Homecoming `08 – Tiger Pride is on the Prowl

Inside MOREHOUSE
A C A M P U S N E W S L E T T E R F O R F A C U LT Y, S TA F F A N D S T U D E N T S
3
4
Danny Bellinger wonders
about the Obama effect
OCTOBER 2008, ISSUE 2
6
Former Burundi President Pierre
Buyoya speaks to campus
7
King Chapel’s art focuses
on history
Life’s a kick for Maroon Tiger
Micah Streiff
Morehouse Readies
for November Tom
Joyner School of the
Month Campaign
Homecoming ’08 – Tiger Pride is on the Prowl
Just as the Morehouse College
“House of Funk” Marching Band is
preparing their high-stepping routines, the Morehouse community is
gearing up for Homecoming 2008,
which runs October 19-26.
A bevy of activities are scheduled
including hip-hop and neo-soul
concerts, a glitzy fashion show, the
coronation of Miss Maroon and
White, the National Panhellenic
Council Step Show, the annual
Homecoming parade, the Homecoming Tailgate and the hard-hitting annual Homecoming football
game between the Fighting Maroon
Tigers and the Albany State Rams.
The alumni theme this year is
“Pride on the Prowl” while the students have adopted “The Mirage” as
their homecoming theme.
“On behalf of President and Mrs.
Robert M. Franklin Jr. ’75 and the
entire Morehouse family, we are
pleased to invite [everyone] to enjoy
the Morehouse Homecoming activities,” said Henry M. Goodgame ’84,
director of Alumni Relations, Special Events and Annual Giving.
“President Franklin looks to everyone’s participation as we continue
to celebrate the Renaissance Era at
Morehouse.”
For a full list of Homecoming
2008 activities, turn to page 5 or go
to www.morehouse.edu.
2008 Presidential Election
Excitement Grips Campus Community
By ADD SEYMOUR JR.
Sophomore Ezekiel Phillips
knew things were different this political season when he heard one of
the daily campus discussions about
major presidential candidates
Barack Obama and John McCain in
one of the most unlikely of places.
“It was in the bathroom,” the
20-year-old political science major
said while shaking his head. “I
mean, I’ve heard people talk about
it everywhere – and in restrooms.
People are that excited.”
It is a popular sentiment across
the Morehouse community. The
2008 presidential campaign has
energized students, faculty and
staff. Students are walking around
in all types of candidate wear
(mostly Obama clothing). Vehicles
sport flags that pitch one candidate
or another. Faculty, staff, alumni
and students have traveled to either
Denver, Colo. for the Democratic
National Convention or St. Paul,
Minn. for the Republican National
Convention.
Students have gathered around
televisions to watch Obama and
McCain debate and to see the verbal sparring between vice presidential candidates, Democrat Sen.
Joe Biden and Republican Sarah
Palin, who is the governor of Alaska.
Students gathered in Kilgore Campus Center to watch election-related programs,
including Barack Obama’s Democratic National Convention speech in August.
Even the Morehouse College
Bookstore has seen a good run on
G.O.P. Cookies in red tin containers
and blue-boxed Democrat Snacks.
“What I perceive everywhere on
campus is high expectations, rising
energy and enormous expectations
for a historic election and potentially a historic win,” said President
Robert M. Franklin Jr. ‘75. “I really
think this will be a part of the
legacy of this generation students.”
(Please see ‘2008 Presidential Election’ page 4)
Faculty, staff and students can
give with a purpose in November
when Morehouse becomes the
Tom Joyner Foundation’s School
of the Month.
On every Friday in November,
the campus community is asked
to donate five dollars – maybe
brown bagging it and giving that
day’s lunch money – to the foundation by dropping it off at the
Office of Communications.
“The size of the contribution
does not matter,” said Toni
O’Neal Mosley, director of
public relations. “We just want to
report 100 percent participation
from the campus community.”
The effort is one of several
planned as the Foundation seeks
to raise scholarship funds for
Morehouse students. The campaign goal is $220,000. In 2004,
the last time Morehouse was
School of the Month, the campaign raised $177,000.
Morehouse students will be
awarded need-based scholarships
worth $1,500-$2,500 during
Joyner’nationally-syndicated
“The Tom Joyner Morning
Show.” Scholarships include the
Denny’s Single Parent Scholar,
the Budweiser First Generation
Scholar and the Coca-Cola First
Generation International Student Scholar, along with the
Tuesday Tom Joyner Scholar and
the Thursday Hercules Scholar.
The Morehouse College
Alumni Association is challenging each chapter to raise $5,000.
The Reunion Class Challenge
urges each alumni class to designate a portion of its class gift for
the Annual Fund for the Tom
Joyner Foundation.
Student organizations are also
part of the campaign. The organization raising the most will win
an award and be recognized in a
campus publication.
The Tom Joyner Foundation
has raised $55 million for
HBCU’s since 1998.
“We help students with continuing education at black colleges,” Joyner told Diverse: Issues
in Higher Education in August
2008. “That’s our charter.”
Go to www.morehouse.edu
for more information about the
Tom Joyner School of the Month
campaign.
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2 ISSUES
INSIDE MOREHOUSE, OCTOBER 2008
M Y WO R D
Inside Morehouse is
about the people who
make up the Morehouse
College community.
To tell those stories,
The Obama Effect
WE NEED YOU
to send us your ideas,
comments and thoughts,
along with your news,
information about your new
books or publications and
your commentary for
sections like My Word.
To send us your information,
contact Inside Morehouse
Editor Add Seymour Jr. at
aseymour@morehouse.edu
For more up-to-the minute
information about academic
departments, administration,
athletics, registration,
financial aid, as well as
the people and places at
Morehouse College, go to
www.morehouse.edu
If Barack Obama becomes the
first African American president of
the United States, his message and
politics of “change” will have a huge
impact on the nation. But will his
nomination have any influence on
black boys in this country? As
director of Project Identity, a program devoted to keeping middle
and high school black males focused
on the college track, it is a rhetorical
question I have been pondering.
