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INSIDE MOREHOUSE, OCTOBER 2014
Inside Morehouse is
about the people who
make up the Morehouse
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MOREHOUSE
Wilson: Morehouse On Quest to Finish an Unfinished Symphony
u This world cannot truly
be what it ought to be until
we as a people complete the
quest of unleashing our unique
gift to the world.
BY ADD SEYMOUR JR.
HILE THE COLLEGE is headed in
the right direction, President John
Silvanus Wilson Jr. 79 said during
his 2014 Opening Convocation speech that
Morehouse is an unfinished symphony “that is
beautiful, but incomplete.”
“Morehouse was founded to help real
ize wholeness for a decidedly broken people,”
Wilson said to faculty, staff and students.
“And simply put, we are not yet whole. And
that means everything we do to strengthen
Morehouse College is de facto pursuant to finish
ing the symphony of our collective wholeness.”
“Think of it,” he added. “This world can
not truly be what it ought to be until we as a peo
ple complete the quest of unleashing our unique
gift to the world. Until we finish our symphony!”
His speech set the tone for the 2014-2015
academic year as it is the ceremonial begin
ning of the new year at Morehouse and brings
together the entire campus to get inspired and
ready for the new year.
Wilson said that work continues moving
forward on enhancing the College’s financial
capital, physical capital, intellectual capital, tech
nical capital and human capital.
There also will be a bigger push on the
campus’ student embrace. It will focus on char
acter development, or what Wilson called the
character preeminence imperative.
“With key roles for Drs. [Timothy] Sams
and Campbell, my team is on a quest to make
Morehouse College the very best place for young
men to come of age,” he said. “That involves
optimizing not just the classroom experience, but
our overall programming, the co-curriculum,
the hidden curriculum... in short, the unfinished
symphony of our embrace.”
The focus, Wilson said, is for the
Morehouse community to fulfill the unfulfilled
destiny of the College.
“In our view, the call is not to just help
us to find our people, but it is a call to help us
find our better selves,” Wilson said. “It is a call
to help us find our better Morehouse College.
Most of all, it is a call to help us to finish all of
our unfinished symphonies!”
Provost Garikai Campbell told students
that it is a time to tap into their passions and to
hear “the sound of the genuine,” a reference to
a favorite saying by Howard Thurman ’23.
“It is a call to move beyond just hearing
the sound of the genuine, but to more fully
develop these rhythms, to work hard, to use
this time and this brotherhood to advance your
skills to become more expert in this passion,”
he said. “I truly hope that you each have an
extraordinary year and that you do hear, dis
cover your passion and the sound of the genu
ine and to fully realize it as the symphony that I
know it will become.” ■
Seven New Members Join the Morehouse College Board of Trustees
SEVEN NEW MEMBERS of the 36-member Morehouse College
Board of Trustees have joined the group this year.
They join a body that is the ultimate governing authority of the
College. Board responsibilities include appointing the president;
approving the College’s mission and purpose, institutional policies
and changes in academic programs; guarding the College’s finances;
approving the awarding of degrees; and setting an example of gener
ous financial support.
To learn more about the Morehouse College Board of Trustees,
go to https://www.morehouse.edu/trustees/index.html. ■
THE NEW TRUSTEES ARE:
Director of Public Relations
Toni O’Neal Mosley
tmosley@morehouse.edu
Executive Editor
Vickie G. Hampton
vhampton@morehouse.edu
Editor
Add Seymour Jr.
aseymour@morehouse.edu
Calendar Editor
Add Seymour Jr.
aseymour@morehouse.edu
Photographers
Philip McCullom
Add Seymour Jr.
Graphic Design
Glennon Design Group
Web Services
Kara Walker
Administrative Assistant
Minnie L. Jackson
Inside Morehouse
is published during
the academic year by
Morehouse College,
Office of Communications.
Opinions expressed in Inside
Morehouse are those of
the authors, not
necessarily of the College.
Mike Polk is the president
and CEO for Newell
Rubbermaid. He previ
ously has worked for
successful growing inno
vative global companies.
Previously he was presi
dent of Global Foods, Home and Personal at
Unilever and president at Kraft Foods. Polk
attended Harvard Business School, where
he received a MBA, and Cornell University
where he received a B.S. degree.
Robin Richards is chair-
V ™ ■ man and CEO for the
Career Arc Group. As the
company’s co-founder,
t ’ v he sets the corporate goals
and leads the development
P of business and market
strategies. Previously,
he led Blackboard Connect (formerly The
NTI Group) to become the top provider
of hosted, time-sensitive mass notification
services focused on assisting government and
civil leaders to communicate quickly and
efficiently with their constituents using multi
modal technologies.
Ratanjit S. Sondhe, an
author and entrepreneur,
is a recipient of the 2010
Ohio Civil Rights Hall of
Fame award, emigrated
from India to the United
States in 1968 with $8 in
his pocket and two mas
ter’s degrees. He soon became an American
entrepreneur, founding POLY-CARB Inc.,
where he served as CEO and chairman for
34 years.
Earl W. Stafford founded
The Stafford Foundation
in 2002 as a faith-based,
non-profit organization.
He also serves as the CEO
of The Wentworth Group,
LLC, a privately held hold
ing company that provides
essential business services and growth invest
ment support to commercial, technology-
focused small businesses. Stafford holds
a bachelor’s degree in business from the
University of Massachusetts, Amherst and an
MBA from Southern Illinois University. He
is a graduate of the OPM executive program
at Harvard Business School and holds several
honorary doctorates.
Richard W. Thaler Jr.
is a managing partner
(retired) for Lieutenant
Island Partners LLC.,
which is engaged in vari
ous for-profit and not-for-
profit endeavors. Since
retirement from Deutsche
Bank, he has been actively consulting with
BMO Capital Markets, Inc., as well as several
public home-building companies and private-
equity groups.
New faculty trustee David
Wall Rice '95 is chair and
associate professor of
psychology. He is also
Principal Investigator of
the Identity Orchestration
Research Lab. Rice is
founding co-director
of the Cinema, Television, and Emerging
Media Studies Program. He received a mas
ter’s degree in Journalism from Columbia
University, and earned a doctorate in person-
ality psychology from Howard University.
New student trustee is
Zephyrinus Okonkwo, a
sophomore economics
major from Montgomery,
Alabama.