NASHVILLE, Tenn. (TSU
News Service) – “Receiving your degrees does not mean classes are over,”
the keynote speaker at Tennessee State University’s spring commencement told
more than 700 undergraduate students who received degrees in various
disciplines Saturday.
President Glenda Glover and Dr. Michael Eric Dyson enter the Howard C. Gentry Complex for the 2019 Spring Undergraduate Commencement. (Photo by Emmanuel Freeman, TSU Media Relations)
Dr. Michael Eric Dyson, bestselling author and professor of sociology at Georgetown University, said to impact the world graduates must be literate, interconnected and transformative.
“You must be ‘LIT,’”
he said, attributing the acronym to the young generation’s reference to something
fun, good or exciting. “You might think classes are over so you don’t have to
read. But you have to be literate in the world we live in because it is
important. When you go into the world as proud Tennessee State University
graduates they know you come from a great place. You got to be morally and
psychologically literate.”
Before Dyson gave his speech in
the Howard C. Gentry Complex, TSU President Glenda Glover congratulated the
graduates, parents, relatives and friends for their support.
“I applaud you for having reached
this milestone,” said Glover. “Today is only a stepping stone. We thank you. We
salute you.”
Dyson, also known as a preacher and radio host, has authored or edited more than 20 books dealing with subjects such as Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Jr., Marvin Gaye and Hurricane Katrina. He has received several awards for his literary work, including three NAACP Image Awards and the Southern Book Prize.
Graduates prepare to receive their degrees at the Spring Undergraduate Commencement. (Photo by Charles Cook, TSU Media Relations)
“You must be
interconnected,” he said. “You are going into a world that ain’t reading your
same book, not listening to your same culture, and not reared in your home, but
you got to make a way to get along with people who don’t look like you or act
like you.”
The undergraduate ceremony followed the graduate commencement also in the Gentry Complex Friday evening. Civil rights leader and activist the Rev. Al Sharpton, was the speaker.
Dyson also urged
the graduates to be about change and improvement in their communities.
“That means you
can’t just leave it the way you found it. You got to make something better where
you show up,” he said.
More than 700 students participated in the Spring Undergraduate Commencement in the Howard C. Gentry Complex. (Photo by Charles Cook, TSU Media Relations)
Charles Alexander
Hill, who received his bachelor’s degree in business, had not heard much about
Dyson, but he thinks the speaker gave him and his fellow graduates “just what
we needed to hear.”
“I am very
prepared to face the world,” Hill said. “TSU has given me all the tools I need
to succeed in my life, and the speaker was very dynamic with his words of
encouragement and wisdom.”
Following his
speech, Dyson was presented an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters in recognition
of his body of work.
Professional Football Players
Mothers Association visit TSU
President Glenda Glover addresses members of the Professional Football Players Mothers Association at a luncheon she hosted for the group in the TSU Executive Dining Room. (Photo by Erynne Davis, TSU Media Relations)
NASHVILLE, Tenn.(TSU News Service) – About 25 members of the Professional Football Players Mothers Association, comprising mothers of current and former professional players, were treated to lunch by TSU President Glenda Glover on the first day of the NFL Draft last week.
“I am so happy to see all these mothers of the NFL players who have either played or are currently playing,” said Glover, who had the luncheon in TSU’s Executive Dining Room. “Draft Day is always fun and exciting, and we are glad you selected to share that excitement with us. We know that without you there will be no sons playing in the NFL. By them playing, they have allowed your families to impact others by giving back to the community and changing so many lives in a positive way.”
Connie Alexander was among the group that visited TSU. Her son, Ronald Grant Alexander, who graduated TSU in 1994, played 11 years in the NFL, including a Super Bowl win with the Pittsburgh Steelers. He also played for the Arizona Cardinals, and the Carolina Panthers before retiring with the New York Giants.
Connie
said she had to make the trip to TSU because of her son’s special connection to
the institution.
“For
us, TSU is home, even though we are from Pittsburgh,” Connie said. “Whenever he
is involved in something he always tries to put TSU in there; that’s how much
he loves this school.”
For
Robin Dunlap, whose son, King Dunlap, V, was drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles
from Auburn, returning to TSU was a special treat. She is a TSU graduate. She
met and married her husband, King Dunlap IV, who played for the TSU Tigers from
1965-1969. He played for the Baltimore Colts.
