A newsletter for students, faculty, staff, alumni and friends Philanthropist-broadcaster Tom Joyner will put an exclamation point on his recent efforts to help the University of Maryland Eastern Shore boost its scholarship fund by serving as the December 2018 commencement speaker. Joyner will be just the fourth person to deliver two UMES commencement addresses since it became a baccalaureate degreegranting institution in the mid-20th century. Fisk University President Henry Ponder (1989, 1997), National Urban League executive Julius Thomas (1950, 1969) and Lincoln University President Horace Mann Bond (1948, 1961) are the others. The Dec. 14 ceremony will take place in the William P. Hytche Athletic Center, where the registrar projects the university will award 265 degrees that day. Joyner, 69, is winding down a wildly successful broadcasting career that also made him a sought-after public speaker and a cultural touchstone. It was 15 years ago Joyner first came to UMES to address the Class of 2003 and accept an honorary degree in recognition of his efforts to draw attention to the role historically black institutions play in the nation’s education landscape.
INSIDE
Second stint for ‘Hardest Working Man in Radio’
The Tom Joyner Foundation earlier this year promoted UMES nationally as its “School of the Month” for September 2018, part of an ongoing campaign to inspire his listeners to support Historically Black Colleges and Universities. UMES previously was tapped for that role in August 2009. The son of a Tuskegee Airman, Joyner grew up in the small Alabama town where black pilots trained during World War II. He graduated from Tuskegee Institute in 1970 with a sociology degree and immediately embarked on a broadcasting career -- based primarily in the south and Midwest. “I’ve only done radio my entire life,” he told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution newspaper earlier this year. “No other job.” Over the past four-plus decades, he has become a legend in urban contemporary radio, JOYNER / continued on page 2
Annette Kenney is proof it’s never too late to pursue a college education. On the cusp of turning 50, Kenney earned a bachelor’s degree in agriculture from the University of Maryland Eastern Shore in December 2016. And she isn’t finished. Kenney is a master’s degree candidate at UMES, where she is focusing on plant and soil science. The working title of her thesis is: “Examining the persistence and survival of e. coli on (raw) manure-amended organic soil.” Kenney said she’s motivated “to help young people understand what agriculture is, and how important it is to our everyday lives.” “They need to care about the land,” she said. Earlier this year, the Delmarva Poultry Industry Inc. (DPI) awarded Kenney a $4,000 scholarship. She was the lone graduate student in a group of nine college students to receive financial aid from the regional agriculture trade group, and it’s safe to say, the only grandmother. A DPI spokesman said Kenney is just the second UMES graduate student to earn a scholarship from the group – Jorge Rodriquez of Salisbury was the first in 2009 – and she holds the distinction of receiving the organization’s largest-ever award.
Getting back to the land Page 2
Tom Joyner headlines UMES’ December 2018 graduation
December 7, 2018
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Joyner speaks at UMES cont.
Mock appointed Chief of Staff
Knowing the land cont.
UMES’ Secret Santa
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Thanksgiving at UMES
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Campus Stars
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Athletics Wrap-up
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Campus community “levels up” Staff honored with service awards
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Solo senior’s art show