18 JANUARY 4-10, 2017 WOMEN OF EXCELLENCE 2016
MEDIA
EDUCATION
DANIELLE M. SMITH
MATHILDA SPENCER, PhD
Audio journalist & personality American Urban Radio Networks A veteran audio journalist for American Urban Radio Networks (AURN), the nation’s largest African American-owned radio network, Danielle M. Smith produces national news and sports broadcasts on a daily basis, as well as conducts interviews with national newsmakers and edits the audio from the interviews for newscasts that air hourly Monday through Friday. She also writes, produces and voices stories. While Smith, who holds a Bachelor of Arts in broadcasting from Point Park University, works diligently behind the scenes at AURN, she also shines as a part-time on-air talent at WGBN-AM 1360 where she hosts the weekly show “Hot or Not,” which spotlights local and national up and coming gospel/Christian artists. She is also a contributing writer for The Soul Pitt Quarterly Magazine. Smith has been recognized for her stellar reporting work. Her accolades include a Robert L. Vann Award for Excellence from the PBMF and the 2013 Community Spirit Award for Excellence in Broadcast Journalism from North Side Institutional Church. Active in the community, Smith is an active member of the Pittsburgh Black Media Federation, where she participates in the Frank Bolden Urban Journalism Workshop; the Multicultural Taskforce for the Pittsburgh chapter of the Center for Organ Recovery and Education; secretary of the Church of God in Christ Haiti Support Group; and Pentecostal Temple COGIC, where she provides the weekly Audio/Video announcements. She has also participated in Amachi Pittsburgh, which assigns mentors to children whose
Assistant professor California University of Pennsylvania parents are incarcerated. She had the pleasure to For more than 30 years, Mathilda Spencer, PhD, has mentor a young lady whose father was incarcerated. worked in the human services and criminal justice The child was particularly special to Smith because field, accumulating quite an extensive background. she and the child’s mother had grown up together. It was at an early age, while attending the Upward Bound program at Carnegie Mellon University, that her love of learning really took root and led her career path. Currently, Spencer is an assistant professor of criminal justice at California University of Pennsylvania (Cal U), where serves on the General Education and Teaching and Learning Committees. She was also assigned, by the dean, to the Strategic Enrollment Planning work group that is responsible for generating suggestions for improving internal marketing at the University. In addition to Cal U, Spencer, who holds a B.A. in general arts and sciences from Penn State University, a M.S. in administration of justice from Shippensburg University and a Ph.D. in administration and leadership studies from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, has taught sociology and supervised practicum students at Westmoreland County Community College, and criminology at Point Park University and the Community College of Allegheny County. Prior to joining Cal U, she held the position of assistant professor of sociology at the University of Pittsburgh’s Titusville campus, where her responsibilities included oversight of the newly formed criminal justice curriculum. Additionally, Spencer spent many years as an adult probation/parole officer for Allegheny County Adult Probation and Parole; a juvenile probation officer
COMMUNITY SERVICE
EDUCATION
ARZELLA STEWART-MCCAULEY, PhD
CHRISTEL N. TEMPLE, PhD
Founder and CEO Young, Gifted and Black Program
With a passion for making sure that youth, especially Black youth, succeed, Arzella Stewart-McCauley, PhD, established the Young, Gifted & Black Program, a 501c (3) created to equip young adult African American and people of color with the essential skills to become effective leaders in the community, and help them eradicate personal barriers that may prevent them from becoming successful in their chosen careers or professions. Under the organization, Stewart-McCauley hosts the Young, Gifted & Black Awards, which recognizes eight to 10 young adults, ages 21-41, for their outstanding service and commitment to their community and profession. Thus far,
NEW PITTSBURGH COURIER
more than 90 individuals have been recognized; this year will be the award ceremony’s tenth anniversary. Prior to establishing the Young, Gifted & Black Program, Stewart-McCauley, who completed her undergraduate study at the University of Pennsylvania and Point Park College, then went on to earn three master’s degrees and a doctorate at the University of Pittsburgh, worked as an educator and mental health therapist. She worked for various nonprofits and higher learning institutions. She was also selected by the late Wilford Payne to work as a member of the Alma Illery Mental Health Team and served as the Mental Health coordinator for the MS Society in Jefferson Hills. A respected leader in the community, Stewart-McCauley is a member of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc., Alpha Alpha Omega Chapter, the NAACP and other professional organizations; the Pittsburgh Chapter of the Gospel Music Workshop of America and the Bishop CH Foggie Conference Choir; and is a past member of the Swan Chorale and Bach Choir. She also served as the director of the Young Adult Christian Ministry in the AMEZ church for more than a decade. Currently a member of Rodman Street Missionary Baptist Church where she is active in the Women and Mass Choirs, Stewart-McCauley said she is satisfied that she has a balance in her professional, social and spiritual life. She has two children, Tiffany and Ralph Jr., and four fantastic grandchildren.
working with juvenile sex offenders and supervising both the investigations and school-based probation units; and, with a heart for children, working with dependent and delinquent children at Holy Family Institute and Auberle. Spencer, a resident of Penn Hills, serves as the vice president for the Philanthropic Education Organization (PEO) Chapter BD Oakmont, a philanthropic organization where women celebrate, educate and motivate to inspire the advancement of women, and is an active member of Unity Community Church. Affectionately known as Aunt Te, Spencer cherishes the support of her numerous friends and her family, especially her niece, Elizabeth Garrett Stevens; nephews, Harry Garrett, Stuart Garrett and his wife, Brenda, and their children and grandchildren.
Department Chair of Africana Studies University of Pittsburgh
An author and educator, Virginia native Christel N. Temple, PhD, is the recently named chair of the Department of Africana Studies at the University of Pittsburgh, where she has been employed since relocating to Pittsburgh in 2010. Prior to working at Pitt, Temple, who earned a B.A. in history from the College of William and Mary, then pursued immersed graduate training in Africana studies with a M.A. from the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UBMC), followed by a doctorate from Temple University, taught in the History and Political Science Department of the College of Saint Rose in Albany, N.Y., and in the Africana Studies Department of her alma mater UMBC. Temple is a specialist of Afrocentric cultural theory and Comparative Black Literature. She has published two books, “Literary Pan-Africanism: History, Contexts, and Criticism” and “Literary Spaces: Introduction to Comparative Black Literature,” and is working on her third, which will be titled “An Atmosphere of Freedom: Transcendence and the Africana Literary Enterprise.” She has also had several essays appear in the Journal of Black Studies, Western Journal of Black Studies, International Journal of Black Studies, Africalogical Perspectives, Journal of Multicultural Discourses and Journal of Pan-African Studies. She has devoted her time to various topics, such as Malcolm X, Afro-European culture and identity, the Akan concept of Sankofa, Charles Hamilton Houston’s legal and literary authority, Africana womanism, the plays
of August Wilson and Suzan-Lori Parks, and U.S. post-racial discourse. Temple is the immediate past executive director of the Diopian Institute for Scholarly Advancement, manages the annual Cheikh Anta Diop International Conference in Philadelphia.