Barack Obama is certainly a pivotal figure in today’s media regardless of the city you live, the
newspaper you read, or where you
go to get your news on television.
His message of “change” has attracted a slew of new and young
voters. And for those of us in the
black community, this time is significant because he’s the first black
person in the history of America to
win the Democratic nomination,
and he has the strongest chance, I
believe, of becoming the nation’s
first black president. Significant, indeed, when you consider that up
until the Voting Rights Act of 1965,
there were many barriers for blacks
to even cast a ballot.
But how will all of this impact
the state of black boys in this country, many of whom are fatherless
(5.6 million of them), are growing
up poor (40 percent live in poverty),
or watch as black men languish in
jail (840,000 black males are incarcerated in this country)?
Obama’s nomination should
motivate black boys to be more
confident about their chances of becoming developers, doctors, senators, writers, even presidents of
large corporations. Or even president of the United States.
But notice I said should.
The fact is, black boys – at least
many of the ones I encounter – still
see their role models living in the
“bling” lifestyle, sometimes as drug
dealers and gang bangers, rather
than politicians.
If you’ve never been to a housing
project or rundown inner-city
neighborhood, or not had any interaction with young boys from
inner-city neighborhoods, you’ve
probably not felt the kind of hopelessness one experiences in such a
place. Many of the boys have given
up on school years ago and have become role models to a younger generation of boys who may be
following their lead. I often wonder
if I will live to see the day when
black boys graduate from high
school at a national rate of 70
percent. That’s a huge gap to bridge
as only 46 percent of black boys
graduate from high school today.
In a cultural setting such as this,
it doesn’t seem so outlandish that
black boys might not be as cognizant – or even care – about the
importance of November 4th. At
some point for these young boys, if
you listen well enough, the conversation becomes more about class
and less about race. They might be
asking the question that we all ask:
“Is there anyone in Washington who
cares about me?” So, although it
would be a moment of celebration
for most Democratic voters in the
black community – and even for
black Republicans – it might just be
another day in the neighborhood
for these boys, even if they were old
enough to vote.
Understanding where they are
coming from, my reason for speculating on how Obama being president will effectuate change in any
considerable way in the lives of
black boys, is justified. But I’m at
least hopeful. I guess I’ll just wait to
cast my ballot toward history in the
making, and walk away, ready to roll
up my sleeves for the eventual
“change” to come. Even better, I will
use it as inspiration and motivation
to become the change agent we all
should strive to be.
Danny Bellinger '92 is the Director of
Project Identity.
Inside MOREHOUSE
Director of Public Relations
Toni O’Neal Mosley
tmosley@morehouse.edu
Thurman’s Work Leads to Editor’s Calling
Executive Editor
Vickie G. Hampton
vhampton@morehouse.edu
Recently, a friend asked what I
love most about working with the
papers of Howard Thurman. That’s
hard to answer – there are so many
things I love about my work. My
work is interesting, it’s given me the
opportunity to understand and
know an important historical figure
very well, I work with a team of brilliant scholars and there is never a
dull moment. But, if I had to name
just one thing, I’d have to say that I
love what my work has taught me
about calling.
Calling. The word is tossed
around a lot these days. Calling conjures up ideals of high-minded pursuits and special favoritism with
God that makes most of us ordinary
folk feel left out. Howard Thurman
has taught me differently.
Before I came to the Thurman
Papers, I was an academic administrator at a prestigious liberal arts
college. The position sounded fantastic on paper and put me squarely
on the presidential track. My proud
parents bragged to their friends. My
grad school friends were envious. I,
however, was miserable. I liked the
school, enjoyed my colleagues and
the students, but I hated my work
and I was bad at it. Very bad. Every
day at the job felt like I was wading
neck deep in water while lugging a
wagon full of bricks. Every fiber of
Editor
Add Seymour Jr.
aseymour@morehouse.edu
Calendar Editor
Julie Pinkney Tongue
jtongue@morehouse.edu
Photographers
Philip McCullum
Deborah McFadden
Add Seymour Jr.
Graphic Design
Musick Design
Web Services
Hana Chelikowsky
Kara Walker
Inside Morehouse is
published monthly during
the academic year by
Morehouse College,
Office of Communications,
Office of Institutional
Advancement. Opinions
expressed in Inside
Morehouse are those of
the authors, not
necessarily of the College.
my being rebelled, most especially
my feet. By mid-day, no matter what
kind of shoes I wore, my feet would
break out in the most agonizing
itch. No amount of powder and
creams helped. It was the shoes.
I was sad. I felt like a complete
failure, consumed with self-pity. I
knew I had to make a move, and
soon – before one was made for me
– but I was too panic-stricken and
depressed to think clearly. Then one
day, I came across a copy of “The
Sound of the Genuine,” one of
Howard Thurman’s most famous
sermons that he gave many times to
audiences around the world. I knew
the name Howard Thurman, but
not much else about him. His words
were a sweet, gentle song: “There is
in each and every person a sound of
the genuine. Yours is a sound like
no other.”
Day by day, the substance of
Thurman’s sermon slowly worked
its way into my spirit, until at last I
could face the fact that there was
nothing wrong with the job, it just
wasn’t for me. I was not an academic administrator. I thought
about what I was, though, which
came through on even my roughest
days. I thought about how I had become relied upon to be an able and
trusted editor of written work.
A few months later, I left my job.
A few months after that, I began
work as managing editor of the
Thurman Papers. I thought I had
arrived. I had found my true calling.
Smooth sailing, total bliss, no problem, new shoes at last!
