May
MAY 2018 | Bison Beat Monthly Newsletter | PAGE 1
Dear Howard University Community, Commencement is defined universally as the beginning—a ceremony at which degrees or diplomas are conferred upon students. Though like the definition, some traditions are universal, Howard is the only place where we could have witnessed what occurred on May 12, 2018, on the Upper Quadrangle - Main Yard. If I were not there myself, it would be hard to believe. Leading up to our 150th Commencement, many gaily adorned Howard with the nickname “Wakanda University.” Though it may seem that Howard students, faculty, staff and alumni have vibraniuminfused superpowers, their successes stem from hard work and perseverance. Wakanda is a fictional, sub-Saharan African nation that appears only in comic books that Marvel publishes. Though arguably magical, there is nothing fictional about what happens at the Hilltop. Our Commencement Convocation Speaker, Chadwick Boseman, who plays the Black Panther on movie screens, is a real-life activist, humanitarian and true son of Howard. His speech, however, vanquished the
delicate terrain of Howard University with the ease of and prowess of a superhero. Boseman heralded these words to the Howard University Class of 2018: “When you have reached the Hilltop, and you are deciding on next steps, you would rather find purpose than a career. Purpose is an essential element of you that crosses disciplines.” The Class of 2018 earned 2,217 degrees in total, including 343 master’s degrees and 90 Ph.Ds. More than 380 students received professional degrees in law, medicine, pharmacy or dentistry. The graduates represent 39 states and 32 countries. If our graduates are a representation of the future, our future is bright. Congratulations, Class of 2018. #HowardForever.
Inside AROUND CAMPUS 4
Relive the Moments #HowardForever Commencement 2018
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College of Fine Arts in Talks of Re-establishment
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Howard University Awards Four Honorary Degrees
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Excellence at Howard
Excellence in Truth and Service,
Wayne A. I. Frederick. M.D., MBA PRESIDENT
10 Class of 2018 Highlights 11 New Appointments 12 On Beat with @HUPrez17
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Relive the
Moments
#HowardForever- Commencement 2018
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Howard University Awards Four Honorary Degrees Honorary recipients at Howard University’s 150th Commencement Convocation included Chadwick Boseman; Colbert I. King; Gwendolyn S. King; and Vivian W. Pinn, M.D. Colbert and Gwendolyn King are married and met while attending Howard University in the late 1950s.
College of Fine Arts in Talks of Re-establishment
CHADWICK BOSEMAN (B.F.A. ’00)
was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters. A native of South Carolina, Boseman graduated from Howard University and attended the British American Dramatic Academy at Oxford University. He then began his career as an actor, director and writer. He starred as T'Challa/Black Panther in the worldwide phenomena Marvel Studios’ “Black Panther” and “Avengers: Infinity War.”
For two consecutive years, Howard University Commencement Convocation attendees have been entranced by the eloquent words of fellow Bison who are both commendable orators and have a special connection to a place they call home: The Hilltop. On May 12, 2018, Howard alumnus and award-winning actor Chadwick Boseman spoke vividly about his time at Howard as a student in the then-College of Fine Arts, which was full of advocacy, triumphs, setbacks and oncein-a-lifetime experiences. Boseman and President Wayne A. I. Frederick announced their intention to launch a campaign that would re-establish the College of Fine Arts and establish an endowed College of Fine Arts award.
Boseman provided his commencement speech to more than
GWENDOLYN STEWART KING (B.A. ’62)
was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters. She is president of Podium Prose, a speaker’s bureau and speechwriting service in Washington. Prior to the launch of the company, King was senior vice president of corporate and public affairs for PECO Energy Company until her retirement in 1998. From 1989 to 1992, she served as the eleventh commissioner of Social Security. She held high-level U.S. government appointments in inter-governmental affairs, women’s business enterprise and Social Security from Presidents Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. King graduated cum laude from Howard University and was awarded the Alumni Award for Postgraduate Achievement. In 2008, she and her husband established the Gwendolyn S. and Colbert I. King Endowed Chair in Public Policy at Howard University.
