Meet
pioneers, leaders and innovators who have tackled some of the greatest challenges of today’s world.
#MorganChangemakersBlairC. Smith TracyGreen NanceyHarris NgoziOkaro NnekaN’namdi
So, on your birthday, anniversary, graduation, holiday or any other significant day in your life, honor your alma mater by giving a gift to Morgan State University! Visit www.givetomorgan.org, and click on “Give Now,” or make your check payable and mail it to:
MSU Foundation, Inc., P.O. Box 64261, Baltimore, MD 21264-4261
IT’S
Thanks to all who have paid their annual dues to the association this year. Your annual dues not only support the Alumni Association, but $5 is directed to the MSU Alumni Association Endowed Scholarship Fund, which supports students in need.
Annual MSUAA dues for 2023–24 are $35 and are due beginning July 1!
Please note that dues renewal notices will be emailed this year, as we fulfill Morgan’s commitment to lower expenses and increase the environmental sustainability of our operations campus-wide.
Annual dues payments can be made online at https:// alumni.morgan.edu. Or mail your payment to: Morgan State University Alumni House, 1700 E. Cold Spring Lane, Baltimore, MD 21251. Questions? Please email them to the Alumni Relations team at alumni@morgan.edu
THANK YOU FOR MAKING A DIFFERENCE!
YOUR VOICE WILL BE HEARD!
The Alumni News is published biannually by the Office of Alumni Relations and the Office of Public Relations and Strategic Communications.
Any questions or concerns about this publication may be directed to:
Office of Alumni Relations, Alumni House, Morgan State University, 1700 E. Cold Spring Lane, Baltimore, MD 21251 or (443) 885-3015.
Thank you to everyone who submitted an article for the newly redesigned Morgan State University Alumni News. As always, we welcome the opportunity to share your information with the Morgan family. However, because of space limitations, it was not possible to include all submissions in the printed publication. If your news does not appear in these pages, never fear: your voice will be heard! Articles not published in the printed newsletter may be viewed on the MSU Alumni Association website at alumni.morgan.edu.
Phyllis C. Davis, ’82, President
Lt. Col. (Ret.) Michael L. Bell, ’76, 1st Vice President
Todd Beazer, ’91, 2nd Vice President
Gaynelle Lewis-Fleming, ’74, Secretary
Leslie Hannibal, ’90, Treasurer
Heidi Bruce, ’95, Executive Director, MSUAA
The Rev. Dr. Charles D. Fletcher, Jr., ’70, Immediate Past President
Missing the opportunity to publicly acknowledge our most outstanding alumni was immensely painful for the Morgan family, but after three long years of pandemic-born postponements and cancellations, the Morgan State University Alumni Association is proud to present its distinguished award recipients for 2020 and 2023.
Please plan to join us in honoring these exemplary alums: stewards of Morgan’s tradition of service to community, high achievement in the workplace, dedication to alma mater and commitment to the University’s Core Values of Leadership, Integrity, Innovation, Diversity, Excellence and Respect. The awards ceremony will take place at this year’s Alumni Awards and Class Reunion Luncheon, on Friday, May 19, in the Calvin and Tina Tyler Ballroom of the University Student Center.
Prince George’s County Alumni Chapter
Alumnus of the Year 2020
Arthuro V. (“Art”) Lawson, ’74
Maya McAllister Anglin, ’14
Northern Virginia Alumni Chapter
want quality clothes that fit well and minimize environmental impact, Custom Collaborative is a solution that is successfully bridging the gap between fashion and sustainability — and both CC and Okaro have been recognized for their contributions to the fashion industry.
In 2020, Custom Collaborative was selected to receive one of the initial grants from the Gucci North America Changemakers Impact Fund, an annual, $1-million fund to support community organizations making a social impact in diverse communities in North America.
A strong familial pull brought Ngozi Okaro to Morgan State University for her formative years as an undergraduate: her mother, Amy Powell, had worked as a librarian at the University throughout Ngozi’s childhood.
Morgan was “a good space, a safe space to meet and get to know other people, learn other perspectives and be involved in organizations including student government and the political union and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. “Some of my lifelong friends came from Morgan, and some of the people I really respect and admire,” says Okaro, a self-described “nerd” who helped lead the 1990 student protest for equitable facilities at Morgan.
Today, her activism for economic, environmental and social justice continues in her work as Executive Director of Custom Collaborative (CC), an organization she founded in 2016 to educate and train immigrant and low-income women to work in the fashion industry. This 16-week program teaches skills from sewing and patternmaking to business management. Program graduates are then better equipped to seek fair compensation, launch their own businesses and use sustainable materials and practices. As consumers are shying away from fast-fashion and instead
Since founding CC, Okaro has become a sought-after industry leader in sustainable fashion practices: she is a 2022 Goldman Sachs Black Woman Impact Leader and Vogue Business 100 Innovator, a 2021 Conscious Fashion Campaign & United Nations Office for Partnerships SDG Honoree, a Crain’s Notable Women Business Owner, an AARP Purpose Prize Fellow, a 2020 Conscious Company Media and Kate Spade “World-Changing Women in Conscious Business” awardee, a 2019 NYC Fair Trade Coalition “Changemaker of the Year,” and New York Women’s Foundation “Spirit of Entrepreneurship” winner. In March, she presented CC’s work as an example of “WomenLed Innovations Advancing Equitable Workforce Development,” as a panelist at the 67th annual session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women, in New York.