“Coming
back to my school along with these wonderful women was very special,” Robin
Dunlap said. “I am very proud to host these lovely ladies at my alma mater. And
I am glad to be with them here today, because they are such powerful
individuals.”
Michelle
Green is president of PFPMA. She said visiting TSU was fulfilling the
association’s main objective, which is to provide advice and support to
families of players entering the National Football League.
Green is the mother of
former NFL offensive tackle Bryant McKinnie, who played in the league 12 years
and won a Super Bowl with the Baltimore Ravens.
“We want to be there
as a support system for them, because we were there in that position at one
time,” said Green, adding that the association also does a lot of community
charity work. “It’s a different world once you cross over and go into the NFL.
You’re entering a whole new game, and only those in it understand it.”
Barbara
Murrell, a senior member of President Glover’s administration, is credited with
organizing the NFL mothers’ visit and tour.
The mothers’ visit to TSU was just part of the university’s participation in the NFL Draft. TSU’s famed Aristocrat of Bands was in a promotional advertising the Draft, and was part of the Draft entertainment. The following morning, the band appeared on ESPN’s sports talk show First Take.
Also attending the luncheon for the NFL mothers were TSU Board of Trustee Member Debra Cole, former State Sen. Thelma Harper, Monica Fawknotson, executive director of the Metro Sports Authority, and Vivian Wilhoite, Metropolitan Nashville and Davidson County property assessor.
Department of Media Relations
Tennessee State University 3500 John Merritt Boulevard Nashville, Tennessee 37209 615.963.5331
About Tennessee State University
With more than 7,000 students, Tennessee State University is
Nashville’s only public university, and is a comprehensive, urban,
co-educational, premier historically-black land-grant university
offering 38 bachelor’s degree programs, 24 master’s degree programs and
seven doctoral degrees. TSU’s graduate school on its downtown Avon
Williams Campus boasts a top-notch Executive MBA Program. Founded in
1912, Tennessee State University celebrated 100 years in Nashville
during 2012. Visit the University online at tnstate.edu.
NASHVILLE,
Tenn. (TSU News Service)
– Renowned activist and civil rights leader, the Reverend Al Sharpton, and
Georgetown University professor and bestselling author, Dr. Michael Eric Dyson,
will be the commencement speakers at Tennessee State University’s dual spring
graduation ceremonies.
Sharpton will
speak on Friday, May 3, at the graduate commencement ceremony in the Howard C.
Gentry Complex, beginning at 5 p.m.
On Saturday, May
4, Dyson will address undergraduate students in Hale Stadium. The ceremony will
begin at 8 a.m.
Overall, more than
1,000 undergraduate and graduate students will receive degrees in various disciplines.
Sharpton,
a community leader, politician, minister and civil-rights activist, serves as
the host of Politics Nation on MSNBC. With more than 40 years of experience as
an advocate, he is one of America’s most renowned civil rights leaders. He has
held such notable positions as the youth director of New York’s Operation
Breadbasket, director of ministers for the National Rainbow Push coalition, and
founder of his own broad-based progressive civil rights organization, the
National Action Network.
Known for taking up the fight on behalf of
the underdog in his pursuit of justice and equality, Sharpton is no stranger to
TSU. In 2014, he came to the university to take up the cause to have TSU’s
1957- 1959 Men’s Championship Basketball Team, the first-ever to win three
national titles back-to back, inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball
Hall of Fame.
He joined
university officials and staff, including President Glenda Glover, state
officials, community
leaders and stakeholders, as he presented his cause during a ceremony in Kean
Hall.
As a result of
Sharpton’s efforts and that of many others including TSU alumnus Dr. Richard “Dick”
Barnett, a member of all three teams, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall
of Fame announced
on April 7 that the Tennessee State men’s basketball championship teams of
1957-59 will be one of 12 honorees in this year’s Class of 2019. The class will
be celebrated at this year’s enshrinement festivities in Springfield,
Massachusetts, September 5-7.
Dyson, the
undergraduate commencement speaker, also known as a preacher and radio host,
has authored or edited more than 20 books dealing with subjects such as Malcolm
X, Martin Luther King, Jr., Marvin Gaye and Hurricane Katrina. He has received
several awards for his literary work, including three NAACP Image Awards and
the Southern Book Prize.
