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INSIDE MOREHOUSE, OCTOBER 2014 Inside Morehouse is about the people who make up the Morehouse College community. To tell those stories, WE NEED YOU to send us your ideas, comments and thoughts, along with your news, information about your new books or publications and your commentary for sections like My Word. To send us your information, contact Inside Morehouse Editor Add Seymour Jr. at aseymour@morehouse.edu For up-to-the minute information about the College, go to www.morehouse.edu or visit Morehouse on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Tumblr. www.morehouse.edu Youfflflfi 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.