Okaro is an advisor for The New Fashion Initiative and for Common Impact and is a founding board member of the NY Fashion Workforce Development Coalition. She serves as a Commissioner of the New York City Equal Employment Practices Commission and a Director of the New York City Economic Development Corporation and has compiled a long list of other accomplishments during her two-decade career in social-sector leadership. She has a law degree from Georgetown University and is licensed to practice law in Louisiana and New York.
For more than 155 years, Morgan State University has been a pioneer in creating leaders and innovators who disrupt the status quo by tackling some of our greatest challenges head-on without hesitation. Meet four alumni who are using their talents and education to address access, representation, sustainability and community investment.
#MorganChangemakersNneka N’namdi became a technologist, and more, as a Bachelor of Science in Information Sciences and Systems student at Morgan State University.
“My formal education and other experiences at MSU gave depth to my understanding of the intersection of real estate, investment praxis and corporate operations. It also provided me with knowledge and skills to leverage information as a technology for decision-making and systems development,” says N’namdi.
N’namdi says her wide-ranging work as a “technoartivist” (technologist, artist and activist) is centered on her engagement with community wellness and “conversion communalism, basically the process by which Black people can shift our economic philosophy and practices from capitalism/communism to an economic system that serves the collective needs through a market for goods and services that is truly equitable.”
N’namdi has put her economic beliefs into action in multiple ways. Ten years ago, she used her systems and software engineering experience, and business acumen, to launch Nnamdi Consulting, LLC. The company provides systems/software and community development services to corporate, government and nonprofit clients.
Then three years later, in 2016, her lived experiences in her neighborhood — Upton, in Baltimore City — drove her to create Fight Blight Bmore, a community-led economic, environmental and social justice initiative to address the problem of blight. Among the organization’s achievements to date are development of a Fight Blight Bmore mobile app to enable residents to easily map blight in their neighborhoods and track progress in resolving it; a 2022 collaboration with Morgan’s School of Social Work, funded by a Maryland Industrial Partnerships grant, to develop blight analytics to support reparative community development;
and publication of a comprehensive report, “The Anatomy of Baltimore’s Blight,” this year. The report, which is subtitled “Analysis of Policy and Practice Creating a Pathway for Community Progress,” examines how residents and communities prioritize and address property issues and discusses what tools are needed for them to work more comprehensively toward blight remediation.
N’namdi and Fight Blight Bmore have earned numerous awards, fellowships and grants for their work — the Johns Hopkins Social Innovation Lab Cohort Prize, a Baltimore Women in Tech Micro Grant, a Warnock Social Innovation Fellowship, a Baltimore Corps Elevation Award, an Associated Black Charities Women on the Move Award and the Baltimore City Intergenerational Initiative for Trauma and Youth Grant, to name a few. Recognition of the organization by the media is also growing, and N’namdi is now widely acknowledged as a thought leader on the topic of blight, its socioeconomic impacts and how to solve the problem.
“The actions of non-resident property owners in a community are a greater predictor of violence than resident behavior. Hence, if we want to change resident behavior, we must change community conditions,” she wrote in a Jan. 24, 2023, op-ed in the Baltimore Sun. “… Blight is violent. Get to work.”
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students from select HBCUs and direct them toward internships and careers at top-tier asset management firms. The eight-week program includes academic sessions and a speaker series presenting industry experts. Students from eight HBCUs applied for 16 fellowships in the inaugural cohort this year.
“The benefit to students will be a higher degree of financial fluency, making them even more competitive candidates,” says Smith.
Blair C. Smith is a financial professional with the heart of a community activist. Nearly two years ago, the former ROTC scholar brought his 20 years of financial services and capital markets experience to Milken Institute, in Washington, D.C., a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank with a mission to improve financial, physical, mental and environmental health.
The hiring has been mutually beneficial. As Senior Director of Milken’s Center for Financial Markets, Smith leads the Access to Capital and strategic innovative financing initiatives and has created two entities: Milken’s Inclusive Capitalism Program and the institute’s HBCU Strategic Initiative and Fellows Program, of which Morgan is a strategic partner. Recognizing that quality talent at HBCUs is often overlooked by the investment industry, Milken and Smith launched the Fellows Program to recruit and support academically competitive
Smith came to Milken from a community development financial institution, the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone Development Corporation, in New York, where he was Chief Investment Officer. Before that, he was responsible for co-managing a $5.2-billion Emerging Manager investment portfolio, within the State of New York Common Retirement Fund. Even earlier in his career, he served as a Relationship Manager with the Greenwich, Connecticut, and New York City Wealth Management teams at various top-tier banks, for more than 15 years. He has also worked as an adjunct professor at the Graduate School of Business of his other collegiate alma mater, Columbia University, where he received an M.B.A. Smith serves on the boards of directors of the Arthur Ashe Institute for Urban Health, the Baltimore Afro-American Newspapers and the Afro Charities.
Smith’s community activism isn’t the first in his family. He’s the great-grandson of the late Carl J. Murphy, Sr., founder of the Baltimore Afro-American and a longtime member and first African American chair of Morgan’s Board of Trustees (now the Board of Regents).