Dyson’s book,
“Come Hell or High Water: Hurricane Katrina and the Color of Disaster,” for
which he received the American Book Award, analyzes the political and social
events in the wake of the catastrophe against the backdrop of an overall
“failure in race and class relations.”
A longtime
educator, Dyson taught at Chicago Theological Seminary, Brown University, the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Columbia University, DePaul
University and the University of Pennsylvania.
Tennessee State University 3500 John Merritt Boulevard Nashville, Tennessee 37209 615.963.5331
About Tennessee State University
With more than 7,000 students, Tennessee State University is
Nashville’s only public university, and is a comprehensive, urban,
co-educational, premier historically-black land-grant university
offering 38 bachelor’s degree programs, 24 master’s degree programs and
seven doctoral degrees. TSU’s graduate school on its downtown Avon
Williams Campus boasts a top-notch Executive MBA Program. Founded in
1912, Tennessee State University celebrated 100 years in Nashville
during 2012. Visit the University online at tnstate.edu.
NASHVILLE,
Tenn. (TSU News
Service) – Hundreds of students and parents are expected to attend Spring
Preview Day 2019 at Tennessee State University on April
13, organizers say.
The Office of
Enrollment Management and Student Success says high school seniors and
juniors from across the nation will attend the one-day event in the
Floyd-Payne Campus Center. Last year, more than 800 attended Spring Preview
Day.
TSU staff, right, talk to visiting students and parents about the university’s offerings and programs during Spring Preview 2018. (Photo by Emmanuel Freeman, TSU Media Relations)
The visiting
students and their parents and relatives – from about 15 states including,
California, Texas, Michigan, Illinois and Wisconsin – will have the opportunity
to see the campus during springtime, as well as acquaint them with the
university’s offerings and admission processes.
Activities for the
visitors, according to organizers, will also include meetings with academic departments,
TSU student organizations, campus tours, entertainment by the world-renowned
Aristocrat of Bands, and the Big Blue Tiger Spring Blue & White
Football Game in Hale Stadium.
“Spring Preview Day
will be an opportunity for students to come, meet and greet professors and
administrators at TSU to get a feel for what it means to be a student
here,” says Terrence Izzard, associate vice president for Enrollment Management
and Student Success. “Most of all, we want to inspire them to continue their
academic pursuits and make TSU their choice.”
Spring Preview Day 2019 comes on the heels of “Experience TSU,” another innovative recruitment campaign that will soon kick off in three major markets – Memphis, March 27; Chattanooga, March 30; and Birmingham, April 6. The aim is to meet students where they are.
TSU President
Glenda Glover is leading the campaign to meet prospective students
face-to-face to ensure their commitment to attend TSU.
These recruitment
efforts follow sweeping changes Glover announced in 2016 that raised admission
standards, as the university moved to increase retention and graduation
rates. Minimum requirements for incoming freshmen went up from a 2.25
GPA to 2.5, while the ACT score remained at 19.
Izzard
said “Experience TSU” is a way of “personally congratulating these
students for applying and being accepted” to TSU.
“We look forward to
personally welcoming these students and their parents to
our campus to let them know of all the wonderful opportunities to grow and
learn while here at Tennessee State University,” says Izzard.
Spring Preview Day will kick off at 10 a.m. in Kean Hall. For more information, go to http://www.tnstate.edu/emss/
Department of Media Relations
Tennessee State University 3500 John Merritt Boulevard Nashville, Tennessee 37209 615.963.5331
About Tennessee State University
With more than 7,000 students, Tennessee State University is
Nashville’s only public university, and is a comprehensive, urban,
co-educational, land-grant university offering 38 bachelor’s degree
programs, 24 master’s degree programs and seven doctoral degrees. TSU
has earned a top 20 ranking for Historically Black Colleges and
Universities according to U.S. News and World Report, and rated as one
of the top universities in the country by Washington Monthly for social
mobility, research and community service. Founded in 1912, Tennessee
State University celebrated 100 years in Nashville during 2012. Visit
the University online at tnstate.edu.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (TSU News Service) – Tennessee State University students in the College of Public Service hosted a forum recently to have a candid discussion about voter suppression.
