FALL 2015
MAGAZINE
THE
JOURNEY
From NSO to Commencement
Our name means the world to us… “Morehouse challenges us to have a social conscience. When you think this way, you can’t help but to want to make a positive impact on the world, as well as positively influence others.”
For more than a century, thousands of our graduates have made strides in industries ranging from ministry to medicine, from arts to athletics, living up to a world-recognized distinction: Morehouse Man. Morehouse College gratefully acknowledges every alumnus and student whose leadership and contribution to local, national and global communities serve to make our good name even better.
-James Bernard Pratt Jr. ‘13
morehouse.edu
contents MOREHOUSE MAGAZINE
d ep ar tm e n t s 6
INSIDE THE HOUSE
9
PEOPLE AT THE HOUSE
FALL 2015
f e atur e s 6
12 DEVELOPMENT NEWS
DIVERSITY IN COMPUTER SCIENCE CAREERS Morehouse College is helping change the face of diversity in the world of computer science. The College has produced 13 percent of the total number of the nation’s male African American computer science Ph.D. students. That’s 12 of the 93 combined from every school in the country.
19 EXECUTIVE EXCHANGE 20 ON THE FIELD AND COURT
12
22 IN THE NEWS 24 ON THE SHELF 36 BROTHER TO BROTHER 37 LETTER FROM ALUMNI PRESIDENT 38 ALUMNI NEWS
25
40 CLASS NOTES
44
RESTORING KING CHAPEL The $8-million campaign to restore the Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel at Morehouse is mid-way to its mark and remains a priority focus of the institution. Alumni, philanthropists and others are set to raise $3 million, buttressed by a $5-million grant, to restore the world’s most prominent religious memorial to King.
THE JOURNEY The Morehouse College experience makes for an emotional, exciting and enriching journey—from New Student Orientation and Opening Convocation, during which President John Silvanus Wilson Jr. ’79 sets the tone for the academic school year, to the final destination, Commencement.
REMEMBERING H. JULIAN BOND ’71 H. Julian Bond ’71 was one of the original leaders of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), a long-time Georgia state legislator, writer, television commentator and educator. The civil rights leader passed away in August 2015 following a brief illness—but not before leaving an indelible mark on the nation and a legacy of service leadership that brands him forever as a son of Morehouse.
FALL 2015
1 MOREHOUSE MAGAZINE
CAMPUS NEWS
“We must remember that intelligence is not enough. Intelligence plus character— that is the goal of true education.” Martin Luther King Jr. ’48
Morehouse College has always been committed to producing leaders who will change their communities, the nation and the world. Not only do Morehouse students receive a rigorous liberal arts education, but also an awakening to their capacity for integrity, compassion, civility and leadership.
Toward Character Preeminence Give online at giving.morehouse.edu MOREHOUSE MAGAZINE
2 FALL 2015
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
Being Truly Free
I
n my convocation address, I focused on how one becomes truly free, because true freedom is what the journey through Morehouse College is all about. Whether you are a current matriculating student, or an alumnus celebrating your 50-year reunion, being a part of this Morehouse community is about achieving true freedom, both individually and collectively.
The goal of my presidency is to ensure that this institution is a place where character preeminence, something Morehouse has always had, and capital preeminence, something we’ve always aspired to, but never quite achieved – exist at the same time and in the same place. We want to create a first-rate campus for producing first-rate men. When we achieve this, we will have the world of our dreams. If you peel that back just one layer, what underlies preeminence is true freedom. Freedom is a primary outcome of a better Morehouse because it is through education that one attains freedom. Whether in a classroom or in the trials of life, freedom is an imperative achieved through increased knowledge. We believe that if on this journey we can get every man of Morehouse hungry for his own combination of our core five values, then we will graduate Morehouse men every year who are either truly free, or detectably well on their way to being truly free! My articulation of these five values is drawn from the history and traditions of this college – everything from Henry Lyman Morehouse’s “talented tenth,” to Ben Mays’ fourteen attributes, to Rob Franklin’s five wells. We all know them. Our alumni embody them. Our students aspire to attain them. First, to be truly free we must be men of acuity. Acuity is about acquiring the knowledge-base and skill-set to make one ready for the world. Acuity means extra-sharp intelligence. As a truly free man prioritizes acuity, he eliminates ignorance. Second, we want our graduates to become men of integrity. It has been said that integrity is doing the right thing, even when no one is watching. Another definition of integrity is the state of being whole and undivided. Like a DuBoisian double consciousness or twoness, most of us are at least two people – a public self and a private self. Our journey towards increased integrity minimizes this twoness. As a truly free man prioritizes integrity, he eliminates hypocrisy.
“
The momentum building on our campus in pursuit of our path to preeminence and freedom is gaining. I
Third, we must value becoming men of agency. Agency means, more often than not, you happen to the day, instead of the day happening to you. As a truly free man prioritizes agency, he eliminates apathy.
want each of you to join
Fourth, we value becoming men of brotherhood. Howard Thurman said, “love or perish.” There is a Morehouse brotherhood. It is like no other. As a truly free man prioritizes brotherhood, he eliminates selfishness.
us on this path and be a
Fifth and finally, we value becoming men of consequence. Being consequential is a precious and noble thing. For every young man that enters this campus, there is a reason why he was born, and as soon as each young man figures that out, the world will be a better place. As a truly free man prioritizes being consequential, he eliminates insignificance. The freedom I wish for us individually is what we quietly desire collectively for this very special place. True freedom is what our vision of the world of our dreams is all about. True freedom is where all of our traditional values are pointed. True freedom is what we have in mind by intentionally increasing our volume and getting better are all about. And true freedom is what character and capital preeminence are all about. The momentum building on our campus in pursuit of our path to preeminence and freedom is gaining. I want each of you to join us on this path and be a part of this transformative period in our journey. Over the coming months, you will begin to hear from me more frequently as I illuminate where we are and where we are headed. The time is now for Morehouse to shift into the next gear and expand its place in the world as a bedrock institution for young men that delivers a top-notch education while continuing to be a force for positive change in the world.
part of this transformative period in our journey.
”
John Silvanus Wilson Jr. ’79
33
FALL 2015MOREHOUSE MOREHOUSE MAGAZINE FALL 2015 MAGAZINE
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
“It’s all about possibilities.” architect or activist educator or engineer poet or pastor surgeon or senator
When you give to Morehouse, anything is possible.
MOREHOUSE MAGAZINE
4 FALL 2015
Toward Character Preeminence Give online at giving.morehouse.edu
EDITOR’S NOTES
“Those who do not have the power over the story that dominates their lives, the power to retell it, rethink it, deconstruct it, joke about it, and change it as times change, truly are powerless, because they cannot think new thoughts.”
FALL 2015
MAGAZINE
Salman Rushdie John Silvanus Wilson Jr. ’79 President
Between Presidents and Pariahs
I
wish that for every negative news story about a young black man, there was an immediate counterpoint showing a Morehouse Man—existing or in the making.
It’s oxymoronic that the black men we see most in the news—or on television, in general—represent two extremes: Leader of the free world or menace to society. President or pariah. You may never see it on television, but there is an expanse of black male identity between presidents and pariahs—a vast and varied array of black men and boys who, in their lifetime, will never fall at the much-televised ends of the spectrum. But their aspirations, their contributions and their lives matter. Deeply matter. Outside of Morehouse College, you may seldom hear their stories. At Morehouse, it’s all you do hear. That’s because Morehouse, more than any other college in the solar system, has the moral mandate to tell her students the story of their heroes and trailblazers, their mentors and exemplars, their fathers and grandfathers. This issue of Morehouse Magazine traces the journey of a man of Morehouse through story. In the beginning, there is NSO, where he separates from his parents or guardians at a life-defining fork in the road (see cover story on page 25). From there, he travels the worn and proven path of the Morehouse experience—starting at the Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel, where he sits at the feet of masters to learn lessons on life, and ending on Century Campus, where a satisfying chapter closes, but another chapter of untold aspiration, inspiration and imagination opens. We must own our stories, develop our own characters, and devise our own plots, twists and inciting incidents, because if we don’t, we become dominated and identified by stories others tell about us— stories where we are presidents, pariahs and not much else. And we are so much more. Black stories matter.
Garikai Campbell Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Lacrecia Cade Chief of Staff Cathy Tyler Executive Director of Strategic Communications Vickie G. Hampton Editor STAFF Administrative Assistant CONTRIBUTORS In the News Writers Photographers Graphic Design
Minnie Jackson Elise Durham Sulayman Clark Sydney Davenport Jane Jelks Jones Add Seymour Jr. Shandra Hill Smith Lee Williams Jr. David Collins Wilford Harewood Taun Henderson Philip McCollum Add Seymour Jr. Ron Witherspoon Glennon Design Group
Morehouse Magazine is published by Morehouse College,
Office of Strategic Communications, Office of the President. Opinions expressed in Morehouse Magazine are those of the authors, not necessarily of the College. LETTERS AND COMMENTS: Letters must be one typed page in length and signed. Please include complete contact information. SEND TO: Morehouse Magazine Editor Morehouse College, Office of Strategic Communications 830 Westview Dr., S.W., Atlanta, GA 30314 E-mail: morehousemageditor@morehouse.edu Fax: 404-215-2729 CHANGE OF ADDRESS AND CLASS NOTES: http://giving.morehouse.edu/NetCommunity
Sincerely,
Vickie Griffin Hampton Editor
Morehouse College is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and is a member of the Atlanta University Center consortium of four schools. Morehouse does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, age, handicap, or national or ethnic origin in the recruitment and admission of its students, in the administration of its educational policies and programs, or in its staff, as specified by federal laws and regulations.
FALL 2015
5 MOREHOUSE MAGAZINE
INSIDE THE HOUSE
Morehouse Produces 13 Percent of Male African American Ph.D. Students in Computer Science By VICKIE G. HAMPTON
C
urrently, there are only 93 male African American computer science Ph.D. students in the country. Of those, Morehouse produced 12. “This is counting every single black male from every school in the nation. Of all of those African American Ph.D. male students, 13 percent are coming from Morehouse, from this lab. That’s a historic number,” explained Kinnis Gosha, assistant professor of computer science and director of the Culturally Relevant Computing Lab at the College. “Morehouse literally is changing the computer science field in terms of diversity with those types of numbers,” he added. According to a Taulbee Survey, only 17 people who identified themselves as black or African American actually earned doctorates in computer science in 2014, with an additional two earning doctorates in computer engineering and eight in information. “[These numbers are] important because of this nation’s need to produce a STEM workforce,” he said. “That’s where an overwhelming number of jobs are going. We need people with this skill set or we will have this nation bringing in people from [other countries].” In fact, according to the National Math and Science Initiative, “STEM job creation over the next 10 years will outpace non-STEM jobs significantly, growing 17 percent, compared to 9.8 percent for nonSTEM positions.” The Culturally Relevant Computing Lab hopes to boost diversity in the computing field with projects that minority coders, developers and analysts can relate to in their own lives and within their own communities. In one highly touted project working with STARS (Students in Technology, Academia, Research and Service) Computing MOREHOUSE MAGAZINE
FALL 2015 2015 6 FALL
Corps, a not-for-profit organization that builds and prepares a more diverse computing workforce, students use culturally relevant avatars in a web application designed to combat bullying in K-12 schools—a hot-button issue for schools throughout the nation. Called BullyShutdown (www.bullyshutdown.com), the application allows students, as well as teachers and administrators, to experience common bullying scenarios through conversations with avatars. “Instead of having to undergo intervention after having been bullied or caught bullying, this training allows everyone to work through the interaction before bullying occurs,” explained Gosha. “If you train the students, you can reduce the amount of bullying that’s happening.” Further, Gosha explained, trainers can customize the scenarios and avatars to simulate experiences users are most likely to encounter in their own lives. “They create virtual humans who are culturally relevant. So if your avatar (and the user) is a black basketball person, the user can relate to that person because they have the same struggle and are from the same type of school. He can see how that situation played out to determine how he should react.” Gosha, who earned his Ph.D. in human-centered computer science from Clemson University in 2013, created the Culturally Relevant Computing Lab four years ago. He is a STARS Computing Corps alumnus, having participated in the Corps while earning a master’s in computing science at Auburn University. This August, four more of his students entered doctoral programs in computer science, including Robertson Bassy at Auburn University; Jassiem Ifill and John Angel at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; and Zaire Ali at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte. n
Morehouse Grads Pursuing PH.D.s in Computer Science Robertson Bassy ’15, Computer Science Doctoral Program at Auburn University Zaire Ali ’15, Computer Science Doctoral Program at University of North Carolina-Charlotte Jassiem Ifill ’15, Computer Science Doctoral Program at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute John Angel ’15, Computer Science Doctoral Program at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute John Porter III ’14, Human Centered Computing Doctoral Program at Clemson University Cazembe Kennedy ’14, Human Centered Computing Doctoral Program at Clemson University David Cherry ’14, Human Centered Computing Doctoral Program at Clemson University Hakeem Jones ’14, Human Centered Computing Doctoral Program at Clemson University Bernard Dickens III ’14, Computer Science Doctoral Program at University of Chicago David Brickler ’13, Human Centered Computing Doctoral Program at Clemson University Myles Nicholson ’13, Computer Science Doctoral Program at The Ohio State University Joseph Crawford ’13, Computer Science Doctoral Program at University of Notre Dame
INSIDE THE HOUSE
Morehouse Hosts Nation’s Top African American Officers During Historic Military Crown Forum By ADD SEYMOUR JR.