Smith is a 1987 initiate and legacy member of the Alpha Iota Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc.
”
”
The benefit to students will be a higher degree of financial fluency, making them even more competitive candidates .— Blair C. Smith, ’90, Milken Institute
Tracy Vontélle Green’s passion for stylish eyewear began when she was 13 and in need of corrective lenses.
“I remember how upset I was to have to wear them, but then Sally Jessy Raphael had a hot talk show and wore red frames. And I said, ‘OK. If I’ve got to wear them, I want them to make a statement,” Green says. “I begged my mom to buy me a pair. So started my journey of wearing glasses, not only to see the chalkboard but to be fashionable.”
Nancey Flowers Harris’ fascination with fashionable specs came later, after she and Green had met and become best friends as undergraduates at Morgan. Perhaps not coincidentally, Harris began working for an optometrist as a public relations coordinator after graduating from Morgan.
“I had an eye exam, discovered I was nearsighted and was prescribed my first pair of glasses. I was rocking my Malcolm X-styled frames and felt like I could change the world with my new glasses and recently acquired education from a historically Black university,” Harris recalls. “I started buying glasses to match my outfits and hairstyles. As my tastes began to shift, I was no longer satisfied with the limited styles and designs available on the market.”
Green had come to the same emotional place, and one day, as the friends bemoaned together about what was missing in eyewear, Green suggested they launch their own company
to sell glasses better suited to diverse faces. Harris, the natural entrepreneur of the two, heartily agreed, and Vontélle Eyewear was born. Founded in 2019, Vontélle (www.vontelle. com), an online store, offers products and accessories designed and handcrafted to pay homage to the owners’ African ancestry, with traditional colors and patterns that channel their African, Caribbean and Latin heritage. Customers can ‘test drive’ glasses using Vontélle’s Virtual Try On feature and upload their eyeglass prescriptions to the website to be filled. The company commits a portion of its sales proceeds and eyewear to further vision support services for low-income children and families, through a partnership with Women in Need, an organization based in New York City. Vontélle has also partnered with ViacomCBS Consumer Products to offer children’s eyewear designed around Nickelodeon characters. The company has benefited from a wealth of attention from the media, and in February, Harris and Green appeared on “The Kelly Clarkson Show,” where they were surprised with an invitation from journalist Mika Brzezinski to the Forbes 30/50 Summit, in Abu Dhabi.
“We’ve only just begun!” says Harris. “Vontélle will surely make you feel bold, brave and beautiful and give you the ‘wow’ effect all day as you rock these stylish optics.” n
Lt. Col. David F. Mack, Jr., U.S. Army (Ret.), a member of Morgan’s Class of ’71 and the undefeated 1965 Bears football team, has been commissioned by The Metropolitan Museum of Art Curators to be a contributing artist in the groundbreaking exhibition, “Hear Me Now: The Black Potters of Old Edgefield, South Carolina.” The MET exhibition ended Feb. 5, 2023. The second viewing began March 6 and runs through July 9, 2023, first at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; then at the University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor; and finally at the High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia, where the exhibition completes its U.S. tour. The MET museum curators included Mack’s audio commentary as a 21st Century Contemporary Black Artist and his proposal for Congressional legislation, “The Stolen Bones Restitution Act of 1619,” a reparation bill that calls for giving back 20% of the proceeds from the sale of artifacts of enslaved African Americans.
Mack joined a distinguished panel of historians, researchers, educators and clay artists in a livestreamed discussion, “Fire + Clay: Fresh Perspectives on Southern Pottery,” hosted by the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Art, on Saturday, March 18, in Winston Salem, North Carolina. Four of the artist’s ceramic face vessels were exhibited during this symposium, where he again discussed the Stolen Bones act.
In addition, Mack’s ceramic face vessel, “A Tribute to David Drake, The Slave Potter,” was exhibited at the 2023 National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts’ 57th Annual Conference, March 13–18, 2023, in Cincinnati, Ohio.
The Gamma Chapter of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Incorporated, was established at Morgan College, now Morgan State University, on Nov. 2, 1921, and was chartered as the second chapter within the sisterhood.
Gamma Chapter is unique, because it was the first Greek letter sorority on Morgan’s campus and is the second chapter within Zeta but bears the name of the third letter of the Greek alphabet. This departure from the normal chapter-naming protocol was made intentionally, so Gamma would bear the same name as its brother chapter, the Gamma Chapter of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Incorporated, which is also located at Morgan State University.
As Gamma Chapter moves toward its 102nd anniversary celebration, it will continue to retain its original zest of excellence as well as exemplify the Scholarship, Service, Sisterhood and Finer Womanhood that have resulted in the members’ serving in groundbreaking roles in all fields of endeavor and making life better for others globally.
The official end date of Homecoming was Sunday, Oct. 9 last year at Morgan State University, but the men of Groove Phi Groove Social Fellowship, Inc., had good reason to extend their festivities for a few days. The Fellowship celebrated the 60th anniversary of its founding on Morgan’s campus on Oct. 12, 1962, by donating $60,000 to support scholarships for students of the University. President David K. Wilson accepted the gift on behalf of the National Treasure.
Thank you to G Phi G for their continued support of Morgan students.
