Fisk Freshmen Class President Kenneth Smith Achieves Dream While Giving Back

Kenneth Smith(right) was recently elected as freshmen class president at Fisk.

Fisk freshmen class president Kenneth Smith has achieved his dream of going to college and is now assisting GED candidates with math tutoring at the Metro Action Commission. Read more about Kenneth here.

Fisk’s Muthukumaran Gunasekaran Awarded Fulbright Senior Specialist Fellowship

Fisk professor and biologist Muthukumaran Gunasekaran was recently announced as a recipient of the Fulbright Senior Specialist Fellowship. Dr. Gunasekaran will visit India’s Bharathidasan University and University of Madras in December.  

The Fulbright Specialists Program (fsp) promotes linkages between faculty in the United States and their counterparts at universities abroad. 

Grants are awarded in select disciplines to engage in short-term collaborative projects ranging from two to six weeks at higher education institutions in over 100 countries.

Fore more on the Fulbright Specialists Program, click here.

Fisk’s Boyd House to Host New Academic Success Center

Fisk announced that a new initiative, The Academic Success Center, will allow the academic divisions and departments to further structure the advising experience for Fisk students. 

Located in the University’s Boyd House, The Academic Success Center will partner with fellow campus offices including Student Life, L.E.A.D., the Living Learning Center, the Writing Center, the Math Lab and the HBCU Wellness Initiative, to offer workshops, tutoring, peer advising, a study lounge, skills testing, and counseling services.

By offering these services, The Academic Success Center will provide improved advising services to all students, promote academic success through the strategic use of resources, increase student retention and improve institutional graduation rates.

Dr. Jeff Menzise has been selected as Director of the Academic Success Center. Dr. Menzise will be responsible for the varied that functions previously operated within Academic Advising, Differently-Abled Student Services, and Student Counseling.

For more information on the Academic Success Center, contact the Office of the Provost at 615-329-8681.

Nashville’s Centennial Club Visits Carl Van Vechten Gallery

Fisk welcomed Nashville’s Centennial Club and Nashville artist, curator and art historian Donia Dickerson during their recent trip to the Carl Van Vechten Gallery. Fisk Galleries Curator Victor Simmons led the group through a tour of the renowned Stieglitz Collection as well as the African American Masters collection also located in the Van Vechten Gallery.

For more on Fisk University Galleries, click here.

Fisk Alumna Dr. Monica Parker Named as one of Atlanta’s Top Doctors

Congratulations to Fisk alumna Dr. Monica Parker in her recent recognition in Atlanta Magazine as one of the city’s top doctors.

The magazine, with help form New York’s Castle Connolly Research Company, made their selections based on surveys from area patients as well as key medical leaders. Dr. Parker was cited for her excellence in research as well as in patient care.

Click here to find out more about Dr. Parker.

What’s on WFSK (August 31-September 6)

Monday 6-7 p.m.- Freestyle with Ron Wynn
Featured Topics:  
- What impact will Senator Kennedy’s death have on the President’s domestic agenda?
-  What are your thoughts on the next Tyler Perry film?
 
Tuesday 6-7 p.m.-Mind on the Matter with Dr. Jeff Mensize
Featured Topic:
Back to School: Decreasing Stress, Improving Success!

 Wednesday 4-6 p.m.- “What’s the 411? with Sharon Kay”
Featured Topic for Hour One:
“Empowering & Mentoring Young People” 
Guests: Tate George, former NBA Player & Business Executive

Featured Topic Hour 2: Spotlight on Writer, Filmmaker & Trailblazer Robert Townsend
Guest: Robert Townsend   

Thursday 12-1p  WFSK Artist of the Week:  
Review New Smooth & Contemporary Jazz Releases  

 6-7p.m.- Health Watch: A 60-Minute Pathway to Better Health
Featured Topic: Emotional Trauma & Addiction
Guest:  Jacqueline Dawes, Founder of Brookhaven Women’s Retreat (Residential Treatment Facility)   

 Sunday 7-9 a.m.-“What’s the 411? With Sharon Kay
Featured Topic Hour One:  Open Phones & Headlines of the Day
Featured Topic Hour 2:  What is the Torah Blessing
Guest: Larry Huch, Senior Pastor,  DFW New Beginnings

Fisk / Vanderbilt Program Receives 3 Grants totaling $3.7 Million to Increase Minority Ph.D.’s in the Physical Sciences

 

In the past five years, the Fisk-Vanderbilt Masters-to-PhD program has attracted 31 minority students, 60 percent of whom are women, and has become the nation’s top producer of blacks earning master’s degrees in physics.

A unique collaboration between Fisk and Vanderbilt Universities is poised to become the nation’s top source of women and Ph.D.s of color in physics and astronomy.  The initiative has received a major boost from two grants from the National Science Foundation and one grant from the Department of Education totaling $3.7 million to increase the presence of women and people of color in the sciences.

The Fisk/Vanderbilt Masters-to-PhD Bridge program was established in 2004. In just five years the program has attracted 31 underrepresented minority students, 60 percent of whom are women, and has become the nation’s top producer of blacks earning master’s degrees in physics. One National Science Foundation grant in the amount of $1.8 million will be used to strengthen the astronomy/astrophysics masters infrastructure at Fisk, a historically black university, as well as increase recruitment and retention of underrepresented students in the programs. Another NSF grant in the amount of $1.2 million will fund the expansion of the program to a second historically black institution, Delaware State University, and expand the program from its current focus on astronomy and astrophysics to include materials science. These funds will be shared by all three institutions enrolled in the Fisk/Vanderbilt program.  The third grant from the Department of Education in the amount of $784,000 will provide generous fellowships to support the students participating in the program.

