NCCU Now Alumni Magazine Fall 2024

CHANCELLOR

KARRIE G. DIXON

PHYSICS DEPARTMENT WORKS ON NEXT SPACE TELESCOPE

ALUMNUS SELLS ELECTRIC CARS TO CUBA

62 Athletics

NCCU 66 I NC A&T 24

The Eagles won the 2024 Eagle-Aggie Classic, marking three years in a row NCCU emerged victorious in the matchup.

NORTH CAROLINA CENTRAL UNIVERSITY

Photo by DeAndres Royal ’10

Karrie G. Dixon, Ed.D., who began as 13th chancellor of North Carolina Central University in July, discusses her goals for the university.

Departments

04 Message from the Chancellor

13 Innovation

1 Million Miles Away NCCU physicists work on Nancy Grace Roman space telescope.

06

Transformation

Miss North Carolina

After winning the Miss North Carolina pageant in June, sophomore Carrie Everett began preparing for the upcoming Miss America pageant in January.

22 Leadership

Taking Care of Business

Jahmir Hamilton is earning $30,000 a month with his online gaming business –and he’s still a senior at NCCU.

32 Resilience

Having a Ball

Andrea Woodson-Smith, interim chair of the Department of Kinesiology, was inducted into the Wheelchair Basketball Hall of Fame.

43 Alumni News

Cars to Cuba

Alumnus John Felder is the first American to sell electric vehicles to Cuba.

58

Giving

Unbreakable

Bonds

40+ years after graduation, James Spruill ’74, is still giving to NCCU.

60 Athletics

The Secret Game

80 years ago, during the Jim Crow era, NCCU played Duke University in the first-known integrated basketball game.

Photo by DeAndres Royal ’10

MESSAGE FROM THE CHANCELLOR: IT'S A

New

Day

AT NCCU

Dear NCCU Community,

It is truly a new day at North Carolina Central University!

As we embark on another academic year, I am proud to celebrate the incredible strides we have made together. With record-breaking enrollment of more than 8,500 students — a 7.71% increase from last year — NCCU is leading the University of North Carolina System in growth. We welcomed the largest first-year class in our 114-year history, along with a remarkable surge in adult learners, militaryaffiliated students and online learners.

This growth reflects the strength of our academic programs and our commitment to broadening access to a high-quality, transformative education. Our top programs — both undergraduate and graduate — are thriving, with students excelling in fields such as business administration, biological and biomedical sciences, law and mental health counseling. I am especially proud of Project Kitty Hawk’s incredible growth, which highlights our leadership in online education and outreach to adult learners.

As you read through this issue of NCCU Now, my first as chancellor, you will see the many ways our students, faculty, staff and alumni are bringing our vision to life. The stories featured in this magazine showcase the outstanding work happening at NCCU and remind us all that we are truly at the forefront of innovation and success.

As we continue to enhance our campus infrastructure with a comprehensive facility assessment and six-year capital plan, we remain focused on fostering a safe and vibrant learning environment for all. Additionally, our advocacy efforts will play a critical role as we increase engagement with legislators to meet the evolving needs of our university.

To our alumni, friends, faculty and staff — your unwavering support has made this success possible. Together, we are elevating NCCU to new heights, ensuring that our students soar and that their purpose takes flight.

Thank you for being part of this exciting journey. The future of NCCU is brighter than ever.

With Eagle Pride,

Karrie G. Dixon, Ed.D. Chancellor

HIGHLIGHTS

/ 1 / NCCU was victorious against Alabama State University at the Orange Blossom Classic in Florida / 2 / NCCU student Carrie Everett was recently crowned Miss North Carolina / 3 / Chancellor Dixon received a warm welcome from the NCCU and Durham community as she arrived on campus for her first day on July 1. / 4 / NCCU leads UNC System in enrollment growth again — with 8,500 students, the largest first-year class in its history.

NCCU NOW MAGAZINE

is published by North Carolina Central University’s Office of Communications and Marketing, 1801 Fayetteville Street, Durham, NC 27707.

View the Fall 2024 digital version and past issues at issuu.com/nccentraluniv

NCCU NOW CONTRIBUTORS

CHIEF BRAND OFFICER Stephen W. Fusi

EDITOR Mark Lawton

SENIOR GRAPHIC DESIGNER Pandora Frazier ’82

WEB CONTENT MANAGER Jay Morrow ’95

WRITERS Danielle Blackwell ’22, Kevin Buczek, Attiyya Dunn ’16, Stephen W. Fusi, Nicole Hodges, Terri Godwin Hyman '99, '03, Mark Lawton, Chance Thweatt, André Vann '93, ’95

COPY EDITOR Cassandra Harper

PHOTOGRAPHY Kevin Ortiz, DeAndres Royal ’10

NCCU BOARD OF TRUSTEES

CHAIR Emily M. Dickens ’95, ’99, ’02

MEMBERS

David Alexander ’94, ’99

Roderick G. Allison ’95

William V. Bell

G. Keith Chadwell

Emmanuel Davis ’25

Kevin M. Holloway '75

Lisa F. Martinez

James Mitchell ’85

Cornell Slade ’75

Antwan Thornton ’15

Alexandra Valladares ’10, ’14

James S. Walker ’88

CHANCELLOR'S CABINET

CHANCELLOR Karrie G. Dixon, Ed.D.

EXECUTIVE VICE CHANCELLOR

Alyn Goodson ’11

VICE CHANCELLOR AND CHIEF OF STAFF Avery Staley ’93

INTERIM PROVOST AND VICE CHANCELLOR FOR ACADEMIC AFFAIRS

Ontario S. Wooden, Ph.D.

INTERIM VICE CHANCELLOR FOR ADMINISTRATION AND FINANCE

Mary Peloquin-Dodd

VICE CHANCELLOR FOR STUDENT AFFAIRS

Angela Alvarado Coleman, Ed.D.

VICE CHANCELLOR FOR INSTITUTIONAL ADVANCEMENT

Susan Hester

Miss North Carolina

AN NCCU SOPHOMORE OF TENACITY

She is a wonderful interpreter of text and has the potential to become a stunning singing actress.”

ROBERTA LAWS professor and director University Choir

CARRIE EVERETT began preparing for the Miss North Carolina pageant even before she won the Miss Johnston County pageant in December 2023. She practiced singing – she sang “And I Am Telling You” from the musical “Dreamgirls” during the Miss North Carolina competition – engaged in mock interviews, watched many hours of other pageants and practiced walking.

“A lot of people compare pageantry to modeling,” Everett said. “I wanted to make sure I could walk in heels and show confidence on stage.”

Everett is a first-generation American, born and raised in Washington state. Her parents immigrated to the United States from Liberia.

This fall she returned to North Carolina Central University (NCCU) as a sophomore. A vocal performance major, Everett enrolled at NCCU because she desired to attend a historically Black university and for its

music program. In particular, she likes singing gospel music – “That has to do with my upbringing in church” – along with R&B and classical music.

During her freshman year, she trained as a singer with Roberta Laws, a professor of music and director of the university choir, covering such skills as use of breath, support and resonance in speaking. She practiced by singing classical Negro spirituals and musical theater.

“It’s a beautiful singing voice,” Laws said. “She is a mezzo soprano. A beautiful warm sound. She is extremely expressive. She is a wonderful interpreter of text and has the potential to become a stunning singing actress.”

The competition for Miss North Carolina is longer than most people know. Competitors take part in several preliminary nights that include stage interviews, fitness, talent and evening gown. Then during the Saturday finals, the top ten finalists do it all over again in one night.

“It’s hectic but you have to stay on your toes,” Everett said.

With her crowning as Miss North Carolina in June 2024, Everett won $23,500 in scholarship money plus the use of a Lincoln SUV for one year.

During the next year Everett will make appearances all over North Carolina, some of which will support We Need Equity to Build Communities, an effort to make pageants more equitable and accessible to young people.

“A lot of young women don’t have the resources to compete in pageantry,” Everett said.

She seeks to recruit people to the effort, raise money for young women who cannot afford to pay entry fees and perhaps open a wardrobe closet where donated evening gowns and other clothing would be available to participants.

Outside of university and pageants, Everett is a woman of many talents, some of them unexpected. As part of her fitness training, for example, she lifts weights. Her record, from two to three years ago, is lifting 300 pounds.

While in high school, she played football. Tackle football, not flag.

“I think a lot of time I was underestimated because I was the only girl on the team,” Everett said.

In January 2025, Everett will compete in the Miss America pageant.

After graduation, Everett plans to pursue a master’s degree, then become a performer, hopefully singing gospel.

“I am extremely proud of her ambition and her tenacity to go after something that was clearly important to her,” Laws said. “I am sure she will approach everything in her career with that same tenacity. ”

A lot of people compare pageantry to modeling. I wanted to make sure I could walk in heels and show confidence on stage.”

-CARRIE EVERETT

Bachelor's in Formulations and Packaging Science Approved for NCCU

MOHAMMAD AHMED, PH.D. dean College of Health and Sciences

new bachelor’s degree program in formulations and packaging science will start at North Carolina Central University (NCCU) in fall 2025. The formulations aspect of the program will involve developing better products to address conditions associated with health disparities. For example, a better skin cream for people with diabetes or an insect repellent that smells better for use in communities where malaria is prevalent. Packaging science will be about the best way to design the delivery of these products to

Top earners in such professions as pharmaceutical formulation scientists and packaging engineers and technologists could earn in excess of $120,000 per year.

— U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

overcome challenges in reaching out to rural or marginalized communities.

The degree program was approved by the UNC System on May 22 and by the NCCU Board of Trustees at its June meeting.

Mohammad Ahmed, Ph.D., dean of the College of Health and Sciences, says that students who complete the B.S. program will gain skills and knowledge in such areas as:

• Clinical testing of products

• Product chemists and scientists

• Product manufacturing and development

• Quality control and assurance

• Packaging engineer and technologists

• Regulatory science

• Consumers affairs

• Market analysis

• Basic procedures formulation and testing

The B.S. in formulations and packaging science will take a multidisciplinary approach, pulling in faculty from other departments to teach students how to become an entrepreneur by teaching them principles of marketing and packaging, business, manufacturing courses, economics, clinical research, medical bioethics, toxicology, drug development and regulatory sciences. There will also be an experiential component.

Top earners in such professions as pharmaceutical formulation scientists and packaging engineers and technologists could earn in excess of $120,000 per year, according the to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

’BY MARK LAWTON

NCCU Renames Residence Hall in Honor of the First Permanent Female Chancellor

On April 24, a campus ceremony unveiled the signage for the Debra Saunders-White Residence Hall, formerly Angus McLean Residence Hall. Named after Dr. Debra Saunders-White, the first permanent female chancellor of North Carolina Central University (NCCU), the event featured remarks from then NCCU ChancellorJohnson O. Akinleye, NCCU Student Government Association President Cameron Emery and Paige White, Saunders-White’s daughter. It was approved by the NCCU Board of Trustees in 2023, following a petition by the NCCU Student Government Association in 2022 to consider renaming the McLean Residence Hall, named after former North Carolina Governor Angus Wilton McLean. The formal process involved various steps including the gathering of background information by the NCCU Archives and Department of History, stakeholder engagement, forums, and surveys before the recommendation reached the NCCU Board of Trustees.

During the ceremony, Akinleye highlighted Saunders-White’s legacy, describing her as a “trailblazer, visionary and passionate advocate for student success. Her unwavering commitment to our university’s core value of student success was unmatched, and her mantra, ‘Eagle Excellence,’ became the fabric that defines NCCU – a symbol of aspiration, achievement and community.”

Angus McLean Residence Hall was renamed after Dr. Debra Saunders-White, the first permanent female chancellor of NCCU.

Paige and Cecil White, Saunders-White’s daughter and son attended the ceremony.

NEW CHANCELLOR HAS AMBITIOUS ARRAY OF GOALS FOR NCCU

KARRIE G. DIXON, ED.D., who became chancellor of North Carolina Central University (NCCU) on July 1, has served in higher education for 23 years as a professor, chancellor and in various roles at the University of North Carolina (UNC) System.

It was not the career she initially envisioned for herself after earning a bachelor’s degree in communications from North Carolina State University.

“My first job was with an NBC affiliate,” Dixon said just over one month into her new position. “I was an associate producer, creat ing commercials to advertise the TV station. I thought I was on the path of TV and media.”

An opportunity to teach a university course became her “light bulb moment,” inspir ing her to switch to higher education.

FIRST-GENERATION STUDENT

Dixon was born and raised in WinstonSalem, North Carolina. Her father spent most of his career working at R.J. Reynolds Tobac co. During summers while obtaining her un dergraduate degree, Dixon herself stacked cigarettes at R.J. Reynolds Tobacco and used her wages for tuition. Her mother worked as a nurse at Wake Forest Baptist Hospital.

A first-generation college student, Dixon recalls that no one in her family was then familiar with the Free Application for Feder al Student Aid (FAFSA). Her parents went to church and asked for help.

“It takes a village sometimes for first-gen eration students to navigate the enrollment process,” Dixon said. “What sparked my interest in higher education is that there are barriers that prevent first-generation students from persisting in college.”

I’ve learned the importance of access to a quality education and what it does for people who look like me from the standpoint of social and economic mobility.”

It was a thought that stayed with her all the way through her doctorate in higher education administration when she researched helping first-generation students to learn how to navigate seamlessly from high school to college.

“I’ve learned the importance of access to a quality education and what it does for people who look like me from the standpoint of social and economic mobility,” Dixon said.

REVIVING A UNIVERSITY

Dixon was appointed chancellor of Elizabeth City State University (ECSU) in 2018, when ECSU was facing dire challenges.

“Some were referring to the university as being on life support,” Dixon said. “The legislature was having conversations about closure. The university had lost about 60% of its enrollment, had audit findings, and was on accreditation warning.”

Within six months, Dixon made a variety of changes, which contributed to an increase of about 70% in enrollment and $25 million in private donations. Among those was an unrestricted donation of $15 million from MacKenzie Scott, former wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

The donations enabled ECSU to establish cash flow, establish financial footing, enhance faculty research, assist students, beautify the campus and grow its endowment.

GOALS FOR NCCU

Early in her tenure as chancellor of NCCU, Dixon is overseeing an assessment of the university, continuing to meet people and considering how to partner with the larger community, including Research Triangle Park companies.

She has an ambitious array of goals, which start with strengthening financial oversight.

(continues on page 12)

(continued from page 10)

She aims to grow the capacity for handling increased enrollment, examine ways to maximize housing options, support faculty with research grants and money for laboratories, increase the visibility of NCCU in the areas of academics and research, highlight alumni and strengthen the School of Law –specifically to increase its ranking and bar exam passage rates.

To transform her goals into reality, she plans to work closely with the state legislators. That is nothing new for Dixon. During her tenure as chancellor of ECSU, Dixon helped bring in more than $300 million in state and federal funding for facilities, infrastructure and academic programs.

“We’re going to invite them to campus,” Dixon said. “I’ll be talking to them about the needs and resources at NCCU.”

Another goal is to help students succeed. “Post Covid, our student body is very different,” Dixon said. “Students have experienced a global pandemic. Students have shown resilience to get through that. We need to do all we can to support students both academically and outside the classroom. I expect our faculty and staff to always have a mindset of continuous improvement. When decisions are made, how will it impact our students?”

’BY MARK LAWTON

It takes a village sometimes for first-generation students to navigate the enrollment process. What sparked my interest in higher education is that there are barriers that prevent first-generation students from persisting in college.”

— KARRIE G. DIXON, ED.D.

Starting Young: High School Students Learn on Campus over Summer

While many people associate summer camp with tents or cabins, hikes in the woods, telling stories around a fire and roasting marshmallows, North Carolina Central University (NCCU) offers a variety of camps to those in high school or younger that are outside the traditional.

EARLY MONEY MANAGEMENT SKILLS

One day in June, high schoolers paired up at the university track. In preparation for a three-legged race, a Velcro strap attached one person’s right leg to the other’s left leg. There was a lot of laughter among the participants.

Appearances are deceiving. This is actually the Peggy Ward Financial Education Center Wealth Management Camp, which teaches high school students essential money management skills.

Prior to arriving at the track that day, the 22 students learned about budgeting, creating S.M.A.R.T. (Specific. Measurable. Achievable. Relevant. Time-bound) goals, credit cards, credit card debt, savings, insurance and tax.

“We want them to come and get educated but also to have fun,” said Tiffany Murray, Ph.D., camp director and a managing director at the Society for Financial Education & Professional Development.

Besides personal finance, the participants learned job-search skills, home ownership, employer benefits, investment and retirement planning, and estate planning – key elements to assist with closing the wealth gap between African American and

During the five-day GenCyber Camp, students learned about social engineering, ethical hacking, drone flight and safety and privacy. They also learned to disassemble and reassemble a computer and forensic investigations.

white households. The camp culminates with team presentations on Friday to guest judges about a hypothetical family with a variety of financial concerns.

Speakers during the week include representatives from Stearns Financial Group, Fidelity Investments and university faculty. On the fun side, participants tour the NCCU campus, participate in an “Olympics,” take part in an etiquette dinner and visit Frankie’s Fun Park in Raleigh.This year, 76 high school students from around the country applied.

