In Brief: New leadership for WSSU's Board of Trustees announced
The Winston-Salem State University (WSSU) Board of Trustees has elected new officers for the 2019-29 fiscal year.
The following were elected during the regular meeting on Sept. 20.
- Kelvin Farmer, chair
- Kathleen Kelly, vice chair
- Coretta Bigelow, secretary
The Board of Trustees is comprised of 13 members. Eight members are elected by the UNC Board of Governors, four appointed by the General Assembly, and the remaining is the president of the Student Government Association.
Marketing video wins national award
A video created by WSSU’s Integrated Marketing Communications has won a national award.
The video, “WSSU’s Grand Vision,” is the winner of a Gold Zedman award from The Society for Creative Professionals. The awards are judged by professionals in the field of video. Gold is considered the highest honor. The video was written by Jaime Hunt, vice chancellor of strategic communications, and produced by Antonio Davis, multimedia producer.
WSSU receives 2019 Social Mobility Innovator Award
WSSU is one of six universities to receive the 2019 Social Mobility Innovator Award from software developer CollegeNET.
This is the third consecutive year WSSU has received the award, which honors colleges and universities who excel in CollegeNET’s Social Mobility Index (SMI) rankings. The awards were presented on July 19 at CollegeNET’s annual Social Mobility Summit in Portland, Oregon.
Dr. Craig Richardson, economic professor and founding director of the Center for the Study of Economic Mobility (CSEM), and Alvin Atkinson, associate director of CSEM, represented WSSU at the summit. During the roundtable, Richardson talked about how CSEM brings faculty and students together as they study barriers to economic mobility in surrounding, low-income communities. Atkinson articulated the need to include student and community voices around social mobility when it comes to faculty hiring.
Other recipients are: Wichita State University, Rutgers University-Newark, the University of California at San Diego, the University of California at Santa Cruz and New Mexico State University. SMI ranks nearly 1,400 four-year colleges and universities according to how successfully they enroll students from low-income backgrounds and graduate them into promising careers. WSSU is one of only five colleges and universities in the nation to rank in the SMI top 20 for all six years.
3 WSSU alumni inducted as HBCU Living Legends
Three WSSU alumni were inducted as 2019 HBCU Living Legends at a sold-out gala on Aug. 24.
Donald Evans '93, a former NFL star and construction executive; North Carolina Rep. Derwin Montgomery '10; and Winston-Salem police Capt. William Penn '06 each were recognized at the ceremony.
In addition, WSSU Chancellor Elwood L. Robinson was one of three alumni inducted from North Carolina Central University. The gala supports scholarships for students who attend North Carolina HBCUs.
2019 commencement speaker announces contest winners
Philanthropist and artist Kwanza Jones, the 2019 commencement speaker, has announced the grand-prize and cash-prize winners of a contest she announced during her speech on May 10.
Zakiyah Henry is the grand-prize winner of a trip for two to the Jones’ Supercharged Summit in Los Angeles on Oct. 19.
In addition, these 2019 graduates each received a $2,500 cash prize: Mia Franklin, Kesha Frazier, Kayla Garrett, Daejah Glaze, Yvetta Glenn, Shiela Marshall, Ashley Pauldo, Roger Powell, ShanTi’onna Summers and Brooke Wilson.
The winners were chosen in random order.