My walk with him has taught me
that after finding your calling, the
real work begins, and sometimes it’s
not pretty. Each day demands the
best and highest level of my creative,
intellectual and leadership abilities.
But no matter how difficult the
work or how long the days, I have
come to learn that in pursuing my
calling, I always find myself. No
shoes required.
And for that I am grateful.
Kai Jackson Issa is the Managing
Editor of the Howard Thurman Papers
Project.
Kai Jackson Issa has written a children’s book about Thurman titled, Howard
Thurman’s Great Hope.
HOUSE
KUDOS 3
INSIDE MOREHOUSE, OCTOBER 2008
TAKE
NOTE
Ebenezer Aka, director of Urban Studies and Planning, was appointed to the Atlanta
Regional Council for Higher Education’s (ARCHE) working group on county government internship. Aka also has a paper that has been accepted for presentation during the fifth International Conference on Environmental, Cultural Economic and Social
Sustainability at the University of Technology, Mauritius, in January 2009.
Beverley Crane, executive assistant in the Office of the General Counsel, senior
Neal Arp and junior Elijah J. Williams were all 2008 summer interns with the Congressional Research Service Student Diversity Internship Program in Washington D.C.
Terrance Dixon '87, associate dean of Admissions and Recruitment, and senior Chad
Mance, Student Government Association president, were both interviewed by CNN in
September for a story about the importance of historically black colleges and universities.
Stephane Dunn, visting assistant English professor, was featured in Skirt! Magazine
photo spread in September featuring accomplished women and their rules for living.
Elise Durham, media relations manager in the Office of Communications, produced
the College’s 2008 recruitment video which won a national Telly Award, the second
year in a row Durham and the Office of Communications have won one of the prestigious awards. Durham has also been selected to the United Way’s Volunteer Involvement Program, which enhances skills needed for effective membership on
non-profit agencies boards of directors.
Hazel Ervin, director of General Education, wrote a chapter for Books and
Beyond:The Greenwood Encyclopedia of New American Reading (Greenwood
Pres, Oct. 2008). Ervin’s chapter is titled “Contemporary African American Literature.”
Bean Beetle Grant
Biology professor Lawrence S. Blumer (above) and Emory University biology professor Christopher W. Beck have been awarded a $500,000 grant by the National
Science Foundation. The two are developing a handbook, website and workshops
that will give biology-based instructors nationwide more expertise in using bean
beetles in inquiry-based laboratory courses and to increase the involvement of
under-represented minorities in inquiry-based research. Inquiry-based research
promotes a more investigative way for students to ask questions and find answers
to their questions. The grant will be funded from March 2009 through February 2013.
Office of Human Resources Accepting Nominations
for Employee of the Month
The Office of Human Resources and the Student Advisory Council are
seeking nominations for Morehouse’s Employee of the Month.
Outstanding employees are recognized for their exemplary actions,
abilities, attitude and articulation of the College’s values in the course of
their work.
The Employee of the Month is also automatically qualified for the
Employee of the Year award which is given during the spring semester.
To nominate someone for Employee of the Month, go to:
http://www.morehouse.edu/Intranet/humanresources/employeerecognition.html
and fill out the nominating form. Print and return the completed form to the
Office of Human Resources, Suite 207, Gloster Hall, by the 20th of each month.
CHANGING
GEARS
Promotions
Kevin Branch, purchasing manager, Purchasing
Vanessa Ellerbe, administrative assistant II, Learning Resources Center
Sophia Foye, financial adviser III, Financial Aid
Stephanie Moore, grants and accounting manager, Accounting
Erica Sanders-Jamison, manager, Student Employment & State Program,
Financial Aid
Cynthia White, user services supervisor, Information Technology
Shelia Worthy, executive assistant, Information Technology
Gregory Hall, chairman of the political science department, gave a lecture titled
“The Crisis in Georgia: Perspectives in Russian Foreign Policy in the Post-Yeltsin Era”
at Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, on Sept. 25. He also was interviewed by BBC/New York Times Public Radio on Aug. 15 about the crisis in Georgia
and US-Russia relations.
Duane Jackson '74, associate professor of psychology, was honored with the Progressive National Baptist Convention’s J.O. Peterson Education Award in recognition
of his contributions as an educator and as the former curator of invertebrates and research scientist for Zoo Atlanta.
Michael Janis, assistant professor of English, had an essay on the late Senegalese
novelist and filmmaker Ousmane Sembene published in the CLA Journal in March
2008 titled “Remembering Sembene: The Grandfather of West African Feminism.”
The CLA Journal is edited by English professor Cason Hill.
Melvin Jones ‘01, director of bands, performed as part of the Atlanta Jazz Chorus
during “The Sound of Freedom and Resistance” on Oct. 5 at the High Museum of Art
during the final weekend of the History Remixed civil rights photography exhibit.
Jones also performed with the Atlanta Jazz Chorus at “A Special Jazz Vespers in Celebration of Homecoming 2008” at First Congregational Church, UCC in Atlanta.
Terry Mills, dean of the Division of Humanities and Social Sciences, will give a presentation titled “Ethnogerontology: New Directions in Awareness of Diversity” on Oct.
7 at Wayne State University’s Center for Gerontology in Detroit, Mich. In September,
Mills concluded his third and final year appointment to the National Advisory Council on Aging with an NACA meeting at the National Institutes of Health conference in
Bethesda, Md.
The Morehouse College Glee Club, directed by David Morrow ’80, performs
“He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands,” over the closing credits for the latest movie
by film director Shelton “Spike” Lee ’79, “Miracle at St. Ana.”
Charles Huntley Nelson, assistant professor of art, was part of a visual arts group
exhibit titled, “Hello Liberty,” at the Dalton Gallery at Agnes Scott College on
September 24. Nelson also showed a video he created for another exhibit, “Exploding Language,” that was curated by the Obsidian Arts Collective in Minneapolis, Minn.
and will be shown as a projection on the wall of a barber shop in the historically black
community of North Minneapolis.
