NASHVILLE, Tenn.(TSU News Service) – This morning hundreds of Tennessee State University students participated in rehearsal in preparation for Saturday’s commencement ceremony. One of those graduates was former NFL 2-time Pro Bowler and AFC Champion Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie. The TSU standout will receive a bachelor’s degree in interdisciplinary studies from the College of Liberal Arts. Rodgers-Cromartie started his collegiate career as a cornerback for the TSU Tigers and was a first round draft pick of the Arizona Cardinals in 2008.
Rodgers-Cromartie joins the class of 2023 for TSU fall commencement Saturday, December 9, 2023, at 9 a.m. in the Gentry Center Complex. Nearly 700 students will walk the stage to receive their degrees during the ceremony. This year’s speaker is award-winning journalist and former CNN anchor Don Lemon. Lemon anchored the long-running CNN primetime program, Don Lemon Tonight as well as CNN This Morning.
Commencement will include 328 undergraduate students and 324 graduate students. TSU is hoping graduates will make it “TSU for Two” and consider pursuing a second degree, from the institution, after graduation. The School of Graduate Studies held “Donuts and Degrees” during commencement rehearsal to talk with interested students. The recruitment initiative could help students who are still undecided about life after graduation.
University officials encourage graduates to arrive one hour before the ceremony due to parking. While masks are not required, this is flu season and everyone is asked to exercise caution.
TSU fall commencement will also be live streamed from the University’s YouTube channel at www.tnstate.edu/livestream
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (TSU News Service) – Tennessee State University recently held a 45-minute workshop on absentee voting to educate members of its 97-man football roster on how to ensure their ballots are counted in one of the most anticipated presidential elections in decades.
Coach Rod Reed
Coach Rod Reed hosted the “The TSU Tiger’s Guide to Absentee Voting Virtual Seminar,” which was facilitated by Tiara Thomas, student Trustee on the University’s Board of Trustees. Thomas’ Zoom presentation included steps to requesting an absentee ballot, filling it out and returning the document on time. It also included a demonstration of the application process, as well as a chatroom for participants to ask questions. Election Day is Nov. 3.
Dieuseul Stcyr, a defensive back from Macon, Georgia; and Cam Durley, an offensive tackle from Houston, Texas, said the seminar was an eye-opener for them as first-time voters. The two players for the Tigers have completed their registration and will be voting, thanks to the urging of their coach.
Tiara Thomas
“First and foremost, the seminar was very important. We need to hear this kind of message more often,” said Stcyr, a senior communications major. “For many of us, like me, growing up at home we did not get this knowledge of what it means to vote, where to vote and what you need to vote.”
Durley, a senior human performance and sport studies major, added that the workshop was very informative and “that all students need to attend.”
“I really liked it,” said Durley. “In addition to information coach gave us, this seminar put me in the right direction and what I need to do to get my vote in.”
Thomas provided players with information on how to access and navigate their respective secretaries of state’s websites, as well as the proper forms of identification needed to complete an absentee application.
Tiara Thomas, Student Trustee and member of of the Aristocrat of Bands, works along with Coach Reed to present the virtual absentee vote seminar for football players. She plans to get all band members 100-percent registered to vote. (Photo by TSU Media Relations)
“I am glad to see the football team 100-percent registered to vote,” said Thomas, a junior political science major from Olive Branch, Mississippi. “Whether they know it or not, as leaders on this campus, people look to them and follow their example. So, I hope many more will join to make an even bigger impact this year. We have students here at TSU that are not from Tennessee, and this means they will be voting absentee or mail-in ballot.”
Coach Reed said with the looming social and civil unrests, and ever-present effort to suppress votes, it was important for players to know how critical their participation is as citizens.
“I think that it is very important for our kids to understand what their role is in what’s going on in our country,” said Reed, who announced a 100-percent voter registration for the entire football team.
“Our kids are looking at what’s going on in this society – from George Floyd to Breonna Taylor and all those things that happened over the summer. Those things left a lot of them angry. Besides, we have to educate our kids on the process and how voter suppression occurs. So, we are trying to get them the mechanisms to be able to vote and be effective with their ballots.”