A NUMBER OF PEOPLE told Asante McCalla, a junior sociology major and a member of the Morehouse Navy ROTC unit, that there was no way to get four African American flag officers on campus at the same time. Flag officers, some of the U.S. military’s highest-ranking members, must be nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate. And only 5.5 percent of them are African American. “It’s like having four CEOs of the nation’s biggest companies here, only that these are people managing the lives and safety of millions of people in this and other countries,” he said. Despite the challenges, the impossible happened at 11 a.m. on March 26, 2015, during the College’s first-ever Military Crown Forum in the Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel. Representing the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps, four of the nation’s highest-ranking African American military leaders told students about their lives and careers. They were: • Rear Admiral Sinclair Harris, vice director for operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Washington, D.C. • Maj. Gen. Stayce D. Harris, commander of the 22nd Air Force, Air Force Reserve Command, Dobbins Air Force Base, Georgia • Maj. Gen. Leslie Smith, commander general of the United States Army Maneuver Support Center of Excellence, Fort Leonard Wood
Pretty in Pink
(L-R) Rear Admiral Harris, Maj. Gen. Harris, Maj. Gen. Smith and Lt. Gen. Stewart
•
Lt. Gen. Vincent R. Stewart, director of the Defense Intelligent Agency and commander of the Joint Functional Component Command Reconnaissance Military officials, high school and college ROTC units, the Atlanta University Center Veterans and the Military Affinity Group also attended the Crown Forum. The Military Crown Forum was a student-led event. McCalla—along with Mark Ellison, a junior international studies major and Army ROTC member; Matthew Dieudonne, a junior economics major and Navy ROTC member; and Georgia Tech Air Force ROTC member, Jordan Rodgers—formed the ROTC Joint Services Committee and worked with Crown Forum committee members. “We want to expose students to the fact that there is senior leadership in the military who looks like them,” McCalla said. “And we’ve never had a military Crown Forum before. We always hear that if you want to be successful, become a lawyer or a doctor or a businessman. Rarely do we hear about the influence of the military and how there are great Morehouse Men who have been part of the military.” n
The 16th Annual Morehouse College Breast Cancer Awareness Walk drew hundreds of participants who braved the rain on Oct. 3, 2015, and walked a route this year extended to three miles. Proceeds from the walk will benefit the American Cancer Society – Making Strides Against Breast Cancer and The Pink Frog Foundation, Inc. In 2013, Morehouse College made history by surpassing $200,000 in donations to the American Cancer Society from a male college. Over a 16-year period, the College has donated approximately $215,000 to the society. Pictured is one-year breast cancer survivor Judith Richmond, office manager for the Andrew Young Center for Global Leadership at Morehouse. FALL 2015
7 MOREHOUSE MAGAZINE
INSIDE THE HOUSE CAMPUS NEWS
NEWS BRIEFS
Morehouse named No. 1 HBCU by BestColleges.com MOREHOUSE has been named the nation’s top HBCU by BestColleges.com, an online resource for prospective college students. Using its established rankings methodology—which includes data points for acceptance, enrollment retention and graduation rates—BestColleges.com assessed the merits of all 104 HBCUs and created a list of the 30 best. n
Tim Sams with student
Tim Sams Looks to Revamp Morehouse Student Development Model By ADD SEYMOUR JR.
T
IM SAMS, the College’s vice president for Student Development, came to Morehouse looking to enhance the idea of a student development model that’s as unique as Morehouse. Sams’ model looks to develop an academically strong student who is strong in character, but with the traditional Morehouse ideals of spirituality, leadership and career focus. To develop those kinds of graduates, Sams is focused on creating an environment that targets three areas. “First, the school needs a solid financial foundation,” he said. “My area plays squarely into that, from an enrollment standpoint and a housing standpoint. So I want to make sure we are meeting our goals, our targets, with regards to those things. When we do that, everybody benefits. “Second, embrace. President Wilson has made it very clear that we are expected to achieve a better embrace. So the first couple of things along that line that I’m seeking to do is to realize a residential college model. Attached to that is to restructure the way our deans operate because they are the drivers of that embrace. “And finally, create an environment for my division of professionals that continuously enhances their ability to be consummate professionals. I am of the belief that the more you develop, the more you support the success of your staff, the better they are going to be for your students. So I’m keenly interested in how we do that. I want top-flight, high-powered staff, and I’m interested in creating an environment that creates those folks.” Sams, from upstate New York, has spent 23 years in student development and student services at Swarthmore College, New York University-Abu Dhabi and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He received a Ph.D. in African American Studies from Temple University. n MOREHOUSE MAGAZINE MAGAZINE
FALL2015 2015 8 FALL
View International Hall of Honor Portraits Online THE MORE THAN 150 oil portraits in the International Hall of Honor in the Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel are now available for viewing online at mlkchapel.culturalspot.org. The MLK Chapel has been working with the Google Cultural Institute and their new platform, Google Open Gallery, to place the portraits on the web. n
The Maroon Tiger Wins Student Journalism Awards THE MAROON TIGER was named one of Georgia’s top college student newspapers after winning first place in general excellence during the Georgia Press Institute Awards ceremony on Feb. 7, 2015. Presented by the Georgia College Press Association, the program annually honors the state’s top collegiate journalists and their publications. The Maroon Tiger also won a first-place award for best community service-features and a third-place award for layout and design. n
PEOPLE AT THE HOUSE
Two Longtime Morehouse Faculty Members Retire ANNE BAIRD, a professor of sociology, retired from Morehouse after 44 years. Baird’s research interests included incarceration rates in rural and metro areas, gentrification and crime, and the effects of high incarceration rates on the African American Anne Baird Charles Meadows ’66 community. CHARLES MEADOWS ’66 retired as director of the Center for Teacher Preparation and as a professor of modern foreign languages. He has taught at the College since the late 1960s. Meadows’ research interests included instructional design programs, instructional programs evaluation and analysis, design and analysis of programs in intensive foreign language instruction, and the development of instructional programs for male learners. n
College’s First Female Chief to Focus on Community VALERIE DALTON is blazing a new trail at Morehouse, becoming the first female to be sworn in as the College’s police chief. Dalton also has become the associate vice president for Public Safety. “I am confident that we have chosen the right person at the right time for the right assignment, and that’s our new chief,” said President John Silvanus Wilson Jr. ’79. Dalton, a Cincinnati, Ohio, native, said she understands the significance of being the first female chief, and she is focused on providing a safer campus for the Morehouse community, especially students. “It’s a great opportunity for me to be part of a team that is responsible for securing and providing a secure atmosphere for future leaders,” Dalton said. n
Delores Stephens Receives Teaching Excellence Award DELORES STEPHENS has been molding young minds for half a century. As a seventime chair of the English department, it’s been a labor of love. This year, that love was recognized by the Vulcan Materials Company, which awarded her the prestigious 2015-16 Teaching Excellence Award. “I was indeed very surprised by the recognition at Convocation, and even more by the conspiracy to locate my older daughter to attend. I also must admit that I really did not recognize the introduction, though colleagues around me were insisting that I was being described,” said Stephens. “I can now say that I have taught— or attempted to teach— legions of men of Morehouse. I am grateful for their Delores Stephens including me as an aid in their progress. “Indeed, several have begun their congratulations with groans in recollection of what they said was a ‘hard course.’ Of course, they now recognize that I have high expectations of all of my students,” she said. “I will try to maintain excellence in teaching, scholarship, and service.” In a letter to congratulate her on the award, Provost Garikai Campbell commended Stephens on her answer to his “trick question”: What percentage of your students do you think are capable of something great? “You were one of the few, as I recall, who said that it was all of your students,” he wrote. “My point was that there is a difference between performance and capacity. In my eyes, your ability to see all your students as being capable of greatness is a true measure of just how deeply in your bones your -VGH excellence must rest.” n
Valerie Dalton is sworn in as College’s first female police chief. FALL 2015 2015 FALL
MOREHOUSE MAGAZINE 9 MOREHOUSE
PEOPLE AT THE HOUSE
Morehouse College Junior Darrius Atkins Selected as Prestigious Truman Scholar MOREHOUSE SENIOR Darrius Atkins is one of 58 students honored with the Harry S. Truman Scholarship for 2015. He is the only student chosen from a historically black college or university. Atkins, a political science major with a concentration in American government, is also a Bill and Melinda Gates Millennium Scholar and has served as the sophomore and junior class president. After completing his undergraduate studies, Atkins intends to pursue a joint master’s degree in public policy and juris doctorate. He is interested in breaking the school-to-prison pipeline and reducing education and economic inequalities on Chicago’s South and West sides. Atkins has interned with the Illinois House of Representatives and the asset management department of Goldman Sachs. He is currently a student ambassador for the City of Atlanta’s Department of Justice, where he is working on a campaign to reduce and ultimately eliminate sexual violence. The Truman Scholarship is a highly competitive and prestigious federal $30,000 scholarship granted to U.S. college juniors for demonstrated leadership potential and a commitment to public service. Instead of erecting a statue, Congress created the scholarship in 1975 as the official federal memorial to the nation’s 33rd president. n
Darrius Atkins MOREHOUSE MAGAZINE
FALL 2015 2015 10 FALL
Left to right: Rodje Malcolm, Prefessor Winfield Murray and Emanuel Waddell
Moot Court Team Wins National Title IN ONLY ITS second year of existence, the Morehouse College Moot Court team is now the best in the country. The team defeated defending champion Patrick Henry College 3-2 to claim the 2014-2015 national championship at the American Collegiate Moot Court Association’s 2015 national tournament. The event was held at Florida International University in Miami, Fla., in January 2015. The Morehouse team of Rodje Malcolm and Emanuel Waddell, the only team from a historically black college or university in the competition, became the first HBCU squad to win the national title. They did it by defeating a team from Patrick Henry College, which had won the title seven years in a row. Malcolm and Waddell were the nation’s only team to go undefeated for the entire academic year. “Rodje and Emanuel are stellar students who worked extremely hard to win this competition,” said the team’s coach, Winfield Murray. “They represented Morehouse superbly and without fault. “Schools across the country have recognized that moot court better prepares students for law school and law careers than any other forensic program,” he confirmed. “Students have to understand judicial precedent, how to brief case law, how to argue appellate matters before the U.S. Supreme Court and how to address a tribunal en banc. These skills are normally taught in law school, so we are well ahead of the curve in preparing our lawyers of tomorrow.” n
PEOPLE AT THE HOUSE
Chapel Assistants Learn What it Means To Be Moral Cosmopolitans By JANE JELKS JONES
THANKS TO A 10-day interfaith excursion to Turkey this summer, four Martin Luther King Jr. Chapel Assistants, as well as a group of senior pastors, are on their way to becoming what Dr. Lawrence Edward Carter Sr., dean of King Chapel, calls “moral cosmopolitans.” The group’s interfaith experience is the foundation for a new Chapel program, the Martin Luther King Jr. College of Pastoral Leadership (CPL). CPL’s yearlong curriculum will explore the theory and practice of what it means to be a moral cosmopolitan. “Our focus through CPL is to help Christian clergy think outside their religious boxes and see the value in all faith traditions—in other words, to become moral cosmopolitan pastoral leaders,” said Carter. “Because of the Chapel’s long history of producing leaders for the church, we designed our program to serve not only senior pastors from around the country who currently lead congregations, but also our Chapel Assistants who aspire to do so.” Traveling to Turkey were Devon Crawford ’15, Aric Flemming Jr. ’16, Darian Jones ’17, JaParis Key ’17, Carter and members of the Chapel staff, with eight senior pastors who comprise the first class of CPL, which is funded by the Lilly Endowment, Inc., to develop church leaders for the 21st century. For several of the participants, the trip to Turkey provided their first exposure to international travel and to Islam. Activities included tours of religious and historic sites in Istanbul, Konya, Cappadocia, Izmir and Bursa. “The trip expanded my global
Chapel Assistants Devon Jerome Crawford ’15 (left) and JaParis X. Key ’17 in Turkey for the Interfaith Emergence Program, a yearlong program funded by the Lilly Endowment, Inc.
consciousness as a theologian and broadened my vision for interfaith dialogue,” said Darian Jones, an English major from Millsboro, Del. “The trip also negated several stereotypes concerning the Islamic faith. I have gained a new respect for Muslims.” That new respect was due in large part to the hospitality shown by the Turkish families who hosted the group for dinner in their homes, as well as the excitement of Muslims in every city who were eager to meet African Americans, take selfies with them and ask, “Do you know Barack Obama?” “The trip helped me, especially as a young Christian, to become more inclusive in my faith—how I express it and how I can better interact with members of other faith communities,” said JaParis Key, a history major from Oxford, Miss. “I now recognize that although there
are unique differences between Christianity and Islam, the core beliefs are very much the same.” The 2015 class of CPL will meet with seasoned pastoral, business and community leaders four times per academic year at Morehouse for teaching-and-learning dialogues and activities. In summer 2016, the Chapel Assistants will intern at the senior pastors’ churches. “One of the most important components of CPL is the mentoring relationships we are fostering among the Chapel’s national and international network of associates, who are influential leaders in their own right, the senior pastors participating in the program, and our students,” said Carter. “This cyclical model of mentoring reflects a key feature of Morehouse’s approach to leadership development.” n FALL 2015
11 MOREHOUSE MAGAZINE
DEVELOPMENT NEWS
$8-Million Campaign Underway to Restore King Chapel By SULAYMAN CLARK
M
orehouse College is mid-way in its $8-million campaign to restore the Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel. Since its construction in 1978, the Chapel has served as the College’s largest classroom, as well as a spiritual center and multi-purpose facility that serves the Morehouse campus and the greater metropolitan Atlanta community through educational, cultural and religious programming. “The restoration of King Chapel has emerged as a high institutional priority,” said President John Silvanus Wilson Jr. ’79. “And since it has taken such good care of all of those who have experienced it, I believe it is now time for all of us to take care of the Chapel by supporting this restoration.”
MOREHOUSE MAGAZINE
12 FALL 2015
The campaign is buttressed by a $5-million grant from the Robert W. Woodruff Foundation, leaving a balance of $3 million to be raised from alumni, philanthropic entities and all who value the ongoing legacy of King and his inestimable contributions to non-violent change and social justice. The Rev. Dr. Charles G. Adams, a Morehouse College trustee, is the national chairman of a group of Morehouseaffiliated clergymen that has launched a nationwide effort to garner additional support from faith communities, organizations and businesses operating in their respective spheres of influence. “This is our time to renew and refurbish the Chapel. It is a world treasure—an international, interracial and
interdenominational institution,” said Adams. “King described the World House as a place where a diverse group of people must learn how to live together,” he added. “King Chapel is our World House because it belongs to everyone. And everyone who values the ideals of global brotherhood and common good should see this opportunity to contribute to the restoration of this remarkable edifice as a true privilege.” King Chapel is the world’s most prominent religious memorial to King and is dedicated to globalizing Kingian ideals. “The world needs King Chapel, because the world still needs the ageless teachings and influence of Martin Luther King Jr.,” said Lawrence E. Carter, the first and only dean of the Chapel.
DEVELOPMENT NEWS
Left: Stevie Wonder at the King statue base; right: South Africa President and Nobel Peace Laureate Nelson Mandela receives 37 honorary degrees in a single hour in June 1990.
