Tag Archives: educator

Alumni, FEATURED, Featured

Former Miss TSU and Memphis educator Pippin passes at age 96

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (TSU News Service) – Harriet Louise Johnson Pippin, who was the oldest living former Miss Tennessee State University, and 30-year Memphis area educator, has died at age 96. Pippin was described as a sweetheart, as she was born on Valentine’s Day. She died on June 10 in Memphis, Tennessee. 

Pippin was Miss TSU in 1946-47 and a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated. 

Harriet Louise Johnson Pippin (Photo submitted)

Her career as an educator with Memphis City Schools, included Booker T. Washington High School and Georgia Avenue Elementary, retiring 31 years later. She loved her family and had a passion for traveling and serving Christ as a member of Metropolitan Baptist Church in Memphis for over 70 years, according to her obituary. 

Barbara Murrell, former Miss TSU, who won the crown 13 years after Pippin, said she was “a determined, extraordinaire queen.” 

“She will be remembered for her warm and caring personality, inspiration provided to other queens at our Annual Teas, and dedication to serve as a role model for all of us who respected and loved her dearly,” said Murrell, who was a senior administrator at TSU for many years. She noted that Pippin’s poise as a queen exuded dignity and determination. 

President Glenda Glover with former Miss TSU Harriet Louise Johnson Pippin at a recent Miss TSU Tea at the President’s residence. (Photo submitted)

The Ashland, Kentucky native married William Pippin just a year before graduating from TSU. The pair had four children and several grandchildren, great grandchildren, and great-great grandchildren. 

Pippin’s family expressed their sentiments in her obituary by writing, “We will miss her tremendously, yet her legacy will continue to live in each of us.”

Department of Media Relations

Tennessee State University
3500 John Merritt Boulevard
Nashville, Tennessee 37209
615.963.5331

Founded in 1912, Tennessee State University is Nashville’s only public university, and is a  premier, historically black university and land-grant institution offering 39 bachelor’s degree programs, 24 master’s degree programs, and seven doctoral degrees.  TSU is a comprehensive research intensive institution with a R-2 Carnegie designation, and has a graduate school on its downtown Avon Williams Campus, along with the Otis Floyd Nursery Research Center in McMinnville, Tennessee.  With a commitment to excellence, Tennessee State University provides students  with a quality education in a nurturing and innovative environment that prepares them as alumni to be global leaders in every facet of society. Visit the University online at tnstate.edu.

EVENTS, FACULTY, NEWS, SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES

Prominent Educator and Author Gloria Ladson-Billings to Hold Two Lectures at TSU

UnknownNASHVILLE, Tenn. (TSU News Service) – Renowned educator and author, Dr. Gloria Ladson-Billings, popularly known for engaging educators in dialogue about improving schools for urban children, will be a guest of the College of Education’s Department of Educational Leadership at Tennessee State University on Tuesday, Sept. 29. More than 200 area educators, including principals, faculty, school district and university administrators will hear Ladson-Billings talk about the nation’s “education debt” and race theory relative to current education policy, during two lectures.

TSU President Glenda Glover is expected to welcome Ladson-Billings at a luncheon in the Executive Dining Room.

“We are excited to host Dr. Ladson-Billings at TSU because of her ability to contribute to a discussion that will inevitably benefit K-12 students and the men and women who teach them,“ said Dr. Kimberly King-Jupiter, Dean of the College of Education. “Dr. Ladson-Billings, across her career, has engaged educators in critical discussions about how to inspire diverse students to excel academically.  Her focus has been on the need for teachers to know their students, to identify and elevate students’ gifts amidst the challenges associated with urban schooling.”

Best known for her groundbreaking and influential book, “The Dreamkeepers: Successful Teachers of African-American Children,” Ladson-Billings will also discuss what schools and colleges are doing about the increasing drop in the number of racially diverse teachers, even though PK-12 student demographics reflect an increase in racial and ethnic diversity.

“This is precisely why the department extended the invitation to Dr. Ladson-Billings,” said Dr. Trinetia Respress, chair for the Department of Educational Leadership.

Dr. Ladson-Billings will lead two discussions. The first, “When My Teacher Doesn’t Look Like Me: The Crisis in the African-American Teaching Force,” in the Executive Dining Room at noon on the main campus. The second lecture will be held from 5:30 – 7:30 p.m., on “Hip Hop/Hip Hope: The (R)Evolution of Culturally Relevant Pedagogy,” on the Avon Williams Campus.

Ladson-Billings, a pedagogical theorist and teacher educator, is on the faculty of the University of Wisconsin–Madison School of Education. She is also a researcher at the Wisconsin Center for Education Research.

For more information on the lecture or on how to register, call 615-963-5450.

Department of Media Relations
Tennessee State University
3500 John Merritt Boulevard
Nashville, Tennessee 37209
615.963.5331

About Tennessee State University

With more than 9,000 students, Tennessee State University is Nashville’s only public university, and is a comprehensive, urban, co-educational, land-grant university offering 38 undergraduate, 22 graduate and seven doctoral programs. 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.