J. Blaine Somerville III has deep roots in rural St. Mary’s County, Maryland, and an enormous family tree of alumni of Maryland’s Preeminent Public Urban Research University, Morgan State. Somerville, who earned his Bachelor of Science in Business Administration at Morgan in 1992, is owner of Somerville Insurance Agency in his hometown of Loveville. He is also a youth athletics coach, a former high school teacher and a former Assistant Director of the Honors Program at Morgan, where he worked for his mentor, Clayton Stansbury, Ph.D., from 1993 to 1997. Somerville and his extended family have farmed their own land in Loveville for generations. One of his paternal great grandfathers and a great grand uncle donated land to a land trust with the county to have a school for Black students established on the family farm. Education, since then, has been “a huge deal” for the family, he says, and the Somervilles and Morgan have benefited mutually from that high priority.
“Morgan has become a person to me. It is a living, breathing thing,” says Somerville, as he reflects on the friendships he made as an undergraduate with peers such as Edwin
Johnson, Ph.D., now Special Assistant to the Provost at the University. But his words apply just as well to his Morgan kin.
Blaine’s mother, Charlotte Somerville, graduated from Morgan with a bachelor’s degree in Psychology in 1975 and had a long, impactful career as a guidance counselor at Leonardtown High School, in St. Mary’s. One of his paternal uncles, Douglas Somerville, Sr., left Morgan a year later with a bachelor’s degree in Political Science and had a successful career with the District of Columbia government and as owner of the construction company where he still works in retirement, DFS & Associates. Blaine’s father, Joseph Blaine Somerville, Jr., was also a Morgan alum: the first of the family to attend the University, he left without a degree after marrying Charlotte and after Blaine III was born. He passed away in 2020.
Two of Blaine III’s three younger siblings are Morgan graduates: his sister Karla Somerville-Swales earned her bachelor’s degree in Chemistry at Morgan in 1995 — the same year Blaine received his MBA from Morgan
— then went to the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) to earn her Ph.D. as the first graduate scholar of that university’s renowned Meyerhoff Scholars Program. She does contractual work now, in chemistry. Her sister Shahza Somerville Dozier arrived at Morgan in 1996 and left with her Bachelor of Science in Biology in 2000, before she also earned her Ph.D. as a Meyerhoff Scholar at UMBC, in Neuroscience. She is a medical writer and regulatory affairs specialist now for a clinical operations company in the pharmaceutical industry. Blaine’s cousin Douglas Somerville, Jr., and Douglas’ sister Kellie are graduates of Morgan, too. Kellie, of the Class of 2018, has taken her Bachelor of Science in Business Administration to a major utility company, where she is a supervisor and work planner. Douglas, Jr., earned his Bachelor of Science in Biology in 2001 and is working as a supervisor for a large energy firm. Another cousin, Martyna Somerville, graduated from Morgan with a Bachelor of Arts in English in 2014 and now works as a contractor for the Department of Defense. Her brother Corey Somerville and cousins Victor Taylor and Michael Taylor II are Morgan grads also, in the Class of 2007. And yet another Somerville cousin, D’Andre Miller, earned a Bachelor of Science in Multi-Platform Production at Morgan last December.
“Morgan is close to all of our hearts,” says Shahza, who adds that her brother Blaine was a major influence on her decision to become a Bear. “…It’s a family tradition and legacy to some degree, meaning it’s almost expected that we enroll and are involved (on campus) and enjoy watching others in the family go to Morgan.”
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As strong as it is, the Somervilles’ higher education tradition has had a few shaky moments. As a high school senior and outstanding scholar-athlete who had been the only Black student in many of his classes, Blaine III came close to choosing another university. With full scholarship offers in hand from Ivy League and other predominantly white institutions, he had settled on the University of Maryland, College Park. His mother’s former professor, Dr. Stansbury, offered him a full scholarship to Morgan’s new Honors College, but Blaine turned it down immediately. Appeals from his mother and father to consider Morgan fell on deaf ears, but his football coach was more effective.
“He said, ‘Morgan State University has taken care of your family. And now you think you’re too good for it?.... It’s obvious that’s where you need to go,’ ” Blaine recalls. “This white man told me to go to Morgan. I said, ‘Well, I’ll go for a semester, and if I don’t like it, I can always transfer…. I’m 52 years old. I’ve been happily married to the same woman for it’ll be 30 years in November, and Morgan State University by far is the greatest decision I’ve ever made. Morgan made me understand who I am and who I’m supposed to be.”
Blaine’s uncle Douglas had a similar experience.
“I was scheduled to go to a white university. I had no intention of going to any Black school. I had the opportunity to go anywhere I wanted,” says Douglas, whose K–12 education was at predominantly white schools. But his mother and his brother Blaine intervened, “and in protest I went to Morgan. The deal was, if I went one year and I didn’t get into trouble and I was OK, I could then go to whatever school I wanted.”
“Man, after that one year, I couldn’t think about going anywhere else….” Douglas says. “I don’t even know how to say this: I didn’t know that I wasn’t Black. Morgan taught me that there were things that I needed to be aware of and that I was Black and should be proud of being Black…. All of that taught me that when I left Morgan, I could do anything. It crystallized a personality that I would never have had, had I gone to school anywhere else.”
Like the other Morganites in her family, Shahza praises the education she received at Morgan.