“The world still needs to know that we can either learn to live together as brothers, or perish together as fools. The world still needs to know that we are tied together in an inextricable network of mutuality—that what affects one, affects us all. And the world still needs to know that we should be judged by the content of our character,” said Carter. “These are Kingian ideals that are taught in King Chapel. As the College’s largest classroom, our students come here weekly for Crown Forum to hear from leaders, activists and educators on the relevancy of King’s wisdom for the 21st century. “We draw thousands of planetary citizens who address issues affecting our common humanity. And when this nation stops to pay tribute to a foot solider of justice—like alumnus Julian Bond—they call on this Chapel as the appropriate, national gathering place,” he said. In fall 2016, upon the completion of the restoration, the Chapel will reopen in a formal ceremony that will include the unveiling of a permanent Honor Roll of Donors to recognize major gifts. Meanwhile, restoration work is well underway, beginning with the replacement of the Chapel’s roof, slated for completion by fall 2015. Other restorative tasks include: • Replacing major building systems (HVAC, electrical, plumbing fire protection and code compliance improvements, including ADA) • Replacing auditorium seating • Installing state-of-the-art audio/visual
equipment and lighting Installing new acoustical shell and stage equipment • Improving ceiling grid, painting, flooring and signage “This restoration project is critically important if we are to advance Dr. King’s World House values through ongoing educational programs, academic colloquia and conferences and service-oriented activities that •
are vital to our distinctive mission,” said Carter. Carter and Kathleen Johnson, associate vice president in the Office of Institutional Advancement, are reaching out to alumni and others who wish to host fundraising events in the near future. Under the leadership of Lamell McMorris ’95, one of the initiative’s regional co-chairmen, three successful fundraising events were recently held in Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington, D.C. The total raised was nearly $200,000. Similar events are being scheduled in other cities, including Austin, Dallas and Houston, Texas, Chattanooga, Tenn., Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles and New York City. “It has been a privilege to work with Dean Carter, trustee and alumni clergy and others to raise these much-needed funds to restore the Chapel to its original aura,” said Johnson. “The restoration initiative presents a compelling opportunity to embrace our school’s history and invest in the ideas, vision and courage of emerging scholars and servant leaders who, in ways small and grand, and will advance Dr. King’s legacy.” n
King Chapel Restoration Initiative Committee The Rev. Dr. Charles G. Adams The Rev. Dr. Otis Moss III ’92 The Rev. Dr. Joseph Ratliff ’72 Mr. Lamell McMorris ’95 The Rev. Dr. Raphael Warnock ’91 The Rev. Dr. Amos Brown ’64 The Rev. Dr. D. Darrell Griffin ’87 The Rev. Dr. Calvin O. Butts III ’71
National Chairman National Co-Chair National Co-Chair Mid-Atlantic Regional Co-Chair Southern Regional Co-Chair Western Regional Co-Chair Mid-West Regional Co-Chair Northeastern Regional Co-Chair
Help Restore Our National Treasure For more information or to make an online contribution, please visit: www.morehouse.edu/chapelrestorationproject/ To contribute by check, make checks payable to Morehouse College/Chapel Restoration and mail to: Morehouse College Office of Institutional Advancement 830 Westview Drive, S.W. Atlanta, GA 30314 Gifts of all sizes are sincerely appreciated. All contributions received by June 30, 2016, will be publicly acknowledged online and in College publications. FALL 2015
13 MOREHOUSE MAGAZINE
DEVELOPMENT NEWS
Barkley Announces $1-Million Pledge to Journalism Program
Basketball legend Charles Barkley
B
asketball legend Charles Barkley announced in June 2015 that he will make a $1-million gift to the College’s Journalism and Sports Program. He also pledged similar support to his alma mater, Auburn University, and the Wounded Warrior project. Since its inception in 2007, the Journalism and Sports Program has sent 31 students into the media workforce, while an additional 15 have earned master’s degrees in journalism or related fields, including six from Columbia University. Currently, nearly 65% of professional football players and 80% of professional basketball players are black; yet only 6% of newspaper sports journalists are African American. In response to this phenomenon, the Journalism and Sports Program was conceived by veteran filmmaker
MOREHOUSE MAGAZINE
14 FALL 2015
Spike Lee ’79 and his friend, the late Ralph Wiley, one of the nation’s first African American sports columnists. “We aim to produce the media’s next generation of image makers, from columnists to digital specialists, covering a wide variety of news and marketing positions,” said Ron Thomas, the program’s director. “Charles Barkley has always been very generous to students in our Journalism and Sports Program on a personal level. I am thrilled that he has greatly extended his generosity by donating $1 million to address our growing needs.” President John Silvanus Wilson Jr. ’79 added: “We are profoundly grateful for this contribution. Beyond its immediate impact, we hope that it will catalyze additional strategic investments in this impressive program.” n
$6.8-million Technology Platform Upgrade Funded by Trustees, Corporate Partners THE COLLEGE’S information technology infrastructure is in the midst of a huge improvement program, primarily through the $6.8-million Technology Platform Upgrade project. Spearheaded by President John Silvanus Wilson Jr. ’79 and aided by gifts from members of the Morehouse College Board of Trustees, the project is an effort to raise money to create a state-of-the-art technology platform at Morehouse. Integral in making the upgrade happen have been Board Chairman Robert C. Davidson Jr. ’67, the Board’s development committee chair Dale E. Jones ’82 and development committee member John Wallace. Nearly $3.8 million had been raised by late January 2015 through an anonymous donor, board members, gifts from corporate partners and $700,000 in Microsoft software that came as a grant from the Thurgood Marshall College Fund. Those gifts are already being used to make needed improvements to Banner, implement new residence hall software and improve Wi-Fi access across campus. “There are two things we are going for: more consistently reliable technology wherever you touch technology and greater efficiency,” said Garikai Campbell, provost and senior vice president for Academic Affairs. Wilson charged Cliff Russell, the College’s chief information officer, with evaluating the College’s technology infrastructure’s strengths, weaknesses and needs. Russell has begun making improvements. “The major thing we are going to see are radical improvements in our management structure,” said Russell. “Students are going to see tangible user tools that they simply did not have before. They’ll have Banner Mobile so they can better manage their course schedules. They will have much easier access to technology through the network refinements that we’ll be able to put into place—and it will all be secure.” n
DEVELOPMENT NEWS
STUDENT PROFILE
Reaching Sideways Meet a student who didn’t wait until graduation to reach back. As a freshman, Ivan Gaskin reached sideways when he founded the Purpose-Driven Scholarship to help his classmates. By VICKIE G. HAMPTON
I
VAN GASKIN was seven years old when he asked his father for a pair of “nice” shoes. His dad, a manufacturing engineer for Boeing, replied: “Well, you’d better make some money.” Then he marched his boy to a neighbor’s house and coached him on how to get a job cutting grass. By the tender age of 20, Gaskin had amassed a résumé that rivaled a jack-of-alltradesman double—or even triple—his age. Landscaping, cutting hair, delivering bakery goods, working as a cameraman, laboring in a steel factory, selling shoes, dishing out food-truck fare. “Really, I did anything that was legal to make money,” he said. When he arrived at Morehouse in 2013, the Seattle, Wash., native had earned a scholarship that covered his full tuition, room and board—but not his student fees. For a guy weaned on resourcefulness, Gaskin didn’t miss a beat. Literally. The accomplished saxophonist went to the Georgia Dome and serenaded football fans until he raised enough money as a street entertainer to cover his fees. Soon after, one of his close friends couldn’t pay his room and board. When the classmate moved in with him, Gaskin got a good look at how stressed he was. “He was in debt, but was not able to
Ivan Gaskin, founder of Purpose-Driven Scholarship
do something about it,” said Gaskin. Gaskin headed to the Georgia Dome again—this time with the goal to raise $1,000. After 11 weeks, he made enough money to award two $500 scholarships to fellow students. Knowing that a Morehouse education helps young men find and achieve their purpose, Gaskin named his initiative the Purpose-Driven Scholarship. “I’m a firm believer in people finding their purpose. That’s an aspect of this scholarship that I want to make very clear,” he says. Since its inception in 2013, the grassroots initiative has been germinating in widening areas of support. Sprouting from one to seven Morehouse and Spelman students, the Purpose-Driven Scholarship held its first fund-raising event in April 2014 in the Shirley A. Massey Executive Conference Center and was able to award three $1,000 scholarships. The group also began a campaign using the slogan “I Decided.”
“There are two words that precede a major change in everybody’s life: ‘I Decided,’” explains Gaskin. “It’s a decision to take a step to getting to where you want to go.” T-shirts bearing the slogan have been worn in the U.S., South Africa, Ecuador, Liberia and the Dominican Republic. Gaskin has set another goal for the Purpose-Driven Scholarship: $48,000. That’s the current cost in tuition, room and board to attend Morehouse for one year. He has challenged alumni to match his initial donation of $1,000. As he says in a promo video that can be seen at http://givingmorehouse.edu/purpose-driven-video, “If a college student who stood on a corner can do it,” so can they. Meanwhile, Gaskin is living up to a pace set when he was only seven. The sophomore has interned at both Google and GE, and he’s an Oprah Scholar. He is driven—which propels him to ask others: “What is your purpose and how are you pursuing it?” n FALL 2015
15 MOREHOUSE MAGAZINE
DEVELOPMENT NEWS
Jared Mitchell
Kerrington Munson
Two Morehouse Students Win Jesse L. Jackson Sr. Fellows Scholarships Sponsored by Toyota
T
oyota has partnered with Rainbow PUSH Excel to provide $75,000 scholarships to 10 engineering and business college students through the Jesse L. Jackson Sr. Fellows Scholarships. Among the 10 are two Morehouse students Jared Mitchell, from Norristown, Pa., and Kerrington Munson, from Orlando, Fla. They received their awards at the Annual Rainbow PUSH Back-ToSchool Rally in Chicago. Mitchell, who is studying applied physics and engineering, recently conducted independent research at Princeton University. Munson, a business finance major, plans to pursue a career in the field of wealth and asset management. He recently received a Youth Humanitarian honor from the mayor of Orlando and is a Presidential Ambassador at Morehouse. “The scholarship recipients were selected from hundreds of applicants,” said Simon Nagata, chief administrative officer with Toyota North America. MOREHOUSE MAGAZINE
16 FALL 2015
With STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) professional jobs going unfilled, Toyota is preparing to fill the pipeline with qualified candidates. “Toyota is proud to recognize and invest in the outstanding academic achievements of these 10 scholars. The commitment to community service and personal excellence of these future leaders is truly inspiring, and we are excited to be a part of their journey.” The scholarships were awarded to STEM or business majors. Students also had to demonstrate participation in community service, be in financial need, and obtain sophomore status by Aug. 1, 2015. The $75,000 scholarship is awarded in increments of $25,000 renewable annually for a maximum three-year period. To receive the award each year, scholars must maintain a minimum
cumulative GPA of 3.0 throughout the school year. With STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) professional jobs going unfilled, Toyota is preparing to fill the pipeline with qualified candidates. In addition to the scholarships, Toyota is offering awardees the opportunity to work at one of its facilities across North America to gain real-world experience and to be paired with mentors from Toyota. “We are extremely proud of these students and are passionate about lifting any burden or obstacle that may prevent these distinguished students from reaching their highest potential,” said the Rev. Jesse L. Jackson Sr., founder and president of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition. “Students who prove themselves capable and eager deserve every opportunity within reach to become all they set out to be in life. We thank Toyota for their generous support and for sharing in our vision to improve the academic lives of these students.” n
DEVELOPMENT NEWS
ALUMNUS PROFILE
Giving ’Til It Hurts Joe Press III ’84 wants more Morehouse Men to rise to the challenge of giving at significant levels. By ADD SEYMOUR JR.
J
oe Press III ’84 not only knows that Morehouse needs him, but that the world needs Morehouse. That is why the successful senior division sales manager for surgical suture company Ethicon believes that giving back to Morehouse is important. “Morehouse is one of the shining lights responsible for—and doing its part—to move people, especially African American males, forward,” Press said. “And as I matured, Morehouse has meant more and more to me, primarily because its main purpose is to train and educate young African American males. There is no other institution where that is the sole purpose. [Educating young black males] became my passion and the best way to express that passion has been through giving back to the College.” Morehouse’s two-year alumni giving rate for 2010-12 and 2012-13 was 29.3 percent, which, according to U.S. News and World Report, ranked third among historically black colleges and universities. That’s far better than the average for the same period for all HBCUs, which was just below 10 percent. He sees an opportunity for Morehouse alumni to do much more. So the former Maroon Tigers tennis player who was Most Valuable Player his junior and senior seasons, said that, even though he has given more than $150,000 to the College over the years, it was time to lead by example. In December 2013, after speaking to an Atlanta alumni group, he called his classmate, Alumni Relations Director Henry Goodgame ’84, to say he was giving an additional $100,000. “You want to figure out a way to inspire other brothers to give,” he said. “I’d like to have an impact on guys I came out of school with, who
Joe Press III ’84
have been quite successful, and when chatting with them, they can say, ‘Wow, Joe. To hear that you are doing that really inspired me to give a bigger check than what I normally would.’ “Every brother should look to give where it is, at a minimum, a sacrifice,” Press said. “So if it’s not ‘hurting’ you in some way, that should be a sign that you aren’t giving enough. If it’s $100, then you should be complimented on that. But give until it hurts. If we are going to influence others of significant means, the first thing they are going to ask is, ‘What are Morehouse alumni doing? What are they giving?’ So if you don’t care about your own, then why should they care about you?” That little bit of pain, he said, means that Morehouse can continue to do what other institutions can’t do as well as Morehouse: develop industry leaders who are not only stellar in their fields, but who also aspire to be social leaders. To ensure that Morehouse continues producing Morehouse Men who do great things in their fields and even greater things for the world, Press wants to set the example of giving more of oneself for the greater good. “The generation before us laid down their lives so folks like me could be successful and have opportunities,” Press said. “We have to be willing to step up and do our part.” n
City’s $30-Million HUD Grant to Affect Area Around Morehouse and the AUC ATLANTA MAYOR Kasim Reed and Secretary Julián Castro recently announced that the City of Atlanta will receive $30 million through the 2014-2015 U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Choice Neighborhoods Implementation Grant. They made the announcement at a press event at The Oasis at Scholar’s Landing, a senior residence in the Atlanta University Center neighborhood. With the $30-million award, the City of Atlanta and the Atlanta Housing Authority will work with private and public sector partners to revitalize portions of west Atlanta, including Vine City, Ashview Heights and the Atlanta University Center neighborhood. “Our historic Westside neighborhoods produced leaders and institutions that helped change the course of America’s history,” said Mayor Reed. “Winning the Choice Neighborhoods grant provides us with the resources needed to bring about unprecedented change. We leaned on each other and worked together to secure this grant, and we will lean on each other as we transform and renew these communities.” Revitalization efforts will address local challenges identified during the Choice grant planning process. The City of Atlanta received a $250,000 grant to support this planning process in 2010. n
FALL 2015
17 MOREHOUSE MAGAZINE
DEVELOPMENT NEWS
State Farm Sponsors New Sales Lab The Morehouse community got a closer look at the new State Farm Insurance Sales Lab during an unveiling ceremony in the Walter E. Massey Leadership Building on Sept. 22, 2015. By SHANDRA HILL SMITH
F
EATURING FOUR ROOMS—two third-floor classrooms and interview and meeting rooms on the second floor—the lab allows students to take part in mock sales presentations and employment interviews. Students are able to record and store their presentations, calls and interviews, and to selfcritique and receive feedback from professors and sales-industry professionals. The lab is run by the marketing program of the Department of Business Administration and is available to students pursuing a sales minor, as well as those in other disciplines outside of marketing. State Farm funded the lab with $87,938. Twenty sales agents from metropolitan Atlanta and other parts of the Southeast collectively donated $30,000, which was matched by State Farm Companies Foundation. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company provided the remaining $27,938. “We couldn’t be more proud of this partnership,” said Launey Jason of State Farm’s Agency Field Leadership. “Our involvement is just bringing some realworld [experience] to the classroom to help enhance [students’] sales skills in whatever profession they go into. Let’s face it—we’re all selling ourselves every day, whether we’re selling a product or not.” The lab has been running since the College began offering the sales minor in August 2014. During critiques, students are able to go directly to the area where they’re receiving feedback thanks to INTERACT University MOREHOUSE MAGAZINE
18 FALL 2015
State Farm agent Clyde Hill Jr. unveils the plaque bearing the State Farm name outside one of two classrooms for the State Farm Insurance Sales Lab.