8,000 audience members.
COLBERT I. KING (B.A. ’61)
was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters. King writes a weekly column that runs in The Washington Post. In 2003, King won the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary for “his against-the-grain columns that speak to people in power with ferocity and wisdom.” King joined the Post’s editorial board in 1990 and served for several years as deputy editorial page editor. Earlier in his career, he was an executive vice president of Riggs National Bank, U.S. executive director of the World Bank, a deputy assistant secretary at the Treasury Department, minority staff director of the U.S. Senate’s District of Columbia Committee, a State Department diplomat stationed at the U.S. Embassy in Bonn, Germany, and a commissioned officer in the U.S. Army Adjutant General’s Corps. King grew up in Washington.
VIVIAN W. PINN
was awarded an honorary Doctor of Science. Pinn was the first
full-time director of the Office of Research on Women’s Health at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and was associate director for research on women’s health. She held these positions from 1991 until her retirement in 2011. During that time, she established and co-chaired the NIH Committee on Women in Biomedical Careers with the NIH director. Since her retirement, she has been named senior scientist emerita at the NIH Fogarty International Center. Pinn came to the NIH from the Howard University College of Medicine, where she had been professor and chair of the Department of Pathology since 1982, the third woman in the United States to hold such an appointment. She was honored by the College of Medicine as one of its “Magnificent Professors” in 2014. PAGE 6 | Bison Beat Monthly Newsletter | MAY 2018
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Excellence at Howard HOWARD UNIVERSITY SENIOR AWARDED FULBRIGHT Howard University student Ameerah Shakoor is headed to Brazil as a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant for students studying English at a post-secondary institution. Shakoor, a senior studying public relations and Spanish, will spend nine months abroad through the Fulbright U.S. Student Program, which is coordinated by the Department of State and the William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board. Fulbright award recipients are selected based on academic and professional achievement as well as their record of service and leadership potential in their respective fields. Fulbright English Teaching Assistants are assigned to participating public universities with undergraduate students looking to teach English as a Foreign Language after graduation.
I’m incredibly honored to represent the U.S. Department of State in this capacity and join the ranks of other highly accomplished change makers who’ve been bestowed the honor of a Fulbright scholarship.
HOWARD ALUMNI ESTABLISH $1 MILLION PSYCHOLOGY ENDOWMENT Before they were college administrators, philanthropists or distinguished university presidents, Irvin D. Reid, Ph.D. (B.S. ’63, M.S. ’66) and Pamela Trotman Reid, Ph.D. (B.S. ’67) were two college sweethearts taking courses in Howard University’s Department of Psychology. The couple has proudly returned to campus to establish a $1 million endowment to fund undergraduate and graduate scholarships and faculty grants as a gift of support to the program that meant so much to their scholastic “Howard University was a critical development. milestone for us, and the preparation A simple meeting through a mutual friend during Pamela’s freshman we received from the Department of year and Irvin’s first year in graduate school would soon blossom into a Psychology was incredible,” recalled lifelong union of friendship, love, family and mutual support that would Irvin Reid, Ph.D. “The faculty and carry them beyond Howard’s hallowed halls and into successful careers. the college experience were just Throughout the years, the educational foundation formed at Howard extraordinary. We left Howard with continued to leave an indelible impression on the couple. confidence in our training, and even when we didn’t have the confidence “I had a wonderful experience at Howard; I feel like I grew up there,” she said. “I was a first-generation college student, and Howard was in ourselves, we found that we had the only place that I applied to. I’d never even visited a college before, the preparation needed to achieve the but I made good friends and was engaged in the civil rights activities tasks at hand.”
of the time. We both got such an outstanding grounding at Howard; it really gives us a lot of pleasure to give back.” - Pamela Reid, Ph.D.
The Reids decided to divide their scholarship support into three categories: undergraduate and graduate scholarships and a faculty award.