For Leanna Sutton of Raleigh, the Wealth Management Camp is timely as the high school junior gained her first job last fall, working as a hostess in a restaurant.

“I wanted to see how to manage my money and learn about credit and debt,” she said. Amira Hines, a junior from Knightdale, gained a new perspective.

“I thought credit cards were a bad thing,” she said. “They are not as long as you pay them off (monthly). As you use them responsibly, they can bring up your credit score.”

LEGAL EAGLETS

Lithemba Ncaca, 15, has been interested in law for years.

“I’ve been a very argumentative person since I was young,” Lithemba said.

“My parents always told me I would be a good lawyer.”

At J.D. Clement Early College High School on the campus of NCCU, he enrolled in a law and forensics class. He enjoyed it and a teacher suggested he attend the Legal Eagle Law Camp at the NCCU School of Law.

This is his second summer attending the camp.

Lithemba says he is most drawn to civil rights law. He thinks the Legal Eagle Law Camp is a good introduction for people who are considering a career as an attorney.

The week-long camp builds up to a mock trial on Friday. Along the way, there are panel discussions, interactive activities, simulations of such activities as direct and cross examinations and team building. Participants are exposed to a range of law practice areas and career paths and also learn the importance of citizenship, ethics and resilience.

The aim of Legal Eagle Law Camp is to expose young people to the law, particularly minority students, said Lakethia Jefferies,

(continues on page 14)

director of the Legal Eagle Law Camp and director of the pro-bono clinic and externship program at the NCCU School of Law. “According to a 2020 American Bar Association study, African Americans make up 5% of the legal profession,” Jefferies said. That percentage has not changed in the previous decade, according to the study.

BRITE STUDENTS

In a teaching laboratory on the second floor of the Biomanufacturing Research Institute and Technology Enterprise (BRITE) building, students don latex-free gloves, white lab coats and safety goggles. During their experiment, they transfer DNA samples into small tubes, along with a master mix solution. They then put the tubes into a mini centrifuge and from there into a PCR machine for overnight processing.

One of those students is Chinmaya Kothapalli, a high school junior from Charlotte. “I want to go into biosciences as a career,” he said. “I feel these experiments are more in depth than the ones we do in high school.”

Students visit biotechnology companies in the area, and engage with NCCU students, faculty and staff and representatives of biotechnology companies. In addition, they learn about financial literacy, entrepreneurship and college and career readiness.

Almost every morning, students perform an experiment facilitated by Betty Brown, STEM outreach coordinator. One morning during the first session in June,

Lydia Lavelle, J.D., a professor at the School of Law, came up with the idea for Legal Eagle Law Camp in 1993 and starting in 1997 served as camp director for several years.

students learned how DNA from a crime scene can be copied and analyzed.

The Summer Immersion Experience in Biotech is a bit different than the other campus summer camps. This year there were more than 200 applications for 48 slots, said Carla Oldham, Ph.D., an associate research professor. Applicants had to submit a transcript and a letter of recommendation from a high school science or math teacher.

The rising eleventh and twelfth grade students that are accepted sleep at George Street Residence Hall for the entire two-week program. At its end, each student will receive a $1,000 stipend thanks to a grant from NC GlaxoSmithKline Foundation, which funds the program.

“Jobs in the life science industry are really plentiful within the state of North Carolina and the jobs pay really well,” Oldham said. “We are letting the (high school) students know these jobs exist and hopefully attracting some of these students to NCCU.”

Since 2022 when Summer Immersion Experience in Biotech Experience began, the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences has enrolled eight students that were former summer participants, she said.

CYBERSECURITY

Over at the NCCU School of Business, 20 rising ninth and tenth grade students –many from underrepresented communities and rural parts of North Carolina – sit in

front of laptops in a second-floor classroom while hearing about installing software.

During the five-day GenCyber Camp, students learned about social engineering, ethical hacking, drone flight and safety and privacy. They also learned to disassemble and reassemble a computer and forensic investigations.

The camp, which is free thanks to a first-time grant from the National Science Foundation and National Security Agency, also supplies breakfast and lunch to participants.

“We want to bring awareness of the cybersecurity field that underrepresented populations might not be aware of,” said Deanne Cranford-Wesley, Ph.D., director of the NCCU Cybersecurity Laboratory. “African American males and females are underrepresented in the cybersecurity field as well as Latinos.”

Every day there is a speaker from a different part of the industry discussing career options in cybersecurity.

Treyvon Pearson, a 10th grader from Raleigh, has studied cybersecurity at his high school but wanted to expand his skills.

“I’ve learned about putting commands into the terminal and using Linux,” Pearson said.

Ima Paul, also a 10th grader from Raleigh, enrolled out of curiosity.

“I don’t know if I’ll go into cybersecurity, but I want to try out different things to see what I like,” she said.

’BY MARK LAWTON

NCCU School of Law offers a Second Chance with Performance-Based Admissions Program

IT IS COMMON TO WALK the halls of NCCU School of Law and see some students sporting a T-shirt that reads, #PBAPNation by invitation only. Although their path to admission was different from most of their classmates, they understand that the shirt they display is a badge of honor.

Established nearly 40 years ago by now-retired NCCU Law Professors Mary Wright and Charles Smith, the Performance-Based Admissions Program (PBAP) is a conditional admissions program that provides a pathway to legal education for applicants whose resilience and strong potential for academic success, even if their credentials do not initially qualify them for direct admission. PBAP was designed to be an approach which highlights NCCU

The PerformanceBased Admissions Program was established nearly 40 years ago.

School of Law’s commitment to it's mission of “… providing a challenging, practice-oriented, and affordable legal education to historically underrepresented students from diverse backgrounds.”

Under the guidance of co-directors Donald Corbett, associate dean of academic affairs and professor of law, and Nakia C. Davis ’01, associate dean of clinical education and experiential learning and senior clinical professor, participants are provided with a real taste of

the unyielding demands of law school.

This intense two-week, non-credit program includes instruction in a series of challenging academic exercises designed to sharpen their analytical skills, introduce them to practical skills and enhance their understanding of legal principles.

The co-directors acknowledge the participants possess pure grit and determination to have made the decision to accept an invitation of uncertainty as participation in PBAP does not result in automatic admission. The hope is that by the end of PBAP, the successful participants will emerge not only better prepared for law school but have displayed the ability to be confident members of a supportive legal community.

Associate Dean Davis herself entered the program in 1998. She attributes much of her success to the skills and knowledge she gained during those formative weeks.

“PBAP played a pivotal role in launching my legal career,” said Davis. “It instilled in me a sense of confidence and the tools necessary to thrive in a rigorous academic environment.”

In summer 2024, NCCU School of Law welcomed nine law students out of 23 participants invited to take part in the program. These students exemplify how NCCU School of Law continues to serve as a beacon of opportunity. With dedication, determination and the right support, aspiring lawyers from all backgrounds can carve their paths to success.

As this year’s cohort of PBAP Legal Eagles begin their journey, they join a proud legacy of alumni, who have made significant contributions to the legal profession and their communities in North Carolina and beyond.

’BY TERRI GODWIN HYMAN ‘99, ‘03

PBAP played a pivotal role in launching my legal career. It instilled in me a sense of confidence and the tools necessary to thrive in a rigorous academic environment.”

— NAKIA C. DAVIS

NCCU/Duke Researchers

Developing New Treatment for Fibroids

Fibroids are non-cancerous tumors that are found in the uterus. About 80% of women have fibroids by age 50, although not all women with fibroids have symptoms, said Darlene Taylor, Ph.D., a professor of chemistry and biochemistry at NCCU.

Symptoms can include heavy bleeding, inability to become pregnant, anemia, frequent urination and pain. African American women tend to develop fibroids earlier than Caucasian women and tend to have more and larger fibroids.

“We don’t know why,” Taylor said. “It is not a life-or-death problem. There is not a lot of resources to study or understand it.”

The only guaranteed treatment for fibroids is a hysterectomy, which is the surgical removal of the uterus. A woman who has undergone a hysterectomy can no longer bear children.

Other treatments include nanotechnology particles injected into the arteries, surgically removing the fibroids (laparoscopic myomectomy), injecting a fluid that starves the blood supply to a fibroid (uterine fibroid embolization), using waves (radio frequency ablation) and hormonal treatments.

I think it is a promising treatment for women who don’t want to remove their uterus during childbearing years.”

DARLENE TAYLOR, PH.D. professor of chemistry and biochemistry

Taylor and Friederike Jayes, DVM, Ph.D., an assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Duke, are part of a team developing a different approach.

Jayes has developed a procedure and tested a drug that can break down fibroids inside the body.

Meanwhile Taylor has developed a copolymer technology under the trademark name LiquoGel. The LiquoGel mixed with the drug is envisioned to be injected into the patient’s uterus, directly into the fibroid. LiquoGel will enable the drug to stay longer in the fibroid.

“Once it hits body temperature, the LiquoGel turns into a gel that traps the drug molecules and, over time, releases the contents into the fibroid to degrade the collagen (the major constituent of fibroids) and make it easier for the body to get rid of,” Taylor said.

Their joint research was supported with a pilot grant in 2019 aimed at boosting collaborations between Duke and NCCU. In 2021, they received an NC Biotech award of $109,846.

Jayes has an approved protocol in place that allows the team to obtain fibroid tissue from consenting women slated for a hysterectomy.

The two researchers consulted with other professionals in obstetrics, biology, epidemiology and chemistry. They have also performed pilot studies on mice to show their treatment is nontoxic.

More studies on toxicity and synthetic protocol for scale up are needed before taking the results to the Food and Drug Administration for approval.

While the timeline is not guaranteed, Taylor estimates the treatment could be available within five years.

“I think it is a promising treatment for women who don’t want to remove their uterus during childbearing years,” Taylor said.

’BY MARK LAWTON

More NCCU Nursing Graduates Pass Licensing Exam

North Carolina Central University (NCCU) task force aimed at increasing the pass rate in licensing exams has been successful with nursing graduates.

In 2023, graduates of the nursing program achieved a pass rate on the National Council Licensure Exam (NCLEX) of 94.4%. December graduates (NCCU holds two graduations per year) achieved a pass rate of 100%.

For 2023, the average pass rate in the United States on the NCLEX exam was 80.9%. North Carolina did better, with 92%.

Graduates of a nursing program are not allowed to practice their profession until they pass the NCLEX.

In 2021, the pass rate for licensing examinations across the university were in the 80-percentile range, said then provost and vice chancellor David H. Jackson Jr., Ph.D.

“When I came here, one of the first challenges the chancellor gave me was to make sure we were improving licensure pass rates,” he said.

Jackson formed the Licensure Pass Rate Task Force and invited deans, administrators and faculty from the School of Law, School of Education and nursing department to meet regularly.

Yolanda VanRiel, Ph.D., chair of the department of nursing, credits the increase in exam pass rates to initiatives that came out of the task force.

94.4%

graduates of the nursing program achieved a pass rate on the NCLEX. FY 2023

The department

its

of

nursing reviewed

curriculum and made changes. It hired both full- and part-time tutors, hired a person to conduct remediation with students and a consultant to go over test-taking strategies.

The department of nursing reviewed its curriculum and made changes. It hired both full- and part-time tutors, hired a person to conduct remediation with students and a consultant to go over test-taking strategies and foundational knowledge – pharmacology, adult health, etc. – in the months right before graduation.

The department of nursing also added a diagnostic exam from a vendor, which helps determine when students are prepared to take the NCLEX.

“If students are not doing well, it shows where they need support,” Jackson said.

VanRiel is pleased that their efforts have worked.

“That is our aim, to have everybody pass on the first attempt,” she said.

Jackson agrees. “Our results were inconsistent,” he said. “Now we are excelling, and our results are consistent.”

’BY MARK LAWTON

Graduate Students Help Community with Speech, Language and Hearing

HEN KENDRA CHANNER HAS DIFFICULTY SAYING

something, she uses her fingers to draw letters in the air. When she meets new people, she starts the conversation by telling them of her medical condition. “I had a stroke,” she will say. “My speech is messed up right now. If I just start talking, they look at me like I am crazy.”

Channer receives help from the Speech, Language and Hearing Clinic in the School of Education at North Carolina Central University (NCCU).

For 20 years, Channer worked as a manager in the Duke University Department of Psychology. In 2023, she had a stroke. When she woke up in a hospital after being in an induced coma for two weeks, she was unable to speak.

“Before this stroke, I used to love talking,” Channer said. “Now I have to take my time. If I want to cuss you out, it takes me a whole lot of time.”

While she still struggles to articulate the words that are in her mind, Channer has improved. She visits the clinic three times a week; once for the stroke group and twice to work one-on-one with a graduate student-clinician named Ivy who helps her relearn the motor patterns for speech.

“She breaks the word down,” Channer said. “We work on the word until I can say it with no help. Tomorrow, she’ll help me read aloud from children’s books I got from the library. She helps me write sentences, too.”

400 HOURS WITH CLIENTS

Over the summer, the Speech, Language and Hearing Clinic worked with 60 to 70 clients who range from two-year-olds to people in their 80s. Clients arrive with a variety of challenges including aphasia, traumatic brain injury, Parkinson’s disease, right hemisphere brain damage, voice disorders, delayed language development and speech sound disorders.

Under the supervision of seven clinical faculty members, the graduate students help the clients increase their ability with articulation, receptive and expressive language, cognition (attention, memory and executive functioning), hearing, speech and language development, social communication, stuttering, voice and other challenges.

Each semester, graduate student clinicians work under a different faculty member. By the time they earn their master’s degree in speech-language pathology, they have at least 400 hours of client interaction, including time at clinics, hospitals or schools in the community.

While there is oversight, student therapists are largely independent when working with clients, said Sutton Sneed, who will enter her

second year this fall.

“They don’t hold our hand here,” Sneed said. “They just let us do our thing.”

The student therapists work with both children and adults.

With adults, therapy tends to be of a more functional nature, such as relearning how to write checks or fill out calendars, said Aprice Pritchett, also a graduate student therapist.

For children, they like to use playbased therapy. “I want them to walk away and say I had fun,” said Pritchett.

HHHH AND CHHH

For example, a mother carries a girl of two- or three-years-old wearing a pink T-shirt with the words “Cuter version of dad” into the lobby. A graduate student therapist wearing gray scrubs welcomes them and ushers them through the door to the clinic.

In a small room, the student says, “Lets practice,” and holds up a card. The girl makes a “Hhhh” sound. The student-therapist then holds up a card with a drawing of a cat with its back arched.

“Make the angry cat sound,” she says. “Chhhh,” says the girl.”

Afterward, they do a scavenger hunt for blocks hidden in a hallway. Each time the girl finds a block, she has to make a sound.

Meanwhile, Cori Brownlee holds her three-year-old daughter Brooks in her arms in one of the group rooms. Brooks occasionally looks up from her mother’s neck at the stranger asking questions.

Brooks has apraxia, a motor speech disorder that makes it hard to speak. “Their brain doesn’t form the words

correctly in their mouth,” Brownlee said. “Typically, it’s a lifelong process.”

She said the clinic has been very helpful. “When we originally started coming a little over a year ago, she could say sounds, but they were never full words. Now, the average person can almost understand what she is saying.”

Besides the improvement in Brooks’ speech, Brownlee notes that the clinic is free.

At times, the patient doesn’t realize how impaired they are. How do you treat someone who thinks they are ok?”

“My nephew has the same issue,” Brownlee said. “He goes to speech therapy twice a week because that is all (his parents) can afford. It is $500 a month. That is with insurance.”

STUDENT CHALLENGES

Nichols. “We really teach them how to evaluate, how to treat clients, even some interpersonal skills. How do you do counseling? How do you work with the family?”

The most common challenge students face is interpreting theory from the classroom for use with clients.

“They get great practice on writing these beautiful lesson plans, but how do they make it functional?” said Cheria Hay, M.S., CCC-SLP, a clinical associate professor.

For example, students may work with clients who have traumatic brain injuries.

“At times, the patient doesn’t realize how impaired they are,” Hay said. “How do you treat someone who thinks they are ok?”

Students may also need to polish their soft skills, like discussing sensitive matters with clients such as depression, anxiety or emotional changes from a medical diagnosis. In some cases, the Speech, Language and Hearing Clinic refers clients to an Eagle Counseling Clinic on the second floor of the School of Education. This summer they piloted an adult stroke counseling group with clinic.

Graduates of the two-year program have a variety of career paths to choose from. An incomplete list includes working with children or adults in private practice, ear/nose/ throat clinics, hospitals, rehabilitation facilities, skilled nursing facilities, outpatient clinics and home healthcare. Some graduates earn doctorates and work in academia.

’BY MARK LAWTON

A graduate student clinician tutors a three-year-old with speech challenges.

“The first semester is kind of challenging,” said Clinical Director Marilouise

CHERIA HAY, M.S., CCC-SLP clinical associate professor

NCCU Contributes to next Space Telescope

he work of faculty and students at North Carolina Central University (NCCU) will travel 1 million miles from earth.

