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MOREHOUSE
A CAMPUS NEWSLETTER FOR FACULTY, STAFF AND STUDENTS
SEPTEMBER 2010
James Bell believes ethical leadership
is about integrity
Students motivate Faculty Member
of the Year Marcellus Barksdale
Judo is everything for Quentin Johnson 02
Maroon Tigers play
“championship-caliber” football
Ray Charles Performing Arts Center and Music Academic
Building is Music Department's New Home
The Ray Charles Performing Arts Center and Music Academic Building will open for tours to faculty, staff and alumni on Oct. 2.
By ADD SEYMOUR JR.
M usic department chair
man Uzee Brown Jr.
’72 shook his head as
he thought about the days of
teaching and making music in
what is now a small physical
plant building and later in
Brawley Hall. Neither was
ideal for music.
“We have managed despite
not having an adequate place
to work,” he said. “Many have
come to visit over the years
and said they have marveled
at what we were able to do
with the limited facilities
that we had.”
That will no longer be a
problem.
The Music Department has
moved into the new campus
south side anchor, the spark
ling Ray Charles Performing
Arts Center and Music Acad
emic Building.
Built by C.D. Moody Con
struction Company (Moody is
a 1978 alumnus), the 76,000-
square-foot building on the
corner of West End Avenue
and Joseph E. Lowery
Boulevard, with its rounded
glass-walled atrium facing
north towards the rest of the
campus, brings together
music performance and
teaching in one modern and
technologically advanced
facility.
“It’s thrilling,” said Pres
ident Robert M. Franklin ’75.
“My metaphor for this era of
Morehouse is renaissance,
renewal and rebirth. What is
better than having the Ray
Charles Performing Arts
Center and Music Academic
Building as the symbolic
opening of this new year and
this era in the renaissance? It
symbolizes that sense of
unleashing creativity, genius
(continued on page 5)
Morehouse Named the
Nation's Best Liberal
Arts College
By ADD SEYMOUR JR.
Morehouse is the nation’s best
liberal arts college, according to
Washington Monthly’s 2010 Col
lege Guide.
The magazine’s editors picked
Morehouse No. 1 based on their
emphasis on social mobility,
research and service to the country.
“Morehouse enrolls an unusu
ally large number of low-income
men, graduates most of them,
makes significant contributions to
research and has an active ROTC
program,” wrote the Washington
Monthly editors in the magazine.
Also, U.S. News 6- World Report
chose Morehouse the nation’s third
best historically black college while
Forbes magazine picked More
house as one of “America’s Best
Colleges” for the third consecutive
year. The Princeton Review named
Morehouse as one of the South
east’s best colleges.
“It’s always good to be among the
best company, so those rankings cer
tainly confirm our brand,” said
Weldon Jackson ’72, provost and
senior vice president of Academic
Affairs. “It reinvigorates all of us who
work here because obviously what
we do is having the right benefit.”
To view the full list of colleges
and universities ranked by Wash
ington Monthly magazine, go to
http://www.washingtonmonthly.
com/college guide/index.php.
Rwanda Presidential Scholars Plan to
Take Morehouse Experience Back to Africa
By ADD SEYMOUR JR.
Rwanda Presidential Scholars Miguel Twahirwa (left) and
Jacques Kumutima (right) are excited about studying at Morehouse.
W hile college is a new
experience for all fresh
men, nearly everything
this semester so far has turned
into a learning experience for
Miguel Twahirwa and Jacques
Kumutima.
A year ago, they were both
in the central African country
of Rwanda just hoping for any
opportunity to attend college in
the United States. Now they are
part of the Rwanda Presidential
Scholars Program in which they
will be able to earn their
degrees in the U.S. and then
return to Rwanda to help the
developing country.
“Great people studied here,
like Martin Luther King,”
Kumutima said. “That encour
aged me to come to this school
and pursue my studies and do
well. In Rwanda, many things
will change. I came here to get
experiences so that I can go and
apply them and bring them back
to my country. I am very excited.”
This is Morehouse’s first year
in the program, which brings
Rwanda’s top math and science
students to the United States to
study at one of 19 institutions.
After graduation, the students
return home for a minimum of
two years to put their educations
to work in the central African
nation. The students are
matched with institutions that fit
them academically and socially.
“I think it’s unique when you
have a group of Rwandan stu
dents come to campus and be
able to meet students who come
from around the world, who
may or may not look like them
but share various commonali
ties,” said Danny Bellinger, the
interim director of Admissions
and Recruitment. “It may be a bit
much to take in initially, but they
will leave here ready to get back
to Rwanda and make a differ
ence in their country.”
Twahirwa and Kumutima
come from a country that con
tinues to rebound after that
nation’s low point in 1994 when
nearly 1 million Rwandans died
during the Rwandan genocide
after a civil war in the country.
Now Rwanda is a symbol of
strength as the nation’s govern
ment has been rebuilt, the econo
my has been stimulated and
tourism continues to rise.
Kumutima and Twahirwa
both will study chemistry at
Morehouse. Although they hope
to make lots of new friends and
immerse themselves in American
culture, both look to take their
experiences home to Rwanda
and continue their country’s
growth.
“I’m excited to take classes
here,” Twahirwa said. “I think I
will get many opportunities here.
And Morehouse will help me to
go from being a young man to a
man. I’m very excited to be here
at Morehouse.”