The Irvin D. Reid and Pamela Trotman Reid Scholarship ($10,000) supports an undergraduate student majoring in psychology who is entering his or her junior year. The two-year scholarship supports tuition and fees.
Since its inception in 1946, the Fulbright Program has provided more than 380,000 participants –chosen for their academic merit and leadership potential – with the opportunity to exchange ideas and contribute to finding solutions to shared international concerns. “It is crucial for Ameerah and other Howard University graduates to be selected for programs like Fulbright,” said Tonija Navas, director of Howard University’s Ralph J. Bunche International Affairs Center. “We must continue to build bridges across the diaspora through deeper intercultural experiences and continued language learning.” The primary source of funding for the Fulbright Program is an annual appropriation by the U.S. Congress to the Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. For more information about the Fulbright Program, go to http://eca.state.gov/fulbright.
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The Reids “WE ARE EXTREMELY GRATEFUL TO HAVE ALUMNI WHO ARE WILLING TO GIVE BACK TO THEIR ALMA MATER AND HELP THE NEXT GENERATION OF SCHOLARS SUCCEED WITHOUT THE FINANCIAL STRESSES THAT MANY HAVE TO ENDURE,” SAID DEBRA ROBERTS, PH.D., INTERIM PSYCHOLOGY CHAIR. “THESE GIFTS WILL HAVE A LASTING IMPACT ON THE RECIPIENTS AND OUR PROGRAM AS A WHOLE.”
The Irvin D. Reid and Pamela Trotman Reid Dissertation Fellowship ($5,000) is awarded to a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Psychology who plans to complete his or her dissertation during the academic year in which the fellowship is awarded. The fellowship supports expenses related to completing the dissertation, including, research-related travel, data collection and supplies. The Irvin D. Reid and Pamela Trotman Reid Faculty Award ($15,000) is awarded to an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology who has successfully completed three years on the tenure track at the University; has been deemed by the Selection Committee to have a promising research program and can demonstrate a successful record of teaching and mentoring students. The one-time award includes a $10,000 stipend that covers travel or other activities in support of his or her research, plus $5,000 toward summer salary. MAY 2018 | Bison Beat Monthly Newsletter | PAGE 9
Recent Appointments
Class of 2018 Highlights OLDEST GRADUATE OF THE CLASS OF 2018 (73 YEARS OLD) CHARLES W. ANDERSON
was born in Greenville, N.C. He attended Fleming Street Elementary School and Epps High School. After his family moved to Washington, DC, when he was 12, he attended Francis Jr. High School and Western High School. Anderson is married and has four children. He attended Montgomery College in Rockville, Md., obtaining an associate’s degree. He also attended the University of Maryland University College in College Park and obtained a bachelor’s degree. Anderson graduated from Howard University School of Divinity in May, obtaining a master's degree.
Greenville, N.C
Washington, D.C.
LARRY A. CALLAHAN Larry A. Callahan was appointed associate vice president of Human Resources and Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO), effective May 21, 2018. In this role, he will provide strategic leadership in the planning and implementation of quality-based, mission-focused human resources programs for all faculty and staff of the University and Hospital. SUSAN DREYER
YOUNGEST GRADUATE OF THE CLASS OF 2018 (19 YEARS OLD)
Susan Dreyer was appointed director of Environmental Occupational Health and Safety for the Howard University Department of Public Safety. Dreyer will be responsible for managing the
development, implementation and administration of programs and procedures relative to federal, state and local statutes, and regulations governing environment, occupational health and safety.
Office of the Bursar. He will lead the development of admissions and financial aid policy for the University as well as contribute to the efforts of increasing student retention and further improving graduation rates. BRUCE JONES
ANTHONY JONES Mr. Anthony Jones was appointed to the inaugural role of associate provost/assistant vice president of Enrollment Management. Mr. Jones will be responsible for the oversight of Enrollment Management functions including the Offices of Admissions, Registrar, Financial Aid and the
Bruce Jones, Ph.D. was appointed vice president for research. Dr. Jones will serve as the chief research officer and is responsible for developing and implementing the vision, plan, and policies to guide the University's research portfolio, and for leading all aspects of the University's research infrastructure and operations.