Imaging Optical Assembly of Roman Space Telescope.

Credit: NASA/Chris Gunn

NCCU is part of a consortium of 14 universities and other entities working on the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, the third in a series that started with the Edwin Hubble Space Telescope launch in 1990 and the James Webb Space Telescope launch in December 2021.

The Roman telescope is scheduled to launch by May 2027, according to the NASA website.

It will be used to explore dark energy and dark matter.

“Together, they make up 95% of the universe and we

don’t even know what those are,” said Dan Scolnic, Ph.D., associate professor of physics at Duke University, which is the lead institution in this consortium.

The Roman telescope will also examine the expansion of the universe and how that expansion is accelerating. One of the ways it will do that is by focusing on supernova or exploding stars to measure how big the universe is at different times in its history.

Diane Markoff, Ph.D., professor of physics at NCCU, explains.

“You can look at the same place over a period of time to find exploding stars,” Markoff said. “Then, when the telescope detects so much light in a certain direction, we can figure out where it came from and how long it took to get here.”

Markoff compares it to catching some light from a moving or a pulsing bulb. “If you calibrate your detector system, then from the measurement of a small amount of light over time, you can interpret how far away it is and how fast it is moving.”

With a field of view that is 100 times the size of the Hubble telescope, the Roman telescope is better qualified to explore such questions.

Once the telescope is launched, it will go into a stable orbit 1 million miles out, where both the earth and the sun are pulling on it. Unlike the Hubble telescope, once the Roman telescope is launched, there will be no opportunity to make repairs.

Diane Markoff,

NCCU and other universities will be busy long after it is launched. The consortium will interpret the data from the Roman telescope over the next 10–15 years.

Scolnic said the information gained from the Roman telescope will be state of the art. “The number of supernovae we find with it will be more than anyone has in the history of humanity.”

The total cost of the project is $3.6 billion. The consortium led by Duke University will get $11 million of that. NCCU’s portion will support hiring an astrophysicist during the 2024-2025 school year. That new hire will grow the astrophysics and astronomy parts of the NCCU Department of Mathematics and Physics, Markoff said.

NCCU students will have an opportunity to work on the project in collaboration with Duke University faculty and students, Markoff said.

’BY MARK LAWTON

(Left to right)

Ph.D., NCCU professor of physics and Dan Scolnic, Ph.D., Duke University associate professor of physics.

McNair Scholars Program Empowers Seekers of Doctorates

SINCE ITS INCEPTION AT NORTH CAROLINA CENTRAL UNIVERSITY (NCCU) in 2018, the Ronald E. McNair Scholars Program has provided life-changing opportunities for first-generation college students aspiring to pursue graduate and doctoral degrees. Named after Dr. Ronald E. McNair, a trailblazing Black physicist and NASA astronaut, the program is part of a national initiative funded through the U.S. Department of Education to empower first-generation college students and minorities to reach their academic goals.

“It is really designed to prepare underrepresented students for the rigors of graduate school,” said Drew Johnson, Ph.D., the McNair Scholars program director at NCCU. "Our primary mission is to increase doctoral degree attainment, promote research and scholarly activities, and enhance academic and professional development.”

McNair Scholars aligns with NCCU’s emphasis on research, innovation, and entrepreneurship, contributing to its mission to build a research-oriented culture. The program provides an array of resources, including fully funded research opportunities, Graduate Record Examination preparation and mentoring relationships with faculty.

“Our scholars engage in research early on, and that sets them apart,” Johnson said. “We provide everything from public speaking workshops to

personal statement assistance—tools they will need in grad school and throughout their academic careers.”

Netanya Dennis, an NCCU alumna and doctoral student at Yale University, credits the McNair program for shaping her academic trajectory. “The McNair program gave me the skills and confidence to stand out in graduate school,”

she says. “It wasn't just about the research opportunities, but also about learning to network and present my ideas effectively.”

The McNair Scholars program fosters a sense of belonging and community that is especially vital for minority students in predominantly white academic spaces. “Being part of an HBCU, the McNair program builds confidence in ways that other institutions might not,” said Dennis. “It prepared me to walk into any room, even at Yale, and know I belong there.”

The program’s impact on student success is evident, with many scholars securing fully-funded placements in top graduate schools nationwide. “The fact that we are helping them get into Ph.D. programs proves that this program works,” Johnson says.

Looking to the future, the McNair Scholars Program at NCCU is expanding its horizons. Plans are underway to create a research symposium, inviting McNair scholars from across the country to present their work and build a network of future academic leaders. Johnson sees this as a critical step in further enriching the student experience: “We want to make sure our students have every opportunity to succeed,” he said.

Through mentorship, hands-on research, and unwavering support, the McNair Scholars Program continues to empower the next generation of scholars and honor Ronald E. McNair’s legacy.

’BY ARIEL GERMAIN

Being part of an HBCU, the McNair program builds confidence in ways that other institutions might not. McNair prepared me to walk into any room, even at Yale, and know I belong there.”

— Netanya Dennis, doctoral student, Yale University

FROM DORM ROOM TO DIGITAL EMPIRE: THE JOURNEY OF JAHMIR HAMILTON AND IX STUDIOS

INjust over a year, Jamir Hamilton has transformed his passion for gaming into a thriving business while still navigating college life at North Carolina Central University (NCCU). Originally from Charlotte, North Carolina, Hamilton’s path is a testament to the power of perseverance, creativity and community.

Growing up amid moves with his family from D.C. to Illinois and back to Charlotte, Hamilton, 21, embraced a range of interests from a young age including mural art, playing electric guitar, boxing (he’s self-taught) and other sports, particularly football, where he played quarterback through his junior year in high school. Hamilton’s diverse passions laid the groundwork for his entrepreneurial spirit.

In February 2023, while a sophomore at NCCU, he founded IX Studios in his George Street Residence Hall, spurred by a stint in the gaming community. “I saw there was money in this space and wanted

to create immersive communities for gamers,” he said.

Initially starting in the “Roblox” community, Hamilton crafted an open community for “Shinobi Life,” engaging 6,000–7,000 players. It was his transition into game development that propelled his rise.

“I failed numerous times with several games, but through persistence and pitching myself to game creators, I became a community manager and learned the ropes,” he said.

For example, in early 2024, Hamilton encountered a period of stagnation right after receiving his first major investment. In response, he decided to lean more into acquisitions rather than solely trying to develop games from scratch on his own.

With support from mentors and developers in the industry, he launched his first successful game, “Soul War,” in January 2023, which paved the way for multiple projects that year.

The game was played by six million people. His business took an exciting turn when he received his first major investment from Cornell Slade, an NCCU Trustee who has become a mentor.

Another highlight was when Hamilton won the PNC North Carolina HBCU Initiative Pitch Competition in February 2023, just three weeks after developing his game, significantly boosting his confidence in the validity of his idea.

Now a senior majoring in entrepreneurship, Hamilton’s IX Studios generates nearly $30,000 per month. His vision is clear.

“I’ve established a profitable system that allows for effective scaling,” he said. His business structure includes both a ground-up development company and partnerships with existing companies, with only 30% of revenue allocated to operations, ensuring that the bulk of income can be reinvested for growth.

Hamilton strives to create an environment where his 30+ staff feel like partners rather than just employees. “I want them to gain more than just monetary value; I want to provide valuable education and experience,” he said.

Initially starting in the

“Roblox” community, Hamilton crafted an open community for “Shinobi Life,” engaging 6,000 –7,000 players . It was his transition into game development that propelled his rise.

Hamilton found a project management course taught by Ronald Oldham, Ph.D., to be pivotal in shaping his approach to leadership and team development. The core methodologies he learned provided him with tools for effectively managing projects and fostering collaboration among his team of developers. By applying these principles, Hamilton has been able to create structured learning modules that educate his team members on their specific roles within the company. He believes that instilling these project management strategies has been crucial for building a strong, cohesive team that shares his vision and commitment to success.

Hamilton credits much of the growth of IX Studios to the relationships he cultivated at NCCU School of Business. Those include Collis Arrick, then Interim Director of the Center for Entrepreneurship and Economic Development (CEED), Katrece Boyd, executive director of CEED, Latrisha Rushing-Valdez, program manager of CEED and Tiyya Dunn, director of marketing & communications of the School of Business. “I can always tap into these individuals for insight, and they've guided my path,” Hamilton said.

Most importantly, his supportive family – including his toddler daughter and fiancée – provide an unwavering foundation and motivation. “They offer help, stay involved, remind me to take

breaks and always tell me how proud they are,” he said.

Hamilton believes in the power of resilience. “100 hundred losses are equivalent to one major win,” he said. “It’s easy to get caught up in failure, but one failure is one step closer to a significant win, and that win will be so big you won’t even care about the losses.”

Additionally, he emphasizes the importance of tapping into spirituality. “If you believe in God and have a relationship with God in your business, a lot of your cards are determined by Him. He positions your failures to help you get things right.”

In the future, Hamilton envisions IX Studios expanding into uncharted territories, including licensing with major sports leagues. With a goal of $230,000 in monthly revenue by 2025, he’s committed to making IX Studios a name that resonates within the industry.

“I am incredibly proud of Hamilton,” said Anthony C. Nelson, dean of the School of Business. “Students like him fuel our mission at the School of Business to empower and uplift future leaders. His journey exemplifies the entrepreneurial spirit we aim to cultivate.”

In addition to leading IX Studios, Hamilton recently became the CEO of Trendsetter Games, a subsidiary that has a substantial share of Roblox users – an online platform that allows user to chare and play games developed by others – and is tied directly to his growth strategy for IX Studios.

In November, Hamilton is slated to make his TV debut on the upcoming business reality TV show, "The Blox.” The show will be available on Amazon Prime and YouTube.

’BY ATTIYYA DUNN

A POEM, A DANCE AND A FILM

n late September, Assistant Professor Kristi Johnson, Ed.D., will head to the Blue Ridge Mountains to create a dance film.

Thanks to a recently awarded North Carolina Choreographic Fellowship, Johnson will gain nine days at Trillium Arts, an artist’s retreat on 22 rural acres. Along with three dancers of her choice, the fellowship will include lodgings, rehearsal space and a $1,000 honorarium.

The film will be based on a poem by Jaki Shelton Green, the poet laureate of North Carolina since 2018.

“The poem is based on the Black woman’s ability to persevere and rise from her ashes despite obstacles, oppression, and racism,” Johnson said.

This is Johnson’s second time behind the camera. In 2021, the Justice Theater Project asked her to direct a film based on Green’s album, “The River Speaks of Thirst.” That film has since been shown at six film festivals.

“I did the casting and directing,” said Johnson. “I got bit by the film bug.”

Dancing Since she was Breathing

At North Carolina Central University (NCCU), Johnson is better known as the NCCU director of dance. She established and directs the dance minor program, oversees the dance education concentration, and founded and is the director of the NCCU Repertory Dance Company and the NCCU Flight dance team, which performs during halftime at NCCU basketball games.

“I’ve been dancing since I’ve been breathing,” said Kristi Johnson. “However, I started formally training when I was 13.”

She grew up in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where she studied dance at Scotlandville Magnet High School and later attended Southern University and A&M College, a public historically Black university.

At Southern University, she joined the Fabulous Dancing Dolls dance team for four years, serving as captain and choreographer for two years.

The next several years passed quickly as she divided her time between teaching, training and

The poem is based on the Black woman’s ability to persevere and rise from her ashes despite obstacles, oppression and racism.”

—KRISTI JOHNSON, ED.D.

dancing. She taught jazz and modern dance at Louisiana State University and earned a Master of Fine Arts in modern dance at Texan Christian University in 2003. She taught at Jacksonville University, Texas Christian University and Douglas Anderson School of the Arts.

She moved to the Triangle area in 2011, when her husband was hired at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and started the nonprofit, The Triangle Dance Project, to increase visibility for emerging dancers. She met someone who encouraged her to meet the director of dance at NCCU.

In 2014, she was hired to teach one class at NCCU. Her workload increased over time.

In 2016, the longtime director of dance retired, and

The film will be based on a poem by

Jaki Shelton

Green, the poet laureate of North Carolina since 2018.

Johnson took over. Johnson pursued a doctorate in kinesiology, which she completed in 2021.

Over the years, Johnson has choreographed at least 40 dances, a process in which she collaborates with her dancers.

Her inspirations usually derive from poetry, human interaction, or social issues affecting American contemporary society.

“Once I find the inspiration, I choose dancers based on how well their movement style aligns with the

aesthetic of the piece,” Johnson said.

She next talks to the dancers about what the dance is about. For a dance performed at the North Carolina Museum of Art about how Black women grieve, release and hope, Johnson spoke to her dancers about grieving and what inspires their hope for the future.

“That’s an individual experience,” she said. “Then we drew movement from those experiences.”

To be clear, it is not about the music. Her choreography might be designed in silence.

“I don’t like the music to tell me how to move,” Johnson said.

’BY MARK LAWTON

FROM INDIA TO NORTH CAROLINA: FULBRIGHT SCHOLAR TEACHES AND EXPLORES DIFFERENT CULTURE

EACHING AT NCCU IS A BIT OF A CHANGE FOR BALASUBRAMANI

KARUPPUSAMY.

Karuppusamy was a Fulbright Teacher Exchange Scholar in the NCCU Department of Environmental, Earth and Geospatial Sciences (DEEGS) for the 2023-2024 academic year. He is also an associate professor at Central University of Tamil Nadu in southern India, where he has taught since 2017.

“The main difference is (NCCU) is more student-centric,” Karuppusamy said. “Here, the student is considered the most important person. Students can design their program. In India, if you are admitted to the department of geography, fundamentally, you have to study in one department.”

Too, there is less of a hierarchy in a classroom setting at NCCU. In India, “the teacher solely controls the classroom engagement,” Karuppusamy said. “Here, students have the freedom to talk to teachers very liberally. In India, they could not.”

Karuppusamy was born and raised in Tamil Nadu. His parents were subsistence farmers. It wasn’t profitable and when Karuppusamy was in fifth grade, his family moved from their small village (about 250 people) to a nearby town where his parents became day laborers. He also worked during secondary school and while earning a bachelor’s degree, doing all kinds of work in their household textile industry.

Being a geographer, I wanted to enhance my skills and look at different environments.

Then there are the material differences. At NCCU, it is common for students to have laptop computers and access to high-speed internet. At Central University of Tamil Nadu, much less so. Many higher education institutions in India lack basics like computers and screen projectors for classrooms.

So he could study for a master’s degree at a different university about 100 miles away, his younger brother halted his studies and went to work to support the family.

After completing his master’s degree in 2006, Karuppusamy found work as a junior spatial data engineer at a private company that did geographic mapping for foreign clients. Over three years, he rose to team leader – partially by working 15-hour days – and then decided to work on a doctorate. He worked on his doctorate part time and taught part time (to this day, he continues to support his parents) for a university. During his doctoral studies, he began learning about geospatial technology; using satellite images and Geographic Information System (GIS) to develop sustainable agriculture plans.

“Since my childhood, I knew about the problems of farmers,” Karuppusamy said. He would find what crops

were grown and what crops would work best for the land and water available.

He completed his doctorate in May 2016 and almost immediately began to apply for post-doctoral work overseas.

He applied thrice for a Fulbright and got lucky on the third time after he met Rakesh Malhotra, Ph.D., at a conference in Baltimore. Malhotra, an associate professor at NCCU, wrote a letter of support.

“Being a geographer, I wanted to enhance my skills and look at different environments and a different culture,” Karuppusamy said.

At NCCU, Karuppusamy coteaches several courses to both undergraduate and graduate students including geography information systems, principles of remote sensing, remote sensing of natural resources and conservation of natural resources.

He aims to offer a comprehensive view of sustainable development which touches on environment, people, economies and governance.

Malhotra describes Karuppusamy as “determined.”

“He actually left his family,” Malhotra said (Karuppusamy is married with two children). “We normally try to balance professional and personal life. For this year, he has put his professional life ahead to have this experience.”

"Hosting a Fulbright Visiting Fellow in our department is a great opportunity for our students and faculty to interact with a top researcher in our field and learn about other cultures while increasing the international profile of our program,” said Gordana Vlahovic, Ph.D., chair of the Department of Environmental, Earth and Geospatial Sciences.

’BY MARK LAWTON

Mental Health of Black College Men Focus of New Serial Book

’ Tryan L. McMickens, Ed.D.,

is lead co-editor of the first issue of Black College Men’s Mental Health.

“Today, more college students are coming to campus with mental health challenges, and the COVID-19 pandemic, which occurred from 2020-2022 and whose effects still linger, has exacerbated the mental health conditions of college students,” said McMickens, an associate professor of higher education at North Carolina Central University (NCCU) and director of the Master of Science in Higher Education program.

The serial book was published in June – Men’s Mental Health Awareness Month – by Wiley’s New Directions for Student Services. It is composed of eight chapters by 12 contributors.

The contributors cover topics such as mental health concerns for Black males in higher education, help-seeking behavior challenges, the role of student affairs departments in supporting Black male faculty, suicide prevention among Black college men, and multipronged frameworks to address Black men’s mental health. There are also lists of community-based organizations and professional associations that support the mental health needs of Black men.

