Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

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.”