Newspaper Page Text
Augusta plagued
by rash of
handgun shootings
Page 7
ta Netus-Heutew
Volume 12 Number 30
Climax of centennial year
Dr. Harris to be inaugurated
Dr. William H. Harris will be
inaugurated Saturday during the fif
th of five major weekends celebrating
the Centennial of the founding of
Paine College. He is the 11th
president of the college.
The first event of the week will be a
colloquium on Thursday, at 2 p.m. in
the Gilbert-Lambuth Memorial
Chapel. The speaker will be Homer
A. Neal, provost, State University of
New York at Stony Brook.
Neal received a B.S. in Physics
from Indiana University, and both
the M.S. and Ph.D. in physics from
the University of Michigan.
Prior to his appointment with the
State University of New York at
Stony Brook, Neal was professor of
physics and dean of research and
Graduate Development at Indiana
University. He was a John Simon
Guggenheim Fellow in 1980-81, is a
member of the National Science
Board, and is a Fellow of the
American Physical Society.
Internationally renowned for his
research in higher energy physics, he
was the visiting scientist at the Niels
Bohr Institute at the University of
Copenhagen in 1974. In addition, he
has been' an invited visitor at the
Russian Institute for Higher Energy
Physics in Serpukhov, RuSsia and at
the Chinese Academy of Sciences in
Peking.
In addition to his academic accom
plishments,' Neal has authored and
co-authored several articles that have
Augusta gets first black orthopedic surgeon
Editor’s note: This is the first of a
series of articles on black doctors wed
to black doctors.
Dr. Michael D. Paul—Augusta’s
newest black physician and first black
orthopedic surgeon—has come a
long way in a short time.
As an orthopedic surgeon, he
treats problems of the bones and join
ts. This includes spine problems,
treatment of arthritis, foot problems
as well as sports-related injuries.
Until four years ago, he had spent
his entire life in Zimbabwe (formerly
Rhodesia) where he began practicing
when he was 28. Because of the shor
tage of doctors in that country—there
are now only four orthopedic
surgeons (his specialty) for seven
I million people—he went into general
practice. “If you wanted to have a
dental checkup, you’d have to wait
six months for an appointment,” he
said. He practiced dentistry,
pediatrics, obstetrics, gynecology,
and general surgery.
In addition to his practice, he was
; president of the National Association
lof Colored People. His father is
white, his mother black. He was ac
tive with the United African National
’ Congress—subsequently the Patriotic
Front that later came to power.
However, the political climate,
became “life threatening” and he was
I forced to leave the country.
the United States. He completed his
orthopaedic surgery residency last
year at the University of Pen
nsylvania where he won the top prize,
The Edgar Ralston Award, for
having written the most outstanding
research paper by a senior resident.
That was in June. He then came to
Augusta to look at prospects for set
ting up a practice now located on
Wrightsboro Road opposite St.
Joseph’s Hospital.
Why Augusta? While he was in
’Pennsylvania he fell in love with the
'daughter of one of his patients. The
Christopher F. Edley
been published in scholarly journals.
He is married and has two children.
A second colloquium will be held
on Friday at 2 p.m. in the chapel.
Christopher F. Edley, executive direc
tor of the United Negro College Fund
will be the featured speaker. Both
men will speak on topics related to
the central theme of the weekend, A
Celebration of the Black College.
Prior to his appointment to the
UNCF in 1973, Edley was the
program officer in charge of gover
nment and law at the Ford Foun
dation. He also served as the Middle
Atlantic States Regional Counsel for
the department of Federal Housing
and Home Finance.
Edley graduated Maena Cum
« IL
NEWLYWEDS—Drs. Micheal and Jeannette Paul
daughter, Jeannette South, was also a
doctor, living in Augusta, where she
is a member of the teacher faculty at
Eisenhower Army Medical Center at
Fort vioraon. She is research coor
dinator of the Department of Family
Practice and she also helps to coor
dinate the behavioral sciences
program at the hospital.
She said they met in October of
1979, when she flew to Philadelphia
to see her sick father. She was
allowed to see her dad although
visiting hours were over. About
11:15, Dr. Paul came in and took her
into the X-Ray Room to see her
father’s x-rays. She insists that he was
YWCA objects
to ‘racist nature?
of video game
Page 3
.xtw- x. ■ -
Dr. Homer A. Neal
Laude with an A.B. from Howard
University, and received the LL.B,
degree from Harvard Law School in
1953.
Edley is married to the former
Zaida Coles. They have two children
and reside in New Rochelle, New
York.
Friday night at 8 p.m. in the
chapel, William E. Christmas, Paine
College organist, will perform a
special Inaugural Concert. No ad
mission will be charged.
An academic processional will
begin from Haygood-Holsey Hall in
cluding academic delegates from
colleges, universities and learned
sciences across the United States, the
Paine College faculty and the board
“very professional,” and things
didn’t get serious until around
Christmas time.
Sne said that he struck up a
relationship with her parents and
when she’d talk to them, her mother
would ask, “Do you remember that
nice Dr. Paul? He said he’s going to
come by the next time you’re in town.”
She said her parents felt sympathy
for him because he was black and a
foreigner, since they, too, are black
and foreigners, having come from
Jamaica, in the West Indies. The
Pauls were married in Philadelphia
last month.