Sales Lab technology through Alpharettabased cenergyIT. “If 10 minutes into the video, I pause it and say ‘you should not have said as many ums and ahs at this point,’ when the student sees that comment it takes them exactly to where it was,” explained Cassandra Wells, marketing program director and associate professor. “They don’t have to pause to try to find it.” State Farm agents are coaching and mentoring students in the sales minor program. This summer, 15 students completed internships throughout metro Atlanta State Farm offices. Morehouse Marketing Association president Keyon Branch is a graduating senior
pursuing a minor in sales. “It’s meant a lot for me to see a company like State Farm come in and invest, and really put their faith in the students of Morehouse,” he said. Attending the ceremony were cenergyIT CEO Haywood Pulliam, nearly half of the State Farm agents who donated to the lab, and Morehouse general counsel and chief of staff Lacrecia Cade, who spoke on behalf of the President’s Office. “Entrepreneurship is so engrained in the values that we cherish here at Morehouse,” said Cade. “We look very forward to a long partnership with State Farm and the agents here.” n
EXECUTIVE EXCHANGE
S
Mike Polk, president and CEO, Newell Rubbermaid, October 2014
Irving A. Williamson, chairman, U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC), October 2014
Ted Colbert ‘96 (center), CIO, The Boeing Company, January 2015
Erika H. James, dean, Goizueta Business School at Emory University, February 2015
everal times each year, the Morehouse College Office of Institutional Advancement invites senior-level executives from the world of business to participate in the Leadership Lecture Series. These executives share their experiences and expertise with a select group of business students and other members of the campus community. The visiting professionals give a short presentation and then have the opportunity for informal interaction with students.
Cory L. Nettles, founder and managing director, Generation Growth, April 2015
Charles A. Harvey, vice president, Johnson Controls, November 2014
Ray McDaniel Jr., president and CEO, Moody’s Corporation, September 2014 FALL 2015
19 MOREHOUSE MAGAZINE
ON THE FIELD AND COURT
Returning Talented Starting Five Makes Maroon Tigers SIAC Contenders in 2015-16 By ADD SEYMOUR JR.
L
ast year, Coach Grady Brewer ’80 was excited as his Morehouse basketball team headed into the 2014-15 season with a promising young squad. This year, he’s nearly giddy about a team that returns a nucleus that jelled down the stretch. “I think we could make a run [at the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championship] this year,” Brewer said days before his team tipped off their first practice of the season on Oct. 15. Brewer is fired up because he returns the Maroon Tigers starting five that made it into the SIAC Tournament semi-finals last year. It’s a team that focused on limiting opportunities for other teams and controlling the clock as it went 16-12 and finished second in the SIAC Eastern Division. A squad now calling itself “The Legion of Maroon” had the SIAC’s top defensive team, limiting opponents to 39.5 percent shooting from the field, which was seventh best in the nation. The Maroon Tigers were also one of the nation’s best in allowing teams just 65.3 points a game. “We are trying to establish a defensive culture,” Brewer said. “Defense is where we hang out hats.” On offense, sophomore Tyrus Walker will handle the ball again after a freshman year in which he was named Newcomer of the Year and made the All-SIAC team. Averaging nearly 14 points per game, Walker led the Maroon Tigers in scoring, assists, 3-pointers attempted and made, field goals attempted and made, steals and free-throw percentage—making him the go-to player down the stretch. He will be joined by Robert Askew, who led Morehouse in field-goal percentage; Tyrone Brown, the team’s leading rebounder; top shot-blocker Michael Hall; Michael Scott, who hit nearly 40 percent of his 3-point MOREHOUSE MAGAZINE
FALL 2015 2015 20 FALL
attempts; and Javarius Gay, who played more minutes than any Maroon Tiger last season. Stalwarts Jonathan Walker and Brandon Glover return, along with a more experienced bench. Brewer is also looking for freshmen Omar Alston, Jerrell Dickson and Ayinde Russell to contribute this year. Brewer’s main worry is that his team is still relatively young, which showed in stretches last year as the Maroon Tigers let leads slip and lost games they should have won. “They had to go through the growing pains from last year,” he said. “We’ve got to commit to taking care of the basketball and commit to shooting at least 80 percent from the free-throw line. We’re also getting the ball inside, but we’re missing
layups we should make. “Not turning over the ball, making free throws and making layups. If we correct those things, we’ll be a much better team and win some of those close games.” They won’t have a lot of time to prepare. The Maroon Tigers open up the season Nov. 13-14 in Tuskegee, Ala., where they will take part in the CIAA/SIAC Challenge. Morehouse takes on Fayetteville State and Johnson C. Smith. The first home opener is Nov. 20, 2015, when they take on Fisk in Forbes Arena, followed by another home game against West Georgia on Nov. 24. For the entire Morehouse basketball schedule, go to http://athletics.morehouse. edu/ n
F O O T B A L L
Present and Future Are Bright for Maroon Tiger Football, Freeman Says By ADD SEYMOUR JR.
SUB-PAR RECORDS THE LAST FEW YEARS, blowout losses to rival Tuskegee and even an NCAA investigation have led to grumbling by some alumni and Morehouse football supporters. No need for concern, said head football coach Rich Freeman. Freeman is confident, even as the Maroon Tigers have had only one winning season (6-4 last year) in the last three after consecutive 8-2 seasons and the program’s first-ever NCAA Division II playoff berth in 2010. And just before the season started this year, news broke that the Morehouse athletic program was placed on three years’ probation as 29 football, basketball, baseball, golf and cross country athletes from 2010-14 were allowed to participate without proper academic clearance or received impermissible travel expenses. Freeman clarifies that the issue was an institutional one, and not just a football problem, caused by misinterpretations of NCAA rules in compliance and registration for athletes across campus. But all those things together have given some the impression of problems in the football program. “We felt like we had two bad seasons in 2012 and 2013,” he said. “In 2012, we knew we had a lot of injuries to key players. And in 2013, we knew we were going through the NCAA stuff. “So we feel like we avenged the 2013 record last season,” he said. “And it wasn’t like we were trying to prove something. We just were trying to get the best possible results out of our players. We were trying to win the conference because we definitely have some players good enough to do so.” Last year’s 6-4 mark with a talented, but young squad was marred by quarterback Monquavious Johnson’s injuries, which caused him to miss two games.
C RO S S
Quarterback Monquavious Johnson runs the ball.
This season, Johnson is back healthy as the Maroon Tigers sported one of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference’s offenses, as well as a stingy defense. “We’re very talented. Very deep,” Freeman said. “We are three-deep on the offensive and defensive lines for the first time since I’ve been head coach here. We’re five or six deep at quarterback. MJ is obviously our starter, but Kivon Taylor is a sensational transfer from the University of Connecticut who has seen reps by force this year. He hasn’t gotten into the game because MJ hasn’t played bad. But we kind of force him into the games at times because he’s that much of a talent.” A strong September showing in which the Maroon Tigers were only five points from being 5-0 was an indicator of how talented this group is, Freeman said. Expect more in the future, he said. “We did get some financial upgrades and we do have a lot of new players,” Freeman said. “I would tell everyone that we are in relatively good shape, but we’re a work in progress. I think we have a really good chance [at winning the SIAC championship] this year, but this team we’ve assembled is a three- to four-year football team. We have a lot of sophomores and freshmen. I’m excited.” n
C O U N T R Y
Cross Country Team Looks to Become Champs, Men This Season By LEE WILLIAMS JR.
THE MAROON TIGERS CROSS COUNTRY has been arguably the most dominant sports team in recent school history. The Tigers are coming off their seventh straight SIAC championship, making it their 20th conference title in 21 years. A two-decades-old winning streak would leave most programs content with their accomplishments. However, reigning SIAC coach of the year Willie H. Hill believes his team can reach even greater heights this upcoming season. “Last year, we reached our number one goal, which was a conference title,” Hill said. “We came up short of another goal, which was placing Top 5 in the region. We came in ninth, so we want to try to surpass that.” The team returns a bevy of upperclassmen led by six seniors who all performed well last year. Their experience will prove to be a critical element if the team hopes to continue competing at a high level. “Our strength as a team is always senior leadership,” Hill said. “We want them to show the underclassmen that there is a reason why you do everything, a
reason why you hold leadership positions.” Upperclassmen conduct team meetings, which help build morale and teach underclassmen the responsibilities required to lead. “As a leader, I’m always the guy that the team calls on when my teammates need to get their mileage in,” senior Christian Dixon said. “They can always call my phone and count on me to help get guys ready.” The Maroon Tigers have proved to be dominant on the field, but the secret to their success lies off it. The runners are constantly taught that success starts with being a man and handling your business first, everything else is secondary. “When you get out there in the real world, the focus is not on one thing,” Hill said. “When you eat in the cafeteria, be a man and take the tray back. When you meet new people, make sure you always speak. You can’t just preach athletics or academics, it’s about being men the way Morehouse tries to teach you.” While the ultimate goal for the season is winning a national championship, Coach Hill maintains that the most important thing to achieve this season will be team and individual growth throughout the year. “What I’m looking for is a greater concept of team,” Hill said. “I want guys to understand team as it relates to Morehouse and brotherhood. I want guys to shoot for that 4.0, participate and to go to class every day.” n FALL 2015
21 MOREHOUSE MAGAZINE
IN THE NEWS
Jonathan Gaffney talks to members of his branding workshop. -The Wall Street Journal
(Pictured above from left to right) Sulayman Clark, chief development officer; Orit Shermer, Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs and program coordinator; President Wilson; and Julius E. Coles, director of the Andrew Young Center for Global Leadership, at the memorial site where Yitzak Rabin was assassinated in Tel Aviv. -Atlanta Jewish TImes Dr. James Abbington ’83, associate professor of church music and worship, Candler School of Theology, Emory University -The Roanoke Times
SEPTEMBER 23, 2015
The Roanoke Times James Abbington Honored by Hymn Society The Hymn Society in the United States and Canada honored James Abbington ’83 at its annual conference held in New Orleans, La., in July. He was named a fellow of the Hymn Society, which is the highest honor given by the organization and was conferred because of Abbington’s work as a scholar, editor and practitioner of church music with a particular emphasis on African American congregational songs.
AUGUST 28, 2015
The Wall Street Journal DJ Branding Gets Personal for These Job Seekers A personal branding workshop for wouldbe construction workers, store clerks and child-care providers? Only in New York. On a steamy August morning, Jonathan Gaffney ’02 distributes a handout to his small class in a fan-cooled church basement in the Rockaways, the isolated, beach-front peninsula known for its bungalows, hipster outposts and vast public housing projects. The personal branding workshop, Gaffney’s own invention, is modeled on a class he took at Morehouse.
MOREHOUSE MAGAZINE
22 FALL 2015
Members of the freshman class look on during NSO. -New York TImes
Michael Lomax ’68, courtesy: Diverse Issues
AUGUST 27, 2015
AUGUST 17, 2015
UNCF President and CEO Michael Lomax ’68 continues to propel the philanthropic organization to new heights. Lomax’s time as a student at Morehouse, during the tumultuous days of legalized segregation, undoubtedly set the trajectory for what would become his life-long passion: advocating for HBCUs—first as a college professor, then as a university president and now as the head of UNCF (United Negro College Fund).
Morehouse was named one of the top five institutions in the country on Forbes’ Most Entrepreneurial Colleges list. A special nod was given to the Innovation Expo for undergrads, hosted by the College to serve minority innovators.
Diverse Issues in Higher Education The Advocate Speaks
AUGUST 22, 2015
The New York Times Elements of ‘Morehouse Gospel’ Served by Parents to Sons In the annals of African American history, and specifically of historically black colleges and universities, there is indeed a proper noun known as the Morehouse Man. These men have included Dr. Howard Thurman, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., H. Julian Bond, Spike Lee, James Madison Nabrit Jr. and innumerable politicians, scholars, scientists, ministers and executives. With the fall of legal segregation and the emerging ethos of diversity, however, Morehouse has faced the challenge of supplying meaning and purpose to young black men who can choose any college in the country. The Parents’ Parting Ceremony, created in 1996, has answered the need with a mix of African music and dance, black Christian preaching and specific homage to Thurman’s liberation theology.
Forbes Most Entrepreneurial Colleges
AUGUST 7, 2015
Atlanta Jewish Times Israel Impresses Morehouse President President Wilson recently returned from an eye-opening, weeklong educational tour of Israel, where he met with leaders in higher education, government and business. While he was the Israeli consul general to the Southeast, Ambassador Opher Aviran extended a personal invitation to Wilson, whom President Barack Obama appointed to head the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities in 2009.
JULY 9, 2015
Atlanta Business Chronicle Dave Moody Honored by Boy Scouts Morehouse Trustee C.D. Moody ’78 was honored by the Atlanta Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America at its Eagle Scout Recognition Ceremony.
IN THE NEWS
Tiffany Bussey, director of the Morehouse College Entrepreneurship Center, where two teams got help for businesses that may appear on TV’s “Shark Tank.” -Atlanta Business Chronicle
Stephen B. Thornton for the Chronicle: Karl Walker (right) with a student, Terrell Irby
JULY 2015
The Network Journal 40 Under Forty The “TNJ40Under-Forty” honoree typically is a business owner or a management executive with significant decision-making authority in the corporate, nonprofit (including academia and medicine) or government sector. Included on the list were four Morehouse Men: Jimmy Davis ’02, president of Blacksmith Consulting Co. in Atlanta; R. L’Heureux Lewis-McCoy ’00, associate professor at The City College of New York-CUNY; Andrew McCaskill ’99, senior vice president for Global Communications for The Nielsen Co.; and Chadwick W. Roberson, senior associate, Corporate Derivatives Marketing Foreign Exchange Sales at JP Morgan Chase.
MAY 21, 2015
Atlanta Business Chronicle Morehouse College’s Entrepreneurship Center Building and Ecosystem for Student Entrepreneurs The Morehouse College Entrepreneurship Center was created 10 years ago with the idea of building an ecosystem for student awareness of the entrepreneur mindset, said center director Tiffany Bussey. “Entrepreneurship represents hope and job creation. It decreases income gaps, promotes job creation and for us, because we serve black men, is a critical element for social consciousness,” she said.
Police Chief Valerie Dalton responds to a question on WABE Radio, 90.1 FM, studio.