‘Let My People Vote’ Poster (Submitted Photo)
The forum on Feb. 27 at the university’s Avon Williams Campus included a panel discussion, as well as a screening of “Let My People Vote,” an award-winning short documentary about voter suppression.
Keturah Barnett, a student in the Master of Public Administration Program at the university and cofounder of the Know Your Rights Program, said voter suppression is an issue that affects people from all walks of life.
“Voter suppression doesn’t just affect minorities. It affects young people, students, ex-offenders and others,” she said. “When you think of voter suppression, a lot of people say that happened years ago in the 1960s during the civil rights movement, but it is still happening today. And with the midterm elections that took place last year in 2018 in November, we saw a lot of that in state’s like Georgia and Florida.”
Keturah Barnett (Submitted Photo)
Barnett, who has worked at the Nashville Juvenile Public Defenders Office since 2016, said she hoped the event would inspire students to engage in the political process by voting, as well as challenging current laws and holding elected officials accountable.
Dr. Michael Harris, dean of the College of Public Service and a nationally-syndicated columnist, was pleased to see members of the larger Nashville community, as well as TSU students and faculty, at the screening.
“It is imperative that the College of Public Service stand
at the forefront of engaging on issues related to voter suppression and
access. The history of and current efforts to suppress voters in
African-American communities undermines the democratic processes black
institutions, including TSU, have fought to improve and revolutionize for
centuries,” Harris said.
Dr. Anthony Campbell, assistant professor of Public Administration in the College of Public Service and the faculty member who worked with students to organize the event, stressed the importance of grappling with this issue.
Dr. Michael Harris (Submitted Photo)
“This filmmaker has developed a documentary that shows how the black vote has been suppressed in Florida for a long time and leading up to this last election, typically felons but more broadly people of color,” he said.
“Let My People Vote,” directed by Gilda Brasch, follows formerly homeless Desmond Meade, now the State Director for Florida Live Free Campaign, as he canvasses the streets of Tampa, Florida, on the last day of early voting before the 2016 presidential election. At the time of the filming, Meade, who earned a law degree from Florida International University’s College of Law, could not vote or practice law in Florida because he has a felony.
Gilda Brasch (Submitted Photo)
Brasch’s documentary has won many awards, including the 2018 Best Short Documentary at the BronzeLens Film Festival in Atlanta and the 2018 Audience Award For Best Short Film in the Florida Film Festival. It was also featured at the Meet The Press Film Festival with The American Film Institute. She said she created the documentary so viewers could see what voter suppression looks like in the current political climate.
“If people are interested in voting rights, followed the recent midterm elections and saw what happened to Stacey Abrams and Andrew Gillum, then when they watch ‘Let My People Vote’ they will actually get an opportunity to see real people at the polling places having their votes surpressed,” she said.
Brasch said she was shocked by how quickly she found
examples of people being turned around at the polls.
“We just got out of the rental van, and turned the camera on, and we got all those testimonies immediately in the space of probably 45 minutes to an hour. It’s not like we had to go stand out there for hours. It’s immediate in these districts,” she said.
Martesha Johnson (Submitted Photo)
Immediately following the screening, students hosted a panel to discuss the issue. Panel members included: Metropolitan Nashville Public Defender Martesha Johnson, Davidson County Election Commisioner A.J. Starling, Project Return Associate Director Elizabeth Hayes and others.
Barnett said the goal of the event was to provide a forum for a conversation they believe is timely and necessary.
“Voting is a fundamental right for everybody. It is something that any American should be
able to do without being hassled,” she said. “Going to the polls should be just as easy as
going to the grocery store.”
Department of Media Relations
Tennessee State University 3500 John Merritt Boulevard Nashville, Tennessee 37209 615.963.5331
About Tennessee State University
With more than 7,000 students, Tennessee State University is Nashville’s only public university, and is a comprehensive, urban, co-educational, land-grant university offering 38 bachelor’s degree programs, 24 master’s degree programs and seven doctoral degrees. TSU has earned a top 20 ranking for Historically Black Colleges and Universities according to U.S. News and World Report, and rated as one of the top universities in the country by Washington Monthly for social mobility, research and community service. Founded in 1912, Tennessee State University celebrated 100 years in Nashville during 2012. Visit the University online at tnstate.edu.