“The program I was in at UMBC was actually a tri-campus program, so I got to attend classes and participate in a lot of the activities at College Park; UMB, which is the medical and dental school…; and UMBC,” she explains.
“All three of those had very rigorous academic programs, and at all three, many people that came in the same cohort with me had a difficult time keeping up with the coursework and completing the programs. I never had that problem, meaning, academically, I was well prepared. So that says a lot, I think, about the level of education that I got from Morgan.”
The Somerville contingent of Morgan alumni is still growing, Blaine reports. His cousin Taylor Vaughn Nelson is an Applied Liberal Studies major headed for graduation this May, and his goddaughter, Kaela Dothard, is an Applied Liberal Studies major in the Class of 2024.
Blaine and Douglas, Sr., say they’re doing all they can to continue adding to Morgan’s student and graduate rolls. Douglas says he and
his wife have given financial help to students at Morgan and other HBCUs for decades and that he promotes the University constantly. For Blaine’s part, he says he’s continuing the volunteer recruitment he has done since the 1990s.
“I moved back home to teach because there were so many kids I went to high school with who didn’t go to college. And I said, ‘Morgan can help these people,’ ” Blaine says. “Half of my county went to Morgan during those six, seven years I taught, because I sent them. Morgan is all I talk about.” n
On Jan. 14, the Howard L. Cornish Metropolitan Baltimore Alumni Chapter reached a major fundraising milestone at its 2023 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Scholarship Breakfast! In raising $52,500 in scholarships, the chapter reached the $1-million mark during the 36th iteration of the event.
Scholarships were awarded to 20 deserving Morgan State University students. Six of the scholarships were awarded as memorials to Chapter members who made their eternal transitions during 2022: Margaret C. Ogle, ’46; Dr. Leah G. Hasty, ’52, ’66 and ’92; Shirley F. Reason, ’59; Marian R. Finney, ’60; Donald Tynes, Sr., ’65; and Patricia M. Burns, ’76.
Anthony C. McPhail served as the Event Chairman for the Scholarship Breakfast this year. Carole A. Jeffries is the Chapter President. Sina Gebre-Ab, Morning News Anchor for WJZ-TV 13, was the event’s Mistress of Ceremonies.
A health expo hosted by MSUAA’s Baltimore County Chapter, in partnership with LifeBridge Health, brought approximately 500 participants to the Randallstown Community Center, in Randallstown, Maryland, on April 22. The event was part of an ongoing effort to meet the health and wellness needs of residents in northwest Baltimore County and the surrounding communities. Physicians and other medical professionals conducted blood pressure screenings, blood sugar and cholesterol checks and risk assessments for chronic conditions. They were also on hand to answer questions and give brief presentations that included an exercise demonstration. Tables and displays represented various service lines of Northwest Hospital and other community partners, and volunteers distributed informational handouts about diseases and health conditions and how to prevent or manage them.
The Chicago Alumni Chapter remains steadfast in its commitment to the National Treasure. In 2022, the Chapter awarded two $1,500 scholarships to Chicago area students enrolled at Morgan for the 2022–23 academic year and hosted a “Back to School” festivity for local area Morganites. The Chapter continues to promote Morgan State University through participation in local college fairs, such as the 100 Black Men College Scholarship Fair, the Chicago Football Classic HBCU College and Career Fair, the National Association of Admissions Officers College Fair and the Silas Purnell College Fair. The chapter’s presence on Facebook and Instagram serves to showcase the group’s activities as well as the major events occurring on campus.
The Chicago Alumni Chapter continues to move forward in the Chicagoland area in service to its beloved alma mater.
The Greater Houston Area Alumni Chapter’s fall/winter activities were popping, with its Double Good Popcorn Fundraiser last October and its meet-up at Studio Movie Grill to view the movie “Black Panther 2: Wakanda Forever,” last November. Chapter members promoted Morgan at multiple college fairs in 2022, the last at the Bay Area Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority’s annual “Rep Your Alma Mater” college event, in December. Students there were provided with information about Morgan academic degrees, MSU student life and Baltimore.
Since the New Year, the chapter has held a virtual general body meeting in January that included alumni from the Dallas Fort Worth area and attended NBA HBCU night with the Houston Rockets in February. Other events attended by chapter members included an HBCU College Fair in Houston on March 4 and three MSU choir performances in Texas later that month. General body meetings are upcoming, on May 9 and Sept. 26.
If you live outside of Greater Houston and the surrounding area, no problem! Chapter membership is open to all alumni in good financial standing with the Morgan State University Alumni Association. General body meetings are held quarterly and are conducted through an online virtual platform. For more information, email GreaterHoustonArea.Chapter@alumni.morgan.edu.
With new talent arriving constantly, the Howard County Alumni Chapter started 2023 with a bang. Processes are becoming more computerized, and as a convenience to chapter members who are not check writers, the finance team has even integrated PayPal to pay chapter dues, etc.
The Membership Committee is pushing to increase the chapter’s numbers, an initiative that has led to a 20% increase in the membership total.
The Scholarship Committee has reviewed and revamped its forms and processes and received applications for this year’s scholarships
via the chapter’s website, msuaa-hc.org, through April 1.