FEBRUARY 17, 2015
WABE Radio Morehouse College’s First Female Police Chief Valerie Dalton Talks Campus Safety Valerie Dalton, the first female police chief of Morehouse College and associate vice president for Public Safety, joined Rose Scott and Denis O’Hayer on “A Closer Look” to talk about safety issues on the campus, how to educate students about sexual assault and campus police training.
FEBRUARY 11, 2015
C-Span C-Span Bus Visits Morehouse During HBCU Tour President Wilson talked about enrollment strategy and initiatives at Morehouse and his work in the Obama administration as the executive director of the White House Initiative on HBCUs. The program was featured on “Washington Journal.”
JANUARY 20, 2015
(Pictured left to right) Rodje Malcolm, Winfield Murray and Emanuel Waddell -Black Enterprise
OCTOBER 31, 2014
The Chronicle of Higher Education STEM Stories This special report looked beyond statistics for stories that capture the complexity of black men’s experiences in academe. One of those featured was Karl A. Walker ’02, who said: “Going to an HBCU was affirming. Seeing all these black professors and doctors was motivating. I felt like I was somewhere where I could progress without feeling like the deck was stacked against me.”
OCTOBER 27, 2014
The Chronicle of Higher Education Counseling Black Men: The Thousand Piece Puzzle This special report featured the struggles, successes and voices of black male students and faculty. Dr. G. Talib Wright, director of the counseling center at Morehouse, writes a piece on black men and mental health.
Black Enterprise Morehouse College Moot Court Team Makes History at National Competition
The Morehouse College Moot Court team beat out hundreds of contenders, including seven-time champion Patrick Henry College, to become the first historically black institution to earn a national title in the law skills competition.
Compiled by Elise Durham
FALL 2015
23 MOREHOUSE MAGAZINE
ON THE SHELF
New Book Pays Tribute to Dean of Chapel By Echol Nix Jr.
Published by the Mercer University Press (2015)
W
hen Lawrence Edward Carter Sr. saw In The Beginning: The Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel of Morehouse College (Mercer University Press, 2015), something that rarely happens with the longtime dean of the Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel actually took place. He was speechless. The book, edited by Echol Nix Jr., is a group of essays from Nix and a number of religious scholars, educators and leaders. Hugh Gloster Jr., son of former Morehouse president Hugh Gloster, talks about the hiring of Carter and his early impact on the new edifice. Harold Truelear talks about some of Carter’s challenges
with building a strong Chapel program. And Fisk University Chapel dean Jason Curry talks about how being mentored has helped him to mentor. “No one has had more influence on me than Dean Lawrence Edward Carter,” Curry writes in the book. “… Like Paul, I thank God for affording me the opportunity to be influenced by the life and ministry of Dean Carter.” Carter sees the book as the rarest of opportunities to preview his obituary. “My mouth flew open when I saw it,” Carter said. “I thought it was the highest compliment in the academy. I also thought I had died, the funeral was over, I’d been buried and everybody had left the cemetery and an arch angel came over and whispered
to me, ‘We’re going to give you a chance to read what they said about you.’ That’s the feeling I get when I read this.” Carter believes the writings of everyone—from his former students to one of his own former professors—get across the idea that he is a philosophical personalist. “If you want to understand the unifying philosophy of my theology, it’s personalism,” Carter said. “That was the philosophical position of Martin Luther King Jr. ’48. A personalist is one who believes that the whole universe is personal. It’s a universe of selves. God is the ultimate person and humans are the infinite person…,” he continued. “This book helps you understand that about me, about
The Divided Mind of the Black Church: Theology, Piety and Public Witness By Raphael G. Warnock ’91 Senior Pastor, Ebenezer Baptist Church, Atlanta, Ga. Published by the New York University Press (2014) The Rev. Dr. Raphael G. Warnock ‘91, senior pastor of Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church, believes there is a tug of war going on in the black church between social transformation and individual piety that needs to be addressed. It’s a topic that he delved into in his book, The Divided Mind of the Black Church: Theology, Piety and Public Witness (Religion, Race and Ethnicity) (New York University Press, 2014). “It is a book that both looks back at our history—examines that theologically—and also charts the way forward for a discussion, at least, for where we ought to be going,” said Warnock. Warnock’s book comes at a time when the reality television show, “Preachers of L.A.,” is popular and some are defending an Atlanta pastor who wants his to church to pay for a $66-million private jet. Warnock argues that while a number of black churches are doing great work in the community, there are others that don’t know the difference between charity and justice—the former meaning dispensing goods to those in need and the latter asking why people are hungry and broken in the first place. “I argue in the book that at the center of black Christian faith is this tension between individual piety and the passion surrounding that, and the quest for social transformation,” he said. “Both of those things are formative in the development of the black Christian faith. “My concern of late is owing to that rugged individualism that is part of American culture,” he said. “We’ve lost sight of the kind of piety that causes us to struggle for justice in the world. So it’s a call to the black church to return to the best of liberationist heritage. And, at the same time, it’s a recognition that our quest for justice has, at least as it has come out of the best of our tradition, always been rooted in a profound sense of spirituality.” MOREHOUSE MAGAZINE
24 FALL 2015
King and about the framework for my ministry of how we should relate to all persons. We should relate to them like we are relating to divinity, the sacredness of all human personality respectfully. If we could do that, we would easily be able to have the beloved world community. The people who put this book together had their own angle in understanding me. And people clearly have been watching me for years and listening when I thought nobody was.” n -AS
God Is the Goal: The Chase for Intimacy With God By Taft Quincy Heatley ’98 Published by iUniverse, Ellenwood, GA (PRWEB, May 23, 2014)
In his new book, God Is the Goal: The Chase for Intimacy With God, author Taft Quincy Heatley ’98 explores what it means to seek closeness with God. Working on Wall Street as an investment banker was profitable for Heatley in more ways than one. Aside from his six-figure salary, he was exposed to new ideas and intelligent, passionate people. Although he enjoyed the lifestyle his job afforded him, he couldn’t shake a feeling of emptiness and slowly began to realize he was running from God’s true calling. Once he began this pursuit, Heatley found that intimacy with God was his true goal, and recognized that God was calling him to serve as a preacher of the Gospel. Heatley writes: “I was on the wrong chase. What I was really after was for someone to notice me and recognize me for what I had. This was a pursuit of emptiness. Once I embraced the love of God, my life changed, even though the struggle for acceptance remained.” Heatley is now a pastor and ordained minister. He graduated from Morehouse College and Princeton Theological Seminary.
JOURNEY
THE
The Morehouse experience starts at a life-defining fork in the road—one
where parents take a familiar path back home and where sons chart a new course to their growth and maturity as scholars, leaders, servants and men. The journey for men of Morehouse starts with New Student Orientation at the Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel, where they take their first step on the road to self-actualization, and ends with Commencement on the Century Campus, where they emerge uniquely prepared to face the challenges of a complex world while upholding the ideals of a beloved world community.
FALL 2015
25 MOREHOUSE MAGAZINE
FIRST STEP NEW STUDENT ORIENTATION
AT THE RIGHT ‘HOUSE LEAVING SONS AT THE ‘INSTITUTION MADE ESPECIALLY FOR HIM’ By VICKIE G. HAMPTON
I
n the acclaimed movie, “Ray,” which chronicles the life of music genius Ray Charles, there is a scene where seven-year-old Ray is told by his mother that she can no longer help him. She is sending him away for his own good. Aretha Robinson—a portrait of stoicism, courage and heartbreak—doesn’t want Ray to live an impoverished life made even harsher by his blindness. She tells her weeping child that he must go to an institution made especially for him. In one crystalizing statement, she acknowledges the challenges Ray will face—then summarily defies them: “You may be blind, but you’re not stupid.” “Your mother and father have brought you here so that ‘you won’t live your life hand-to-mouth.’ So that ‘you won’t live your life as a cripple.’ So that ‘you won’t live your life as a charity case,’” said President John Silvanus Wilson Jr. ’79, who showed the clip from “Ray” during New Student Orientation to the 679 members of the incoming freshman class and their parents. Wilson’s echo of Robinson’s advise to her son bounced off the walls of the Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel and pulled at the heartstring of many a parent. They were in for an emotionally turbulent departure—one so moving, mystical and uniquely Morehouse that The New York Times
published a feature on the Parents’ Parting Ceremony in its On Religion section on August 12, 2015. RETURNING HOME ALONE
Just two days earlier, Evelyn Bryant had driven 10 hours from Washington, D.C., to deliver her only son to Morehouse. In less than two short hours, she would return home without him. She said she would be fine driving the long trip back through the night, alone. But getting through the Parents’ Parting Ceremony? Well … not so much. “This is going to be hard for me,” she said, fighting to stabilize the well of tears threatening to spill over. “And I know that if he sees me cry, he will cry, too.” To say that Bryant and her son were close would be an understatement. “He was my love at first sight,” she said of his birth. Bryant married young, had her son young, and divorced young. For a while, she raised her son, Javian Gudger, and his sister as a single mother. When she remarried five years ago, the wedding vows were a family affair as the couple, Bryant’s two children and her new husband’s daughter stood at the altar. At the reception, the blended family of five took to the floor together for the first dance. So it was from this tightly woven family fabric that Bryant had to release Jevian. CONTINUED ON PAGE 28
MOREHOUSE MAGAZINE
26 FALL 2015
Evelyn Bryant with her son, Javian Gudger.
FALL 2015
27 MOREHOUSE MAGAZINE
Freshman Dean Alvin Darden ’72 leads the Class of 2019 in singing the College’s alma mater.
She began practicing for his departure as Jevian finished high school, sending him on a trip to Korea and, this past summer, to participate in the College’s Prospective Students Program. Still, when it came down to it, Bryant couldn’t match Aretha Robinson’s stoicism. “I cried my eyes out,” she said, as she witnessed the Welcome to the House program on Tuesday, August 11, in the Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel. “If I wasn’t sold on Morehouse before, I was after that program,” she added. “I felt that Morehouse is where my son is supposed to be. I truly believed those were (the students’) words. They reminded me of all the values I instilled in my son … of everything I had put into my son. “I know [Morehouse is] taking over from where my husband and I left off. And I’m comfortable with that,” said Bryant. ‘PROUD AND RELIEVED’ Many Morehouse parents like Bryant don’t just bring their sons to Morehouse, they entrust them to the College, and it’s a powerful distinction. They seek not just a learning institution, but their son’s next home—where he will cross the threshold into manhood. On the King Chapel Plaza as dusk fell in graduating shades of blue on August 12, members of the freshmen class queued up. Hundreds of them sang their new alma mater—a bit pitchy, a bit off-tempo—then marched through the Brown Street gate as their parents watched on, forbidden to follow. In the final vivid symbolization of separation, the street’s wrought-iron gate swung shut and was locked behind them. Atlantan Philip Gibson ’97 was relieved that his son, Justin Gibson, was within those gates. “I am proud and relieved,” said Gibson, MOREHOUSE MAGAZINE
28 FALL 2015
whose father, Benjamin Gibson, is a 1958 graduate of the College. “I’m proud and grateful that Justin has earned this. “I’m relieved because I know what comes next. He will find himself here and become whatever he aspires to be.” Justin’s mother, Scarlett Walker, said that after experiencing NSO, she feels good about entrusting her son to Morehouse. “I think Justin is going to be fine here,” she said. “I feel more comfortable leaving him at this institution.” The next day, a Facebook post from one new Morehouse parent, Bruenetta DeBlaw, stated: “Such an exciting and humbling [sic] without doubt my son is with the best! I am thankful even with the distance between us, I can rest at night. The ceremony last night gave an impeccable assurance that was well received for me to release my son, and I wait with great expectation and anticipation that Morehouse will ‘return my son back to me a man!!!!’” ‘NOT THESE MEN’ For African American men, reports show that the road to higher education is bumpy, starting at kindergarten. But the streets outside of the classroom have seemingly gotten worse. As Calvin Mackey ’90 said during his annual NSO motivation speech to the freshman class, “You have made it through the killing fields of America, where black men are hunted like wild animals. But they won’t have these men lost to the street.” The nightly news provides plenty of anecdotal evidence of just how perniciously dangerous the streets have become for black men. However, President Wilson shared with the class and their parents some hard and damning empirical facts.
“According to The New York Times, there are 1.5 million missing black men in this country,” he said. “When you were in ninth grade, there were 320,000 black boys with you, nationally. Roughly only 160,000 graduated from high school. And of those, only about 50,000 applied to a four-year college. “Note that, according to The Wall Street Journal, more than 200,000 black men are annually admitted to state and federal prisons! But of the 50,000 who enter four-year colleges, only about 8,000 received the kind of grades and scores that could easily get them into places like Morehouse College.” It’s understandable then, that when President Wilson calculated the percentage of new men of Morehouse against that accomplished 8,000 and lauded the class of 2019 as “the Talented Tenth,” King Chapel exploded in applause. TWO ROADS DIVERGED During the final hours of the Parents’ Parting Ceremony, a path splinters and becomes two distinct roads. One is the road home. It is the one parents take after two days of orientation and a litany of beseeching and pledges to “let him go.” The other road is toward self-actualization. Sons travel this road—forging their own way, growing toward a lifted crown, transforming from men of Morehouse to Morehouse Men. On the night that his mother, Evelyn Bryant, would take that long trip back home without him, Javian Gudger seemed aware that he stood at a life-defining fork in the road. “I feel like my mom has put in 18 years of hard work,” he said. “I want this dream to be possible for her and for me—to go to Morehouse to be the best I can be.” n
FIRST ST0P OPENING CONVOCATION
‘WHAT IS A TRULY FREE MAN?’ By SHANDRA HILL SMITH
D
uring his 2015 Opening Convocation speech, Wilson charged men of Morehouse to consider the question “Am I yet a truly free man?” “I want to talk about freedom today,” he said, during Opening Convocation on Sept. 17, 2015. “I simply want to urge each of you young men to live with that question in your hearts, souls, spirits and minds, for the remainder of this year, for the remainder of your Morehouse education, if not also for the remainder of your life.” In his “What is a Truly Free Man?” message, Wilson noted a proud period in February 2013 when the United States Postal Service chose the Chapel for the unveiling of its Emancipation Proclamation stamp series. He went on to share a scene from the major motion picture “Amistad,” Steven Spielberg’s historical drama of the 1839 mutiny in which tribesmen abducted for the slave trade managed to gain control of their captors’ ship. MAY YOUR CURRENT “That is a powerfully EXISTENCE IN THE symbolic moment,” said Wilson of a scene WORLD BE AS showing the lead CONSEQUENTIAL AS mutineer, Joseph Cinque YOUR EVENTUAL ABSENCE (played by actor Djimon Hounsou), prying nails FROM THE WORLD. from the ship’s floor in order to free himself and others. “A man getting himself set free for a whole new future.” Wilson raised the question, “How do we get you to remove the orange jumpsuits that all of us can sometimes unwittingly wear?” then encouraged each man of Morehouse to hunger for his “own combination of the five things we value.” Those five values of the institution, he pointed out, are: acuity, integrity, agency, brotherhood and consequence. For acuity, he shared a three-minute clip from the 1943 musical film “Stormy Weather,” in which the Nicholas brothers completed an impressive tap dance performance reportedly in one take, with physical moves—splits and slides included— using much of their bodies without help from their hands. “What you just saw was acuity in action,” added
President John Silvanus Wilson ’79 giving his Opening Convocation speech
Wilson. “Morehouse challenges you to be the new Nicholas collegians and do the equivalent of what you just saw in whatever field you choose.” Agency means “more often than not, you happen to the day instead of the day happening to you! People with agency live intentionally,” said Wilson. “As a truly free man prioritizes agency, he removes the orange jumpsuit of apathy. “I want you to live your life so the Morehouse president 40, 50 or 100 years from now will call your name and tell folk this institution exists to produce men like [you]. And may your current existence in the world be as consequential as your eventual absence from the world. “As a truly free man prioritizes being consequential, he removes the orange jumpsuit of insignificance…. “We want you to experience a freedom so strong, that even if you somehow go down, because you came to Morehouse, you’ve got what it takes to be able to get back up again—and maybe even with no hands,” said Wilson. n FALL 2015
29 MOREHOUSE MAGAZINE
MID-POINT FOUNDER’S DAY
LIBERATING FORCE FOUNDER’S DAY OBSERVANCE CELEBRATES THE COLLEGE’S AGELESS MISSION By VICKIE G. HAMPTON
O
ne hundred and forty-eight years ago, a small group of people gathered in the basement of a church in Augusta, Ga., to do something that just two years earlier could have led to a death sentence for their criminal activity: they were learning to read and write. The group of 40 newly freed slaves composed the inaugural class of the Augusta Institute, founded in February 1867 by William Jefferson White, himself a newly freed slave. Their curriculum was rudimental, but their charge was profoundly consequential: to become illuminating teachers and preachers who would lead their emerging community out of the darkness of slavery.
