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INSIDE MOREHOUSE, OCTOBER 2008
OCTOBER 26
OCTOBER 19
OCTOBER 24
OCTOBER 25
"Meet Me at the Altar"
Opening Worship Service
Sisters Chapel, Spelman College
10 a.m.
"Cirque Du Soleil" Fashion Show
Forbes Arena
7 p.m.
$10 - Atlanta University Center (AUC) faculty,
staff and students
$15 - general public
OCTOBER 20
Neo-Soul Concert
Oval
Spelman College
7 p.m.
$10 - AUC faculty, staff and students
$15 - general public
OCTOBER 22
"The Strip - Las Vegas Boulevard" Hump
Wednesday
Freshman Quad/Forbes Arena
4 p.m.
"The Cool" Hip Hop Concert
Forbes Arena
7 p.m.
$20 admission
OCTOBER 23
"The Wise Guys" Homecoming Crown
Forum
Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel
11 a.m.
Alumni Homecoming Registration
Kilgore Campus Center
9 a.m.-4 p.m.
Alumni Golf Tournament
Durham Lakes Golf & Country Club
156 Durham Lakes Pkwy.
Fairburn, Ga.
9 a.m.
"The Weigh In" Pep Rally
Kilgore Campus Center
Noon
Market Friday
Manley Student Center Patio
Noon-5 p.m.
Spelman College
The Morehouse College National
Alumni Association
"Welcome Back to the House" Party
The Cascade Club
2890 Continental Colony Pkwy.
6 p.m.
Bennett College Reception
(by invitation only)
Douglass Hall
6 p.m.
"The Bellagio Presents" Miss Maroon &
White Coronation
King Chapel
7 p.m.
"Casino Royale" Coronation Ball
AmericasMart Atlanta, 240 Peachtree St., N.W.
10 p.m.
$10 - AUC faculty, staff and students
$15 - general public
The Morehouse College National Alumni
Association Breakfast
Chivers Dining Hall
8 a.m.
"Rio" Homecoming Parade
Westview Drive to West End Mall to Lowery
Street to Fair Street
9 a.m.
Pre-Game Jazz Brunch
Featuring Deacon Blues (Clark White 71) & the
Holy Smoke Band
College Town at West End Avenue and Joseph
Lowery Boulevard
11 a.m.
"Shaken, Not Stirred"
The Alumni Tailgate Experience
Spelman Lot
Noon-2 p.m.
"The Main Event" Homecoming Game,
Morehouse College vs.
Albany State University
B.T. Harvey Stadium
2 p.m.
$18 - general admission/alumni
$12 - students of any other institution with a
fall 2008 ID
Free for Morehouse and Spelman students.
Faculty and staff, along with one guest, are
admitted free with an ID.
"Caesar's Palace" National Panhellenic
Council Step Show
Forbes Arena
7 p.m.
$10 AUC faculty, staff and students
$15 general public
"Won't Look Back"
Closing Worship Service
Speaker: Keith Troy 76
Senior Pastor, New Salem Baptist Church
Columbus, Ohio
Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel
11 a.m.
Homecoming 2008 Contacts:
Office of Student Services at (404) 653-7858
Office of Alumni Relations at (404) 215-2658
Morehouse College Alumni Association at
(404)215-2657
Alumni registration package: $110 per
person; $100 per person for Life Members
Alumni registration is also available online at
www.morehousealumniandfriends.com until
Friday, Oct. 17. Registration cost is
non-refundable.
Concerned Alumnus Helped Pave
Joseph Dixons Path to Morehouse
Joseph Dixon '86, vice president for Information Technology
By ADD SEYMOUR JR.
Samuel J. Eaves ’62 saw some
thing in Joseph Dixon during the
early 1980s that Dixon couldn’t
even see in himself: his potential to
become a Morehouse Man.
“I had no concept of college,”
said Dixon, who became the Col
lege’s vice president for Information
Technology in May 2008. “I never
really thought about it.”
But Eaves, Dixon’s high school
guidance counselor at the time, did.
“He came from a difficult situa
tion in a difficult part of town,” said
the now retired Eaves. “But he still
felt that education was important to
him. That’s what drew my attention
to him. I knew he had the potential.”
Eaves’ instincts were correct.
Dixon graduated from More
house in 1986 with math and com
puter science degrees, completed
graduate school and then embarked
on a career in information technol
ogy that has brought him right back
where it all started.
It also brought him into the
midst of one of the most scrutinized
areas of any organization today, in
formation technology.
“We all know the famous stories
from the past,” he said. “What I
found is that we had a mixed repu
tation. The biggest service issue is to
arrive at agreeable service levels and
customer expectations. If we can’t
provide a level of service that pro
vides real value for the customer,
we’re dropping the ball. But we have
to sit down and have a real honest
talk with the customer.”
Dixon grew up in a rough part of
Jacksonville, Fla. Neither computers
nor college were on his mind until
he ran into Eaves. Once Eaves heard
that Dixon’s grandmother - who
only had an eighth-grade education
- wanted her grandson to go to col
lege, Eaves made it a personal quest
to get Dixon there, thinking More
house would be the perfect place for
him.
But it wasn’t easy.
“I remember he had a deadline
to get his papers in to Morehouse,
but he kept procrastinating,” Eaves
said. “I took him to the dean (of the
high school) and told him that if
Dixon didn’t have his papers the
next day, he needed to paddle him. I
wasn’t going to let him lose that
opportunity (to go to Morehouse).”
Even after getting into More
house, Dixon said he had to get
used to the idea.
“On the first day of registration,
I woke up in Jacksonville, got in my
car and drove up at five in the
morning, parked in the lots and
stood in front of Gloster Hall,” he
said. “To the first guy who walked by
I asked, ‘Excuse me, do you know
where Morehouse College is? He
said, ‘Uh, you’re here!”’
Dixon ended up becoming a stel
lar math student who fell in love
with computer science. That inter
est became his passion. He has
worked at AT&T/Bell Laboratories,
the University of Oregon System
and was the first director of school
technology for the Fulton County
School System.
He gives Eaves a lot of the credit.
“He really pushed me,” Dixon
said. “He was really great. He’s
something else.” ■
Biggest Losers Seek
Prizes and Healthier
Lifestyles
Seven men and 15 women are
looking to become Morehouse's
biggest loser - an honor that carries
a lot of weight. They are participants
in The Biggest Loser, a part of the
Colleges 50 Million Pound Challenge.
"We're trying to make sure
we're offering more incentives and
the programs to encourage healthy
eating, increased exercising and
healthier lifestyles at Morehouse,"
said coordinator Dionne Polite, of
the Department of Recreation, Intra
murals and Fitness.
Teams with the highest com
bined weight loss and combined re
duction in body fat will receive $50
gift cards and one-hour massages.
Top male and female losers win $25
gift cards and half-hour massages.
Several events are planned
before the Dec. 3-5 final weigh-in -
an Oct. 9 seminar on setting realistic
goals; a mid-point debriefing on
Oct. 30; and a Nov. 13 endurance
challenge. ■