Tag Archives: Honors Program Anniversary

NEWS

Long-Time Educators to be Honored at 2014 Scholarship Gala

Drs. McDonald and Jamye Williams, long time educators at Tennessee State University will be honored during 2014 Scholarship Gala, "An Evening of Honors."
Drs. McDonald and Jamye Williams, long time educators at Tennessee State University will be honored during 2014 Scholarship Gala, “An Evening of Honors.”

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (TSU News Service) – A chance meeting at Wilberforce University in 1942 has led to a lifetime of memories and successes for Drs. McDonald and Jamye Williams, who spent nearly three decades at the university and who have also been married for more than 70 years.

The couple will share yet another memory during Tennessee State University’s Homecoming as the two are saluted as the 2014 Honorees for their outstanding contributions to the university. Both long-time educators as well as NFL Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee Claude Humphrey will be honored Friday, Sept. 26 during an “Evening of Honors.”

Both made TSU the final stop on their professional journey. Dr. McDonald Williams spent 30 years at the university serving as director of the Honors Program and as a professor of English before retiring in 1988. His wife, Jamye, retired just a year earlier ending her tenure as head of the Department of Communications, a position she held for 14 years.

The Williams’ have made advancing education and student success a priority in their careers. The many years spent at Tennessee State University afforded them an opportunity to see some of the university’s most talented students graduate and excel. Dr. Jamye Williams’ brings interesting perspective on how they positively shaped the lives of TSU students – particularly one of her most famous students, Oprah Winfrey.

“Her father wanted her to have a good education and a successful career,” Williams said. “He knew that having that [college] degree would continue to open doors for her.”

Dr. Jamye said Winfrey’s father encouraged her to call Oprah to convince her to finish what she started. So, in 1987, she made contact with Winfrey who, by this time, had established herself as a national talk show host.

“She sent me a check to pay for the three course hours and completed a documentary for her senior class project,” Dr. Jamye said. “That same year, she was the Commencement speaker, and I remember her holding up her degree and saying ‘see Daddy, I amount to something.’”

Since retiring, the Williams, who now reside in Atlanta, still make time to come back to TSU. They returned in 2012 for the university’s Centennial Celebration, in 2013 for the inauguration of President Glenda Glover, and in March 2014 for the Honors Program’s 50th anniversary celebration, in which Dr. McDonald Williams was honored for his years of dedication to the growth of the program.

In 1963, then-Tennessee State University President, Dr. Walter S. Davis, appointed a committee charged with studying Honors Programs and the feasibility of establishing one at the University. After completing its investigation, this committee recommended that Tennessee State University keep pace with many other universities throughout the country. As a result, an Honors program for freshman students was established in Fall 1964 followed by sophomore through senior level course work in 1968 marking the first year for students to be recognized for graduating with “University Honors.”

“This really is a time to celebrate the program and the most instrumental person behind it,” said Dr. Coreen Jackson, current director of the Honor Program. “Dr. Williams, while not the original founder, laid the cornerstone of academic excellence and the standard of which this program was built upon.”

The program, said Jackson, has gone through many changes throughout the years, which includes growing to more than 400 students enrolled in the program, 145 of which are first-time freshmen, and transitioning to a possible college in the near future. But the foundation built by Williams still holds true today, she said.

“He had a vision for where the program needed to go and subsequent directors including Jane Elliott and Sandra Holt have carried that vision forward,” said Jackson. “We really are in his debt.”

Because of his contributions to the success of the Honors Program, the Tennessee Board of Regents granted the university approval to name the Honors Program after Dr. Williams in 1988. The University Honors Center was named the McDonald Williams Honors Center.

Ironically, while the event was designed to honor Dr. McDonald’s work, the couple again showed selfless gratitude becoming the first major contributor donating $10,000 toward an Honors College initiative.

“I wish we could have given more,” Dr. McDonald said, adding that by establishing an Honors College it will raise the level of the program. “When the program first began, it was in a single room in the Agriculture building before it moved to the first floor of the old library (now the Student Success Center) in the back on the ground floor.”

The 46 years the Williams’ spent in Nashville, they played an active role in the life of the university and in the community. The myriad of professional and civic affiliations, honors and publications they have amassed are too numerous to mention. They were active in the NAACP with Dr. Jamye serving as Life Membership Committee Chairman for 20 years and Dr. McDonald serving the civil rights organization as vice president. Currently, they are members of Big Bethel AME Church in Atlanta, Georgia. She is a life member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. and he is a life member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.

In addition to their support of TSU, the Williams provide scholarship support to other universities, including Payne Theological Seminary, Wilberforce University and through the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee.

“I would recommend anyone who wants to go to college to consider Tennessee State University with no hesitation at all,” Dr. McDonald said. “So many students there have done well over the years.”