2015 2015 3030FALL FALL
MOREHOUSE MAGAZINE MOREHOUSE MAGAZINE
Today, that institution has morphed in numerous ways: from 40 to 2,100 students; from rural Augusta, Ga., to Atlanta, the mecca of the South; from the three Rs (reading, writing and ’rithmetic) to an array of majors and minors spanning three academic divisions. But the College’s core mission—searching for truth as a liberating force—has remained rock solid. During the 2015 Founder’s Day Convocation, Cornel West, professor of philosophy and Christian practice at Union Theological Seminary in New York, illustrated the point with a “remembrance” of the College’s most iconic alumnus and one of the world’s greatest global citizens. “Martin King was in [a] paddy wagon for four and a half hours—the same amount of time that our brother
Founder’s Day speaker Cornel West
(L-R) Henry Goodgame ’84, director of Alumni Relations; Robert Davidson ’67, board chairman; Gala Co-founders Hardy Franklin Jr. ’83 and Robert Bolton ’86; actress Malinda Williams, mistress of ceremonies; President and Dr. Wilson; actor and choreographer Darrin Dewitt Henson, master of ceremonies; and the 2015 Bennie and Candle recipients (listed below).
Michael Brown’s body was there in Ferguson … with the blood flowing,” he said. “But Martin King was in that paddy wagon with a German Shepherd in the dark…. Andrew Young and Daddy King who were there … waiting to see how Martin would emerge, and when he emerged it looked as if he had had a kind of nervous breakdown, and he could barely walk. And all he could say was, ‘This is the cross we must bear for the freedom of our people.’ “That’s Morehouse College at it’s best,” said West. “Love of truth and the condition of truth is always to allow suffering to speak.” West told men of Morehouse that being smart was not enough. “The last thing we need are just smart Negroes with no courage, no compassion, no connection—just real smart. I’m not promoting stupidity, but we’re talking about wisdom. Integrity has something to do with the ability to ground your soul in our r-o-o-t-s so that your r-o-u-t-e-s can move with integrity. “What I love about a Morehouse Man is you should be able to go to the White House, the crack house and your mother’s house and emerge with integrity,” said West. n
2015 BENNIE AND CANDLE RECIPIENTS (listed by order of appearance in above photo)
CANDLE FOR LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT IN LAW, CIVIL RIGHTS AND SOCIAL JUSTICE Eric H. Holder Jr. Attorney General of the United States Accepting for Eric Holder was Karol Mason, Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Justice Programs BENNIE TRAILBLAZER Eugene Vernon Wade Jr. ’92 Education Innovator, Founder and CEO, UniversityNow CANDLE IN SPORTS AND ENTERTAINMENT Grant Henry Hill 7-time NBA All-Star, Broadcaster and Managing Principal, Penta Mezzanine Fund
BENNIE ACHIEVEMENT Paul Q. Judge ’98 Inventor, Scientist, Technologist and Philanthropist CANDLE IN BUSINESS Thomas Allen Moorehead President and CEO, Sterling BMW and Rolls-Royce Franchise Executive CANDLE IN ENTREPRENEURSHIP Robert Benjamin Crews Jr. Airport Concessions Entrepreneur President and Chief Executive Officer, Crews of California, Crews Enterprises and Airport Retail Management
FALL 2015
31 MOREHOUSE MAGAZINE
EMBRACING MOREHOUSE MAGAZINE
FALL 2015 2015 32 FALL
DESTINATION COMMENCEMENT
By SYDNEY DAVENPORT
S
ixty-one years since the Brown v. Board of Education decision, more than 400 Morehouse graduates stood as living proof that the battle for equal opportunity education was worth the fight. “Today epitomizes the fruit of that decision, and these men are at the top. They have moved successfully along their educational journey toward goals that they have set for themselves and today they earn the privilege of being called Morehouse Men,” said Morehouse President John Silvanus Wilson Jr. ’79. It was a beautiful Commencement Sunday, May 17, for the class of 2015. There was a clear blue sky and stray white clouds above as students awaited the moment that they would be able to call themselves Morehouse Men, a title many are unable to claim. Anne Wimbush Watts, the College’s retired associate vice president for Academic Affairs, approached the podium by a personal request from the graduating class. Her booming voice ushered in the processional: “To the class that wears the crown of dignity and peace, of love and honor, of integrity and excellence. Let them enter,” she declared. For the 8,000 alumni, faculty and family members who gathered on Century Campus—some as early as 6 a.m. for the 8 a.m. ceremony—the day was well worth the wait. CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE
THE FUTURE FALL 2015
33 MOREHOUSE MAGAZINE
DESTINATION COMMENCEMENT
To prepare the students for life after college, Deval Patrick, former governor of Massachusetts, told the class in his Commencement address that the resilience with which they marched their way from the Martin Luther King Jr. Chapel, which they entered as freshmen four years earlier, to their graduation seats is what they will need to march into the future. With more than 400 graduates across 26 disciplines, these new Morehouse Men are already leaving large shoes for following classes to fill. This is the first time in College history that a graduating class has represented all 50 states. “It is even more important than ever that you are resilient,” Patrick told the graduates. “As exciting as the times are for you personally and professionally, it’s a sobering time, too. Because beyond these gates and these festivities and these opportunities that await you, it’s a sobering world out there.” Patrick said Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner and Michael Brown are sad examples of injustice that occur today, but that these cases show the need for persistence and moral leadership now more than ever. Patrick, who is from Southside Chicago, was awarded an Honorary
Doctor of Laws by the College. He graduated from Harvard College in 1978 and graduated with his J.D. from Harvard Law in 1982. President Clinton appointed him Assistant Attorney General of Civil Rights in 1994. “As we honor you graduates today, I ask that you honor the legacy of resilience that got you here in the first place and ask yourself, what are you supposed to do now?” said Patrick. Kevin McGee ’93, president of the Morehouse Alumni Association, encouraged the newly minted Morehouse Men to give back to their alma mater and their community. “If there are three things that I could share with you so that you can be better alumni, they are this: Know what you value and, more importantly, know who’s valuable to you.… Quickly discern and understand God’s purpose in your life…. And once you understand God’s purpose for your life, don’t waste time doing anything else. You never know how much time you have.” A tearful McGee also told the graduates that while he should be home with his daughter recently diagnosed with cancer, “I am here right now because you are important. What you have inside of you is important.”
The Rev. Dr. Raphael Warnock ’91 delivered the 2015 Baccalaureate address.
His emotional words incited tears and handclaps of support from the students as he began their induction into the Morehouse National Alumni Association. President Wilson, in his charge to the class of 2015, echoed Patrick’s message of purpose and responsibility. “My charge to you is that each of you will come to a clarity about why you are here and for you to think and act like it. Because I believe it is still true that a better Morehouse can make better men, and better men can make a better world, and a better world will put a smile on the face of God.” n TO VIEW THE FULL Commencement ceremony, go to
https://www.youtube/MorehouseCollege
Left: Actress Cicely Tyson stands in recognition for a scholarship she funded to a deserving student. Right: Commencement speaker Deval Patrick (second from the right) receives the Honorary Doctor of Laws. He is hooded by Chairman Robert Davidson, with Provost Garikai Campbell and President John S. Wilson. MOREHOUSE MAGAZINE
34 FALL 2015
FEATURE
Henry “Lookup” Thompson ’66
‘A BLESSED EDUCATIONAL JOURNEY’ EXCERPTS FROM THE VALEDICTORY “…Approximately 1,400 days ago, we stood in the sweltering Georgia 90-degree heat waiting to enter the sacred nave of the Martin Luther King International Chapel to embark upon a blessed educational journey. At that time, many of us doubted that we were actually ready for all the hurdles that we would confront along the way. But look at us now…. “You had faith that this day would come when you looked at your Morehouse account one day, only to find that you had been purged from all of your classes due to a delinquent financial balance; for God sent UNCF, federal work study, endless job checks, and occasionally a restricted scholarship fund to rescue you from your financial abyss. “You had faith—when you took the GRE, the MCAT, the LSAT and the GMAT—that your score on at least one of them would open doors to graduate school. And you had faith—when you submitted all of
your job applications—that at least one of them would not return unto you void. And now God has sent a shower of acceptance letters and job opportunities. Hmph! It seems, my brothers, that, without a doubt, we should continue to have faith in God. “The last concept I want to emphasize this morning is the power and the authority to affect humane social change. Too often when we turn on the television or read online articles, we are faced with the reality that not everyone values the lives of young African American males. I charge those individuals to take a second look, starting with this class… “When the world asks, ‘Who among us can follow in the oratorical footsteps of Morehouse giants like Martin Luther King, Howard Thurman and Benjamin Elijah Mays?’ I would kindly, softly, but passionately suggest that they pay a little visit to a few black churches on a sanctified Sunday morning and listen to a sermon by
our own Elijah McDavid, or Calvon Jones or Devon Crawford. But first I would tell the world to prepare to be astonished, and then to be absolutely blown away….” n
Valedictorian Jerek Brown FALL 2015
35 MOREHOUSE MAGAZINE
BROTHER TO BROTHER
From Morehouse to Here
TWO ALUMNI ON HOW THEIR MOREHOUSE JOURNEY SHAPED THEIR FUTURE SELVES BY VANN R. NEWKIRK II ’10 Co-chief scribe of Seven Scribes, excerpts from an article titled “I’m a black activist. Here’s what people get wrong about Black Lives Matter,” in Vox Media, August 31, 2015
BY DONOVAN X. RAMSEY ’11 Demos Emerging Voices Fellow, excerpts from an articled titled “Black Colleges Become Sanctuaries After Ferguson” in the National Journal, Sept. 10, 2015
“I learned much of what I know about the civil rights movement at Morehouse College. An extraordinary campus, on a hill in Atlanta, Morehouse was where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Julian Bond and other notable architects of the civil rights movement once studied under the tutelage of titans like Benjamin Elijah Mays. It’s where, in 2006, I enrolled with similar hopes. “Like most historically black colleges and universities, Morehouse is still heavy with the spirit of the civil rights movement that it helped birth; to attend any of these institutions is to surround ‘Morehouse is oneself with ghosts of the struggle. Six years ago, while heavy with the still a student at Morehouse, I took a class dedicated spirit of the civil to bringing in speakers every week to lecture us on that rights movement movement. “I felt those ghosts most strongly in that classroom. that it helped “… My work is writing about the rich history of black birth’ America. That work has led me to understand that movement history, like all of black history, is a history of iterations. It is jazz, it is a history of a people finding chords from another time and putting them together into something new that works for the challenges of the present. It is learning from Bond, from Young, from Martin, from Baker, from Fannie Lou Hamer, from Diane Nash, from James Baldwin, and also learning from Netta Elzie, from Patrisse Cullors, from DeRay McKesson, from Jesse Jackson, from Ta-Nehisi Coates. It is synthesis, and it is a beautiful and elegant whole.”
“…In a society that desperately wants to be post-racial, many ask if HBCUs are still relevant. It’s this sentiment that perhaps has allowed for a mass divestment from HBCUs in the 21st century. In fact, despite the continued and very evident need for HBCUs in educating black students, the federal government has been slowly chipping away at funding in recent years. “Indeed, I have never felt more secure as a black man than I did as a student on Morehouse’s campus. As the nation’s only institution of higher education founded to serve ‘My blackness did not us, it is a rare space where black men are not render me suspicious vulnerable because of their blackness. or scary. I could inhabit “On the contrary, at Morehouse and other every square inch of HBCUs, black men and women are protec-ted— my six-foot, 200-pound by a campus police force no less. On campus— body without risking and for the first time in my life—I was free to my life.’ run full speed without causing alarm. I raised my voice in public, asserted myself without inciting panic. My blackness did not render me suspicious or scary. I could inhabit every square inch of my six-foot, 200-pound body without risking my life. “HBCUs are rare American institutions in that they are maintained for the affirmation, advancement and protection of black life. In a society in which young black people, men and women, have their lives cut short every day by incarceration and violence—state or otherwise—the schools are sanctuaries from a world at war with black bodies. “
MOREHOUSE MAGAZINE
36 FALL 2015
NATIONAL ALUMNI ASSOCIATION PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
Remember All of Your Morehouse Experience
A
s I recall when I graduated from Morehouse in 1993, things looked drastically different than they did when I arrived in fall 1989. The housing at the top of the hill known as “the units”—military-styled barracks housing—had been demolished. The Thomas Kilgore Center and Residence Hall was erected in its place. Improvements had been made to the service and selection in the cafeteria, and we’d had two presidential transitions. However, upon graduation, I only remembered the negative experiences and left Morehouse with a sense of disenfranchisement, just as some of my alumni brothers may have. Like many of my Morehouse brothers, for quite some time I harbored an indiscriminant sense of indifference towards Morehouse. My exasperation was aimed at all things Morehouse. As the years passed and I matured, I remembered the good times and good relationships that I made. Then it became apparent to me that the only way to move beyond my feelings was to confront them squarely and deal with them. Thus I began to become more involved with the College and the Alumni Association, with hopes that my efforts would one day have a positive impact on the institution as a whole. Since I have been national president, humbly I believe that they have. As you come back home this year, I ask you to do as I have done and remember the good times and positive experiences as you take another look at our institution. Perhaps the Morehouse that we often critique and say has never changed is not the same Morehouse. Speaking with students across the campus, it is even more apparent that some of the issues that I faced as a student they never even had to deal with. So, I had to challenge myself to take another look at our alma mater. Not through my 1993 analog lenses, but through a new 2015, digital, iPhone, app-based, social media-enhanced view. Now I challenge you to take another look at our alma mater. Take another look at the Alumni Association. Take another look at our alumni brethren. And, finally, take another look at yourself and see where you fit in. Identify where and how you can contribute to this ever-changing, constantly growing and continually advancing story of success and transformation that is what we know as our Dear Old Morehouse.