Among the mental health issues Black college men might experience are anxiety, stress, depression and suicidal ideation. While students of any race in higher education might experience such challenges, the book also explores the role of institutional and aversive racism and white supremacy and how it can impede the progress of Black men in college.

“Oppression is part of the unique context that is at play for Black men in American society and in college and university environments,” McMickens said. McMickens hopes that faculty in higher education administration, counseling, social work and other help-seeking disciplines in addition to college and university administrators read Black College Men’s Mental Health.

Those who log onto the NCCU James E. Shepard Memorial Library website can access the entire serial book.

’BY MARK LAWTON

Oppression is part of the unique context that is at play for Black men in American society and in college and university environments.”

—TRYAN L. M c MICKENS, ED.D.

Senior at NCCU attends gathering of Vice President Kamala Harris

By 12:30 p.m. Feb. 29, Devin Freeman, a senior at North Carolina Central University (NCCU), was at the White House. The event was “Honoring HBCU Leaders for Black History Month.” Along with 60 or so people from historically Black colleges and universities, Freeman attended or took part in panels about student debt, financial aid, national security and how artificial intelligence impacts African Americans and other minorities.

The highlight of that afternoon, however, was not the White House –Freeman had visited once before while interning in D.C. – but an invitation from Kamala Harris for a gathering at Number One Observatory Circle (often referred to as the Naval Observatory), the official home of the vice president of the United States.

Freeman is easily more familiar with Washington, D.C., than most NCCU students. Among his numerous internships was one in Congress during his freshman year and another at an institute in D.C. that works with federal agencies and legislators on education policy. Along the way he met senators Cory Booker and Bernie Sanders.

He has also interned with U.S. Rep. Alma Adams (NC-12). It was U.S. Rep. Valerie Foushee (NC-04) who put his name in for the event with Vice President Harris.

Over the past summer, Devin studied Swahili in Tanzania and Kenya. He also found time to self-publish “Building a Better Block with Brandon,” a children’s book that aims to inspire collective action.

Freeman is a high-achieving student. He started off at the United States Military Academy at West Point, then transferred to NCCU. He is majoring in political science and aims to complete his bachelor’s degree this summer. He participates in Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) and plans to gain a commission and enter the military reserves.

Among his extracurricular activities he has been president and political action chair of the student NAACP chapter, Mr. UHP in university honors

program, twice president of his class and in too many other roles at NCCU to squeeze into this article.

Off campus, he has interned as Durham vice president of the Young Democrats of North Carolina, a Democrat precinct chair of Durham County Democrats, a public policy intern for the NC Chamber, congressional intern for Rep. Adams and so forth.

Over the summer, he studied Swahili in Tanzania and Kenya. He also found time to self-publish

STUDENT SPOTLIGHT

“Building a Better Block with Brandon,” a children’s book that aims to inspire collective action.

Recently, he was accepted at Cornell University, where he will work on a master’s degree in public administration. He plans to follow that with a Juris Doctorate degree at Columbia University

After leaving the White House, Freeman headed to Number One Observatory Circle, about 25 minutes from the White House.

There were Secret Service personnel all around. Freeman was checked off a list and had his possessions checked for weapons before being directed to the event.

He arrived about 5:30 p.m. There were around 50 or 60 people. “Speakers from the daytime event were there along with people in the world of social change and engagement, some actresses,” Freeman said.

There was a band, hors d’oeuvres, introductory speakers and finally Vice President Harris.

Harris spoke about the importance of student leaders, Freeman said, and she related an anecdote about seeing Howard University – which she attended – while flying on Air Force 2 to Washington, D.C.

“She said for us to keep doing what we do,” Freeman said. “That makes a difference. And that she was ‘overjoyed’ being in our presence, as we remind her of who she used to be.”

’BY MARK LAWTON

Devin Freeman , a senior at North Carolina Central University (NCCU), was at the White House for an event “Honoring HBCU Leaders for Black History Month.”

Devin Freeman (above) served as a delegate at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

Freeman (right) studied Swahili in East Africa.

Ontario S. Wooden

interim provost and vice chancellor / Office of the Provost

Ontario S. Wooden, Ph.D., leads the university’s Division of Academic Affairs and serves as the chief academic officer for NCCU. He joined NCCU from North Carolina State University, where he has served as the senior associate dean in University College in the Division of Academic and Student Affairs since July 2023.

Avery L. Staley ’93

chief of staff Office of the Chancellor

Avery L. Staley provides leadership and direction for change management initiatives, project management and program development. Staley previously served as the inaugural vice president of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) at Lenoir-Rhyne University in Hickory, N.C. since July 2021.

Mary Peloquin-Dodd

interim CFO and vice chancellor for Finance and Administration / Office of the Chancellor

Mary Peloquin-Dodd advises the finance and administration division on its day-to-day operations. She previously served for over a decade as associate vice chancellor for Finance and University Treasurer at North Carolina State University.

Alyn Goodson ’11

executive vice chancellor and interim general counsel / Office of the Chancellor

Alyn Goodson serves as a member of the chancellor’s cabinet, providing strategic oversight, leadership and guidance on a wide array of campus administrative and operational functions. He joined NCCU from Elizabeth City State University (ECSU), where he served as vice chancellor, chief of staff and general counsel.

Arwin D. Smallwood ’88 (BA), ’90 (MA), Ph.D.

dean / College of Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities

Prior to his appointment, Arwin D. Smallwood served as professor and chair of the department of history and political science at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University in Greensboro.

Malissa Evans-Hall

associate provost for Academic Budget and Personnel / Office of the Chancellor

Malissa Evans-Hall will assume the duties of the Associate Vice Chancellor for Budget and Financial Planning.

Lori Blake-Reid

director of Planning, Design & Construction Division of Finance and Administration

Lori Blake-Reid, construction, will assume the duties of the Associate Vice Chancellor for Facilities Management.

Sandra F. Powers

Executive Assistant / Office of the Chancellor

Sandra Powers has nearly three decades of administrative support experience. Her years of service have equipped her with exceptional organizational, communication, and problem-solving skills, allowing her to effectively support the university's mission.

CAREEREDUCATION ON YOUR SCHEDULE

At North Carolina Central University, we believe that education should fit into your life, not the other way around. Ranked among the top five HBCUs for online learning¹ with a dedicated Division of Extended Studies staff providing flexible programs and a community of likeminded individuals, NCCU helps you transform your passion into purpose.

MICHAEL PEARCE, MFA assistant professor Department of Mass Communication

A NEW NORMAL: ASSISTANT PROFESSOR CREATES FILM ABOUT STROKE SURVIVORS

hen Michael Pearce, MFA, an assistant professor in the department of mass communication created a film about the stroke survivors, his biggest challenge was getting people to open up to him.

“They are talking about one of the hardest things in their lives,” Pearce said. “I had to get them to the point of where they felt comfortable talking to us and inviting us into their homes.”

His 30-minute film is titled “RHD: Hidden Diagnosis.” RHD stands for right hemisphere (brain) damage. It follows a group of stroke survivors who interact with speech-language pathology students at North Carolina Central University (NCCU).

The entire film was shot and edited by Pearce and takes place during the worst of the Covid pandemic. Some of the initial scenes are of video counseling sessions between student-clinicians and survivors.

“I had a plan to shoot around the time Covid blew up,” Pearce said. “It was on pause for about a year and a half.”

They are talking about one of the hardest things in their lives. I had to get them to the point of where they felt comfortable talking to us and inviting us into their homes.”

-Michael Pearce, MFA

The idea originated with Jamila Minga, Ph.D., who then worked in the NCCU School of Education. She is now an assistant professor and speech-language pathologist at Duke University.

The idea caught Pearce’s attention. “I have a fair number of stroke survivors in my family,” he said. Minga coordinated with patients and led the sessions. “And I had a really great mix of (stroke survivors) in terms of where they were,” Pearce said. “They made a point of not saying ‘recovery’ but finding what their new normal is.”

He did the work on the film for free, although a grant from the College of Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities paid for a laptop computer that he used to edit around 100 hours of footage down to a half hour.

Pearce has been involved in filmmaking all his adult life. At NCCU, he teaches video editing, screenwriting and film production. This is his third 30 minute documentary since starting at NCCU in 2018.

RHD: Hidden Diagnosis” has since been shown at several film festivals and also at the American Speech Language Hearing Association Conference and at the National Black Association for Speech Language and Hearing.

’BY MARK LAWTON

Campus Garden Still Growing After 12 Years

At the west end of the garden between the Mary M. Townes Science Building and Biomanufacturing Research Institute and Technology Enterprise (BRITE) building, two students pull weeds from a raised bed. One pulls up a plant with a white liquid seeping out.

“That’s milkweed,” says Bonisha Staton, a student majoring in social work. “They bring butterflies.”

“And they help with pollination,” said Amari Foreman, who majors in psychology.

The campus garden has gathered attention both on and off campus. In the last year, it has attracted members of the Women’s Center, TRIO, Kids Group Special Field Trip, the National Council of Negro Woman, NCCU softball team, Lady Eagle Development and Annie Day Shepard Scholars.

There are also periodic events such as Wellness Wednesday, pumpkin painting prior to Halloween and – looking way too well dressed for

gardening – Mister and Miss Senior at the Garden.

Students at North Carolina Central University (NCCU) help either because they enjoy gardening or to earn community service hours, a graduation requirement.

This spring, NCCU students, alumni and members of the nonprofit Inter-Faith Food Shuttle built wooden frames for 20 raised beds. It takes 25 wheelbarrow loads of dirt to fill one raised bed. Ahmed Finoh, a senior in the environmental, earth and geospatial sciences department, is doing his part by shoveling from a pile of dirt into a wheelbarrow.

It is June 8, which is the first of the Summer Community Garden Days. Though he appears to be working up a sweat, Finoh describes his activity as ‘therapeutic.’

“I really like gardening,” Finoh said. “It’s really peaceful and giving back to nature and the earth.”

He also approves of diversifying

Volunteers work on the campus garden between Mary Townes and BRITE buildings.

the campus grounds. “It is one thing to have manicured lawns,” he said. “It is another to have flowers and fruit-bearing plants and vegetables.”

What is grown from season to season varies. At the moment a visitor could see cilantro, strawberries, blueberries, eggplants, basil, Red Okra, cucumbers, Azaleas and tomatoes among the beds.

“After we harvest, we do a giveaway,” said Anaia Clyburn, a senior in public health who is president of the Campus Garden Committee, a student organization that manages the garden. Giveaways take place during the 10:40 break for students and at the Mary Townes building for community residents.

The Campus Garden Committee started in early 2018, although the garden itself dates back to 2012. It was initiated by a female student who came from a family with health issues, said Calleen Herbert, director of community engagement and services. “One of the ways to remedy health issues is to have better access to food,” Herbert said.

Campus entities got involved, including the then director of community engagement and services, facilities management, department of food and nutrition and the NCCU Alumni Association Inc.

Off campus entities also helped, Herbert said. A class at North Carolina State University drew the design for the garden. Habitat for Humanity taught volunteers how to put up raised beds. Hillside High School –which had its original building on the site – presented rose bushes.

For more information, contact Tamette Farrington at tfarrington12@nccu.edu.

’BY MARK LAWTON

FIGHTING FIRE AS A FRESHMAN

first-year student at North Carolina Central University (NCCU) is already a firefighter and emergency medical technician (EMT). Diel Rhinehart, who plans to major in nursing, joined a cadet program in the fire department of Prince Georges County, Maryland, when he was 16 years old. His high school in Washington D.C. had a career readiness program and from 7 to 10:45 a.m. every weekday, Rhinehart trained.

“There were fires started by our instructor that we had to put out,” Rhinehart said. “With smoke in a building, we had to find our way through a maze.”

He became certified as a firefighter his junior year of high school and as an EMT in his senior year. That same senior year – a Sunday in January 2023 – a fire started in his family’s home.

The family had returned from church when his mother asked his younger brother to boil some eggs. His brother turned on the wrong burner, which ignited a small pot of grease left over from the previous night’s meal. Meanwhile, his brother had left the kitchen.

Upon returning to the kitchen, he found the pot on fire. He dashed water on the fire but it continued to burn.

“He came running upstairs and said, ‘fire!’” Rhinehart said. “At first, I didn’t believe him. But then I smelled smoke.”

Rhinehart told his family to get out of the house and then rushed downstairs.

“I smothered the fire with enough baking soda so I could grab the pot with my hands,” Rinehart said. “Then I threw the pot outside.”

Shortly after, the fire department arrived. “Is this your house?” asked a battalion chief that Rhinehart knew. “I can’t believe it. I’m so proud of you.”

Being a firefighter/EMT can be stressful. “For me being so young, I’ve seen some things,” Rhinehart said.

Rhinehart once responded to a motorcycle accident. The rider had lost control and flew into a sign, which decapitated him.

“I had to pick up his head and return it to the body,” Rhinehart said.

Another time he performed CPR on a six- or seven-year-old boy. That boy lived. Another time, however, Rhinehart responded to the suicide of an 11-year-old. “I had to carry the body outside,” Rhinehart said. “To see the parents yelling, screaming, crying – it was just a lot.”

Rhinehart occasionally watches television shows about firefighters, although he laughs when asked if they are accurate.

“We can’t ride in the (vehicles) with our helmets and they do it all the time,” Rhinehart said. “They get dressed before they get on the vehicles, and we get dressed on the way to the call.”

Diel Rhinehart, who plans to major in nursing, joined a cadet program in the fire department of Prince Georges County, Maryland, when he was 16 years old. His high school in Washington, D.C., had a career readiness program.

Similarly, fire poles in stations are becoming a thing of the past. “It causes a lot of injuries to the crew and they are taking it out of all stations,” he said.

At NCCU, Rhinehart has found it useful to be part of the African American Male Initiative.

“It’s a brotherhood,” Rhinehart said. “If I am feeling down one day, I can turn and talk to one of my brothers. There are great mentors. It’s a safe space where we can talk about things like what’s it’s like to be a man in this society. Growing up without a father, that’s important to me.”

His career goals are to alternate working as a pediatric nurse with being a firefighter/EMT. Rhinehart’s long-term goal is to work his way up through the ranks, eventually becoming a fire chief.

’BY MARK LAWTON

From Campus to Cape Coast: EMPA Students Take Flight to Ghana

S CHRIS PAUL, PH.D., stood at the entrance of Cape Coast Castle, he watched his students’ faces light up with awe and curiosity. For many of them, this was not just a historical site but a profound connection to their studies and their heritage.

The opportunity to explore Ghana was not just a curriculum requirement; it was a journey of transformation and discovery. The Executive Master of Public Administration (EMPA) program at NCCU has long embraced international internships as a cornerstone of its curriculum. Paul, chair of the NCCU Department of Public Administration, said the program's goal is to offer students a comprehensive view of public administration beyond the confines of their local context. A significant part of this global focus is driven by Pierre Osei-Owusu, Ph.D., an adjunct professor in the department who is originally from Ghana. His involvement has deepened the program's connections with Ghana, making it a key destination for these internships.

“We want our students to engage with high-level governmental agencies and gain cross-cultural communication skills,” Paul said. “This experience is designed to broaden their perspectives and enhance their roles as public service leaders.”

For students Lashika Hester and Ciji Garner, this journey to Ghana was a pivotal moment in their academic and professional lives. Hester, a second-year graduate student from Lumberton, North Carolina, found herself reconnecting with a place she had previously visited for work.

“Returning to Ghana felt like coming home,” she said. “The excitement and ease I felt there were incredible, and it was like living a dream.”

Garner, hailing from Gaston, North Carolina, and set to graduate in December 2024, had never been to Ghana before.

Her first encounter with the country was filled with wonder and anticipation. “I love traveling, that’s one of my hobbies,” Garner said. “But actually going to the motherland for the first time, this was an experience like no other.”

During their time in Ghana, Hester and Garner were assigned to various ministries, including Hospitality and Tourism as well as Strategic Planning, where they worked and observed public administration practices from a new perspective.

The challenges of adapting to a different pace and overcoming personal hurdles were significant. Hester recalls a particularly challenging moment: “We did a canopy walk (hanging bridges in Kakum National Park), and it was physically demanding due to my health issues. But the support from my cohort was incredible. They helped me every step of the way, which made the journey unforgettable.”

Garner faced the challenge of adjusting to Ghana’s slower decision-making process. “The emphasis on relationship-building taught me the value of patience and flexibility,” she said. “It was a lesson in slowing down and adapting to a different pace.”

Despite these challenges, the trip was filled with memorable moments. Hester was particularly moved by the opportunity to connect with professors from the University of Ghana and immerse herself in local culture, from dancing on stage to enjoying traditional cuisine. “Understanding Ghanaian culture gave me deeper

insights into their laws and way of life,” Hester said.

Garner was deeply impacted by her interactions with Ghana’s first female mayor and her visit to a low-income community. “Speaking with the mayor and witnessing the community’s resilience was both humbling and inspiring,” Garner said. “It gave me a new perspective on the blessings we often take for granted.”