Reed issued a challenge to all HBCU sports programs, especially the Ohio Valley Conference, to get their students registered to vote.
Thomas, who volunteered to follow up with the players, has been a crusader on campus for voter education and registration. She is the creator and chair of the TSU Votes Student Coalition. Recently, she partnered with two other student organizations to host a daylong voter registration rally on campus that featured Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett, and Davidson County Election Commission Board member AJ Starling.
Thomas said in 2018, only 34 percent of the campus actively voted.
“As trustee this year, my goal is to double that turnout, if not 100 percent,” she said.
Thomas is a member of TSU’s world-renowned Aristocrat of Bands, where she plays the French horn. She said she is working to accomplish what the football team has done, and get a 100-percent voter registration for band members.
For information on deadlines to register, early voting, mail-in voting, and absentee ballots, visit the website of the Secretary of State in your state.
Department of Media Relations
Tennessee State University 3500 John Merritt Boulevard Nashville, Tennessee 37209 615.963.5331
About Tennessee State UniversityFounded 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.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (TSU News Service) – Over 1,000 high school students from across the nation descended upon Tennessee State University on April 13 for Spring Preview Day 2019.
The day started with check in and a student organization fair in the Gentry Center Complex where student leaders, campus administrators, faculty and staff welcomed the students and their parents to campus.
Terrance Izzard (Submitted photo)
“We are elated that you have chosen to spend
today with us here at Tennessee State.
We already know that you are on one of the most phenomenal campuses in
the United States of America,” said Terrence
Izzard, associate vice president for Enrollment Management and Student Success
“The HBCU experience is an experience like
none other, and I want to say to each parent and grandparent and aunt, thank
you for bringing your student here.”
The high school students and
their parents departed the Gentry Center in groups led by TSU students eager to
serve as their guides for the day. Activities for the visitors, according to
organizers, included meetings with academic departments, TSU student
organizations, campus tours, and other forms of educational entertainment.
Future TSU Tiger Brandon Jones (center), with his mom, Sadera Baker (left), and his step-father, Stephen Baker (right), moments before heading to the Blue and White Spring scrimmage in Hale Stadium. (Photo by Michael McLendon, TSU Media Relations)
Like many other students
visiting for Spring Preview, Brandon Jones, a student at Georgia Military
College, has already committed to Tennessee State University. A football player, Jones had the opportunity
to meet former NFL cornerback and TSU football player Randy Fuller during his campus
tour.
“I already signed, and I report
June 1,” Jones said. “I really like the
family atmosphere at TSU. It feels like home. So really, it’s the best fit for
me.”
Mikaylah Abercrombie, a junior
at New Manchester High School in Atlanta, said although she has not committed
to TSU, she is impressed by the university.
“My cousin, Christion attended
TSU, and I liked it when I saw him playing football. And I just want to check it out,” she said.
Atlanta-native Mikaylah Abercrombie with her mother, Freda Abercrombie at TSU Spring Preview Day 2019. (Photo by Michael McLendon, TSU Media Relations)
Abercrombie’s mother, Freda Abercrombie, who joined her for Spring Preview Day, said the university’s response after her nephew, Chistion Ambercrombie, suffered a life-threatning injury during a game against Vanderbilt University on Sept. 29, really touched her heart.
“Actually I just got a good
vibe from his experience here, and after the accident, all of the love and
support that the school gave was awesome.
We just fell in love with TSU,
and I wanted to make sure my daughter at least checked out the school for
herself.”
Mikaylah, who hopes to study early childhood education or musical theatre, said she would like to work as a pre-school teacher once she completes her academic studies.
Javon Jones, TSU associate director of Undergraduate Recruitment, said Spring Preview Day should definintely play a role in boosting enrollment for the fall. She said students who missed Spring Preview, can attend a similar day in the fall.
“We would love to see anyone who couldn’t come out today for Spring Preview Day,” she said. “We are about energy, about educating our students, and most of all we want them to have fun and be prepared for their future. We will make sure they have all of their admissions documents together, and that they have everything ready to go and if they ever need anything, the office of admissions and records is available to help.”
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.