John Williams '69, senior vice president for Academic Affairs, has been named
president of the National Historically Black Colleges and Universities Business Deans’
Roundtable. The group will hold its national meeting in Atlanta in June 2009.
HOUSE
4 NEWS
INSIDE MOREHOUSE, OCTOBER 2008
NEWS BRIEFS
Morehouse Named One of the
Nation’s Best HBCUs
Morehouse has again been recognized by a national publication as
one of the country’s top historically
black colleges and universities
(HBCUs).
The U.S. News and World Report named Morehouse as the nation’s number three HBCU. The
magazine ranked Spelman College
first and Howard University second.
The magazine based its rankings on
six factors: peer assessment, retention, faculty resources, student selectivity, financial resources and
alumni giving rate.
Alumni Association
Names Collie Burnett ’72
New Executive Director
Collie Burnett
’72 was appointed
executive director
of the Morehouse
College Alumni
Association,
succeeding Joe Draper ’57.
Burnett, president and CEO of Atlanta Interfaith Broadcasters (AIB),
has also worked for WSB-TV, the
Metro Atlanta Regional Transportation Agency, Atlanta Regional
Commission, Georgia Cable Television and Media One.
Burnett’s appointment became
effective July 1, 2008.
Bipartisan Congressional
Group Forms Caucus to
Advocate for HBCUs
Historically black colleges and
universities will have another voice
in Washington D.C. as more than two
dozen members of the U.S. House of
Representatives have formed a new
caucus to promote the interests of
HBCUs.
The caucus, which was introduced during a recent United Negro
College Fund breakfast, was formed
to create bipartisan dialogue in Congress that focuses on legislative priorities of HBCUs, said co-founder, Rep.
Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas).
Morehouse Awarded Cost
Reduction Act Grant
The U.S. Department of Education has awarded Morehouse a
$961,197 College Cost Reduction and
Access Act Grant for four programs
during fiscal year 2008-09.
The projects approved for
funding the under the CCRAA grant
include:
• SACS Quality Enhancement Plan
Implementation (curriculum-related projects), activity director
Ron Sheehy
• Instructional Facilities Maintenance Projects in Sale Hall, Hope
Hall and McBay Hall, activity director Curtis Davis
• Support for Library Acquisitions,
activity director, Woodruff
Library staff
• Procurement of Instructional
Materials and Lab Equipment,
activity directors Wallace Sharif,
biology; Jeff Etheridge and Robert
Tanner, music
HBCU Week Highlights Importance
of Nation’s Black Colleges
By DENISE MOORE, director of the
Office of Government Relations
When President Robert M.
Franklin Jr. ’75 addressed sessions at
the 2008 National Historically Black
Colleges and Universities Week
Conference in Washington, D.C., he
shared his vision of producing Renaissance men with a social conscience and suggested that all
HBCUs consider the same.
The conference was sponsored by
the White House Initiative on
HBCUs, whose goals are to advocate
for and strengthen the fund-raising
capacity of HBCUs. Conference
participants shared information on
research and funding trends, educational opportunities, equipment,
grant and contracting opportunities, faculty development and internships.
With the theme, “HBCUs: Established to Meet a Need, Evolving With
the Times,” the conference celebrated
September 7-13 as National HBCU
Week. Highlights included speeches
by Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice and U.S. Supreme Court Justice
Clarence Thomas.
Franklin spoke at the Third Plenary Session, sharing the dais with
The Honorable Ben Bernanke,
chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System,
and at the Commemorative Dinner,
where honorees included R&B legends The Commodores; Patricia de
Stacy Harrison, president and CEO
of the Corporation for Public
Broadcasting; entertainment mogul
Oprah Winfrey; Academy Award
winner Denzel Washington; and
Brian Cooke, vice president of Technology and Manufacturing, Building
Efficiency, Johnson Controls, Inc.
Morehouse was well represented
throughout the conference. Besides
Franklin’s two appearances, Morehouse Police Chief Vernon Worthy,
founder and immediate past president of the HBCU-Law Enforcement
Executives Association (LEEA),
served as a panelist on Securing the
Campus – Meeting the Challenges for
Students and Community.
David Morrow ’80, director of the
Morehouse College Glee Club, was a
regional conductor of a national
choir representing 105 HBCUs during the world premiere concert of
105 Voices of History at the Kennedy
Center. Toni Award-winning actress
Phylicia Rashad was mistress of ceremony and harpist Jeff Major made a
special appearance. Student Tyrone
Clinton ‘10 represented Morehouse
in the choir.
A surprise nod to the College
came in the opening plenary session
when Stephanie Monroe, assistant
secretary for Civil Rights, Department of Education, brought remarks. Monroe told of the superb
treatment she and her son received
during a recent college tour of a
HBCU. Monroe was most impressed
when, at the end of the tour, they
were invited to an impromptu 45minute visit with the school’s dean of
admissions. The dean took time with
her son, adopted a “fatherly role” and
“challenged [her] son” to do more
and go further and “live into his potential,” she recalled.
“Now, this could have happened
at any HBCU, but it happened at
Morehouse College,” she said as
she recognized Sterling Hudson,
dean of Admissions, seated in
the audience.
‘AFRICA IS CHANGING’
Former Burundi President Pierre Buyoya Sees a Brighter African Future
By ADD SEYMOUR JR.
Former Burundi President Pierre
Buyoya told a group of students,
faculty and staff that Africa is
emerging from a dark backdrop of
war, poverty and chaos that has
shrouded the continent for decades.