A Black History Fair in Columbia, Maryland, in February was an opportunity for the chapter to proudly display and convey information about Morgan and recruit chapter members as well as students for the University. Fundraising continues to be a priority for the chapter. Another “Let’s Give Something Back Campaign” surpassed its goal of $10,000, and the chapter’s annual Caribbean Day Party brought a crowd of financial supporters to Kahler Hall in Columbia on April 15.
As COVID restrictions are slowly being eased, the New Jersey Chapter has resumed its busy schedule of activities. The highlight, so far this year, has been the panel discussion hosted by the chapter on Feb. 4, during the INVESCO QQQ HBCU Legacy Classic at the Prudential Center in Newark. Moderated by Morgan alumna Claudia Ruffin, the discussion was centered on “African-American Female Achievement in Sports Management,” with MEAC Commissioner Sonja Stills and three Athletic Directors, Dena Freeman-Patton from Morgan State, Alecia Shields-Gadson from Delaware State and Paula Jackson, Ph.D., from Hampton University, as participants. They each
discussed their educational and professional journeys in breaking the glass ceiling in the male-dominated field and challenging racial and gender bias. The event was attended by alumni and friends from New Jersey, New York. Pennsylvania and Maryland as well as Newark City Council President LaMonica McIver and former Councilwoman Bessie Walker, who presented the panelists with Newark City Council Resolutions recognizing their achievements. The panelists also received Certificates of Appreciation and Recognition from NCBW 100 of Bergen and Passaic Counties.
Virginia
Chapter participated in the eighth annual
college fair at Tuscarora High School, in Leesburg, Virginia, last October. The evening was designed to expose the school community to the many options made available by attending an Historically Black College or University. The event brought recruiters from many HBCUs under one roof. Loudoun County, located 45 minutes west of Washington D.C., has the highest median household income in the U.S. and some of the most dynamic students in the nation. Many of these students have resources to attend schools outside of Virginia but do not receive much information about HBCUs. The goal of the chapter was to build a stronger connection between Morgan and local Loudoun County schools to attract minority students.
The South Hampton Roads (VA) Alumni Chapter gathered in Norfolk, Virginia, last November, to honor a pioneering Black educator, at the unveiling of renowned sculptress and Morgan alumna Vinnie Bagwell’s statue of Richard A. Tucker. Tucker became Rector (Principal) of the Cumberland School when it opened in 1888, Norfolk Public Schools’ first educational institution built for African Americans. South Hampton Roads Chapter member Merv McCoy was Principal of Norfolk’s Richard A. Tucker Elementary School from 1976 to 1981.
The Norfolk Public Library selected Bagwell to sculpt the bronze statue for its latest
library, the Richard A. Tucker Memorial Library, located in the Berkley neighborhood in Norfolk. The South Hampton Roads Alumni Chapter continued recognizing local greats in December, when it gave James M. Nixon, Sr., Morgan Class of 1954, its Lifetime Achievement Award, in honor of his 70 years of service to Morgan and the chapter. The presentation took place on his 96th birthday. Nixon was the first President of the original Tidewater Chapter and a member of the Greater Hampton Roads Alumni Chapter, and is the current Treasurer of the South Hampton Roads Alumni Chapter.
The Morgan State University Choir enjoyed enthusiastic support from MSUAA’s Dallas/ Fort Worth Alumni Chapter during the choir’s All-Texas Spring Break Tour last March. The tour, originally planned for March 2020 then postponed because of COVID-19, included concerts in Austin and Houston in addition to Dallas. Alumni from the Dallas/Fort Worth and Houston Chapters turned out in full force
for the events, which took place at Inspiring Body of Christ Church, in Dallas, on March 17; Grant Worship Center, in Austin, on March 18; and Good Hope Missionary Baptist Church, in Houston, on March 19. The performances were captured digitally and shared with the greater church community via the church websites. A few choir members flew on airplanes for the very first time during the tour.
Class of
to Celebrate Their Golden Anniversary Morgan’s Spring Commencement on May 20 this year will be golden for the Class of 1973, as the class members, nicknamed the “Change Makers,” celebrate their 50th Anniversary. The Golden Anniversary Weekend will start with the Annual Alumni Awards and Class Reunion Luncheon, on Friday, May 19, 2023, in the Calvin & Tina Tyler Ballroom of the MSU Student Center. Tickets are $100 per person. For more information about purchasing tickets, call Morgan’s Alumni Relations Office at (443) 885-3015.
At that luncheon, the class will present its endowment gift of $50,000 to the Morgan State University Foundation. The last day for online donations to the endowment is Friday, May 5. The class plans to meet and maybe even exceed the pledged amount of $50,000. Each classmate is asked to make a tax-deductible gift of $50, $100 or more. To donate, visit “GivetoMorgan.org, click on the drop-down menu, choose “Other,” enter “Class of 1973 End” in the “My Donation” box, and enter your donation amount. To donate by check, make checks payable to “MSUF,” and mail them to:
MSUF, P.O. Box 64261, Baltimore, MD 21264-4261
Write “Class of 1973 End” in the memo section of the check. All donations must be received on or before Friday, May 5.
Other Important Dates:
Monday, May 15 – If you need accommodations/assistance to participate in and/or attend the Spring Commencement ceremony, contact the Alumni Relations Office at (443) 885-3015 by May 15, or send an email to alumni@morgan.edu and identify your need. You will receive a call back within 48 business hours.