As the students returned to the United States, they carried with them not just memories but a renewed sense of purpose. Hester’s newfound appreciation for hospitality and Garner’s commitment to community involvement in Durham County reflect the profound impact of their international journey.

Paul’s pride in his students’ growth and the program’s success is evident.

“It’s a privilege to witness their development and the relationships they build with international partners,” he says.

The journey from campus to Cape Coast was more than just an academic program; it was a life-changing experience that broadened horizons and deepened connections. For Hester, Garner, and their peers, the trip to Ghana was a powerful reminder of the shared humanity that binds us all, no matter where we come from.

’BY NICOLE HODGES

The opportunity to explore Ghana was not just a curriculum requirement; it was a journey of transformation and discovery. The Executive Master of Public Administration (EMPA) program at NCCU has long embraced international internships as a cornerstone of its curriculum.

Criminal Justice Students Gains Skills, Contacts with Summer Internships

HILE MOST STUDENTS LAST SUMMER WERE RELAXING

or working, junior Erick Espinoza was sweating out an internship in Arizona. “The heat, it's insane,” Espinoza said. “The days would be 120 degrees.’

Espinoza was one of five students in the Department of Criminal Justice who engaged in a paid summer internship involving research. Espinoza and graduate student Daisha Ingram spent 10 weeks at the Department of Homeland Security Center for Accelerating Operational Efficiency at Arizona State University in Tempe.

I learned how to properly communicate with people so they are willing to hear what you say. How to find the most accurate information, understand frameworks, analysis and how to create a presentation.”

—

Erick Espinoza

The two researched disaster telemedicine, which involves involves using technology and artificial intelligence to offer remote medical help to locations experiencing hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis or other emergencies.

The two students in North Carolina Central University (NCCU) reached out to emergency managers across North Carolina, collected contact information and sent out surveys.

“I learned how to properly communicate with people so they are willing to hear what you say,” Espinoza said. “How to find the most accurate information, understand frameworks, analysis and how to create a presentation.”

Ingram found the research of personal interest. “My family is from the Caribbean,” she said. “They were hit with multiple hurricanes. If we have (disaster telemedicine), we probably could have helped them a lot more.”

During their research, Ingram found that many emergency management agencies do not have disaster telemedicine in their emergency plans.

Their research will be used for an article and to create a documentary. On a personal level, the two found their summer research useful.

“Hopefully when the research is published, it will make me more employable,” said Ingram.

“It opened my eyes,” Espinoza said. “I never thought you could work as a criminal justice major in a research capacity.”

Julien Muhammad, Ph.D., an assistant professor and former consultant to the Department of Homeland Security, who accompanied Ingram and Espinoza to Arizona, suggests the internships offered a variety of benefits to the students. Those include adding skills – writing, critical thinking – developing contacts that might lead to referrals or perhaps a job and transferable skills in research.

(continues on page 38)

ERICK ESPINOZA

DAISHA INGRAM

(continued from page 37)

Population Research

Just up the road at Duke University, Le’Monna Cox, a senior, took part in a summer internship at the Population Research Institute.

While there, Cox heard from people in the population research field, learned about basic tools of research and conducted research of her own.

“I was looking at how police shootings had a spillover effect on the health of Black Americans,” Cox said.

She took online statistics from police departments in Durham County and conducted statistical analysis.

“Because Black Americans are exposed to or have had family members who has been killed or know someone who have been killed, the stress they hold can cause illness and affect their mental health,” Cox said.

Cox’s goal is to earn a doctorate at Cornell University. “I hope this will make me stand out so that when I apply to a Ph.D. program, I will have this backing me up, a mentor backing me up and knowledge backing me up,” she said.

Drugs and Covid’s Role

I hope this will make me stand out so that when I apply to a Ph.D. program, I will have this backing me up, a mentor backing me up and knowledge backing me up.

— Le’Monna Cox

TAILAH JEANTY , a junior, took part in an internship at the Research Institute for Scholars of Equity (RISE) with the School of Education. Her research was about “academic motivation and the level of concentration undergraduate students are lacking due to drug use and abuse and how Covid played a role.”

“I was passionate about it after returning for my senior year of high school,” Jeanty said. “I wanted to get into the nitty gritty about why they use drugs.”

She created a survey she distributed to friends at colleges around the United States. She plans to geographically narrow her focus to students at Duke University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and NCCU but expand her survey to 150 students.

’BY MARK LAWTON

Two NCCU students (center) and an assistant professor spent the summer at Department of Homeland Security Center for Accelerating Operational Efficiency at Arizona State University in Tempe

LE'MONNA COX

TAILAH JEANTY

HAVING A BALL:

Professor’s Life Intertwined with Wheelchair Basketball

NDREA WOODSON-SMITH, ’99, who was inducted into the National Wheelchair Basketball Association (NWBA) Hall of Fame on April 13, in Richmond, Virginia, was initially reluctant to play the sport.

Woodson-Smith, Ph.D., is interim chair of the department of kinesiology and recreation administration at North Carolina Central University (NCCU). She became interested in wheelchair basketball in 2000 while interviewing Paralympians in Dallas for her doctorate. There, she met a former Paralympian and current coach in wheelchair basketball who tried to recruit her.

While earning her doctorate, Woodson-Smith had played on the women’s basketball team at Texas Women’s University but wasn’t

excited about wheelchair basketball.

“I was kind of removing myself from playing sports altogether,” Woodson-Smith said. “If I played, I was concerned I would not be as good in a chair as on my feet.”

Nevertheless, she agreed to take part in practice for a year followed by a summer camp organized by the NWBA. The following year, she competed against another woman on her team for a position. “That’s when my interest peaked and my competitiveness started,” Woodson-Smith said.

On and off from 2003 to 2012, she played on the U.S. national team both domestically and internationally.

Outside the United States she competed in Argentina, the Netherlands, England, Mexico and, in 2012, in the Paralympics in London, England.

Along the way, she became the second female African American to be on a paralympic basketball team.

From 2020 to 2023, Woodson-Smith joined the board of directors of the NWBA. Among her accomplishments are securing a $200,000 grant for athletes with spinal cord injuries and creating and chairing a committee to increase the number of women in the sport.

“It opened up doors for me to work with the U.S. State Department diplomacy program as a sports envoy,” Woodson-Smith said. “We would travel to different countries and teach about adapted sports.”

In addition, Woodson-Smith has conducted research on collegiate adapted sports programs.

Today, Woodson-Smith finds it difficult to think of any part of her life that hasn’t been impacted by wheelchair basketball.

“I met my husband through wheelchair basketball,” Woodson-Smith said. “My two sons have learned and played wheelchair basketball and learned the proper etiquette in discussing disability. My career is affiliated with adapted sports.”

’BY MARK LAWTON

CLASS OF 2024 BY THE NUMBERS

NCCU 143rd Commencement Exercises 443

UNDERGRADUATE DEGREES

GRADUATE, DOCTORAL AND PROFESSIONAL DEGREES

TOTAL GRADUATES

THE 143RD COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES AT NCCU WERE FILLED WITH BOTH BIG AND SMALL MOMENTS.

Among the big moments was an address by commencement speaker Trisha Bailey, Ph.D., owner of 16 companies including Bailey’s Medical Equipment & Supplies and Bailey’s Pharmacy. Bailey, the richest woman from Jamaica, spoke about her own upbringing.

“There was no running water in rural Jamaica,” she said. “Dirt roads and potholes.”

She moved to the United States at age 13 and ran track in high school. Track led to a full scholarship at the University of Connecticut. Bailey became a stockbroker then entered the medical supply field.

She advised students to “tap into your excellence, find the discipline, learn financial literacy and be kind and loving to every person. You never know who that person will become.”

She also used the Eagle – the mascot of NCCU – as a metaphor.

“Being an Eagle is a big task,” Bailey said. “They are strong and resilient.

Being an Eagle is a big task. They are strong and resilient. They embark on a level of excellence no other species can accomplish.

—

TRISHA BAILEY, PH.D.

They embark on a level of excellence no other species can accomplish.”

Malia Lyles, vice president of public relations for the NCCU Graduate Student Association, also used the Eagle as a metaphor when speaking to the graduates.

“You are showing that an Eagle is no ordinary barnyard fowl,” Lyles said. “Walk with your head high.”

Some speakers quoted from giants.

Pastor Evan Marbury, for example, quoted poet Maya Angelou during his opening remarks.

“You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it," he said.

Not to be outdone, Amber Creft, president of the NCCU Student Bar Association, quoted activist and academic Angela Davis. “I no longer accept things I cannot change. Instead, I change things I cannot accept.”

In an activity not listed in the schedule, graduates and the audience were treated to a short

video by Vice President Kamala Harris.

“You’ve made it,” Harris said. “Our nation is so proud of you. There is no obstacle that you cannot overcome.”

THERE WERE ALSO SMALL MOMENTS

A male student earning a master’s degree shook hands with the chancellor then waved his diploma around like a sports champion waving around a trophy.

A parent carried a poster with a student’s photo and “Class of 2024” onto the back of the graduation floor and waved it in all directions to applause from the stands.

(continued on page 42)

95,343

NUMBER OF SERVICE HOURS UNDERGRADUATES CONTRIBUTED TO THE COMMUNITY (continued

A police officer took a short break from his duties to pose with a female graduate for a photograph.

GRADUATES, FACULTY AND DOCTORAL CANDIDATES HONORED

During the graduate and professional ceremony, School of Law graduate Darius Stephens-York was recognized by past Chancellor Johnson O. Akinleye for his work with youth. Stephens-York volunteered as an assistant coach of the varsity basketball team at Riverside High School in Durham, co-founded and operated a youth nonprofit named The Haven Newberry in his home state of South Carolina and during his third year of law school served as a student-attorney, representing youth in court (under the supervision of a professor).

During the undergraduate ceremony, Akinleye recognized Andraya Yearwood. Yearwood was awarded a Foreign Language and Area Studies fellowship in Portuguese at Columbia University in New York City. Funded by the U.S. Department of Education, the fellowship pays a stipend of $20,000 plus up

to $18,000 towards tuition. The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at Columbia University will pay the remainder of the tuition.

Undergraduates engaged in 95,343 hours of community service valued at an estimated $3,193,052.

Two students who earned doctorates in Integrated Biosciences were invited to the stage. Telchy and Dina Ibrahim Abu Rabe were “hooded” by former Provost David H. Jackson, Jr., Ph.D., and their academic advisors.

Two undergraduates were honored posthumously. Devin Ahmed Butts, who would have earned a Bachelor of Science in Behavioral and Social Sciences and Myles Gresham, who would have earned a Bachelor of Business Administration.

the NCCU department of language and literature, earned the University of North Carolina Board of Governors Award for Excellence in Teaching.

Three faculty were honored with the North Carolina Central University Award for Teaching Excellence. They are: Tanisha Burford, Ph.D., assistant professor in the department of psychology, Lindsey Constantini, Ph.D., assistant professor in the department of biological and biomedical sciences and Tryan McMickens, Ed.D., an associate professor in the department of counseling and higher education.

In addition to 983 students earning degrees, the commencement ceremonies were notable for being the last to be officiated by Akinleye, who retired on June 30, after serving eight years as chancellor.

“Under his guidance, North Carolina Central University has delivered an educational experience that enables graduates to rise to challenges in unique and impactful ways,” said Kevin Holloway, chair of the NCCU Board of Trustees.

Stefanie Frigo, Ph.D., an associate professor in ’BY MARK LAWTON

Languages Come Easy to Recent Graduate

When Andraya Yearwood began studying Spanish in seventh grade , she would listen to songs in Spanish and read the lyrics. Then she would translate them into English.

“I would learn vocabulary through the songs,” Yearwood said. “I would see how the verbs were conjugated and the grammatical structures I learned through the lyrics.”

Languages have always come easy to Yearwood. She’s practiced Albanian with an Albanian friend, learned a bit of Igbo – a language spoken in Nigeria – studied Italian for a semester and learned some Swahili.

Yearwood, who graduated from North Carolina Central University (NCCU) in May 2024, will spend the next school year studying Portuguese. She was recently awarded a Foreign Language and Area Studies fellowship in Portuguese at Columbia University in New York City. Funded by the U.S. Department of Education, the fellowship pays a stipend of $20,000 plus up to $18,000 towards tuition. The Graduate School of Arts & Sciences at Columbia University will pay the remainder of the tuition.

Yearwood visited Brazil last summer and tests between intermediate and high in her ability to speak and write Portuguese. She originally was accepted into a university in London, England, but when the Columbia fellowship was awarded, she dropped her plan to study overseas.

“I know how hard my parents worked to keep me from having debt (during undergraduate studies),” Yearwood said.

Yearwood was a double major at NCCU, studying Spanish and interdisciplinary studies with a concentration in race, gender, and class. Additional, Yearwood minored in political science, and women and gender studies.

Originally from Cromwell, Connecticut, Yearwood was a high school athlete who ran track and was ranked 10th in the United States during her senior year of high school. When she came out as a transgender woman in high school, her participation in athletics gained a lot of attention.

“I’m trans and I was running on the female team,” Yearwood said. “I was performing well.”

While her neighbors in Cromwell did not discriminate, the same could not be said of people elsewhere.

“People were coming to my track meets, having petitions signed to try to get me to stop running,” Yearwood said. “People were like, you are cheating. You shouldn’t be on the girls team.”

The topic went national and a lawsuit took place during her junior and senior year. The attention also led to Yearwood being a subject of a 2019 documentary titled “Changing the Game,” released by Hulu.

Yearwood said running on the girls team was both a matter of gender identity and the policy of the state organization that oversaw high school athletics competition in Connecticut.

Yearwood visited Brazil last summer and tests between intermediate and high in her ability to speak and write Portuguese.

“There is a rule,” Yearwood said. “If you present as a girl during the day, you have to do the same in the sport.” Ultimately, Yearwood would like to earn a doctorate in linguistic anthropology and become a professor.

’BY MARK LAWTON

Alumna Aims to Help Others –and Herself – to Adapt

ONE DAY IN HER 11TH GRADE HISTORY CLASS,

SANDI OWENS suddenly found she could not see out of her right eye. “I went to read a textbook and I could not see,” said Owens. “My teacher was like, ‘Sandi, stop lying.’”

But Owens wasn’t lying. A classmate had to walk her to the main office, where she waited at least 40 minutes for her parents to make the drive from Philadelphia to Newcastle, Delaware. They took her to an optometrist, who then referred her to an eye institute in Philadelphia.

The diagnosis was retinal detachment, although to this day no one understands why it happened.

Over the next 18 months, Owens underwent seven operations on her right eye. The first surgery left her with blurry vision in that eye. With the second surgery, she lost all sight in that same eye.

Her family hired a driver to transport Owens to school her senior year. After graduation, she enrolled at the University of Delaware, where she majored in cellular and molecular biology.

“It was overwhelming, especially being newly low-vision,” Owens said. She stuck it out for one year, then moved to Fayetteville, North Carolina, to live with her sister. She transferred to Methodist University and changed her major to mathematics.

She adapted by sitting at the front of the classroom, recording lectures and occasionally using note takers. Over time, she improved her own note-taking skills.

“I was an awesome note taker, to the point that my classmates wanted to borrow my notes,” Owens said.

She graduated and found work as a middle- school teacher of math. To teach, she had a large separate monitor attached to her computer and would expand or bold mathematical formulas on her white board.

After eight years, Owens decided she was ready for a change and moved to Kuwait to work as a contract teacher.

“I’ve always been a go-getter,” she said.

She taught in Kuwait for two years, then noticed the vision in her left eye was changing. She returned to the United States and her position in Hoke County, North Carolina as a teacher, where she worked until December 2019 as her eyesight had deteriorated.

A few months later, the COVID-19 pandemic began.

“I had a year or so to think,” Owens said. “I had some depressing moments. What am I doing with my life? I’m too young to stop here.”

Through friends, she found out about a master’s degree program at North Carolina Central University (NCCU) in teaching students who are blind or visually impaired.

She enrolled, then found out that NCCU also offers a master’s degree in assistive technology.

OPENING UP

Until Owens started at NCCU, she generally did not talk about being blind in her right eye.

“I think it was just being somewhat embarrassed or scared,” Owens said. “I didn’t want to be judged based on a disability. I never really considered myself disabled. I do just as much as a sighted person.”

If not more. She has traveled to Greece, Venice, Dubai, Cancun, Rome and other countries. She is completing an internship as an assistive technology training instructor at a career and training center in Raleigh. Owens has raised and home-schooled a daughter, now 12-years-old.

Off campus, Owens is president of the North Carolina Council of the Blind, which has successfully advocated for accessible crosswalks in Raleigh, holds job fairs for visually impaired people and made it legal for blind and visually impaired people to vote from home.

Her studies at NCCU have not only gained her a master’s degree in assistive technology (she has also completed all but an internship for

her second master’s degree in teaching blind and visually impaired people) but has also taught her how to adapt.

“I went into the program thinking it would show me how to help other individuals,” Owens said. “It also helped me. I have an expanded repertoire of adaptive techniques.”

Those include using a cane to go up or down stairs and improving her skills using screen readers, magnification and software to either enlarge or speak text.