“Africa is changing,” Buyoya said
during his lecture at Sale Hall’s
Chapel of the Inward Journey on
Sept. 10. “In different corners of the
continent, African leaders are working to make those changes possible.
Peace and stability are becoming the
top priority of the African Union
and the countries in Africa.”
Buyoya’s lecture was part of a
two-day visit to Morehouse, jointly
sponsored by the Leadership Center
at Morehouse College and the
African Presidential Archives and
Research Center (APARC) at
Boston University. The Leadership
Center is part of the African and
American Universities Collaborative, which unites institutions on
both continents through APARC.
Buyoya, Burundi’s president
from 1987 to1993 and 1996 to
2003, is at Morehouse as the Lloyd
G. Balfour African President-inResidence. Previous presidents-inresidence have come from Zambia,
Pierre Buyoya, former president of Burundi, speaks to faculty and staff during his visit to Morehouse.
Botswana, Liberia, Mauritius and
Cape Verde.
“This relationship that we’ve
crafted…has gotten sweeter as the
years have gone by,” said Ambassador Charles R. Stith, APARC director. “We must know the stories of
our past if we are to craft relative visions for the future.”
2008 Presidential Election Excitement Grips
Campus Community
(continued from the cover)
The history comes in a series of
potential firsts. The son of a white
Midwestern white mother and a
black African father, Obama is the
first black major party presidential
nominee, putting him one step
away from the White House.
On the other side, Palin could
become the nation’s first female
vice president while McCain, a decorated war veteran, could become
the oldest man ever to be elected
president.
During his lecture, Buyoya told
stories of the chaotic history of Burundi, an East African nation of
eight million people. Ethnic strife
between the Hutu and Tutsi tribes
has caused sporadic warring since
the late 1950s. But Buyoya said
stronger leadership, along with the
democratization of African coun-
tries like Burundi, has ushered an
era of peace and stability into the
region.
“It is obvious Africa still faces a
lot of challenges,” he said.“But there
is optimism…This process is not
quite over. But I think there is no
threat to peace in Burundi now.”
“I’m witnessing one of those
Jackie Robinson, Thurgood Marshall and the desegregation-ofschools moment,” said English
professor Stephane Dunn, who attended the Democratic National
Convention. The possibility of
[Obama becoming president] and a
shift in America’s faulty foreign policy and a dent in the politics of busi-
ness-as-usual on Capitol Hill is the
great surge that drove me to Denver.
I not only had to go to be there to
bear witness, but I had to go because I’m part of it all. This is my
moment, too.”
Adds Ebenezer Aka, chairman of
Urban Studies: “It’s exciting. I
haven’t seen anything like this. This
is history in the making.”
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NEWS 5
INSIDE MOREHOUSE, OCTOBER 2008
HOMECOMING 2008
OCTOBER 19
“Meet Me at the Altar”
Opening Worship Service
Sisters Chapel, Spelman College
10 a.m.
“Cirque Du Soleil” Fashion Show
Forbes Arena
7 p.m.
$10 - Atlanta University Center (AUC) faculty,
staff and students
$15 - general public
OCTOBER 20
OCTOBER 24
OCTOBER 25
OCTOBER 26
Alumni Homecoming Registration
Kilgore Campus Center
9 a.m. – 4 p.m.
The Morehouse College National Alumni
Association Breakfast
Chivers Dining Hall
8 a.m.
“Won’t Look Back”
Closing Worship Service
Speaker: Keith Troy ‘76
Senior Pastor, New Salem Baptist Church
Columbus, Ohio
Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel
11 a.m.
Alumni Golf Tournament
Durham Lakes Golf & Country Club
156 Durham Lakes Pkwy.
Fairburn, Ga.
9 a.m.
“The Weigh In” Pep Rally
Kilgore Campus Center
Noon
Market Friday
Manley Student Center Patio
Noon – 5 p.m.
Spelman College
Neo-Soul Concert
Oval
Spelman College
7 p.m.
$10 - AUC faculty, staff and students
$15 - general public
OCTOBER 22
“The Strip – Las Vegas Boulevard” Hump
Wednesday
Freshman Quad/Forbes Arena
4 p.m.
“The Cool” Hip Hop Concert
Forbes Arena
7 p.m.
$20 admission
The Morehouse College National
Alumni Association
“Welcome Back to the House” Party
The Cascade Club
2890 Continental Colony Pkwy.
6 p.m.
Bennett College Reception
(by invitation only)
Douglass Hall
6 p.m.
“The Bellagio Presents” Miss Maroon &
White Coronation
King Chapel
7 p.m.
OCTOBER 23
“The Wise Guys” Homecoming Crown
Forum
Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel
11 a.m.
“Casino Royale” Coronation Ball
AmericasMart Atlanta, 240 Peachtree St., N.W.
10 p.m.
$10 - AUC faculty, staff and students
$15 - general public
“Rio” Homecoming Parade
Westview Drive to West End Mall to Lowery
Street to Fair Street
9 a.m.
Homecoming 2008 Contacts:
Pre-Game Jazz Brunch
Featuring Deacon Blues (Clark White ’71) & the
Holy Smoke Band
College Town at West End Avenue and Joseph
Lowery Boulevard
11 a.m.
Office of Student Services at (404) 653-7858
Office of Alumni Relations at (404) 215-2658
Morehouse College Alumni Association at
(404) 215-2657
“Shaken, Not Stirred”
The Alumni Tailgate Experience
Spelman Lot
Noon – 2 p.m.
Alumni registration is also available online at
www.morehousealumniandfriends.com until
Friday, Oct. 17. Registration cost is
non-refundable.
Alumni registration package: $110 per
person; $100 per person for Life Members
“The Main Event” Homecoming Game,
Morehouse College vs.
Albany State University
B.T. Harvey Stadium
2 p.m.