 ”We are pleased to receive this federal support for Fisk, Vanderbilt and Delaware State students which reflects the quality of our existing programs,” said Fisk’s President Hazel R. O’Leary. “With this funding we will expand our existing successful collaboration between Fisk and Vanderbilt in astronomy and astrophysics to increase opportunity and build on our consistent reputation for producing both women scientists and scientists of color for over a century.”

Fisk University has awarded about a third of the nation’s African American masters degrees in physics since 2006.  Nationally, the 53 institutions that grant these degrees, on average, produce one minority Ph.D. degree every 10 years for. Such small numbers mean that a single program, like the Bridge Program, can have a significant impact.

“Our vision is to enhance the scope and impact of our Masters-to-PhD Bridge Program by expanding it to include all science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines,” said Dr. Arnold Burger, professor of physics at Fisk. “This reinforces Fisk as a pipeline to advanced degrees for extremely talented students.”

“Through this partnership, more students will have the opportunity to develop valuable, marketable skills at the interface of astronomy, materials science, and high-performance computing,” added Keivan Stassun, associate professor of astronomy at Vanderbilt and adjunct professor of physics at Fisk who is one of the program’s architects. “The result will be enhanced research capability at both Fisk and Vanderbilt, as well as a cadre of highly skilled astrophysics Ph.D. students who will significantly enhance the diversity and quality of the nation’s astronomy and astrophysics workforce.”

The largest grant, totaling $1.8 million, is directed to Fisk to support the Graduate Opportunities for Fisk Astronomy and Astrophysics Research  (GO-FAAR) project. The funds will be used to strengthen Fisk’s research infrastructure in astronomy and astrophysics. It will also be used to increase recruitment, retention and degree attainment by underrepresented students. Funding for the project comes from the National Science Foundation’s Partnerships in Astronomy & Astrophysics Research and Education (PAARE) program.

The second NSF grant of $1.2 million will fund the expansion of the Bridge Program to include Delaware State University. Students from all three institutions will collaborate in graduate research and instruction and receive full funding support. This grant comes from NSF’s Innovation through Institutional Integration project, which supports initiatives that enable faculty, administrators, and others in institutions to think and act strategically about the creative integration of NSF-funded awards. The grant enables the Bridge program to expand into the field of materials science, which also suffers from extremely low minority representation.

In addition to these grants, the program has received $784,000 from the Department of Education’s Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need program. This grant will provide attractive fellowships ($30,000 per year plus tuition) for graduate students in science disciplines deemed essential to the nation’s economic competitiveness. It will support six to seven new graduate students per year, who will be evenly apportioned among those entering the Bridge program at Fisk and those entering into the Vanderbilt Ph.D. program.

“This significant investment by the federal government is a dramatic recognition of the success of the joint Fisk/Vanderbilt program,” said Vanderbilt Provost Richard McCarty. “The complimentary strengths of Fisk’s master degree and Vanderbilt’s Ph.D. programs have combined in a remarkable fashion that provides minority students with the support, encouragement and the skills that they need to succeed in the physical sciences.”

Dr. William E. Flippin to Speak at Fisk’s MLK Convocation in January

Rev. Dr. William E. Flippin has been announced as Fisk's MLK Convocation Speaker for January 14, 2010.

Mark your calendars for January 14, 2010 as the Fisk Family will welcome alumnus Rev. Dr. William E. Flippin (‘74) as convocation speaker during the annual MLK Convocation at 10 a.m. in Fisk Memorial Chapel. Since 1990, Dr. Flippin has served as the senior pastor of the Greater PineyGrove Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia. Under Dr. Flippin’s leadership, over 100 ministers and deacons have been licensed and ordained and the church’s membership has grown to over 6000. Through outreach ministries such as The Pearl Initiative and The Elijah Network, Dr. Flippin and his congregation continue to provide and advocate  ethical leadership and service in the local and global communities.

Since 1985, Fisk University has commemorated the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. As the civil rights era gained momentum in the late 1950’s, Dr. King gave the first of many civil rights speeches in Fisk’s Memorial Chapel. King’s appearances at Fisk called attention to an active student body already engaged in non-violent combat against racism. Even before activists in the early 1980s worked to gain a national holiday for Dr. King, Fisk was one of the first Nashville institutions to hold commemorative events in King’s honor.

For more on Dr. Flippin, click here.

Fisk Alumnus Robert Churchwell(‘49) Posthumously Awarded Lifetime Achievement Award by Society of Professional Journalists

The late Robert Churchwell, the first African-American to write for a majority newspaper in the southern United States, graduated from Fisk University in 1949. (Photo from The Tennessean)

Fisk University Alumnus Robert Churchwell(‘49), the first African-American journalist to be hired by a majority newspaper in the southern United States,  will be honored posthumously with the Society of Professional Journalists’ Lifetime Achievement Award on Saturday, August 29 in Indianapolis, Indiana.  Mr. Churchwell began covering events in Nashville’s African-American community for the Nashville Banner beginning in 1950. From 1961 until his retirement in 1981, Churchwell covered education issues for the paper and earned acclaim from collegues locally and nationally.

Click here to read The Tennessean’s article and an archived interview with alumnus Robert Churchwell.

Fisk Freshmen Preston Harris Awarded Gates Millennium Scholarship

Congratulations to Fisk freshmen Preston Harris of Chattanooga as he has been awarded the Gates Millennium Scholarship.  

Preston, a graduate of Chattanooga School for the Arts and Sciences,  is one of 1,000 students nationally to receive the award and is one of six Tennessee recipients chosen in 2009 to recieve the scholarship. Preston will major in biology and has applied to the Fisk/Meharry Joint Program in Biomedical Sciences. 

Gates Millennium Scholars have an average graduation rate of almost 80 percent. For more on Preston Harris and the Gates Millennium Scholars, click here.