She also has become more open about her own visual impairment.

“I gained knowledge about it,” Owens said. “There is a whole community around this. I want to educate people about what this is and what it means.”

She has already started with her own business, Making It Visible, LLC.

“Very few students explore entrepreneurial opportunities before graduation,” said Sean Tikkun, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the department of curriculum and instruction and one of Owen’s instructors.

Owens’ will work as an assistive technology trainer for people who are blind or visually impaired. She gained her first contract in April and might have another one soon.

*Thank you to Nigel Pierce, Ph.D., assistant professor and program coordinator of special education, for recommending Sandi Owens as a graduate feature.

From Tough Times to Elite Law School

CHRISTIAN WORLEY WAS HOMELESS and spouse-less when she decided to earn a master’s degree in public administration at North Carolina Central University (NCCU). Two years later, she has a full-ride scholarship to attend a top law school.

Born in Atlanta, Georgia, and raised in Fayetteville, North Carolina, Worley married at age 19 and attended the University of North Carolina in Wilmington where she majored in criminology and minored in sociology.

She graduated in 2020 – “I was a Covid graduate” – and found employment as a trainee with the state of North Carolina, where she mentored juveniles.

That same year, she started Economic Justice for African Americans, initially based on social media. “I started it in the summer 2020, at the height of the George Floyd and Breonna Taylor murders,” she said.

The nonprofit sought to educate people on civil rights and economic inequality between Black Americans and other groups. Later, the organization held protests and did some lobbying. Today, its membership is almost 900 people.

Worley move in. That left Worley to figure out what to do next.

“I wanted to feel good again,” Worley said. “I decided to go back to school (although) I didn’t know how to pull it off.”

Through research, she found out about a joint program at NCCU where she could earn both a Juris Doctor and master's degree in public administration in a shortened amount of time. “I also wanted to experience an HBCU,” she said.

While Worley liked working with young people for the state, she was unhappy with the department and gave notice in May 2022.

That same month, her husband left. Without an income or a spouse to depend on, she struggled.

“I had to move out of my apartment because I couldn’t afford to live there anymore,” Worley said. “I contacted several charities and nonprofits, but no one had any funding available.”

A sister who had just returned from Germany with her military husband let

With scholarships and financial aid –mostly in the form of loans – she moved to Durham in August 2022 and shared housing with two previously unknown roommates. She graduated summa cum laude from NCCU in May 2024 with a master’s in public administration but decided to pursue law school elsewhere. In May 2024, she was one of ten people awarded a MarshallMotley Scholarship from the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. The scholarship is named in honor of Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall and the first Black woman to serve as a federal judge, Constance Baker Motley.

In exchange for a full-ride scholarship and professional development, recipients agree to practice civil rights law for 10 years following graduation.

“There are so many people – especially minorities – who are struggling,” Worley said. “The answer to the problem is civil rights, fighting for equality and equity.“

Worley has been accepted at the Georgetown University Law Center, which ranks No. 14 out of 196 law schools in the United States, according to U.S. News & World Report. She plans to start this fall.

’BY MARK LAWTON

From Creative Child to Accomplished Graduate

A

person could be ready for a nap by the time they finished reading about the various honors and accomplishments of Elena Kendrick.

Kendrick, who graduated from North Carolina Central University (NCCU) on May 4, was a member of the University Honors program, achieved the highest academic performance by a senior in the department of history, was a Ronald E. McNair scholar, an Alpha Kappa Mu Scholarship Honor Society member, and on the fall 2023 honor roll with a 3.9 grade point average.

She was president of the Caulbert A. Jones History Club, volunteered with Meals on Wheels of Durham, been a docent at the Museum of Durham History and volunteered with Welcome Baby.

Kendrick grew up in Knoxville, Tennessee. Her father is a veterinarian in a practice founded by her grandfather and her mother is the practice manager. Kendrick’s childhood sounds idyllic.

“I remember always being barefoot,” she said, laughing. “I was barefoot in the country and playing in creeks. I was able to be free and explore. I read a lot of books. My grandmother and I had tea parties. I think that really helped with my imagination and curating my creativity.”

For all her university accomplishments, Kendrick

was not a high achiever in high school.

“I did what I needed to get the grade,” she said. “I was not the most high achieving.”

Fortunately, a couple of teachers saw more in Kendrick than she did. An English teacher said the work she turned in was less than she was capable of. An art teacher during her senior year said something similar. Their challenges inspired her.

NCCU AND HISTORY

Kendrick first toured NCCU in February 2020. She initially considered a double major in history and theater but settled on history – an interest she has had since age 7 when her

This fall, Kendrick will attend Indiana University in Bloomington where she will study for a doctorate in history with a focus on slavery.

godparents bought her an Addy Doll from American Girl (doll backstory: Addy and her mother escape from slavery).

“I was becoming more aware of my racial identity,” Kendrick said. “I wanted to explore that.”

She never stopped exploring history. For a birthday, she was given a choice of having a party or visiting a civil rights museum in Memphis. She chose the museum.

At age 12, she considered a career of designing historical costumes. At 14, it was historic set design. At 16, it was becoming a history museum director.

At NCCU, she participated in a history-related internship

every summer. Her first was at the former Patrick Henry home in Virginia, where she conducted research about the enslaved and their descendants.

“It taught me about archival research and how I want to proceed forward as a public historian,” Kendrick said.

While the work was intriguing, the location was not. “It was a sundown town,” Kendrick said. “After sundown, Black people are not allowed to be outside for their own safety.”

Her second summer she had an internship in Egyptology at the University of California – Los Angeles, where she learned about translating hieroglyphs. Last summer she went on an archeological dig in St. Augustine, Florida, the first Black settlement in the United States.

PH.D. TO BE

This fall, Kendrick will attend Indiana University in Bloomington where she will study for a doctorate in history with a focus on slavery, specifically on areas where oppression is still occurring and how Black people respond to such oppression. A McNair scholarship will pay for her tuition for six years – although she aims to complete her doctorate in five. Her goal is to become a public historian, a type of historian concerned with both living people and the past.

’BY MARK LAWTON

TELL US YOUR STORY

à Did you land a new job, receive a promotion or earn a degree or professional award? These are accomplishments we want to announce. Email now@nccu.edu with a 300 dpi photo and include your graduation year, college and major.

NEWS I EVENTS I IN MEMORIAM

I ’88 I JAN LENNON was named as Interim general manager of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. Lennon served as the Airport’s deputy general manager of Operations.

I ’94 I STEPHANIE WILLIAMS has been selected to serve as the new budget and finance director for Vance County.

I ’96 I ATIBA ADAMS was named Chief Legal Officer of Krispy Kreme, Inc. Adams brings over two decades of legal expertise to the role. Adams received his J.D. from NCCU School of Law

I ’49 I JAMES I. BOLDEN celebrated his 100th birthday on Sept. 6, 2024. Alumnus Bolden graduated from North Carolina College with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree. He is a retired vice president of personnel at NC Mutual Life Insurance Company and a member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc.

JAMES I. BOLDEN

I ’98 I PAMELA MURPHY LEWIS was installed, in June 2024, as Regional Director of the South Atlantic Region of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.

I ’01 I JENNIFER LANIER-COWARD has been named director of Pitt County Parks and Recreation Department. Coward received her Bachelor’s degree in athletic training from NCCU.

I ’03 I NICOLETTE POWE was honored with the 2024 Athena Award. Powe earned a master’s degree in health promotion/human sciences from NCCU.

I ’05 I TOBIAS ROSE, principal at Kompleks Creative, was named chair for The Greater Durham Chamber of Commerce.

I ’05 I SETH J. JOHNSON has taken office as the first chief public defender for Alexander and Iredell counties, NC. He earned a Juris Doctor from NCCU School of Law.

(continued on page 48)

CELEBRATING OUR CENTENARIAN

Photo courtesy of Chris Charles

Pictured above, Tobias Rose; Bottom right, Jennifer Lanier-Coward

MARKETING

I ’09 I DEIDREA S. LYONGA, ED.D., has been inducted into the Prestigious Marquis Who's Who Biographical Registry. She received a Master of School Administration from NCCU in 2009.

I ’13 I STEFAN WEATHERS SR. receved his Doctor of Ministry from Duke University Divinity School, May 2024.

I ’13 I JOSHUA SIMS SR. has been appointed as the Head of Marketing at Big Chicken, the restaurant chain founded by Shaquille O’Neal, making him one of the youngest Black male CMOs in the country. Before joining the celebrity-backed venture, Sims served as the Senior Manager of Media and Advertising at Bojangles. In addition to his work at Bojangles, Sims co-founded the athleisure performance brand Modern Revival and held various roles in advertising agencies, collaborating with major brands such as Carl’s Jr., Hardee’s (CKE), Jersey Mike’s, Adidas, and Fossil Watches. Sims earned his degree from North Carolina Central University’s School of Business.

I ’14 I SCOTT DIXON, an assistant city attorney with the City of Greenville, has been appointed to the North Carolina League of Municipalities Legislative Policy Committee. Dixon graduated from NCCU School of Law in 2014.

I ’21 I MEGAN GAINES named a Kenan Primary Care Medical Scholar. She will be a Kenan Rural Scholar at the Greensboro cross-regional campus.

I ’24 I CHARELLE FLUKER, from Houston, Texas, will join the Product Liability Litigation Practice Group. She earned her J.D. from North Carolina Central University School of Law.

I ’24 I TAMIA BROWN recently entered as a member of the inaugural class of Meharry’s School of Global Health, the first and only School of Global Health in the nation.

ALUMNI RELATIONS CONTACT 

Alumni Relations serves to develop, coordinate and foster programs to keep you informed and involved with NCCU. For information, call 919-530-6363, email alumni@nccu.edu or visit nccu.edu/alumni.

Deidrea S. Lyonga, Ed.D.

Stefan Weathers Sr.

From NCCU to Harvard Medical School, Alumna Succeeds as Pediatric Anesthesiologist

IN THE SUMMER AFTER HER FRESHMAN YEAR

at North Carolina Central University (NCCU), Annika Webb attended a recruitment fair for medical schools in North Carolina. A representative listened to Webb talk about her interest in their medical school (Webb declines to name it) and her 4.0 grade point average.

“She said a 4.0 at NCCU doesn’t hold the same weight as a 4.0 at a bigger school,” Webb recalled.

The punchline is that after graduating from NCCU, Webb was accepted to Harvard Medical School.

According to the 2023-2024 rankings by U.S. News & World Report, Harvard ranks first among U.S. medical schools in research and second in anesthesiology.

Webb was raised in Raleigh, North Carolina. In middle school, she decided to be a doctor, and initially she wanted to become a general pediatrician.

Webb is a secondgeneration graduate of NCCU, where her parents met. She received a full-ride scholarship and majored in biology.

To this day, Webb is happy she attended NCCU. “I met great people, great mentors and colleagues,” she said. “I grew up and gained a lot of confidence in myself. I appreciated that before venturing off and going to a big Ivy League school.”

At Harvard, like other medical schools, her first two years were mostly in the classroom. “Studying and taking tests,

I didn't find that too challenging,” she said.

In their third year, students begin clinical rotations. Webb found that more difficult.

“In the first couple of years of medical school, it’s all objective,” Webb said. “In clinical rotation, it is about how people perceive you.”

Webb acknowledges that she was a bit more reserved than many of her classmates and that reserve – along with being a Black woman in a majority white space – might have led her doctor-instructors to perceive her as being less engaged.

“I was used to sitting back and then asking questions and not jumping right in,” Webb said.

Antonio Baines, Ph.D., an NCCU associate professor in biological and biomedical sciences, agrees with her characterization. Webb worked at Baines’ research lab while an undergraduate.

“A quiet demeanor but you could tell she was competent in what she was doing,” Baines said. “You could tell she was very intelligent, very hard working. I never really saw her stressed. She always seemed to be in control.”

People have a checklist to have everything on their (medical school) application. I think it is better to do the things you are passionate about. Try to tell a story that shows this is what I really want to do.” — Annika Webb, Ph.D.

After graduating from medical school in 2013, Webb completed a residency in pediatrics and anesthesiology at Johns Hopkins University from 2013 to 2018 and was a pediatric anesthesiology fellow for one year at Duke University.

She was hired at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in August 2019, where she works in anesthesiology as a pediatric anesthesiologist. She likes the combination of working with children and being in an operating room.

“No day is the same,” Webb said. “You have different types of procedures and patients.”

During one day in April, for example, she took care of a premature child who was only a few weeks old and weighed five pounds. Later that same day,

she treated a 12-year-old. While she likes the work, it is sometimes emotionally challenging.

“Sometimes the things we see are really sad,” Webb said. “Children with cancer, children who have had a devastating accident. Thankfully, a lot of those kids recover really well from their illnesses.”

For undergraduates who want to pursue a career in medicine, Webb suggests being intentional about their activities.

“People have a checklist to have everything on their (medical school) application,” Webb said. “I think it is better to include the things you are passionate about. Try to tell a story that shows this is what I really want to do.”

Law School Grad Helps Youth through Sports, Court and Nonprofit

IF THERE IS A THEME IN THE LIFE OF DARIUS STEPHENS-YORK , it is helping youth. For Stephens-York, who graduated from the School of Law at North Carolina Central University (NCCU) on May 4, helping young people has manifested in several ways. Stephens-York was raised in Laurens, South Carolina, a small city (population 9,100 in the 2010 census) which contains cow pastures and plenty of space between homes. He had an extended family in Laurens which worked to his benefit.

“Even when you make bad decisions, there is someone around to pass along the word and keep you on the right path,” Stephens-York said. “It made me, socially and morally, the type of person I am.”

His parents were both in helping professions; his mother a housing coordinator for the state’s Department of Disabilities and Special Needs, his father a middle school guidance counselor.

Stephens-York grew up studying and playing basketball. He started playing informally at age six or seven, then joined his middle school team in 8th grade and played varsity basketball for three years in high school.

He enrolled at the University of South Carolina in Columbia where in 2021 he earned a bachelor’s degree in political science. He immediately applied to NCCU and attended the performance-based admissions program at the law school, a two-week program that helps both the university and prospective students figure out if they will be a success.

During summer break between his first and second year of law school, Ste-

phens-York was sitting around with three of his best friends. “We were thinking about our experiences as younger people growing up in the community and not having positive influences,” he said.

The four decided to start a nonprofit called The Haven Newberry. The summer program offers conflict resolution, tutoring and social support to middle and high school students.

Stephens-York’s role was on the administrative side; planning events, coordinating lectures and finding mentors.

COACHING AND CLIENTS

The first two years of law school tend to be extremely challenging, with courses that are all tested on the bar exam. Third year eases up a bit with more bar review or elective courses.

With a bit more time, Stephens-York began volunteering as an assistant coach of the varsity basketball team at Riverside High School in Durham, North Carolina. He spends about 15 hours per week helping the team train, sometimes starting as early as 7:30 a.m.

“We call it the Breakfast Club,” he said. During his third year of law school, Stephens-York served as a student-attorney for the NCCU Juvenile Law Clinic.

The Clinic is assigned cases from the Durham County Public Defender’s Office. Under the supervision of adjunct professor Tenika Hall, he has represented minors in court who have been accused of drug possession, motor vehicle theft and homicide – although the homicide case was transferred to a different court before it went to trial.

The challenges of being a studentattorney are not necessarily of the legal variety.

“Even if it’s a simple case, the kids probably have some issue to work through, a home issue or personal issue,” Stephens-York said. “Helping the children understand what is the realistic solution to their (legal) issues. It can be hard to tell them the consequences. Keeping yourself emotionally connected but disconnected enough so you don’t hurt yourself in the process.”

Stephens-York says that the young people he has represented – who are mostly Black – can benefit from having a Black male attorney. “It really opens their eyes to what’s possible,” he said.

Stephens-York took the bar exam this summer and is waiting on results. In the meanwhile, he has begun working at Caldwell Law Firm, LLC. in Columbia, South Carolina, a general practice focused on personal injury, education law, family law, criminal defense and sports law.

Incidentally, it was through coaching basketball that he gained the position. In Spring 2022, Stephens-York was coaching a travel basketball team, and someone introduced him to a lawyer, who was also a graduate of the NCCU School of Law. The alum offered him a summer internship and later a job.

As a lawyer, he and the firm manager will continue to represent juveniles in both criminal matters and as “Guardian ad Litem” when appointed by the state.

’BY MARK LAWTON

Marine, Student, Chaplain and Foreign Service

From military to chaplaincy, THE next steps for Brandon Evans ’18 appear to be Chicago followed by a United States embassy.

Evans was recently awarded a fellowship by the Thomas R. Pickering Foreign Affairs Graduate Fellowship Program by the U.S. Department of State. The fellowship will help pay for him to earn a master’s degree in public policy at the University of Chicago.

Evans grew up in Henderson, North Carolina. He joined the Marine Corps and concurrently became interested in ministry and preached his first sermon at a Baptist church a couple of months before he left in July 2011 for basic training in Paris Island, South Carolina.

He served mostly in Cherry Point, North Carolina, as an administrative specialist for the Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 366, although he was also deployed to the Persian Gulf for nine months on the USS San Antonio. On board, he soon met the ship’s chaplain.