$18 - general admission/alumni
$12 - students of any other institution with a
fall 2008 ID
Free for Morehouse and Spelman students.
Faculty and staff, along with one guest, are
admitted free with an ID.
“Caesar’s Palace” National Panhellenic
Council Step Show
Forbes Arena
7 p.m.
$10 AUC faculty, staff and students
$15 general public
Concerned Alumnus Helped Pave
Joseph Dixon’s Path to Morehouse
By ADD SEYMOUR JR.
Samuel J. Eaves ’62 saw something in Joseph Dixon during the
early 1980s that Dixon couldn’t
even see in himself: his potential to
become a Morehouse Man.
“I had no concept of college,”
said Dixon, who became the College’s vice president for Information
Technology in May 2008. “I never
really thought about it.”
But Eaves, Dixon’s high school
guidance counselor at the time, did.
“He came from a difficult situation in a difficult part of town,” said
the now retired Eaves. “But he still
felt that education was important to
him. That’s what drew my attention
to him. I knew he had the potential.”
Eaves’ instincts were correct.
Dixon graduated from Morehouse in 1986 with math and computer science degrees, completed
graduate school and then embarked
on a career in information technology that has brought him right back
where it all started.
It also brought him into the
midst of one of the most scrutinized
areas of any organization today, information technology.
“We all know the famous stories
from the past,” he said. “What I
found is that we had a mixed reputation. The biggest service issue is to
arrive at agreeable service levels and
customer expectations. If we can’t
provide a level of service that provides real value for the customer,
we’re dropping the ball. But we have
to sit down and have a real honest
talk with the customer.”
Dixon grew up in a rough part of
Jacksonville, Fla. Neither computers
nor college were on his mind until
he ran into Eaves. Once Eaves heard
that Dixon’s grandmother – who
only had an eighth-grade education
– wanted her grandson to go to college, Eaves made it a personal quest
to get Dixon there, thinking Morehouse would be the perfect place for
him.
But it wasn’t easy.
“I remember he had a deadline
Biggest Losers Seek
Prizes and Healthier
Lifestyles
Joseph Dixon '86, vice president for Information Technology
to get his papers in to Morehouse,
but he kept procrastinating,” Eaves
said. “I took him to the dean (of the
high school) and told him that if
Dixon didn’t have his papers the
next day, he needed to paddle him. I
wasn’t going to let him lose that
opportunity (to go to Morehouse).”
Even after getting into Morehouse, Dixon said he had to get
used to the idea.
“On the first day of registration,
I woke up in Jacksonville, got in my
car and drove up at five in the
morning, parked in the lots and
stood in front of Gloster Hall,” he
said.“To the first guy who walked by
I asked, ‘Excuse me, do you know
where Morehouse College is? He
said, ‘Uh, you’re here!’”
Dixon ended up becoming a stellar math student who fell in love
with computer science. That interest became his passion. He has
worked at AT&T/Bell Laboratories,
the University of Oregon System
and was the first director of school
technology for the Fulton County
School System.
He gives Eaves a lot of the credit.
“He really pushed me,” Dixon
said. “He was really great. He’s
something else.”
Seven men and 15 women are
looking to become Morehouse’s
biggest loser – an honor that carries
a lot of weight. They are participants
in The Biggest Loser, a part of the
College’s 50 Million Pound Challenge.
“We’re trying to make sure
we’re offering more incentives and
the programs to encourage healthy
eating, increased exercising and
healthier lifestyles at Morehouse,”
said coordinator Dionne Polite, of
the Department of Recreation, Intramurals and Fitness.
Teams with the highest combined weight loss and combined reduction in body fat will receive $50
gift cards and one-hour massages.
Top male and female losers win $25
gift cards and half-hour massages.
Several events are planned
before the Dec. 3-5 final weigh-in –
an Oct. 9 seminar on setting realistic
goals; a mid-point debriefing on
Oct. 30; and a Nov. 13 endurance
challenge.
HOUSE
6 LIFE
INSIDE MOREHOUSE, OCTOBER 2008
King Chapel’s Art Brings Visual Focus to History
By ADD SEYMOUR JR.
ssistant art professor Charles
Nelson stood inside the Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel’s lobby and looked
around him.
On three sides of him, etched in
the marble walls, were quotes from
some of King’s historic speeches. In
front of Nelson was a marble piece
of abstract art titled “Spiritual Leaders” by Nicholas Mukomberanwa.
And just down the hallway towered
an oil painting of Mohandas “Mahatma” Gandhi.
A
“The history of Morehouse is so
rich and all of the things in the
Chapel point to that history,” he said.
“It’s quite a collection.”
The College’s recent acquisition of
the Purvis Young art collection has
shined a spotlight on the additional
significance of the King Chapel: not
only as a revered religious and ceremonial edifice to peace, human and
civil rights, and with social justice,
but also as a new repository for art,
photography and history. Nelson,
himself an acclaimed visual artist,
gave Inside Morehouse a tour and his
artistic thoughts on the Chapel’s
three acclaimed collections.
The Martin Luther King Jr.
International Chapel Library
“Even though it’s in what we in
the art world call ‘salon style,’ it has
more of a home feeling to it. It feels
more like a personal collection. I
think this presentation is a little
more intimate in some ways. And it
definitely tells the story of the
civil rights movement through
photography.”
Did you know? Chapel Dean
Lawrence E. Carter Sr. said he
started the Library’s collection after
noticing something one day decades
ago: “There was nothing on the
walls, so I just started putting pic-
tures up and suddenly it has become this,” he said.
The International Hall of Fame
“The paintings are excellent portraits. They are also very traditional.
These are the epitome of traditional
oil paintings, definitely what you
would see on a college campus. Obviously, these are important people
– like Henry Lyman Morehouse
(the College’s namesake). It makes
you want to learn who they are,
what their stories are and what their
relationship to Morehouse is.”