Dr. Paul (Mr*.) was bom in Green-
Burglars take
SI,OOO from
Holley Street home
Page 3
October 30,1982
Dr. William H. Harris
of trustees. The Inauguration Con
vocation will begin at 1 p.m. in the
chapel. At this time, Dr. William H.
Harris will officially accept the office
of president and make his first major
statement concerning the role of the
black college in higher education.
Saturday evening, the weekend ac
tivities will conclude with a reception
honoring President Harris, followed
by an Inaugural Ball. The reception
will begin at 7 p.m., the ball at 8 p.m.
Both will be held at the Hilton Con
vention Center.
The final weekend of the Centen
nial celebration commemorates the
one hundredth anniversary of Paine’s
founding.
sboro, Alabama. Her father was an
interdenominational minister, and
since that time they have lived in a lot
of places in different parts of the
country. She graduated from the
University of Pennsylvania and at
tended the University of Pittsburgh
Medical School. “In elementary
school I wanted to be a teacher. In
junior high, I wanted to be a social
worker. By the time I got to the ninth
grade, I wanted to be a physician, and
now I’m doing all three.”
What’s it like for the newly wed
doctors trying to maintain family and
careers? One pight last week she
didn’t get home until 3 a.m. A patient
who was due to deliver a baby took
longer than expected to deliver. She
was up again at six to be on the job at
seven. “The days can be very long,”
she said, “the weeks can be very
long.”
“Then we have a certain time to go
to Bible study at the church, and our
own devotions,” she added.
“I wouldn’t want both of us to be
in private practice. Private practice
takes a lot out of you. I’m on call
only once a week as a member of the
teaching faculty.”
Eventually they may have another
problem. Last year Dr. Paul, who
now has a specialty in sports medicine
stemming from his association with
top experts in the field at the
University of Pennsylvania, was offered
the position of Minister for Health in
Zimbabwe. And the Olympic Com
mittee of that country is keen on
having him back and working with
the athletes. Dr. Paul will return to
Zimbabwe this vear to “review the
trating on his orthopaedic board
examinations, which have to be done
two years after setting up private
practice. Then he added, “I’m
married now, and I’d have to discuss
it with my wife.
“The Army has been nice to Jean
nette and we have to consider that,
too. And she is very happy with her
career and with life in Augusta. ”
Less than 75 percent Advertising
A proud moment
When Dr. William H.
Harris is inaugurated as the
11th president of Paine
College Saturday it will not
only be the culmination of
the centennial year, but it
will mark the official laun
ching into the college’s
second century.
It is a proud moment in
the history of the college,
and especially for Dr.
Harris, his family, and those
who have watched him
develop from the time he
arrived at Paine in 1962 from
Fitzgerald, Georgia to this
crowning achievement
Saturday afternoon.
His achievement should
say to every student at the
college, no matter how
deprived their backgrounds,
“I can do it too!”
Dr. Harris’ achievement is
also a statement about what
goes on at Paine College. It
demonstrates that students
there are being prepared to
take office throughout
society at the very highest
levels. While Dr. Harris is a
Paine College graduate, he
was not chosen for that
reason. He was chosen
because he was the most out
standing candidate out of
more than 70 applicants. He
McConner earns doctorate
Former Augustan Ora McConner
recently received her doctorate from
Nova University.
She is one of a family of five
graduating from Paine College.
Her sisters, Betty Beard and Nor
ma Delley, and her brothers, Landon
and Vernon Williams, are also
Paineites.
Dr. Ora McConner
Don’t Forget
VOTE
/vuguata’s young
black doctors
wed to doctors
Page 1
can feel proud of that and so
can Paine, both from the
stand point of what the
college has produced and
because of the promise that
his leadership portends.
It is noteworthy that the
president of Clark College is
a Paine graduate. The
president and vice president
of Miles College are Paine
graduates. In fact Miles’ last
three presidents have been
Paine graduates.
Those institutions also
recognize the quality of
students that Paine
produces. So while Dr.
Harris has made exceptional
achievements, he is not
unique among Paine College
graduates.
At 38, he is young. The
challenge of leading Paine
into its second century will
surely test his stamina. It will
test his will and his commit
ment. College presidencies
can be very lonely jobs.
But the job is not his
alone. All of those who are
committed to the noble pur
pose of black higher
education must share the
load and insure that the
producing of William H.
Harrises is the rule and not
the exception.
Dr. McConnor is also a member
of Paine’s trustee board.
Last November she was appointed
assistant superintendent of the
Chicago public school system. She is
one of two blacks holding that
position and the only woman.
After graduating from Paine she
earned the master’s degree from
Boston University and received a
Danforth Fellowship to pursue a doc
torate at the University of Chicago.
She spent three years at the Univer
sity of Chicago before deferring to
motherhood. She later went back and
earned an associate degree there.
She taught in the Chicago school
system for 21 years, held several prin
cipalships, and was appointed direc
tor of curriculum for the Chicago
Board of Education in 1970. In 1975
she became director of the magnet
school program in Chicago.
Os Chicago’s 540,000 public school
students, 66 percent are black, 20
percent Hispanic, 12 percent white
and 2 percent other.
25 s