“That’s how my eyes became open to other avenues of ministry,” Evans said. Evans was honorably discharged in 2015 from the Marines. He enrolled at North Carolina Central University (NCCU) on the Post-911 GI Bill.

“I grew up going to NCCU homecoming and going to the parade with my family,” Evans said. “When I was getting out of the military, I wanted to go somewhere that was nurturing.”

While at NCCU he marched in the Sound Machine for two years and later served in the student government association. He also connected to the then pastor of the NCCU Office of Spiritual Development and Dialogue, who suggested Evans consider divinity school.

Evans completed a bachelor’s degree in political science in August 2018 and then moved to Nashville, Tennessee, to enroll in the divinity school at Vanderbilt University in fall 2019.

BECOMING A CHAPLAIN

As part of his degree program, he served as a chaplain at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, a level one trauma hospital.

“There were motor vehicle accidents, gunshot wounds, falls, construction accidents, anything that caused trauma,” Evans said. “I was there to support the families and be a comforting presence to people in acute emotional distress.”

It was challenging. Evans recalls a young man about his age who was in a motor vehicle accident. The doctors said there was nothing more they could do to keep him alive.

People think we pray, read scripture and evangelize. We do not do just that. We offer counsel and create space for people to process their grief or other emotional experience.”

— Brandon Evans ‘18

“His mother stood up in tears and said, ‘you tell me why God is doing this,’ " Evans said. “Having that type of dialogue with a grieving mother is difficult – there are no words.”

In fall 2022, he began a chaplaincy residency at Nashville Veterans Administration (VA) Hospital.

Though not a trauma center, the VA hospital had its own challenges. “I was 29 to 30 years old,” Evans said. “A lot of the clients are Vietnam era veterans. People are like, who is this young fellow trying to take care of me?”

Evans, who was raised a Baptist, worked with people of various faiths or no faith.

“Working with a diverse group of faiths is what I cherish most about being a chaplain,” Evans said. “That is where I lean in as a chaplain, to make that emotional connection.”

Evans suggests that many people have a mistaken belief about the role of a chaplain.

“People think we pray, read scripture and evangelize,” Evans said. “We do not do just that. We offer counsel and create space for people to process their grief or other emotional experience.”

For the last year, Evans has served as a chaplain in the Durham VA Health Care System, where he assists clients with psychosocial and substance abuse challenges.

WHAT'S NEXT?

Evans is one of 45 Pickering Fellows chosen from more than 1,500 applicants. Besides paying toward his master’s degree in public policy, the fellowship includes a 10-week internship at the U.S. State Department and an international internship at a U.S. embassy. In return, Evans agrees to serve in the U.S. Foreign Service as a consular officer for at least five years.

’BY MARK LAWTON

NCCU ALUMNUS SELLS CARS TO CUBA

An alumnus of NCCU is the first person in the United States to sell electric vehicles to Cuban citizens, a process that took 12 years.

JOHN FELDER grew up in Hamlet, North Carolina, a town halfway between Charlotte and Fayetteville. Its current population is about 6,000 but it was less when Felder was growing up.

“I always loved and was fascinated by cars,” he said. “Every Sunday my parents would take us to church and Dairy Queen. My brother and I would count the number of Fords and Chevrolets and see who had the most on the road.”

He enrolled at NCCU in 1962 as a pre-medical major but left early in his fourth year without earning a degree. He then enlisted in the U.S. Air Force, where he worked as an air traffic controller, mostly in New Jersey though he did serve in Vietnam for one year.

He was honorably discharged after four years and next found work with Chrysler where he worked as a district parts and sales manager in the mid-Atlantic region. Before he retired in 2002 after 25 years, he took advantage of a program at Chrysler and completed a bachelor’s degree at the University of Maryland.

“I wasn’t ready for a rocking chair,” Felder said. “I still had a passion for doing something else.”

So, he founded Premier Automotive Export in Columbia, Maryland, which exports electric cars and scooters to Caribbean-based countries. Premier initially sold electric vehicles to the Bahamas, Barbados and Grand Cayman.

Felder then turned his attention to Cuba. Cubans have not been able to buy an American car since 1962, when President Kennedy instituted a trade embargo.

Through research, Felder found out there were exceptions to the embargo, including for exporting food (chickens are exported to Cuba from the port of Wilmington in North Carolina), medical supplies and journalist visits. Among those is an environmental exception.

YOU DON’T GIVE UP

Felder estimates about 10% of Cuba’s residents can afford electric scooters or cars. His target market is Cuban-Americans, who live in the U.S. but want to send an electric scooter or car to their relatives in Cuba.

John Kavulich reached out in 2017 after reading that Felder had gained his first license to export electric cars and scooters to the 124 embassies in Cuba. Premier Automotive Export sold a Nissan Leaf to the Guyana embassy, "It was the first electric vehicle to be sold in the Republic of Cuba,” Felder said.

Having sold to an embassy, Felder wanted to expand and sell electric vehicles to Cuban citizen .

Kavulich is the president of the U.S.–Cuba Trade and Economic Council, a private nonprofit that supplies information and analysis to U.S. businesses about commercial, economic and political relations between the two countries.

A documentary was filmed about Felder's multi-year effort to sell electric vehicles to Cuba.

He explains that on the United States side, gaining permission to export electrical vehicles to the Cuban people requires an interagency review. The agencies include offices within the Department of State, Department of Treasury, Department of Commerce, Department of Defense, Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Council at the White House.

“It is where many license applications go to die,” Kavulich said. “A year, two years, three years. Many people just give up.”

Felder, however, persisted.

“Most of my applications were rejected but I never gave up,” Felder said. “I would overcome their objections.”

In November 2022, he received a U.S. license to export electrical vehicles to the Cuban people. Of the 10.9 million people who live in Cuba, Felder estimates about 10% of them can afford electric scooters or cars. His target market is Cuban Americans, who live in the U.S. but want to send an electric scooter or car to their relatives in Cuba. A condition of his license is that he does not sell vehicles to the Cuban government.

Felder next had to negotiate with the government of Cuba.

“The most challenging part about engaging with the Cuban government and Cuban companies is the constant change in what Cuba believes is in its best interest,” Kavulich said. “What you are told today may be contrary to what you are told tomorrow. They need to be comfortable with John Felder. And that is where John Felder excels, in making people comfortable.”

“I believe if it is important enough to you, you don’t give up,” Felder said.

He credits NCCU with giving him his start. “I enjoyed my stay there,” Felder said. “I feel I will always be an Eagle. I wanted to do something that would make me happy and now I am having the time of my life. It all began at NCCU.”

’BY MARK LAWTON

Justin

Vivienne Steele

Maria Kennedy Lightfoot

Thomas E. Yarborough Jr.

Cameron Blount

Makayla F. Grice

Christian Jackson Allen Kaeyana Myers-Sheelor

Andreya K. Daugherty

Janea N. Hudson

Jade R. Brown

Kayla S. Jones

Carl A. Dean

Camille N. Leak

Kaelin O. Cadlett

Jordan I. Garner

Jacob A. Bennon

Charleston G. Raab

Nahlia N. Tindal

Kennedi J. Marks

Ura L. McAllister

2024 Alumni Award Recipients

Every year the NCCU Alumni Association honors dedicated alumni for their service to the community, their chapter and others.

TRUTH & SERVICE AWARD

› DWAYNE HOUSTON DC Metro Chapter

VOLUNTEER OF THE YEAR

› SETERIA HOLLINSHED DC Metro Chapter

DISTINGUISHED ALUMNI AWARD

› MONICA PERRY

DC Metro Chapter

ALUMNUS OF THE YEAR AWARD

› ANTHONY BONAPART Raleigh-Wake Chapter

CHAPTER OF THE YEAR AWARD

› DC METRO CHAPTER

2024 PESIDENTS AWARDS

› DR. TASHA TOY At-Large Member

› DENNIS SCOTT JR. At-Large Member

› DR. DARWIN MILLS Hampton Roads Chapter

› SETERIA HOLLINSHED Metro DC Chapter

We welcome Our New Alumni Association

STATEWIDE: FLORIDA CHAPTER

Email: nccufloridachapter@gmail.com

President: Lamont Summersett ’94

Vice President: John Stephenson’ 09, ’13

INDIANA CHAPTER

Email: NCCUIndiana@gmail.com

President: Jetta Vaughn ’09

Vice President: Warren Dukes ’96

TEXAS CHAPTER

Email: nccualumnitexas@gmail.com

President: Kierra Bonner ’20

Vice President: Brandee Daniel ’12

NEW CHAPTERS IN NC

MID – EASTERN NC

NCCU ALUMNI CHAPTER

Email: Kstewart@millenniumsportsmg.com

President: Kurtis Stewart ’03

Vice President: Dorothy Williams Brown ’78

NASH – EDGECOMBE NC

NCCU ALUMNI CHAPTER

Email: bobbieclark1906@gmail.com

President: Bobbie Clark ’77, ’01 and ’03

Vice President: Barbara Smith ’84

ROBESON COUNTY NC

NCCU ALUMNI CHAPTER

Email:

robesoncountychapternccualumni@gmail.com

President: Shacarra Taylor ’07

Vice President: Danisa Baker ’00, ’04

HOLLINSHED PERRY

BONAPART

ALBERT LEON STANBACK JR.

’65, ’68 I Judge Albert Leon Stanback Jr., retired Judge of the North Carolina Superior Court for the 14th Judicial District, serving Durham County, passed away on July 20, 2024. He was appointed in 1989 and served until retirement from the bench in 2009. He also was appointed Acting District Attorney for the 14th Judicial District, where he served with distinction from 2012 until August 2014. He was a respected jurist in the statewide legal community and earned his JD degree in 1968 from North Carolina College, and was one of only three African American candidates to successfully pass the bar.

’61 | JEANNE CHEEK CRAFT, 80, in Lewes, DE on A ug. 3, 2024

’61 | WILLIE GEDDIE, 95, in Fayetteville, NC on Feb. 14, 2024

’62 | HENRY LEE SUGGS, 84, in Wilson, NC on June 11, 2024

’62 | JEAN KOTTER DILWORTH, 84, in Waxhaw, NC on Aug. 30, 2022

’63 | CLARENCE M. STEWART JR., 82, in Wilmington, NC on May 22, 2024

’64 | PATTIE M. BASKETTE, 80, in Raleigh, NC on May 6, 2022

’64 | RALPH NAPOLEON WILLIAMS, 82, in Toledo, OH on Sept. 6, 2023

’64 | WILLIE E. GRISSOM, in Winston Salem, NC on April 24, 2024

’65 | CLARK EDWARD SCALES, 75, in Georgia, GA on June 21, 2021

’65 | FLOYD BENJAMIN, 80, in Laguna Niguel, CA on June 20, 2023

’48 | MAE N. ALLEN BATTS, 96, in Rocky Mount, NC on Dec. 26, 2022

’51 | WALTER PRESTON DIGGS, 95, in Washington, DC on Feb. 11, 2024

’52 | CECELIA ISHAM-HAYES, 89, in Durham, NC on June 15, 2020

’52 | GLORIA GRANT, 93, Ahoskie, NC on Dec. 17, 2023

’53 | JUANITA JONES JORDAN, 92 in Durham, NC on Jan. 14, 2024

’54 | IOLA ELISE MANLEY JENKINS, 92, in Roxbury, MA on Sept 25, 2022

’56 | FRIEDA WHITLEY BOSTICK BRUTON, 90, in Durham, NC on Aug. 29, 2024

’56 | MIMI D. JOHNSON DENNIS, 90, in WinstonSalem NC, on May 31, 2022

’57 | NAOMI JENNETTE

THOMPSON, Jackson, 88, Durham, NC on June 10, 2024

’57 | PEARL JONESHOLLAND, 87, in Fayetteville, NC on Sept. 15, 2023

’58 | CARRIE LOU "TARE"

FAIR, 88, in Springfield, MD on March 31, 2024

’59 | ANITA COX ROSEMOND, 96, in Durham, NC on Nov. 17, 2022

’60 | DAVID PARKER, 94, in Fairfax, VA, on July 7, 2022

’60 | LOTTIE HAYES, 85, in New Bern, NC on June, 27, 2024

’61, ’84 I CAROLYN BURROUGHS- FULLER, 84, in Durham, NC on Sept. 13, 2023

’61 | EMMA H. GARNER, 83, in Roanoke Rapids NC on Aug. 28, 2023

’63 | JAMES WAYNE MARSHALl, 82, in Durham, NC on Sept. 1, 2023

’64 | ALVIN JOHNSON, 81, in Atlanta, GA on June 7, 2023

’65 | PEARL LEE MAGNUM SMITH, 75, in Boca Raton, FL on June 14, 2018

’66, ’70 | CHARLES E. CLINTON, 79, in Durham, NC on July 17, 2023

RALPH KENNEDY FRASIER

’65 I Ralph Kennedy Frasier, 85, one of the first Black undergraduate students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, has passed away at the age of 85. Frasier, along with his brother Leroy and John Lewis Brandon, made history as they fought for their right to attend UNC following the landmark Brown v. Board of Education ruling. Their courage and determination, supported by NAACP attorney Thurgood Marshall, opened doors for future generations. Frasier attended UNC from September 1955 until January 1958. Frasier later served in the U.S. Army and had a distinguished career as an attorney after earning his bachelor’s and Juris Doctorate degrees from NCCU.

’66 | JAMES ROBERT

HARRIS, 98, in Washington, DC on July 15, 2024

’67 | MOZEL WILMA

HARRIS, 77, in Durham, NC on Feb. 20, 2023

’68 | GERALDINE OROSCO, 76, in Charlotte, NC on Jan. 17, 2023

’69, ’78 I CAROLYN TAYLOR, 77, in Durham, NC, on July 23, 2023

’70 | WILLIAM JERAND

HILTON, 80, in Roanoke, VA on March 2, 2023

’71 | THEODOSIA CORTALE

DUNN, 75, Flushing, NY on Feb. 25, 2024

’72 | HORACE LOCKLEAR, 82, in Ocean Isle Beach, NC on May 5, 2024

’72 | SYLVIA KEYS ALSTON

PURNELL, 73, in Rocky Mount, NC Nov. 19, 2023

’73 | ANGELON WATSON, 71, in Winston-Salem, NC on March 5, 2022

’73 | JERRY DANIEL MONROE, 73, in Durham, NC on Sept. 23, 2023

’75 | SADIE MARIE WEBB, 71, in Oxford, NC on July 28, 2024

’76 | JOAN COUNCIL

SPENCER, 71, in Durham, NC on April 9, 2024

’81 | GERALDINE THORNE, 66, in Nashville, NC on June 10, 2024

’81 | MICHELE L. MORRIS

GREEN, 65, Greensboro, NC on July 22, 2024

’86 | HERMAN CORNELIUS

WILSON, 66, in Fayetteville, NC on June 18, 2024

’86 | IRA NOBLE SWAIN, 67, in Durham, NC on Sept. 12, 2024

’97 | WALTER L. PATTERSON, 51, in Charlotte, NC on Sept. 3, 2022

’98 | EARL J. MONIZ, 74, in Fayetteville, NC on Dec. 1, 2022

’99 | TAMARA DENICE

EVANS LOPEZ, 46, in Odenton, MD on Feb. 28, 2024

’12 | GEORGE TERRY HUFF

Jr., 74, in Sanford, NC on April 8, 2024

’17 | CLARENCE WILLIAM

BRANCH, III, 53, in Durham NC on July 15, 2024

’17 | KENNETH ALEXANDER

CAMPBELL, 35, in Durham NC on April 19, 2024

’22 | JEFFREY LEE EADDY, 45, in Durham, NC on July 15, 2024

’24 | MYLES GRESHAM, 24, in Durham, NC on April 25, 2024

BISHOP THOMAS HARRIS

’63 I Coach Bishop Thomas Harris who served as the 16th head football coach at his alma mater and was a member of the 1961 CIAA Championship team, passed away on May 29, 2024.

He served as coach at NCCU from 1991 to 1992 and beginning in 1993 served the remainder of his career as running backs coach in the National Football League with the Denver Broncos (1993 - 95), Oakland Raiders (1995-1997), Buffalo Bills (1998 - 99), New York Jets (2001 - 04) and San Francisco 49ers (2005 - 07). Harris was the second NCCU alum to lead the NCCU football program. He was the first African American assistant football coach at Duke University.

HORACE LOCKLEAR

’72 I Atty. Horace Locklear, an American Indian lawyer, and NC State Representative (1977-1983). He earned his Juris Doctor degree from the NCCU School of Law in 1972, and he became the first licensed American Indian lawyer in North Carolina. He was only the second Native American to serve in the North Carolina General Assembly. He was active in civic affairs, community development, the Civil Rights Movement and American Indian Rights and causes. He died on May 5, 2024.

Student:

TERRANCE HOWARD, 19, in Salisbury, NC on July 30, 2024

CECILY PEARSON SMITH

’75 I Atty. Cecily Pearson Smith, died on June 2, 2024.

After a brief stint in the advertising profession, she enrolled in the NCCU School of Law in 1973 with a desire to help others, and she received her law degree in 1975.

