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Page 4 • SPELMAN SPOTLIGHT September, 1986
Profile
Kimberly Dawn Russaw
By Suzanne Henry
Dr. Chine DeJenga has
been teaching in the
chemistry department at
Spelman College for three
years. DeJenga is originally
from Johannesburg, South
Africa. The educational
system in South Africa is
segregated; therefore, he
received his secondary
education in a school for
blacks. In South Africa,
education for whites is gree
until age 18, but black student
have to pay for everyting. The
schooling for blacks is design
ed to keep black servitude,
fortunately DeJenga has
presevering parents who en
couraged him to continue his
education through college.
DeJenga became interested
in chemistry because he was
always had a fascination with
science. He has always asked
the questions how and why?
Because they could only be
answered by science that
became his greatest interest.
After graduating from college,
he won a scholarship to finish
his studies in Germany where
he was awarded a United Na
tions Fellowship to study at
the University of London.
There he received his Fh.D.
in chemistry. Then he spent a
year studying abroad doing
research in his field.
DeJenga came to America
by reading about the Civil
Rights Movement and other
inspirational leaders such as
Martin Luther King, Angela
Davis and Malcolm X. He
also received a doctoral
fellowship at the University of
Texas in Austin. While in
Austin, he taught chemistry
and environmental science
classes at a community col
lege. Then he proceeded to
Princeton University and
taught areospace and
mechanical engineering and
was the director of analytical
laboratory in renewable
resources.
DeJenga decided to take a
position in the aerospace
engineering analytical
laboratory with the U.S.
Navy. There he learned about
Spelman. Morehouse and
other colleges in the Atlanta
University Center and decid
ed to give his services to the
black community. DeJenga
has never regretted his deci
sion to teach at Spelman
because it gives him pleasure
to see black people growing
and developing and it gives
him great honor to be a part
of that.
DeJenga feels chemists are
in a high demand. He also
feels the job prospects are
good for chemistry majors in
the areas of industry,
academia and textiles.
DeJenga wrote a proposal
which has been approved and
funded by the National
Science Foundation to pur
chase new state of the art in
strumentation that will involve
Spelman in research projects.
In addition to the proposal,
DeJenga will be developing a
modular course to teach and
involve students in use of that
equipment. These in
struments will be used for
analyzing chemical
substances.
The greatest ambition of
DeJenga is to see the
establishment of a center for
peace and world security
studies program on campus.
The purpose would be to get
women and minorities involv
ed in the issues of golbal
peace. He has written a pro
posal and it was submitted to
President Stewart in July for
approval.
“Spelman’s historic mission
to provide for black female
student requires that this in
stitution take a leadership role
in involving black women in
the issues of international
peace,” DeJenga said.
“Being predominatley
black, the college is suited to
bringing a Third World
perspective into the issues of
peace and world security.
Throughout history, black
women have understood the
relationship between the sur
vival and progress of the race
and their own well-being.
By Leslie Skyes,
Dawn Griffin
and Montanette Rocker
Forty-eighty hours before
the student government
association president is due to
speak at convocation, she
hovers over her cluttered
desk, scribbling tidbits of ideas
from an unexpected
brainstorm. Slowly, the wrods
cohere into an insightful
speech and she reads it again
and again to check for incon
sistencies and errors.
Clas in a smart skirt-blouse
combo, she approaches the
podium in : .. 'ers Chapel with
a calm, reassuring stride and
flashes a devilish smile. Com
posing herself, she begins a
speech laced with all the
truth, billilance and promise
that personifies Kimberly
Dawn Russaw.
In a recent push to en
courage Spelman College
students to vote wisely,
Russaw challenged the
biology majors to “absorb the
facts about the candidates like
a sponge. Use this knowledge
as a probe so that you may
move aside the fatty tissue so
as to see your speciman more
clearly. Examine him or her.
Disect the candidate,” she
said.
As S.G.A. president,
Russaw not only displays
originality and creativity, but
she exercises strong critical
and analytical faculties as
well.
Perhaps the most revealing
They have been at the
forefront of the black struggle
and have served as the lin
chpin between the two most
important reform movements
of the last 30 years: the civil
rights movement and the
women’s movement. Black
women must also provide
leadership thnrough their
anizations and institutions in
the worldwide peace move
ment.
evidence of Russaw’s nose for
leadership is her recent deci
sion not to endorse the Atlan
ta University Center block
party because of past violent
incidents. Instead, her ad
ministration sponsored a
slumber party for the
freshmen in Manley Center’s
upper concourse.
A native Chicagoan,
Russaw credits Spelman for
her recent success in cor
porate America. This past
summer she as a managerial
level intern with the American
Hospital Supply Co. in
Waukegan, Ill. During her in
ternship, she was one of few
blacks ' in managerial posi
tions.
Russaw also discovered
that she was twice as
prepared as her white
counterparts. “Spelman
equips her students,” she
said.
Impressions of
Spelman . . .
Continued from Page 3
all cannons of objective jour
nalism, I still must, in all
fairness to Vassar tell you the
other side of her assets. In the
words of Meryl Streep, a
Vassar alumna, “Vassar sinks
her teeth into your leg and
won’t let go.” And if you
don’t give your absolute all,
believe me those “teeth” will
sink in further and further un
til you do choose to rank
them as anything less quickly
find themselves tossed out the
gate.
Everyday is a challenge
there. Every essay, every
term paper, and every class
session is an intense stimula
tion of the mind. There is no
“getting by.” Cheating and
plagarism are simply un
thinkable, for when you
cheat, you become the most
pitifully denied. Vassar pits
An impressive list of ac
tivities follows Russaw
through her matriculation at
Spelman. These include
Manley Hall fire captain in her
freshman year, a class officer
for two consecutive years, a
contestant in the 1985 Miss
Blue and White pageant, a
member of the Senior Honor
Society, a member of the Na
tional Fund and a member of
Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority,
Inc.
Russaw’s S.G.A. platform,
“SCUISM,” is equally im
pressive. The letters represent
spelman, communication,
unity, involvement, security
and maintenance.
Of past and present ad
ministrative goals and pur
poses, Russaw says, “Each
year, each S.G.A. cabinet will
specialize in one thing ... No
one S.G.A. cabinet can do
everything.”
Russaw’s hobbies include
playing the piano, leisurely
reading and working with
people. She is a humorous,
calm, yet serious persons.
you against yourself, and so
each day actually marks a
new discovery of what your
mind is capable of. Vassar
demands excellence which is
something I find most appeal
ing in her.
Yes, I have thrown up my
hands and have tried to pry
those teeth off of my leg; I
have yearned to do my hair
and put on some make-up in
an effort to be a human being
rather than a study monger; I
have gazed dolefully over a
pile of books dreaming of
what it would be like to be free
of such responsibility —
floating on my stomach, with
my man off the coast of some
Green isle . . .
But the challenge is too
great to turn away from. You
are running against yourself in
a race for self-betterment and
what a disaster if you lose.
Vassar wouldn’t let me, and
there I discovered my own
potential as no less than great.
Historically, we black
woman have always been the
strength the calloused hand
and the raised head. Vassar
magnifies this strength in me
through rigorous intellectual
stumulation and the belief that
“yes, I can do it all.” I cannot
thank her enough. And
hopefully Spelman will pro
vide the same incessant push.
We all deserve it. Without it,
we lack the ability to walk up
to the world and say, “I will be
heard!”