INSIDE MOREHOUSE, FEBRUARY 2015
NEWS BRIEFS
Morehouse Qualifies for Honda Campus All-Star Challenge
Morehouse is one of 48 HBCUs that has qualified for the 26th Honda Campus
All-Star Challenge, March 21 -25, in Torrance, Calif. Morehouse has won the
national title four times and earned $443,000 in scholarship money in 26 years
of competition.
Last year’s team lost on the last question to Oakwood during the quarterfinal
round. This year’s team consists of D’ondre Swails, George Nwanze Jr., Aquia
Richburg and Cullen Watkins. Robert Myrick coaches the team this year.
The Maroon Tiger Wins Student Journalism Awards
The Maroon Tiger ms named one of Georgia’s top college newspapers after
winning first place in general excellence during the Georgia Press Institute
Awards ceremony on Feb. 7.
Presented by the Georgia College Press Association, the awards program
annually honors the state’s top collegiate journalists and their publications.
The Maroon Tiger also won a first place award for Best Community Service-
Features and a third place award for layout and design.
Darren Martin '15 is the paper’s editor-in-chief, while Jared Loggins is the
managing editor.
National Endowment for the Humanities
Awards $100,000 Grant to King Collection
The National Endowment for the Humanities awarded a $100,000 grant to
Morehouse College and the Morehouse College Martin Luther King Jr. Collection.
The grant will go towards incorporating documents from the King Collection
into humanities teaching at the College.
TIAA-CREF Offering Individual Counseling Sessions
Representatives of TIAA-CREF will be on campus March 23 and 24 from 9 a.m.
to 5 p.m. to give individual counseling sessions to evaluate employees’ retire
ment goals. Meetings will be held in the Human Resources conference room.
Employees must register for a counseling session. Go to www.tiaacref.
org/letstalk1 or call 1-866-843-5640, Monday through Friday between 9 a.m.
and 8 p.m.
Students, Faculty and Staff Invited to Participate
in 9th Annual Student Symposium
The Morehouse English department, in collaboration with the Office of the
Provost invites students, faculty and staff to participate in the 9th Annual
Student Symposium to be held in April.
Papers may be presented on a variety of topics, but those focusing on
events in Ferguson, Mo, and the following themes are desired: athletics, film,
African American studies, business, foreign language and culture, history,
journalism, literary, visual and performance art, mathematics and computer sci
ence, religion, faith and philosophy, science, social and political science, urban
studies or Martin Luther King Jr.
Those interested in participating should submit a 300-word abstract of their
paper or presentation by going to http://2015symposiumweebly.com and click
on “submit abstract.”
The deadline for entry is March 16.
For more information, contact Francine Allen atfrancine.allen@morehouse.edu.
C-SPAN Comes to Morehouse
PRESIDENT JOHN SILVANUS WILSON JR. 79 talks about
Morehouse and HBCUs during a live interview on C-SPAN’s
‘Washington Journal” on Feb. 11. The interview was conducted on
the C-SPAN bus, which was on campus during its tour of HBCUs.
Students, faculty and staff were allowed to tour the bus and learn more
about C-SPAN. ■
Tim Sams Looks to Enhance Morehouse
Student Development Model
BY ADD SEYMOUR JR.
IT’S IRONIC that Tim Sams, the College’s vice presi
dent for Student Development, has always wanted to
be an interior decorator, specifically on Afrocentricity.
Just as the Chinese concept of feng shui in interi
or decorating focuses on creating spaces that cultivate
growth and development, he is looking forward to
building a campus culture that develops and cultivates
the growth of Morehouse Men.
“Morehouse has the culture to create that
Morehouse Man,” Sams said. “The challenge is refin
ing our ability to do that, being very clear about what
those outcomes are and what the processes are that
enable us to achieve those outcomes... I just have to
get us to make sure we are clear about what we are
doing and doing it in the best way possible. That’s
exciting to me.”
Sams, who hails from upstate New York, has
spent 23 years in student development and student
services at Swarthmore College, New York University-
Abu Dhabi and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
He comes to Morehouse looking to enhance the
idea of a student development model that’s as unique
as Morehouse.
Sams said that model looks to develop an aca
demically strong student who is just as strong in
character, but with the traditional Morehouse ideals of
spirituality, leadership and career focus.
“I’ve always wanted to do that here,” he said. “So I
see the past 23 years as preparation for this place for me.”
To develop those kinds of graduates, Sams is
focused on creating an environment that targets
three areas.
“First, the school needs a solid financial founda
tion,” he said. “My area plays squarely into that, from
Tim Sams talks with senior Anwar Johnson
an enrollment standpoint and a housing standpoint.
So I want to make sure we are meeting our goals, our
targets, with regards to those things. When we do
that, everybody benefits.
“Second, embrace. President Wilson has made
it very clear that we are expected to achieve a better
embrace. So the first couple of things along that line
that I’m seeking to do is to realize a residential college
model. Attached to that is restructure the way our
deans operate because they are the drivers of that
embrace.
“And finally, create an environment among my
division of professionals that continuously enhances
their ability to be consummate professionals. I am of
the belief that the more you develop, the more you
support the success of your staff, the better they are
going to be for your students. So I’m keenly interest
ed in how we do that. I want top-flight, high-powered
staff, and I’m interested in creating an environment
that creates those folks.” ■
Morehouse to Host Nation’s Top African American
Officers During First Military Crown Forum
BY ADD SEYMOUR JR.
A NUMBER OF PEOPLE told Asante McCalla,
a junior sociology major and a member of the
Morehouse Navy ROTC unit, that there was no way
to get four African American flag officers on campus
at the same time.
Flag officers, some of the U.S. military’s high
est-ranking members, must be nominated by the
President and confirmed by the Senate. And only 5.5
percent of them are African American.
“It’s like having four CEOs of the nation’s biggest
companies here, only that these are people managing
the lives and safety of millions of people in this and
other countries,” he said.
Despite the naysayers and the logistical challenges,
the impossible will happen at 11 am. on March 26
during the College’s first-ever Military' Crown Forum in
the Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel.
Representing the Army, Navy, Air Force and
Marines, four of the nation’s highest-ranking African
American military leaders will tell students about their
lives and careers. They are:
• Rear Admiral Sinclair Harris, vice director for opera
tions for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Washington, D.C.
• Maj. Gen. Stayce D. Harris, commander of the 22nd
Air Force, Air Force Reserve Command, Dobbins
Air Force Base, Georgia
• Maj. Gen. Leslie Smith, Commander General of the
United States Army Maneuver Support Center of
Excellence, Fort Leonard Wood
• Lt. Gen. Vincent R Stewart, Commander, Marine
Forces Cyber
Harris is a three-star general while the others are
two-star generals.
Also attending the Crown Forum will be area mil
itary' officials, high school and college ROTC units, and
the Atlanta University Center Veterans and Military
Affinity Group.
The Military Crown Forum is a student-led
event. McCalla, along with Mark Ellison, a junior
international studies major and Army ROTC mem
ber; Matthew Diedonne, a junior economics major
and Navy ROTC member, and Georgia Tech Air
Force RO TC member, Jordan Rodgers formed the
ROTC Joint Services Committee and worked with
Crown Forum committee members.
“We want to expose students to the fact that
there is senior leadership in the military who looks
like them, McCalla said. “And we’ve never had a
military Crown Forum before. We always hear that
if you want to be successful, become a lawyer or a
doctor or a businessman. Rarely do we hear about
the influence of the military and how there are
great Morehouse Men who have been part of the
military.” ■
