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MOREHOUSE
A CAMPUS NEWSLETTER FOR FACULTY, STAFF AND STUDENTS
OCTOBER 2014
Focus pays off for Maroon Tiger
Devon Mann
Q
HIS
Homecoming 2014
State of the College
An Updated Look at the College’s Strategic Plan
to be Presented During Homecoming 2014
BY ADD SEYMOUR JR.
Oil Portraits of Masseys Unveiled; RayPAC Atrium Named for Skinners
BY ADD SEYMOUR JR.
A LUMNI, FACULTY, STAFF and stu
dents will get a Homecoming message
from President John Silvanus Wilson
Jr. 79 about a new look for the campus
and a new direction.
Wilson, along with Provost Garikai Campbell,
will present the Homecoming “State of the College”
discussion in the Bank of America Auditorium
today as the president talks about “Reimagining
the Campus” and gfves his ideas about a new
Morehouse with a campus green, new and
improved buildings, athletic facilities and other
potential updates to the College’s look.
Campbell will talk about the College’s
Strategic Plan for 2015-2017.
The 3 p.m. discussion is just one of the high
lights of Homecoming 2014 where that presentation
of new ideas merges with traditional events, such as the Alumni Tailgate, the Coronation
of Miss Maroon and White, the football game against Albany State University and
Sunday’s Closing Worship Service.
An estimated 10,000 people will be on campus for what annually is called one of the
biggest HBCU homecoming weekends in the country.
President John Silvanus Wilson Jr. 79
“It’s that special time when the entire
Morehouse family comes together to celebrate and
reconnect with the institution and each other,”
said Henry Goodgame ’84, director of Alumni
Relations. “If you’ve never had a chance to come
and check out your classmates during Reunion
in May, we know that they will come during
Homecoming to rekindle their old friendships and
even start new ones. Homecoming is very, very
special and always will be.”
This year’s student theme is “Mission
Impossible: Collegiate Espionage,” while the
alumni theme is, “Tradition.”
So far this week, music stars Future and
Provost Garikai Campbell Elle Varner have performed and James Shelton
’89, deputy secretary of the U.S. Department
of Education has delivered the Homecoming
Crown Forum address. And the Morehouse Journalism and Sports Program presented
the “Maroon Tiger Game Day” during the annual Pep Rally, a takeoff on ESPN’s
College Game Day.
Goodgame said it all makes for one of the biggest homecoming weekends ever for
Morehouse. ■
A S A FRESHMAN at Morehouse 60
years ago this fall, Walter Massey ’58
said he never envisioned seeing his
portrait hanging on campus.
Now there are two.
During a dinner reception for the
Morehouse College Board of Trustees
meetings last weekend in the Ray
Charles Performing Arts Center, por
traits of Massey, the College’s ninth
president, and his wife, Shirley E.
Massey, were unveiled. The Masseys’
portraits will hang in the buildings
named after them, the Walter E. Massey
Leadership Center and the Shirley A.
Massey Executive Conference Center.
Their portraits are also in the
Martin Luther King Jr. International
Chapel’s International Hall of Honor.
“To say that I never thought my
portrait would be on this campus is an
understatement,” Massey said with a
laugh. “But you always know when you
graduate from Morehouse College that it
would be part of your life ... Shirley and
I have done a number of things, but the
best thing that ever happened to us was
coming to Morehouse College.”
Just before their portraits were
unveiled, the Performing Arts Center’s
atrium was named in honor of trustee
emeritus B. Franklin Skinner and his late
wife, Ruth Ann.
Skinner is the former chairman and
CEO of BellSouth Telecommunications,
former chairman of the Atlanta Chamber
of Commerce and the United Way of
Metro Atlanta. He was also the first
development committee chairman for the
Morehouse College Board of Trustees.
“You’ve lived your life in such a way
that people will remember you for many
years to come, and that is special, and that
makes you a Morehouse Man,” President
John Silvanus Wilson Jr. ’79 said to Skinner.
Skinner said he was humbled.
“I feel the opportunity to serve
on the Morehouse College Board of
Shirley and Walter E. Massey '58 speak after their oil portraits are unveiled.
Trustees and my involvement with
Morehouse as one of God’s richest les
sons in my life,” Skinner said. “As you
go forward, I wish you well and pray for
God’s richest blessings on this institu
tion and on each of you as you continue
the mission - a noble mission - of
educating and developing young men
and transforming college students into
Morehouse Men.” ■
Golden is BET’s “Sunday Best”
Morehouse hosts important talks
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