“
I had to challenge myself to take another look at our alma mater. Not through my 1993 analog lenses, but through a new 2015, digital, iPhone, app-based, social media-enhanced view.
”
Kevin R. McGee ’93 President MOREHOUSE MAGAZINE MAGAZINE 3737MOREHOUSE
COMMEMORATIVE INAUGURATION FALL ISSUE 2015 2014
ALUMNI NEWS
James H. Shelton ’89 Joins 2U JAMES H. SHELTON ’89, former deputy secretary at the U.S. Department of Education, has joined 2U, Inc., to serve as chief impact officer. 2U is a leading provider of cloud-based software-as-a-service technology fused with technology-enabled services that enables leading nonprofit colleges and universities to deliver their high-quality degree programs online. As the former deputy secretary at the U.S. Department of Education (DOE), Shelton oversaw a broad range of management, policy and program functions. He was also the founding executive director of the President Obama’s My Brother’s Keeper Initiative and earlier served as head of the Office of Innovation and Improvement at the
James H. Shelton ’89
DOE. While there, he managed a portfolio that included most of the DOE’s competitive programs, such as the Investing in Innovation Fund, Promise Neighborhoods and others focused on teacher and leader quality, school choice and learning technology. Shelton’s newly created role is crucial to support sustained growth and build on 2U’s longstanding focus on impact. He will oversee day-to-day management responsibility for partner program implementation, research and university relations, and will lead internal efforts to ensure the organization continues to deliver exceptional quality and innovative solutions as it achieves the next level of scale. Over time, Shelton will help define 2U’s broader social impact strategy as it seeks to engage its staff, assets and core capabilities in making opportunity and upward mobility available to all. “2U’s work aligns with my life’s aim, to leverage innovation to expand opportunity and quality outcomes for students around the world,” said Shelton. “I look forward to working with … the 2U leadership team and innovative higher education leaders to make exceptional learning experiences and life-changing educational options broadly available.” n
Moody’s hosts President Wilson in New York MOODY’S, A MULTI-BILLION-dollar credit rating agency, analytics firm and provider of financial analysis software and services, hosted President John Silvanus Wilson Jr. ’79 and the NYC Morehouse alumni chapter in the World Trade Center in March 2015. Moody’s is a major contributor and supporter of the College and has made a major commitment to find the best talent at Morehouse. Wilson addressed the NYC alumni on where Morehouse is heading in the coming years. His presentation, titled “The World of Our Dreams,” delivered three points to the NYC alumni: pay attention to Morehouse; be a solid Morehouse Man privately, publicly and professionally; and give back to the college. n MOREHOUSE MAGAZINE
38 FALL 2015
Commander Walter Mainor ’97
Cdr. Walter Mainor ’97 Takes Command of Navy Destroyer THE U.S.S. WILLIAM P. LAWRENCE is now under the command of a Morehouse Man. Commander Walter Mainor ’97 took command of the Navy-guided missile destroyer on June 11. After graduating from Morehouse, Mainor attended the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calif., and received a MBA in 2005. Mainor has had several operational assignments on destroyers, cruisers and mine counter measure ships, including the USS Oldedorf, USS Donald Cook and USS Vella Gulf. He reported to the USS William P. Lawrence in October 2013, and previously served as executive officer as part of the fleet-up program, which features an 18-month executive officer tour followed by a commanding officer tour aboard the same ship. His most recent sea tour was as commanding officer in USS PATRIOT (MCM 7) homeported in Sasebo, Japan, from October 2009 to April 2011. PATRIOT executed the longest deployment to date for a mine counter measure ship, traveling more than 14,000 nautical miles in four months to nine countries. It was the first U.S. warship to make port calls to Bangladesh and Port Blair, India. Mainor’s crew earned two Battle Efficiency awards, two Golden Anchor awards for superior retention and the Marjorie Sterrett Battleship award for the highest level of operational excellence and superior combat readiness in the entire Fleet. n
ALUMNI NEWS
PROFILE OF LEADERSHIP
Julian DeShazier ’05 Wins Emmy for Short Film By SYDNEY DAVENPORT
J
ulian DeShazier’s ’05 dual occupations of pastor and rapper may be considered strange. But what isn’t strange is his new title of Emmy winner for the short film, “Strange Fruit,” that he helped create, which promotes a message of social awareness and justice. He worked with a group called the SALT Project to create the film that was made to commemorate the 75th anniversary of Billie Holiday’s song “Strange Fruit,” which protested lynching at the time. In the 11-minute video, multiple speakers, including DeShazier, draw parallels between Adam and Eve’s eating of the forbidden fruit, the lynching of Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith in 1939 that provoked the creation of the song “Strange Fruit” and other modern-day situations. DeShazier says in the film, “Is it true that we really made it or is it really true that we’re not hanging … tell Trayvon’s parents that we made it, cause they just lynched him.” While DeShazier has always tried to incite change using his voice, from the pulpit to a hip-hop track, he never imagined that he would receive such an honor. “I didn’t think it would go this far, but I knew it was powerful. From the moment I heard about the project, from the moment I saw it—I knew--I knew if people took a moment to watch it that they would be changed by it.” DeShazier, also known as J. Kwest, is one-half of the Chicagobased Christian hip-hop duo, Verbal Kwest. Born in Southside Chicago, DeShazier started rapping at an early age. While rap lyrics and sermons do not conventionally come from the same person, he never let that stop
Julian DeShazier ’05
him from pursuing his passions. “Not enough art speaks to where life really is right now,” he said. “If people just let art speak for where life is, that can be a powerful thing.” Verbal Kwest’s last album, “Batman and Batman,” was released in 2011; its more popular single was “Crazy Streets,” which dealt with the death of Derrion Albert. With a new single and, subsequently, a new album about to come out, DeShazier is busy with new material that he hopes will move people to action. After graduating from Morehouse, DeShazier went to the University of Chicago Divinity School. He is now the senior pastor at the University Church in Chicago, which has a history of activism in the community. DeShazier recalls that, while attending the College, Anne Watts, retired associate vice president for
Academic Affairs, was one of his biggest influences. “She always emphasized moving from good to excellent and I’ve always appreciated her standard of excellence,” he said. “I took that standard from her even after I graduated. I thought, ‘Okay we’ve graduated, but there’s even further that we can go.’” To Billie Holiday, if she were alive today, DeShazier would have these words to say: “Thank you ... She had enough courage to say ‘this is my song.’ It’s a courage that many men of Morehouse, who are still students, wonder if they have or think they have. She put everything on the line to talk about the sadness of lynching … She found a way to bring the beauty and the pain together and let us deal with it. So thank you is what I would say.” n
39 MOREHOUSEMAGAZINE MAGAZINE 39MOREHOUSE
FALL FALL2015 2015
CLASS NOTES
1960s John K. Haynes ’64, the David Packard Professor of Science at Morehouse, has been elected to the executive council of the American Society of Cell Biology, where he will represent faculty of small teaching colleges. Haynes has served as a research scientist, professor and administrator at Morehouse for more than 36 year. He has led numerous efforts to enrich the curriculum and to provide engaging extracurricular experiences for STEM students, as well as increase the number of STEM graduates of the College. Haynes will begin his term on Jan. 1, 2016, and serve for three years.
1970s Ronald L. Carter ’71, president of Johnson C. Smith University, was presented the 2014 Luminary Award by the Charlotte Post Foundation. Judge Alford Dempsey Jr. ’72 has recently been inducted into the 2015 Hall of Fame of the Gate City Bar Association. Gate City, established in 1948, is the oldest African American bar association in Georgia and is an affiliate of the National MOREHOUSE MAGAZINE
FALL 2015 2015 40 FALL
Bar Association. The Hall of Fame is the group’s highest honor for lawyers who have made significant contributions to the African American community. C. David Moody Jr. ’78, a member of the College’s Board of Trustees, will be among those featured in “Breaking the Silence,” a one-hour documentary chronicling the stories of survivors of childhood sexual abuse. Moody, founder of the C.D. Moody Construction Company, harbored his painful secret for 45 years. Now he counsels at-risk youth. The documentary, which aired Aug. 30, 2015, on TLC, highlights the difficult journey faced by those affected by childhood sexual abuse. John Silvanus Wilson Jr. ’79, Morehouse College’s 11th president, has been named to the Board of Overseers for Harvard University. Wilson, a graduate of both Harvard Graduate School of Education and Harvard Divinity School, is one of five members of the Board chosen to help direct the governance of Harvard University over a six-year term.
1980s James H. Sills III ’80 has been named president and CEO of Mechanics and Farmers Bank. Sills, a veteran banker and technology expert, most recently was the state of Delaware’s chief information officer and secretary of the Department of Technology. Emmett D. Carson ’81, CEO and president of Silicon Valley Community Foundation (SVCF) and nationally recognized philanthropy leader, has been selected the first person to serve in the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation Chair on Community Foundations at the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. He will be appointed visiting holder for the new chair, which is dedicated to understanding and strengthening community foundations. Carson will continue to serve as CEO and president of SVCF during his appointment. James Abbington ’83 was named a Fellow of The Hymn Society in the United States and Canada (The HSUSC) at its annual conference in New Orleans, La., in July 2015. This
award, the highest honor given by the organization, was conferred because of Abbington’s work as a scholar, editor and practitioner of church music with a particular emphasis on African American congregational songs. He is currently associate professor of church music and worship at Candler School of Theology, Emory University in Atlanta. He is also the executive editor of the African American Church Music Series published by GIA Publications (Chicago) and served as co-director of the annual Hampton University Ministers’ and Musicians’ Conference from 2000 to 2010. Dr. George O’Neal “Neal” Hickson ’83 was recently inducted into the Walden University National Honor Society for Public Policy and Administration. He is currently employed as a policy analyst with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid in Baltimore. Quince T. Brinkley ’85 has joined the Westfield Future Fund in Atlanta as its executive director. He previously was vice president and secretary with the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority and has served in a variety of capacities in the financial and non-profit sectors, including as vice president/portfolio manager for Wachovia Securities, Northeast regional business/ community development manager for Freddie Mac, and assistant executive and acting executive director of the Urban Residential Development Corporation in Atlanta.
CLASS NOTES Donald M. Woodard ’89, a partner with Gordon & Rees, LLP, was named among the Georgia Super Lawyers. Woodard is a member of the firm’s Business Transactions Group and Sports, Media and Entertainment Group. He was recognized for his work as a transactional lawyer in the entertainment industry.
1990s Said Sewell ’92 has joined Lincoln University of Missouri as the provost and vice president for Academic Affairs. He most recently served as the assistant provost for Academic Affairs at Kent State University in Ohio. Sewell also has been selected a protégé for the Class of 2014 Millennium Leadership Initiative Institute that is co-sponsored by the American Association of State Colleges and Universities and the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities. Kidada Hawkins ’96 has been named the chief executive officer at Shoals Hospital in Muscle Shoals, Ala. He served as the administrator of Rural
Health Operations for the St. Vincent’s Health System based in Birmingham for the past five years. After graduating from Morehouse, Hawkins earned a master’s in healthcare administration and business from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He also is a fellow with the American College of Healthcare Executives. Marcus G. Glover ’97 has been named general manager of Beau Rivage Resort & Casino in Biloxi, Miss. He is responsible for overseeing the daily operations of the resort while providing strategic direction and leadership. Glover most recently served as senior vice president and general manager for Caesars in Northeast Ohio, the state’s first gaming establishment and jurisdiction. There, he led the design, development, strategic operations and customer service for the $400-million urban casino. Winfield Ward Murray ’98, an assistant city attorney with the City of Atlanta, has been inducted as a sitting national board member of the American Collegiate Moot Court Association. He is the first African American to sit on the board, and Morehouse is the first HBCU to be represented on the board. Andrew McCaskill ’99 has joined The Nielsen Co., the global information and measurement company, as senior vice president for Corporate Communications.
In this role, McCaskill will have global responsibility for Nielsen’s corporate media relations efforts. McCaskill brings more than 15 years of experience to Nielsen, most recently serving as a senior vice president in the New York office of public relations firm Weber Shandwick, where he led global communications strategy for numerous Fortune 500 companies and consumer brands.
2000s The Rev. Dr. Beryl Whipple ’04 was installed as the eighth pastor of the Historic Mount Hebron Baptist Church, Inc. in Baltimore on May 31, 2015. While at Morehouse, Whipple served as a Chapel Assistant, was an Oprah Winfrey, Martin Luther King Jr. and Thomas Kilgore scholar. He holds a master’s in divinity from Wake Forest University Divinity School, a master’s of science in church management from Villanova University School of Business and the doctor of ministry from the Wesley Theological Seminary. Lee Whack ’06 has been named press secretary for the 2016 Democratic National Convention, which will be held at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia on
July 25-28, 2016. Whack joins the Convention team from the U.S. House of Representatives, where he served as communications director for Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL). Prior to his work for Rep. Schakowsky, Whack was public relations manager for the DC Housing Finance Agency. Before that, he was a communications staffer for several Democrats in the Illinois State Senate. He also managed press for the National Public Housing Museum and the 2010 Illinois State Treasurer’s race. Previously, he was a local news reporter for the Chicago Tribune. Morgan Williams Jr. ’06, a fourth-year student in the Graduate Center’s Ph.D. Program in Economics, has been awarded a Diversity Predoctoral Fellowship from the MIT School of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences.The fellowship provides $50,000 in funding and a 12-month appointment without teaching requirements. The funding will support Williams’s work on his dissertation, which explores the economics of mass incarceration and crime.
2010s Max Tyler ’13 recently had his first article published on ESPN.com. Titled “Vols’ Abernathy brothers carry on legacy of civil rights crusader,” the article is a multi-layered profile about the Rev. Ralph David Abernathy’s grandsons, Ralph IV and Micah, playing football together for the University of Tennessee. Tyler was a FALL 2015
41 MOREHOUSE MAGAZINE
CLASS NOTES
SAVE THE DATES 89TH ANNUAL MOREHOUSE/SPELMAN CHRISTMAS CAROL CONCERT December 4-6, 2015 Friday, King Chapel at Morehouse, 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Sisters Chapel at Spelman, 7:30 p.m. Sunday, King Chapel at Morehouse, 6 p.m.
MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. CELEBRATION January 29, 2016 MLK Lecture and Conversation Series featuring The Rev. Dr. Otis Moss Jr. ‘56 and his son, The Rev. Dr. Otis Moss III ‘92 SGA King Legacy Scholarship Fundraiser
FOUNDER’S DAY OBSERVANCE February 11-14, 2016 Hyatt Regency Atlanta “A Candle in the Dark” Gala: Saturday, February 13 Reception, 6 p.m. Dinner, Dancing and Awards Ceremony, 7:30 p.m.
COLLEGE OF MINISTERS AND LAITY WEEK March 30-April 3, 2016 ENTREPRENEURSHIP: INNOVATION EXPO April 13, 2016 Shirley A. Massey Executive Center
COMMENCEMENT AND REUNION May 13-15, 2016 Host Hotel: Ritz-Carlton Atlanta Reunion: Friday and Saturday Baccalaureate: Saturday, 3 p.m. Commencement: Sunday, 8 a.m.
MOREHOUSE MAGAZINE
42 FALL 2015
staff writer, associate sports editor and chief copy editor for The Maroon Tiger, and an associate producer for Tiger TV. He earned a master’s in journalism at Columbia University before being hired by ESPN the Magazine as a researcher. Samuel White ’15 is the 2014 recipient of a national MarCom Gold award in the category of Television (Broadcast & Cable) Programs. He received the award for his television program entry, “Voices of Our Times: Secretary of Defense & First Lady Michelle Obama.”
White received training in television production at CAUTV, located on the campus of Clark Atlanta University. He has produced student news packages for CAU-TV “Newsbreak,” the “Panther Scene Investigation,” “The Source” and “Friday Fun Facts.” Mark Anthony Green ’11 has been named GQ’s new style guy. Green was previously an editorial assistant for GQ. He will write GQ’s style guy feature, which is a fashion advice column.
Passages George Haley ’49 was an accomplished lawyer, a U.S. ambassador to Gambia, Africa, a veteran of the U.S. Air Force, and the second black to earn a law degree from the University of Arkansas Law School. He passed away at 89 in Silver Spring, Md., on May 13, 2015. Haley served as a Kansas state senator and later under U.S. presidents George Bush and Bill Clinton. He was one of two younger brothers of Pulitzer Prizewinning author Alex Haley and was executor of the writer’s estate.
Fred B. Renwick ’50 was professor emeritus of New York University Stern School and served on the Morehouse College Board of Trustees. He passed away Dec. 4, 2014. Renwick received an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Morehouse. He served on the boards for the Investment Fund for Foundations, Deutsche Bank Mutual Funds, American Statistical Association, Advisory Committee to the U.S. Census Bureau of Economic Research and Bankers Trust Company and the American Bible Association.
PASSAGES PEOPLE AT THE HOUSE He also served as vice chair of the Board of Pensions for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and was a member of the ELCA Foundation. He received his bachelor’s degree at Morehouse, master’s from Harvard, and MBA and Ph.D. in finance from the Stern School of Business at New York University. Artis White ’51 spent just shy of 60 years in dentistry and had a national reputation for his skills in correcting facial and dental abnormalities caused by malignant disease, congenital deformities and trauma. He passed away on May 14, 2015. He served as clinical lecturer and director of the Maxillofacial Clinic at UCLA and later as director of the Maxillofacial Prosthodontics Department at the Martin Luther King Hospital in Los Angeles. He also co-founded the Cleft Palate Clinic. His professional affiliations included the Royal Society of Health in England. For more than two decades, White served on the Morehouse College Board of Trustees, and generously supported his alma mater. In 2001, he received the Outstanding Service Award by the Morehouse College National Alumni Association, and, a year later, Morehouse honored him with the Bennie Award.
Capt. James Leon Gilchrist ’56 served 28 years in the U.S. Navy, with 12 of those as commanding officer of the NROTC Unit at Florida A&M University. He passed away August 21, 2015, after a battle with leukemia. Following retirement from the Navy, Gilchrist served as director of quality management for the Florida Department of Corrections and as state director of the U.S. Selective Service System. He also served as president of the Tallahassee Rotary Club, president of the Southern Scholarship Foundation, president of the Sigma Pi Phi Boule’ and emeritus board member of the Southern Scholarship Foundation. He was a member of the Florida A&M University Retirees Club and an associate member of the Florida A&M University Alumni Association. A faithful philanthropist, Gilchrist was a Life member of the NAACP, Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc., and the Morehouse College National Alumni Association. He received a master of public administration from George Washington University in Washington, D.C.
N. Judge King ’57 counted scientist, educator, pilot and entrepreneur among the titles he held during his professional life. He passed away May 26, 2014, in Minneapolis, from lung cancer. King once said that he never saw a new book until he went to college. He studied chemistry and math at Morehouse before receiving a master’s degree in chemistry from Clark Atlanta University and a doctorate in physical organic chemistry from Howard University. He also earned a master of business administration from Hofstra University. King was active in civil rights in his native city of Birmingham—a focus of the civil rights movement. Judson Parker Jr. ’60 is credited with creating the annual Midnight Train to Georgia of the D.C. Chapter of the Morehouse College Alumni Association. A native of Buford, S.C., Parker passed away on April 10, 2015, in Washington, D.C. For nearly four years, Parker managed the train ride from Washington, D.C., to Atlanta for Morehouse’s homecoming. He was one of the first employees to work for the Department of Energy at its creation, and worked with several agencies of the federal government. Parker also was an active member of the Washington, D.C.-Area Morehouse College Alumni Chapter and was selected as the Region IV chapter’s Alumnus of the Year and the Morehouse College National Alumnus of the Year.
Kelvin G. Miles ’81 passed away November 16, 2014. He was survived by his wife, Angelia Artis Miles, two sons, Gerard and Lewis, and his mother, Lizzora Edwards Miles. Myron G. Burney ’98, affectionately known as “B-Doe,” passed away July 28, 2014. He was assistant vice chancellor for enrollment at Elizabeth City State University. He had previously held positions in enrollment with the University of Georgia and North Carolina State University, where he received his master’s degree. He also formerly served as assistant director of admissions at Morehouse. Burney was a dedicated Morehouse Man who took pride in encouraging others to support Morehouse and higher education. “Give and then give some more,” Burney said during the College’s 2013 ForeverMore campaign to spur his classmates to give. “Giving must become a strategic norm for us.” In fact, he was still a senior at the College when he began building the class database that became the base for the highly effective communications used to maximize ForeverMore and reunion giving. n
FALL 2015
43 MOREHOUSE MAGAZINE
PASSAGES
H. JULIAN BOND ’71
Voice for Justice Helped Shape Nation’s Civil Rights, History By SHANDRA HILL SMITH
H
e was a voice for justice and, as described by President John Silvanus Wilson Jr. ’79, “a true son of Morehouse.” A 1971 Morehouse graduate, H. Julian Bond was a founding member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) while a student at the College and, for a time, left Morehouse to help steer SNCC. He served as a 20-year Georgia state legislator, writer, television commentator, lecturer and educator. The Morehouse alumnus and charismatic civil rights leader passed away on August 15, 2015, in Fort Walton Beach, Fla., following a brief illness. From 1965 to 1975, Bond served in the Georgia House of Representatives, followed by six terms with the Georgia State Senate. He served 11 years as chair of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and later as the NAACP’s chairman emeritus. Bond, with Morris Dees, helped found the Southern Poverty Law Center, a legal advocacy organization, in Montgomery, Ala. He served as the organization’s Bond receives his degree president from 1971 to 1979. from President Hugh Gloster in “Fearlessly, Julian spoke truth to 1971 (from the Morehouse College archives). power,” said President Wilson. “I distinctly remember one of his visits to Morehouse in the 1970s when I was a student where he challenged us to go beyond seeking personal comfort in the world, and to live a life of service to others. It was a profound experience for me and many of my classmates.” Bond was the first African American nominated as vice president of the United States, but withdrew his name from the ballot because of his young age. He narrated the critically acclaimed “Eyes on the Prize,” a Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) series, and published a collection of his essays, “A Time to Speak, A Time to Act.” The recipient of more than two dozen honorary degrees, Bond taught as a visiting professor at American University in Washington, D.C., Drexel University in Philadelphia, Pa., Williams College in Williamstown, Mass., Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass., and the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Va. In 1998, Morehouse honored Bond with a Bennie Trailblazer Award. Born in Nashville, Tenn., at five years old, Bond moved to Pennsylvania with his family when his father, Horace Mann Bond, became the first African American president of his alma mater, Lincoln University. Bond is survived by his wife, Pamela Sue Horowitz, and five children—sons Horace Mann Bond II, Jeffrey and Michael, and daughters Phyllis Jane Bond McMillan and Julia Louise Bond. n
MOREHOUSE MAGAZINE
44 FALL 2015
H. Julian Bond ’71
Bond was the College’s 2002 Commencement speaker.
Lawrence E. Carter, dean of King Chapel, honors Bond’s memory with a Rose Petal Ceremony.
2015-2016 OFFICERS MOREHOUSE COLLEGE NATIONAL ALUMNI ASSOCIATION Kevin R. McGee ‘93 President
Brandon C. Banks ’06 Vice President at Large
James D. Henry ’61 Secretary
John Toliver ’00 Treasurer
Thomas N. Scott ’84 Financial Secretary
Corey Thomas ’93 General Counsel
M. Bud Willis ’86 Vice President, Region I
Toussaint Gaskins ’90 Vice President, Region II
Melvin D. Caldwell Jr. ’75 Vice President, Region III
Alonzo Robertson ’90 Vice President, Region IV
Vacant Region V
George W. Thompson ’66 Vice President, Region VI
Vacant Region VII
Donald E. Long ’64 Vice President, Region VIII
Michael Bryant ’87 Vice President, Region IX
MCNAA is an independent 501c3 organization.
2015-2016 CHAPTER PRESIDENTS MOREHOUSE COLLEGE NATIONAL ALUMNI ASSOCIATION CHAPTER ALBANY ATHENS ATLANTA AUGUSTA AUSTIN BALTIMORE BERMUDA BIRMINGHAM BROOKLYN, QUEENS, LONG ISLAND BROWARD CO. CENTRAL ARKANSAS CHATTANOOGA CHARLOTTE CHICAGO CLEVELAND COLUMBUS (GA) COLUMBUS (OH) DALLAS DELAWARE DENVER DETROIT EUROPE GREATER BOSTON GREATER LOS ANGELES GREATER ORLANDO GREATER PHILADELPHIA GREENSBORO HAMPTON ROADS HOUSTON INDIANAPOLIS JACKSONVILLE KANSAS CITY MACON-MIDDLE GEORGIA MANHATTAN MEMPHIS MIAMI VALLEY MILWAUKEE MINNESOTA MOBILE MONTGOMERY/TUSKEGEE NASHVILLE NASSAU BAHAMAS NEW ORLEANS NORTH ALABAMA/HUNTSVILLE NORTHERN NEW JERSEY RICHMOND METRO SAN DIEGO AREA SAN FRANSISCO/BAYAREA SEATTLE SOUTH AFRICA ST. LOUIS TALLAHASSEE TAMPA ST. PETERSBURG TOLEDO TRIANGLE WASHINGTON DC
PRESIDENT
Chester A. Taylor ‘82 Andre E. Bell ‘91 Shadeed Abdul Salamm ‘00 Titus Nichols ‘06 Edward Hill III ‘90 Jerome Nicholas ‘75 Walter H. Roban ‘90 Randall L. Woodfin ‘03 Kenneth Bailey ‘71 Wiliam Nix ’68 Cedric Martin ‘98 Byron Francis ‘07 Melvin D. Caldwell Jr. ‘75 Cory Hardiman ’14 Aaron O’Brien ‘06 Douglas Troutman ‘75 Eric Troy ‘86 Paxton Marks ‘90 Ernest R. Council Jr. ‘76 Roosevelt J Price II ’95 Franklin Wilkerson ’92 Richard Allen ‘70 Ryan Willingham ’07 Dijon Jackson ‘01 Kenneth J. Thompson ‘82 Darrell C. Tiller ‘83 Gerald L. Truesdale ‘71 Curtis Langley ’63 Will C. Norwood ’05 James A. Duke ‘90 Mark Register ‘94 Chris Evans ‘88 Tom Sands ‘84 Robert Fulton Rich Watkins ’97 Willie W. Houston Jr. ‘73 Gregory Martin ‘93 George Thompson ’66 Reginald A. Crenshaw ‘78 J.C. Love ’01 Jimmy B. Sheats II ‘93 Fabian Fernander ‘06 Dorian Mair ’07 Lamont Redrick ‘93 Nicholas Limbal ‘05 Clarence Sailor Jr. ‘05 LeMar Slater ‘98 Gerald Williams ‘86 Charles W. McLien III ‘97 Bradley Jackson ‘94 Harvey R. Fields Jr. ‘83 Linzie F. Bogan ‘88 Vacant George E. Rice ‘95 Mark J. Simeon ‘79 Durand A. Ford Jr. ‘97
ctaylor001@gmail.com abell@charter.net shadeedf@gmail.com TNichols@Augustaga.gov edhill@alumni.utexas.net jnicholasjr@verizon.net whroban@northrock.bm rlwoodfin@gmail.com kenneth.e.bailey@ssa.gov nixcomgrp@aol.com camartin76@gmail.com Byron.Francis@yahoo.com sheerms@aol.com Cory.hardiman1@gmail.com aobrian@bakerlaw.com dtroutman11@gmail.com troy.11@osu.edu Paxtonm2@aol.com isaih5417@comcast.net Brotherrj6000@gmail.com franklin.wilkerson@fedex.com re_allen@hotmail.com ryanawillingham@gmail.com morehouse.la@gmail.com kennyt76@aol.com dltiller@gmail.com gtruesdale1@att.blackberry.net ctla23@verizon.net will.norwood@houstontx.gov jad0568@sbcglobal.net bwana332003@yahoo.com chris@kingpromo.com sands.tom@mccg.org bfulton1867@gmail.com richwatkins@mac.com williehouston1906@gmail.com gmartin@lenasfoods.com jags597@aol.com rcrenshaw@bscc.cc.al.us jcloveiii@gmail.com drjsheats@yahoo.com ffernander@gmail.com Dorianmair@hotmail.com lredick@mchsi.com nlimbal@hotmail.com cjsailor1@gmail.com lemarslater@yahoo.com geraldwilliams86@gmail.com cwmclien@gsmcaa.org garveyite@gmail.com hrfields@artsci.wustl.edu lfbogan@yahoo.com grice@bgnet.bgsu.edu marksimeon@hotmail.com dford97@gmail.com
NON-PROFIT ORG. U.S. POSTAGE PAID ATLANTA, GA PERMIT NO. 925
OFFICE OF STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS 830 WESTVIEW DRIVE, S.W. ATLANTA, GA 30314
YOU ARE MORE THAN JUST A STUDENT.
morehouse.edu
YOU ARE A MAN IN THE MAKING.