Did you know? There are 111 oil
paintings in the chapel, including
one of a former NFL player (Mel
Blount), Booker T. Washington and
two current Morehouse employees
– Carter and legendary track coach
Willie Hill.
The Purvis Young Collection
“The thing we’re trying to do is
frame this work as Purvis Young’s depiction of the struggles of African
Americans, so a lot of the pieces that
you see are his personal insights on
those struggles.
Did you know? The 109-piece
collection valued at $1 million and
donated to the College by the Rubell
Family Collection is the world’s
largest collection of Young’s work
outside his native South Florida.
“The bottom line is the Morehouse community should feel from
the collection King Chapel that they
have access to art and that art is a
part of who they are and can help us
understand the world we live in,”
Nelson said.
SHELF LIFE
SHELF
LIFE
Baad Bitches & Sassy Supermamas: Black Power Action Films
By Stephane Dunn, University of Illinois Press, 2008
Stephane Dunn remembers
being a child during the colorful
decade of the 1970s when blaxploitation films with stars such as
Richard Rountree and Pam Grier
appearing in films like “Shaft” and
“Foxy Brown” were all the rage.
“These were always the people in
the cultural sphere of things,” said
Dunn, a visiting professor in the
English department specializing in
African American cultural studies,
film, and literature. “But prior to
the last four or five years, there has
been a lack of intensive dialogue that
highlighted the gender dynamics and
also highlighted the females in these
films.”
Dunn hopes to spur quite a bit of
discussion with her first book, Baad
Bitches and Sassy Supermamas: Black
Power Action Films, published by University of Illinois Press (2008).
In chapters such as “Race, Gender and Sexual Power in Cleopatra
Jones” and “Black Power and the
New Baad Cinema,” Dunn explores
the evolution of the role of black females in blaxploitation films. In her
straight, in-your-face style, Dunn
talks about how black women were
initially portrayed as hyper-sexual,
yet docile, obedient and submissive
as in “Shaft” and “Superfly”, but
evolving into lead characters who
were strong, tough and empowered
women in films like “Foxy Brown,”
“Coffy” and “Cleopatra Jones.” She
also tackles the hip-hop community’s embrace, to some degree, of
the icons of that era.
“I thought there was a lot more
to say and talk about, what it is really the role of women and what are
problems with the gender dynamics
of film,” Dunn said. “It was my own
great, big critical shout-out to films
that still had that nostalgic history.”
Dunn is an Elkert, Indiana native
and graduate of the University of
Evansville and Notre Dame where
she earned two master’s degrees and
her doctorate. She is an avid writer
who is also a playwright. Dunn
plans two more books in the near
future, including one on former
baseball player Curt Flood, and then
will focus on plays she has been
working on.
“I’m already off to the next project,” Dunn said. “I’m always writing in my head.”
HOUSE
SPORTS 7
INSIDE MOREHOUSE, OCTOBER 2008
Streiff Gets a Big Kick Out
of Being at Morehouse
Junior kicker Micah Streiff said he enjoys balancing football, academics
and marriage.
By ADD SEYMOUR JR.
Micah Streiff wakes up each
morning, makes breakfast for his
wife, Victoria, and then heads from
their home in Avondale Estates to
Morehouse for a day of classes
and afternoons on the football field
as a key member of the Fighting
Maroon Tigers.
After that, he goes back home each
evening, makes dinner for Victoria,
who is an Agnes Scott College
student, studies for a few hours, talks
with his wife a while before drifting off
to sleep to ready for another long day.
“Yeah, it is a pretty full day, huh?”
said Streiff, a 21-year-old junior general science/mechanical engineering
major and one of the top kickers in
the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic
Conference.
His days aren’t typical for a college student. But neither is the story
of his journey to Morehouse.
Streiff learned about kicking footballs while playing high school football at Southwest DeKalb High
School in Decatur, Ga., for legendary
coach Buck Godfrey. He decided to
kick at Tennessee State University in
Nashville. Victoria also went to the
Music City to attend Fisk University,
just down the street from TSU. They
married after their freshman year.
“But my wife and I decided we
wanted to transfer home,” said Streiff,
adding that they just missed Atlanta.
“I showed up on (Morehouse’s)
doorstep and some of the coaches
remembered recruiting me in
high school.”
Academics lured Streiff to Morehouse – as did the fact that head football coach Rich Freeman needed
a kicker.
“We didn’t have a punter,” Freeman said. “He pretty much fell in
our lap.”
Since transferring to Morehouse
in 2007, Streiff has been one of the
SIAC’s Players of the Week 10 times.
In the Maroon Tigers’ 38-35 win over
Fort Valley State this season, he averaged 37.2 yards per kick and kicked
three field goals, including the gamewinner in the game’s final seconds.
“He’s huge,” said Freeman. “He’s
just as good as having a receiver who
can run a 4.3 in the 40 or having a defensive tackle who can bench press
500 pounds. He’s definitely a weapon
for us.”
Streiff said the fact that he’s a
white football player and student at a
historically black college elicits stares
and comments on campus and on
the field.
“I’ve gotten that from people who
don’t know me,” he said. “People are
always curious and always wonder.
But people who know me know that
it doesn’t make a difference to me as
far as the color of the people I’m with
or the type of people I’m with, as
long as they are good people. I pretty
much get along with everybody.”
Streiff is hoping for a chance to
kick in the National Football League
someday. But if not, he’s looking forward to a career in engineering.
Right now, he’s just happy to have
landed at Morehouse.
“I wanted to play at home and
play for Morehouse,” Streiff said. “I
feel at home. I love it here.”
2008-09 MOREHOUSE
BASKETBALL SEASON
Tips Off With Oct. 15
Midnight Madness
Basketball can’t start soon
enough for the Morehouse
Tigers Basketball squad. In
fact, the team’s first practice
of the 2008-09 season at
Forbes Arena will be at the
stroke of midnight on Oct.
