, mechanics and industrial arts. On September 3, 1898, the school officially opened in a Presbyterian church in with an enrollment of 41 students.  Today, Langston University boasts an undergraduate enrollment of 2,379 students.
article by Britt Middleton via bet.com

President Obama to Deliver Commencement Speech at Morehouse College

By goodblacknews on February 17, 2013
Members of the Morehouse College 2002 graduating class sing their school song during commencement ceremonies May 19, 2002 in Atlanta. (Photo by Erik S. Lesser/Getty Images)

Members of the Morehouse College 2002 graduating class sing their school song during commencement ceremonies May 19, 2002 in Atlanta. (Photo by Erik S. Lesser/Getty Images)

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. (AP) — A White House official says President Barack Obama will deliver the commencement address at all-male Morehouse College in Atlanta this spring.  The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. is among the historically black institution’s alumni. Commencement is scheduled for May 19.
Obama typically speaks each spring at a handful of college and university commencement ceremonies, including at one of the military service academies.  Last year, he spoke at commencement ceremonies at all-female Barnard College in New York.
The White House official declined to speak for the record because the schedule of Obama’s commencement speeches has not been released.  The Atlanta Journal-Constitution first reported on Obama’s address at Morehouse.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press article by Darlene Superville via thegrio.com

Magic Johnson, Common and Debra Lee join Coca-Cola to Help ‘Pay it Forward’

By goodblacknews on February 2, 2013

magic johnson debra lee & common
NBA legend and business mogul Earvin “Magic” Johnson, multi-Grammy Award-winning musician, actor and philanthropist Common, and Black Entertainment Television (BET) chairman and CEO Debra Lee join forces with Coca-Cola this month in a movement to uplift and pay it forward to the next generation.
Kicking off the second year of its signature program, “Coca-Cola Pay it Forward,” the world’s most recognized brand enlists the help of some of today’s leading African-American history makers to offer exciting apprenticeship experiences to aspiring youth. Magic Johnson, Common and Debra Lee will serve as mentors, giving four lucky young people the opportunity to shadow them and their teams for a week during the summer. The four apprenticeship experiences will focus on: business (Johnson); music and community (Common); and media/entertainment (Lee). Expanding this year’s program offering, the Company has partnered with UNCF (United Negro College Fund), the country’s largest minority education organization, for a text-to-donate program.
“I have and always will remain committed to uplifting the urban community in my business and nonprofit endeavors, and that makes the Coca-Cola ‘Pay It Forward’ program a perfect fit,” said Johnson. “There is no better way to empower a community than to arm its youth with the necessary skills to succeed.”

Lincoln University of Missouri Names Kevin D. Rome Its Next President

By goodblacknews on February 2, 2013

KevinDRomeHistorically Black Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Missouri, has announced that Kevin D. Rome will become the 19th president of the educational institution on June 1. Current Department of Education statistics show that there are about 3,400 undergraduate students at the university and Blacks are 41 percent of the undergraduate student body.
Dr. Rome is currently vice chancellor for student affairs and enrollment management at North Carolina Central University in Durham. Dr. Rome has been an administrator at North Carolina Central since 2008. Previously, he was vice president for student services at Morehouse College in Atlanta. He has also held administrative posts at Clayton State University in Morrow, Georgia, and Indiana University-Purdue University in Indianapolis, Indiana.
A graduate of Morehouse College, Dr. Rome holds a master’s degree from the University of Georgia and a Ph.D. from the University of Texas.
article via jbhe.com