MERCY DANIEL-AGUEBOR graduated summa cum laude from Howard University with a bachelor of science degree in electrical engineering at the age of 19, making her the youngest graduate in the class of 2018. Born in 1998 in Nigeria, she attended university there before the school went on strike. This forced her to take a gap year to work, ultimately landing her the opportunity to study at Howard University on a full scholarship. Daniel-Aguebor will attend Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta for a fully funded Ph.D., where her goal is to investigate renewable energy materials. Daniel-Aguebor understands the opportunity cost of a failing energy system and is determined to gain knowledge to help transform the industry. During her four years at Howard, Daniel-Aguebor conducted research in power systems control and physics of electronics failure. She interned at an energy management startup. She headed projects such as building a recumbent tricycle that runs on electricity, and was a leader in service day and presenting seminars for students.
Nigeria
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Atlanta, GA
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The Journey
HOWARD UNIVERSITY STUDENT AID FUND
On Beat with @HUPrez17 PLANS MOVE FORWARD FOR HOWARD UNIVERSITY’S BOND BREAD PROJECT After more than a decade of planning and legal disputes, Howard University is taking a significant step forward in redeveloping the long-vacant Bond Bread Factory and Washington Railway & Electric Company buildings, located across from Howard University Hospital, along Georgia Avenue Northwest. HOWARD UNIVERSITY GALLERY OF ART OFFERED TIMELESS ARTWORK FROM CORCORAN GALLERY OF ART COLLECTION The Howard University Gallery of Art recently received an offer of several works of art that previously were showcased in the now-defunct Corcoran Gallery of Art along 17th Street Northwest.
HOWARD UNIVERSITY WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL IS THE FIRST HBCU VOLLEYBALL TEAM TO TAKE AN INTERNATIONAL TOUR
HOWARD UNIVERSITY AND CORVIAS RENOVATE AND OPEN EAST TOWER RESIDENCE HALL AHEAD OF SCHEDULE
The Howard University Women's Volleyball Team made history as it headed to Africa for the team's international debut. The 11-time MEAC champions competed against opponents from Botswana and Zimbabwe.
Howard University and its private sector partner, Corvias, announced the completion of the University’s residence hall, the East Tower, more than three months earlier than anticipated. The completion of the East Tower was the second phase of a two-part, comprehensive renovation to revamp two University residence halls, the Howard Plaza Towers East and West. The 431 residential units in the newly renovated space now offer a variety of room types and layouts, ranging from shared efficiencies to four bedrooms, and will house approximately 1,163 students.
HOWARD UNIVERSITY ATHLETICS MARKS 125 YEARS OF FOOTBALL Nearly 26 years after Howard University opened its doors, collegiate football was established and HU welcomed a new kind of student to “The Mecca.” Today, 125 years later, Howard football boasts a legacy of historic wins and football standouts.
HOWARD UNIVERSITY ATHLETICS MARKS 125 YEARS OF FOOTBALL
I AM PLEASED TO MAKE THE FOLLOWING GIFT TO THE HOWARD UNIVERSITY STUDENT SCHOLARSHIP FUND. (Please make checks payable to Howard University.)
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JOIN US NEXT TIME… ON
“The Journey” As the 17th President of Howard University, Dr. Wayne A. I. Frederick is dedicated to extending the legacy of Howard University as a world-renowned academic and research institution. Dr. Frederick has a deeply personal relationship with Howard University and represents the mosaic of the 80,000 + living alumni who are connected to the University as well as the students, staff and faculty members who are invested in Howard University’s success. Tune-in to episodes of “The Journey” here: http://whur.com/shows/thejourney/
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Will you answer the call? MAY 2018 | Bison Beat Monthly Newsletter | PAGE 13
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