15, the very first minute that
college basketball teams are
allowed to practice.
“I’m really looking forward to us getting back on the
court, getting back to the top
of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference and
possibly getting an NCAA
bid,” said head coach Grady
Brewer. “That’s the goal this
year.”
The first practice will be
festive as fans are invited to
Forbes Arena a few hours earlier – at 10 p.m. for “Midnight
Madness,” sponsored by Hygrade Magazine. There will be
music, T-shirts and Morehouse basketball paraphernalia given away to fans.
“When we’ve been successful, it has all been because of
our 6th man – and that is our
fans,” Brewer said. “I think
they will be huge in us being
successful.”
OLYMPIC SPOTLIGHT
Singleton Wins Paralympic Gold as Part
of World-Record Breaking Relay Team
Woods-Howze Becomes First U.S.
Master’s Track and Field Athlete
to Rank in All Events
Morehouse’s Jerome Singleton,
who begins the final two years
of his dual-degree engineering
program at the University of
Michigan this fall, had one last
thing to do before he started
classes: win a gold medal.
Singleton took home a gold
medal as part of the winning 4x100
meter relay squad in the 2008 Paralympic Games held in Beijing,
Sept. 6-17. The relay team not only
won a gold medal, but they won
also broke a world record, running
the race in 42.75 seconds.
Singleton added a silver medal
when he finished a close second to
famed sprinter Oscar Pistorius in
the men’s T-44 100 meters.
The T-44 division is for singleleg, below-the-knee amputees.
Singleton, who ran for the Flying
Maroon Tigers Track and Field
team, had his foot amputated as an
infant after being born without
a fibula.
Ever since Lydia Woods-Howze
decided three years ago to compete
in a triathlon and take part in her
first Senior Olympics, she has continually set goals and broken them.
Learning how to high jump? She
did it. Tossing a javelin? She’s done
that too.
In fact, Woods-Howze, a professor in the Department of Health,
Physical Education and Recreation,
won 105 medals in a range of
events in 2007, her first full year on
the U.S. Masters Track and Field
circuit. But Woods-Howze desired
more – she wanted to be the first
person to be nationally ranked in
the Top 25 in 22 single events. In
2008, she’s accomplished that, too.
“It’s pretty overwhelming,”
Woods-Howze said. “It’s been fun. I
did it. But now I’ve got so much more
to do. It’s always something more.”
“Now that I can high jump,” Lydia Woods-Howze competes in
Woods-Howze said her next goal is one of the 22 events she is ranked
nationally in the Top 25.
to tackle the decathlon.
Jerome Singleton (second from left) celebrates with his teammates on the
record-setting, gold-medal winning 4x100 meter squad after winning their race
in Beijing.
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INSIDE MOREHOUSE, OCTOBER 2008
MONDAY, 6TH
THURSDAY, 16TH
Daddy’s Promise
AUC Town Hall meeting
Sale Hall Chapel
7:30 p.m.
Contact: Kathleen Johnson, (404) 215-3478 or
kljohnso@morehouse.edu
Free Confidential HIV/AIDS & STD Testing
Student Health Center, basement of Brazeal Hall
10 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Testing conducted by AIDS Research of Atlanta
Contact: Dorcas Rouse, (404) 215-2637 or at
drouse@morehouse.edu
/
Lecture
Morehouse English Professor Stephane Dunn and
Duke University English professor Mark Anthony
Neal discuss and debate about hip-hop, black
masculinity, black femininity, race and class.
Room 224, Wheeler Hall
2:30 pm
Contact: Stephane Dunn at (404) 572-3690 or at
sdunn@morehouse.edu
1
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 1ST
Football
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Tuscaloosa, Ala.
5 p.m.
Contact: Rhonda Higgs, (404) 215-2686 or at
rhiggs@morehouse.edu
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Contact: Corey Lumpkin, (404) 522-3365 or
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Name: Ron Brown
Title: Telecommunications Technician
Hometown: Chicago, Ill.
Tenure at Morehouse: 3 years
THURSDAY, 23RD
Lecture, Ken Nnamani, former Senate
President of Nigeria
Executive Conference Center, Suite A
6 p.m.
Contact: LaKetha Hudson, (404) 215-2731 or at
lhudson@morehouse.edu
Something not commonly known about Ron: A
father of seven who retired after 29 years in the
U.S. Air Force, he once met President George
H.W. Bush while he was a USAF telecommunications systems control superintendent.
Political Party Forum
Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel
10:45 a.m.
Contact: Anne Watts, (404) 572-3660 or at
awatts@morehouse.edu
“I am one of two people who maintain
the campus infrastructure for voice, data
(computer activities), imaging, as well as
cable TV – basically technology. What we do
is make sure you have it for your daily work.
We make things happen. We make things
work. We are the highway. Information
Technology is the traffic that rides over
the highway. We make sure the wiring is
connected so you can plug in to access the
information technology.
“Every day is a new challenge because
some things may be broken, something new
is happening on campus and we have to be
intricately involved to make sure it is all connected so we can be sure technology happens in those operations
at gwade@morehouse.edu
“It’s a considerable challenge in time, material and resources. Again, there are only
two of us on campus, so when a major project happens on campus, or there’s a new
building online like the Arts Center or the
new parking deck and you have offices that
go in those places, you have infrastructure
that needs to be in place.
“But I love it. It’s always a challenge. It’s
always something new. It is one of those
things where you get paid to make decisions
to make things happen. We maintain a
switch here in Gloster Hall and data activities are maintained in Sale Hall. The road
map between buildings has to connect underground in various places so we can make
sure you have connectivity when you pick up
your phone. I love it.”