Saturday, May 20 – 50th Anniversary Commencement Ceremony: two volunteers from the Class of 1973 are requested to serve as Pole Guards, who will lead the class during the Commencement procession. Please call Alumni Relations at (443) 885-3015 to express your interest in serving.
Note: Please be sure the Alumni Relations Office has your current contact information!
Morgan’s Class of 1978 will celebrate its 45th Anniversary Reunion at the Alumni Awards and Class Reunion Luncheon, on Alumni Day 2023, Friday, May 19. The class urges all of its members to come out to the luncheon to rekindle friendships and reminisce about the “good ole days” at Morgan. For more information, please contact the Office of Alumni Relations at (443) 885-3015, or contact the Class Agent, Dr. Jerome Boyd, at (908) 370-3735.
Please continue to donate to the Morgan State University Foundation, and designate your contributions for the Class of 1978.
The Class of 1998 has established a reunion activity committee for its 25th Anniversary Celebration on Alumni Day 2023. The committee has settled on sponsoring and promoting a Class of 1998 table at the Alumni Awards and Class Reunion Luncheon; establishing a class endowment; purchasing a class brick for Morgan’s Sesquicentennial Brick Plaza; holding a Morgan on the Vineyard event hosted by Khalilah Harris, Class of ’98; hosting a Homecoming event on Thursday, Oct. 5; and hosting a Homecoming Brunch. The class welcomes additional committee members and ideas to celebrate its 25th anniversary. Please contact Class Agents at tanya.mcduffie98@alumni. morgan.edu and CPJ692001@yahoo.com for more details.
Now in its 13th season, the Adopt-A-Game Program encourages Morgan alumni chapters, classes and other organizations to come out and support MSU Athletics at all Bears games and events. The program’s outreach also includes the extended Morgan family — friends; family members; classmates; children; grandchildren; fellow church, sorority and fraternity members; and neighbors of alumni; and many others. For details about how your group can participate in this program, please contact Vanessa Grey, Morgan’s Assistant Director of Alumni Relations for Programs and Outreach, at vanessa.grey@morgan.edu, or call (443) 885-4137. You don’t want to miss all the fun!
REMEMBER to wear your ORANGE and BLUE to all Athletic Events!
Winter–Spring 2023 • Visit www.msuchoir.org for the latest information.
Annual Spring Concert ..........................................
14, 4 p.m. Murphy Fine Arts Center, 2201 Argonne Dr., Baltimore, MD 21218
Concert at Mann Center for the Performing Arts
TD Pavilion, 5201 Parkside Ave., Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, PA 19131.
Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with The Philadelphia Orchestra
Morgan State University Spring Commencement.........................
20, 10 a.m. Hughes Memorial Stadium
Tour of Ghana, Togo, Benin and Nigeria!
21–June 2
Tickets available at Ticketmaster at (410) 547-7328 or http://www.ticketmaster.com, or before the game at the Box Office, University Student Center first floor
Homecoming Host Hotel – Reserve Your Rooms Now!
Hotel Indigo Baltimore – Downtown 24 W. Franklin Street, Baltimore, MD 21201 (410) 625-6200 $169.00 per night
Make your room reservations by calling the Reservations Center at (855) 914-1370, or use the following link to reserve your room online, today: shorturl.at/koxC6
The cutoff date for reserving rooms at the discounted Homecoming rate is Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2023, at 11 a.m. Eastern Time.
In case you miss getting a room at the Host Hotel, three more hotels are listed on the MSU Alumni Association website. To reserve space at one of the additional properties, please visit www.alumni.morgan.edu and click “Events” then “Homecoming,” or click “Resources” then “Hotels.”
MSUAA Business Meeting
Friday, Oct. 6, 2023, 11 a.m.
Meeting will begin promptly in the University Student Center Theater, located on the first floor.
39th Annual Homecoming Gala
Friday, Oct. 6, 2023, 8 p.m.
Martin’s West 6817 Dogwood Road
Baltimore, MD 21244
Tickets sales will start on Saturday, July 1, 2023.
MSUAA Life Member Brunch
Saturday, Oct. 7, 2023, 9 a.m. Earl S. Richardson Library, First Floor Invitations will be emailed.
Events – Spring/Summer/Fall 2023 • Visit www.murphyfineartscenter.org for the latest information. Calendar is subject to change.
Through May 18
MSU Student Art Exhibit, James E. Lewis Museum of Art
Through Sept. 15
The Afro-Futurist Manifesto: Blackness Reimagined, James E. Lewis Museum of Art
May 21
Baltimore Choral Arts Society presents Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Gilliam Concert Hall, 3 p.m.
June 1–Dec. 8
Black Artists of DC Exhibit, James E. Lewis Museum of Art
Stacey T. Abney-Ouzts, ’94 ........12/17/2022
Dennie
Dr.
Feridon Gharib, ’68 ............... 1/29/2023
Gwendolyn B. Giles (Former Staff) .... 7/10/2022
Anita L. Gillard (Former Staff) 8/17/2022
Frederick C. Grant, ’71 12/24/2022
Arletha J. Gray, ’64 ..............11/16/2022
Lorraine T. Green, ’53 ............. 8/15/2022
Rhonda L. Greene-Justice, ’01 12/26/2022
Sylvia Waters Gundy, ’54 1/6 /2023
Doris Webb Hall, ’49 8/25/2022
Dr. Gladys Walton Hall, ’66 ......... 3/16/2020
Morris Hamlin, Jr., ’88
Lenora K. Hardy-Foster, ’83
Constance Crumly Harris, ’50
Freddie Lee Hendricks,’65 and ’77 ....