Call 615.963.5481 or visit www.tnstate.edu/scholarshipgala for more information on the 2014 Scholarship Gala. The gala takes place Friday, Sept. 26 at Music City Center and tickets are available now to purchase.

 

 

 

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

About Tennessee State University

With nearly 9,000 students, Tennessee State University is Nashville’s only public university, and is a comprehensive, urban, co-educational, land-grant university offering 42 undergraduate, 24 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.

EVENTS, NEWS

National Award-Winning Newswoman Challenges TSU’s Best and Brightest to Seek Excellence In Spite of Hurdles

Former CNN anchor and now Al Jazeera America special correspondent Soledad O'Brien, addresses the student body and faculty March 26 during the University Honors Convocation in Kean Hall. Earlier in the day, O'Brien was the featured speaker at the Honors Program 50th Anniversary Luncheon honoring Dr. McDonald Williams, the first Director of the Honors Program. (photo by Rick DelaHaya, TSU Media Relations)
Former CNN anchor and now Al Jazeera America special correspondent Soledad O’Brien, addresses the student body and faculty March 26 during the University Honors Convocation in Kean Hall. Earlier in the day, O’Brien was the featured speaker at the Honors Program 50th Anniversary Luncheon honoring Dr. McDonald Williams, the first Director of the Honors Program. (photo by Rick DelaHaya, TSU Media Relations)

 

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (TSU News Service) – Saying that the pursuit of excellence requires the desire to forge ahead in the face of obstacles, a prominent American journalist has told students at Tennessee State University that success comes with “finding out what you are best suited for” and going after it.

“Decide what success would look like for you and pursue it, but always with the thought to say, ‘what can this do for me,’” multiple award winning documentarian, news anchor and producer Soledad O’Brien, said Wednesday at a convocation in Kean Hall marking the 50th anniversary celebration of the TSU Honors Program.

Drawing from her own experience as a reporter earlier in her career, O’Brian, known for such documentaries as Black in America and Latino in America, said becoming a journalist after a Harvard education was not the route her parents expected her to go after paying so much to educate her.

“My first job was at a TV station, where not only was the pay small, but I was assigned to proofing copies and removing staples,” she said. “Eventually I got assignments doing sound, and in the process, I would include myself in the story, something that helped get me extra pay once the story was aired.”

This is where the woman who would become an anchor for NBC and CNN, two of the nation’s leading news organization, found her niche, she said.

“I love being part of the story that would help enhance someone’s life, and knowing that I have influenced something spectacular,” she said.

Telling the students that nothing good comes easy, O’Brien talked about the struggles of her own parents as mixed couple in America when interracial marriage was illegal in many parts of the nation including Baltimore where they lived.

“My father, a white Australian, and my mother, a black woman from Cuba, faced discrimination on all fronts, with my mother at times trying to hide her Hispanic identity because she wanted to blend in. To get married they had to go to the District of Columbia but came back to Baltimore and kept their marriage a secret,” she said. “When my mother had her sixth child in 1967 that’s when the Supreme Court legalized interracial marriage. That means that we were all illegal children until 1967.”

Driving home her story of perseverance in the face of opposition, O’Brien told the students that had her parents given up, lots of dreams, including hers, would probably have been lost.

“They did not give up; they understood the importance of moving ahead because they believed in what they wanted, and that’s leadership,” she added.

O’Brien, now a special correspondent for Al Jazeera’s America Tonight, has won multiple Emmy and Tony awards for her reporting on issues in America. She was part of the CNN team that won an Emmy for the 2012 Election Coverage, and another Emmy for her special report Kids on Race.

She urged the students to emulate examples from people who did not give up but showed true leadership to accomplish what they set out for.

“Martin Luther King Jr. was a regular person who stayed when others ran. He decided that he would use his voice to lead …that’s leadership. What are you going to do to leverage what your parents have invested in you,” she added.

O’Brien, who earlier joined TSU President Glenda Glover, alumni, special guests, faculty and students at an Honors Luncheon in the Gentry Center, congratulated the University for celebrating 50 years of recognizing the achievement of the best and brightest of the institution.

“We thank you for coming to join us for this very special celebration in the institution and for inspiring our students and all of us today,” Dr. Glover told O’Brien. “We wish you all the best as you continue your journey of excellence.”

Dr. Coreen Jackson, director of the University Honors Program, who also thanked O’Brien for accepting their invitation to speak at the 50th anniversary celebration, followed the President.

In addition to recognizing the year’s top honor students, the University paid tribute to the former Director of the University Honors Program, Dr. McDonald Williams and his wife, Dr. Jayme Coleman Williams, former dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.

The tribute included the presentation of the Dr. McDonald Williams Scholarship to Laurena Thomas, a junior Mass Communication major from Memphis with a 3.65 GPA.

 

 

 

 

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

 

About Tennessee State University

With nearly 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.