Newspaper Page Text
Monday, October 24, 2005
spelmanspotlight@spelman.edu
PROFILES
Spotlight on women
in the news
Meet activist Jane Fonda, author/poet Pearl
Cleage and Hurricane Katrina survivor
Alexandrea Rich.
P3
ENTERTAINMENT
Jaspects’ debut hits
the AUC
Jazz finds favor with younger audiences
through this young band’s musicial stylings.
P5
WELLNESS
Black women... up in
smoke?
Wellness writer Ronalda Joseph explores the
correlation between ethnicity and the
dangers of smoking.
New provost
at Spelman
Dr. Johnnella E. Butler sits
down with the Spotlight
and tells us about the
upcoming year.
PI
LGHT
Get to know
your
Spelman
Jaguars
ARTS
‘Speak Up’
The Poetry Corner
features another install
ment from one of
Spelman’s own poets.
Spelman College names building in honor
of former President Johnnetta B. Cole
Johnnetta B. Cole
By TaRessa Stovall, Spelman College
Atlanta—Spelman College is paying trib
ute to its first Black woman president, nam
ing a campus building in her honor. The
Johnnetta Betsch Cole Living and Learning
Center II will be dedicated on Oct. 19, at 4
p.m. on the Atlanta campus.
"It was a joy and a privilege to serve as the
president of Spelman College for 10 years,"
Dr. Cole said. "I appreciate the acknowl
edgement of that service by the naming of
the Living and Learning Center II in my
honor."
The Spelman College Living and
Learning Center II is a $7.8 million multi
purpose facility that houses students and
administrative offices. It was designed by the
architectural firm Nix Mann Viehman.
"As we prepare to celebrate the 125th
anniversary of Spelman College on April 11,
2006, we are honoring important institu
tional milestones of the past," said President
Beverly Daniel Tatum. "Dr. Cole’s historic
appointment was a major milestone, and her
leadership helped ensure the College’s long
term viability as the nation’s oldest histori
cally black college for women."
Dr. Cole served as the seventh president
of Spelman, and, as a career academic and
renowned anthropologist, was its first schol
ar-president. Her most recent publication is
"Gender Talk: the Struggle for Women’s
Equality in African American
Communities," co-authored with Dr.
Beverly Guy-Shehall, director of the
Women’s Research and Resource Center and
Anna Julia Cooper Professor of Women’s
Studies at Spelman.
During her 1987-1997 tenure, Dr. Cole
boosted the College’s public profile and aca
demic reputation, significantly increased its
endowment, and established several ground
breaking programs. She strengthened
Spelman’s relationship with the business
community by serving on several boards of
directors including Home Depot and Merck
& Co. Inc. She was the first woman elected
to the board of Coca-Cola Enterprises. She
also built strong bridges to Atlanta’s non
profit, academic and corporate communi
ties.
"It is impossible to overstate the impor
tance of Johnnetta Cole’s tenure at Spelman
College. As our first Black woman presi
dent, she made our dreams of female leader
ship and empowerment a reality," said
acclaimed author/playwright Pearl Cleage, a
member of the Spelman Class of 1971, and
the current Cosby Endowed Professor in
Humanities. "Her work as an activist,
administrator and feminist energized both
see Former President on Pg 7 »>
Homecoming
Morehouse and Spelman Coronations,
Screen on the Green, the Kick-Off Jam
and more...
P8
New provost has great plans for Spelman
Anesha Williams
Staff Writer
Dr. Johnnella E. Butler, educator in
black and ethnic studies, has assumed
the position of provost and vice presi
dent of academic affairs, in which she
will work to enhance the academic
needs of Spelman students.
For some, the responsibilities of the
provost are solely focused on the institu
tional affairs. But for Butler, “this is an
opportunity to work with a campus of
young black women and staff to advance
the mission of Spelman.”
Butler plans to incorporate her repu
tation as a leader and strive for curricu
lum transformation through an interac
tive circle among students and faculty.
“I want to learn more about the stu
dents of Spelman and I want them to get
to know me as well,” said Butler.
While placing great importance on
student-faculty relations, Butler hopes
to launch her luncheon program, Voices
in Academia (VIA), which will encour
age faculty to spend more time getting
to know their students.
“My mother and father, both of
whom were teachers, taught me to value
the voices of the students and balance
them with the voices of the teachers,”
said Butler.
Butler’s love of education is not lim
ited to the role of improving an institu
tion’s system of higher education. For
more than twenty years, Butler served as
a staff member at the University of
Washington, integrating the history, lit
erature, sociology and politics of people
historically excluded.
In addition to ethnic studies, Butler
specializes in the field of black literature
Spelman’s new provost Dr. Johnnella E. Butler
and women’s studies. Butler’s addition
to Spelman College will allow her to
contribute as a professor in the compar
ative women’s studies department.
“I hope next year to begin teaching a
course in the department and get young
Spelman women thinking because the
world is theirs to explore and learn
see Provost on Pg 7 »>