Benjamin A. Holmes, ’53 ...........
Gloria E. Holmes, ’57
Helen A. Hudson,’61
Paula Darlene Huggins, ’92 and ’94 ... 9/27/2022
Damon Eric Hughes, ’91 ............ 3/2/2023
Emmanuel Mayowa Jaiyeola (Student)
Camilla L. Parrot Johnson (Former Faculty) ...............
Dr. Delores Y. Johnson, ‘74 ......... 8/12/2022
Elaine C. Dixon Johnson, ’92 10/20/2022
Mildred B. Johnson, ’57 7/18/2022
Louis A. Jones, Sr., ’60 ............
Dr. Sophia R. Jones (Former Staff) .....
Ronald L. Kelly, ’79
Wanda Williams Kiah, ’77
Benjamin Kimbers, III, ’74
Alan D. King, ’84 .................
Nellvina LaBeach (Former Staff)
Samuel Alexander LaBeach, ’57
Delores B. Laws, ’52
Beverly D. Lewis, ’85 ..............
Marshall Gaskin Lewis, ’73 ......... 3/25/2023
Takisha Simon Lindsay, ’97 11/6/2022
Dr. John S. Long (Former Faculty) 1/29/2023
Patricia E.R. Low, ’59 (Former Faculty) .. 1/9/2022
Joanne S. Mack, ‘78 .............10/16/2022
Carol M. Mallette, ’63 2/21/2023
Moses McAlister, Jr., ’70 8/27/2022
The Rev. Dr. Yvonne H. Mercer, ’69 10/30/2022
Frank S. Merritt, ’84 ..............12/21/2022
Katrina Elaine Moore, ’82 ..........
Bamidele O. Olowoyo, ’83 10/16/2022
Dr. Charles O. Oluokun (Former Faculty) ............... 9/28/2022
Artis Mae Robinson Peters, ’55, ’74 and ’86 12/25/2022
Martin Phillips, ’79
1st Lt. Jacqueline
Drew Troy, ’87 ..................11/17/2022
Alice L. Watson, ’56...............
Thelma L. (“Kitty” or “Kippy”) Watson, ’64
Dr. Douglas L. Wheeler (Former Faculty) ..............12/22/2022
John Sidney (“Jack”) White, Jr., ’58 ...
Eugene Williams, Sr., ’73 11/14/22022
Anderson (“Woody”) Williams, Jr., ’64 ......................... 12/3/2023
Kay L. Wilson, ’75 ................ 8/10/2022
Dr. Ronald Wood, ’58 2/16/2023
Leydon Young, ’65
*This list includes notices received on or before April 4, 2023. Any notices received after that date will be published in the next issue of Alumni News.
Individuals .......... $500
Spouse/Family $700*
Benefits Include:
Payable Over 2 Years
Get Started for Only $50
• 10% off at the Barnes & Noble campus store
• Use of Richardson Library
• Discounts to sporting events — including Homecoming
• 10% discount to the National Aquarium
• Access to Hurt Gymnasium fitness center
• Free subscription to Alumni News
Visit alumni.morgan.edu to submit your application. *Both parties must be Morgan alumni to receive discount.
Please let us know of any changes to your profile, including your name, address, telephone, email, etc. You may notify us by email at alumni@morgan.edu, by telephone at (443) 885-3015 or through our Online Community (www.alumni. morgan.edu). We would also love to know of any other MSU alumni who are not receiving our mailings. Please check with your MSU family members and friends, and call or email us if you hear of any missed connections. In addition to housing your profile, the Online Community provides important alumni information and updates. Please log on regularly!
Down:
1. First building on the current campus
2. Second longest-serving President
3. Current University President
Across:
5. Name of the College of Liberal Arts
6. Morgan’s athletic conference
8. First female Athletic Director
4. Morgan’s radio station
7. The book “10 Bears” was about this team at Morgan
10. Bridgeology classes held here
11. We are the _____
14. Founder of Black Enterprise magazine
Across: on the current campus serving president university president station
9. Recently hired a former Olympian as coach
12. Main building on the academic quad with the clock tower
5.Name of the College of Liberal
6.Morgan's athletic conference
13. First baccalaureate degree recipient of Morgan College
8.First female Athletic Director
15. Morgan has been named a National ________
15. Student administration building (opened in 2021)
16. Second winningest football coach in school history
Bears was about this team at
17. First alumni chapter in Africa
18. Morgan is designated as Maryland’s Public _____ Research University
19. Second alumni chapter in Africa
20. The name of the former library
12.Main building on the academic the clock tower
9.Recently hired a former Olympian classes held here
The first 10 alumni to submit complete, correct puzzles will receive an exclusive MSUAA prize!
15.Morgan has been names as
13.First baccalaureate degree Morgan College Black Enterprise magazine
15.Studentadministration building (opened in
16.Winningest football coach
19.Second alumni chapter in
20.The name of the former library