Following a brief period of private practice, Smith joined the Durham County District Attorney's Office in 1980. She was the first African American and first woman to hold the office of Legal Adviser to the Durham County Sherrif's Office. She holds the distinction of having been elected President of the NC Police Attorneys Association.

UNBREAKABLE BONDS

Leaving a gift to NCCU that transcends time.

ON A SNOWY, ICY DAY,

James Spruill experienced an incident that led to friendships spanning more than 50 years. It began with a small wart on his pinky finger that he tried to remove. As the wound became more severe, James and five fellow Eagles headed to the emergency room despite the inclement weather. Crammed in a Volkswagen Beetle, six students set out to save their friend despite having no money to pay for the hospital services. After just a quarter mile, however, the car slid into a ditch. They worked together to push the car back onto the road. Amidst the chaos, they discovered that the bleeding stopped. A sense of relief, camaraderie and resilience prevailed.

This experience laid the foundation for unbreakable bonds of friendship that extended beyond the campus. Fueled by determination and resilience, they achieved something remarkable together – earning an undergraduate degree

Spruill recognizes that his foundation and gift are deeply intertwined with the institution that shaped his journey. He shares a powerful message with alums: Remember your roots and pay it forward.

from North Carolina Central University (NCCU). Reflecting on this transformative journey, Spruill cherishes NCCU, acknowledging the invaluable opportunities it offers.

Spruill is driven by a deep sense of gratitude while emphasizing the critical role of historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in providing opportunities to African American youth. He firmly believes that HBCUs give many young people, especially those from low-income and first-generation college backgrounds, the chance to pursue higher education and prepare themselves for the workforce.

As an only child from a small town in North Carolina, Spruill considers it a blessing to support NCCU by including the institution as a beneficiary in his insurance policy. He recognizes that his foundation and gift are deeply intertwined with the institution that shaped his journey.

Spruill shares a powerful message with alums: Remember your roots and pay it forward. His commitment to giving back is exemplified through his planned gift, which contributed to his class reunion gift and will support scholarships in the School of Business.

Spruill's dedication is echoed by his wife, Phyllis, a 1975 Spelman College graduate. Together, they exemplify the enduring spirit of giving and the profound impact that HBCUs have in shaping lives, fostering personal growth, professional success and cultural enrichment within our community.

’BY DANIELLE BLACKWELL ‘22

(Inset photo) James and Phyllis Spruill; (Pictured above) Phyllis and sons, Allen and Elliott.

NCCU Sees Increase in Scholarship Donations, Encourages Earlier Giving

he Division of Institutional Advancement is taking a targeted approach in its fundraising. In particular, it aims to get young alumni and even senior students into the habit of supporting North Carolina Central University (NCCU).

“It’s not the amount that they give,” said Susan Hester, vice chancellor of Institutional Advancement. “It’s that they are getting re-engaged with their institution.”

During the 2023-2024 fiscal year, Institutional Advancement raised more than $16.6 million dollars. That’s an increase of 11% from the fundraising goal of $15 milion.

Most of the money came from alumni, corporations, foundations and friends.

To engage students, Institutional Advancement organized the 1910 Student Scholarships, where students raise money for scholarships for other students. Student donors receive a philanthropy cord they can wear to commencement.

For young alumni, the department has begun hosting monthly events at restaurants and venues around Durham.

“They can network and we can teach young alumni how to advocate on behalf of the university,” said Enoch Bond, director of annual giving. “Many serve on the 40 under 40 planning committee.”

About 13% of NCCU alumni donate to the university, with an average gift of near $3,000. Of the donations, 98% are restricted.

“Most donors want to give to a specific area of the university,” Hester said. “That is consistent with the UNC System universities or any institution.”

Jamia Mills ’05, ’07, usually donates to the School of Business, where she earned her bachelor’s degree in computer information systems.

$16.9 MILLION RAISED

“I try to give every year,” Mills said. “I am an educator myself and I like to give back and provide students with opportunities that may not have been available when I was at the university. While I was at NCCU, I had a lot of opportunities given to me.”

The top three recipients are the School of Business, College of Health and Sciences and the Biomanufacturing Research Institute and Technology Enterprise.

100 Years of NCCU vs N.C. A&T Football Rivalry Chronicled in New Book

“NC A&T vs. NCCU: More Than Just a Game”

describes every football game played by North Carolina Central University (NCCU) and North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (N.C. A&T) from 1922 to 2022. But the book lives up to its title by offering a whole lot more. The book is co-written by Charles D. Johnson, Ph.D., chair of the NCCU Department of History and Arwin D. Smallwood, Ph.D., dean of the NCCU College of Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities.

“More Than Just a Game” offers commentary on the different eras of the rivalry, history of the schools and places the rivalry in the context of nationwide historically Black colleges and universities (HBCU) sports. It discusses the coaches, players, alumni and fans of both schools.

There is an abundance of photos of players, coaches and scrimmages along with images of newspaper articles and game flyers. But readers can also view 1950s pictures of cheerleaders with bouffant hairstyles, pre-1970s male fans showing off their suits, overcoats, hats and a 1931 photo of author Zora Neale Hurston at a football game (Hurston taught at the NCCU Drama Department in the late 1930s).

The game descriptions are sometimes amusing. In 1932, when the teams played for the first time on Thanksgiving Day, officials lost track of the number of downs. Eagles player Bill Malone took advantage

of an improbable fifth down and scored a touchdown.

“More Than Just a Game” also follows some players beyond college football. For example, Harry Lash, an Aggies player, was later a track coach in Georgia of Alice Marie Coachman. Coachman was the first African American woman to win an Olympic gold medal (in 1948 for the high jump).

Others, such as N.C. A&T player Robert Herman ‘Stonewall’ Jackson had his cleats in both schools. Jackson was one of the first players from an HBCU to be drafted into the NFL, in his case the New York Giants. After serving in the U.S. Army during World War II, he earned a master’s degree in physical education, coached at a couple of universities, and joined the NCCU football staff in 1969, where he remained until 1999.

THE BOOK BEGINS

In 2018, Smallwood suggested that he and Johnson collaborate on a book about the football rivalry. A student who conducted initial research found football photos in an archive at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill dating back to 1958, Johnson said. Having determined the project showed promise, Johnson and Smallwood started research.

“We went through thousands of newspaper articles,” Johnson said. “The Black press, including the Norfolk Journal and Guide, The Afro-American from DC and

Baltimore and The Carolina Times in Durham.”

Among the challenges of “More Than Just a Game” was deciding what content to include in the 192-page book. With football teams of 50 to 60 players each year, plus coaches and staff, it was impossible to include everyone.

Also finding photos from the 1920s and 1930s was more difficult than finding photos from later years.

Smallwood and Johnson also interviewed coaches, players and alumni. “Those players from the 1960s to the present day, they still talk daily,” Johnson said. “There is that closeness between them.”

EARLY RIVALRY

In 1922, the two largest HBCUs in the state, N.C. A&T and NCCU (then named National Training School) played at Dudley Field in Greensboro. N.C. A&T won. In 1923, N.C. A&T did not play NCCU (renamed North Carolina College for Negroes) but earned the North Carolina Athletic Conference state title.

In 1924, NCCU tied N.C. A&T 13–13, though the Eagles had a good year, going 4 wins, 2 ties and 1 loss. N.C. A&T won against NCCU through the remainder of the 1920s.

In 1930, however, personnel changed. N.C. A&T hired Harry “Big Jeff” Jefferson as head football coach. Jefferson had

Photo by Kevin L. Dorsey

twice won the HBCU national championship for Bluefield State University (then named Bluefield Colored Institute).

Meanwhile, NCCU hired Leo Townsend away from nearby Hillside High School in Durham as head coach. In the 1930 game, the Eagles defeated N.C. A&T for the first time, 20–14.

Nor was the NCCU victory a one-off event. In 1931, 1932 and 1933, the Eagles won.

“For A&T, it really became a rivalry,” Johnson said.

Smallwood agrees that the rivalry began early. “By the time we got to the 1930s and they started to play regularly, in the Black press they are calling the game a ‘classic.’ As early as the 1930s, you see newspaper articles describing them as 'ancient rivals.' "

FRIENDLY RIVALS

“What makes the rivalry so intense is that the schools are so close,” Johnson said. “Fifty miles apart. In any given household, you have both Aggies and Eagles. The parents might split and the children, too.”

Rivalry or not, fans of both teams intermix in the stands, Johnson said.

“Even at the game last year, we were surrounded by people from AT&T. We all sat and talked. Eagles are Eagles and Aggies are Aggies, but we are very close, like an extended family.”

Football was not the only rivalry, said Smallwood. “They were competing for the same students, the same athletes, the same resources from the state legislature. Both had strong leaders, Dr. James E. Shepard and Dr. James B. Dudley.”

Both Smallwood and Johnson became interested in the rivalry at a younger age.

Smallwood enjoyed going to games as an NCCU student, particularly the NCCU vs N.C. A&T game.

“The other games in the conference were entertainment,” Smallwood said. “There was a different kind of atmosphere around that game.”

Johnson grew up in Durham within walking distance of NCCU and began attending NCCU football games as a young boy. He was not unusual.

“Everyone came to the games at NCCU,” Johnson recalled. “Even people who were not alumni. People from Durham, African Americans in particular, pulled for NCCU. It was the hometown team.”

’BY MARK LAWTON

by

NCCU WINS THE ORANGE BLOSSOM CLASSIC IN MIAMI GARDENS, FL.

North Carolina Central University football opened the 2024 season with a 31-24 win over Alabama State in the 2024 Denny's Orange Blossom Classic at Hard Rock Stadium. At the Orange Blossom FC Commissioner's Welcome Reception, Alumnus G.K. Butterfield, ’71, ’74, was recognized for contributions in politics, while alumna Jennifer Lynne Williams ’08, was recognized for her prowess in sports.

Photo

Kevin Ortiz

Photo by Kevin Ortiz

Orange Blossom Classic

Photos by DeAndres Royal ’10 unless otherwise indicated.

the secret game :

NCCU & Duke Played First Integrated Basketball Game 80 Years Ago

any who walk by the Student Services Building on the campus of North Carolina Central University (NCCU) might just see a brick office building. NCCU alumni, faculty and staff might have known the structure as the “old Women’s Gym,” and those in the 1980s and 1990s knew it as the “Sweat Box” where many campus parties were held (with no air conditioning). The building garnered even more historical importance 80 years ago as the site of the first known integrated basketball game in the south and the United States that challenged the existing Jim Crow laws of segregation between the races.

The “Secret Game” was played on March 12, 1944, in the Women’s Gym on a Sunday morning in which most Durham residents and North Carolina College students and faculty would have been observing the church hour – including university founder Dr. James E. Shepard who was in worship at White Rock Baptist Church. The game resulted from a small group of white and Black students who were members of the local YWCA and challenged each other to see who was best in basketball. More, it is a testament to the stark reality that there were two distinct communities, one Black and one white, that tested the boundaries of segregation and laws at that time.

The success of the NCCU team centered on the life and work of Coach John B. McLendon, Jr. (1915 – 1999) a native of Kansas City, Kansas, who enrolled in the University of Kansas Physical Education program and was mentored and tutored by Dr. James Naismith, the founder and inventor of the sport of basketball.

In 1936, McLendon was the first African American to graduate from the University of Kansas as he received a Bachelor of Arts degree with Naismith serving as his advisor. He received his master’s degree in 1937 from the University of Iowa.

McLendon journeyed to North Carolina College for Negroes on September 16, 1937, during the Great Depression and just a few years shy of World War II. In 1940 he was appointed head basketball coach and in 1942 director of athletics (during the football season he occasionally served as assistant line coach and as chief scout). McLendon introduced many innovations such as the “fast break” and the “four corners” that became standard throughout the sport of basketball.

“Coach Mac,” understanding the covert nature of the 1944 game, still arranged to have a referee and the time was kept although the story was unrecorded. The Eagles basketball team played the Duke Navy Medical School basketball team who were good, but no doubt had little interaction with African Americans. Yet they journeyed across town to play a team in a predominately Black neighborhood and campus in Durham. The game was played, and the unbeatable Eagles defeated the Duke Navy Medical School team by a score of 88 to 44, and they played a second game before departing ways.

The game was secret for over 50 years as it challenged the Jim Crow times. Word spread among the student body on campus

that something was going on even though McLendon barred the door to ensure that no one else was able to enter and witness the game. Also, word reached him that a reporter with the weekly Carolina Times, where NCCU alumnus Louis Austin was editor, had heard of the game but shielded the story to protect the players, coach and North Carolina College for Negroes.

The Eagles, coached by McLendon, used basketball as a tool for integration and progress for race relations in the south. The game is a testament to exploring the lives of players at historically Black colleges and universities who challenged the status quo and dunked Jim Crow laws to bring about change. Institutions like NCC, now North Carolina Central University, thrived and produced exceptional players like Aubrey Stanley, George Parks, James “Boogie” Hardy and even Floyd “Cootie” Brown who later became basketball coach at his alma mater following his McLendon, his mentor and friend..

McLendon enjoyed an inviable record of 532 wins and 162 losses and is ranked among the top ten coaches in collegiate basketball history. He has been enshrined into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame on two occasions – as a contributor in 1979 and as a coach in 2016. He served as head basketball coach at present day North Carolina Central University from 1940 to 1952 and is a member of the Alex M. Rivera Hall of Fame. The McDougald – McLendon Arena is partially named in his honor for service and dedication to NCCU.

The story of the “The Secret Game” was first featured in the New York Times Magazine in 1996 and debuted on ABC News Nightline in 1997. The brave actions by the North Carolina College Eagles and the Duke Navy Medical School basketball team redefined activism to include the game of basketball. The game challenged the narratives in regards to race relations and led to a new narrative that has been widened and expanded and included in such popular culture documentaries as “Black Magic” on ESPN and in Scott Elsworth’s 2015 book The Secret Game: A Wartime Story of Courage, Change, and Basketball’s Lost Triumph.

’BY MARK LAWTON

Velarde Signifies Values of being a Student-Athlete

As he enters his final season on the football team, Juan Velarde has embraced North Carolina Central University’s (NCCU) motto of truth and service to become one of those all-around successful student-athletes that any coach wants.

Velarde’s journey to NCCU started after immigrating to the United States when he was 14, learning English along the way and transitioning from a soccer background to football. Velarde’s powerful leg and strong academics earned him an athletic scholarship at NCCU, where he has been fulfilling his commitment on the field, in the classroom and throughout the community. The motivational speaker to kids will depart Durham with two degrees and a job already lined up. He aspires to own his own business and ultimately run for and be elected president of his home country of Peru.

It is easy to notice his impact on the football program with wins, awards, and achievements. However, Velarde takes his greatest pride in his participation with NCCU’s commitment to community engagement and service.

“I've been able to do a lot of community service, and there are three that really touched my heart,” said Velarde. “I was able to speak in front of 400 students from across North Carolina at a convention. Another thing was going back to my high school as an alum for a Hispanic Heritage moment. It was just awesome to talk to those kids as a role model for them. The last one was with the help of Kyle Serba (former sports information director), who helped me partner with El Centro Hispano, the Hispanic center here in North Carolina, to bring about 40 parents and kids to our football games two years ago.”

His football accomplishments are still noteworthy for a kid who grew

up with a soccer ball at his feet until being convinced to use his powerful leg to kick a football at T.L. Hanna High School just after moving to Anderson, South Carolina, as a first-year student. Velarde quickly learned how to punt as part of a successful Yellow Jacket football program, participating in a state championship game. His recruitment video made it to NCCU head football coach Trei Oliver, who was a standout kicker himself during his playing career with the Eagles, and Velarde’s ticket to an NCCU athletics scholarship as a punter was punched.

Velarde has been a mainstay for NCCU’s kicking game during a successful run that has included a MEAC title, Celebration Bowl victory inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium (Atlanta Falcons) and a program-first appearance in the FCS playoffs contested at University of Richmond. He has been punting his whole time at NCCU, adding kickoff and field goal kicking duties along the way, while also representing the maroon and gray in venues like the Rose

(continued on page 66)

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Bowl (Pasadena, Calif.), MEAC-SWAC Challenge at Georgia State’s Center Parc Stadium in downtown Atlanta, Circle City Classic at Lucas Oil Stadium (Indianapolis Colts) and Duke’s Mayo Bowl at Bank of America Stadium (Carolina Panthers).

The AFCA Good Works Team and Bill Dooley Chapter 2024 University ScholarAthlete from the National Football Foundation graduated NCCU with a bachelor’s degree in business administration with double concentration in entrepreneurship and management in December 2023.

Velarde is working towards a master’s degree in business administration with a concentration in mathematics as he wraps up his collegiate playing career.

Away from the field, Velarde has been a member of the Beta Gamma Sigma International Business Honor Society, the National Society of Leadership and Success, the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC), the University Honors Program, and the NC Governor’s Advisory Council for Hispanic and Latino Affairs (Economic Development, subcommittee).

Velarde will continue speaking for Student Success Agency and running a business for Stadium Systems, Inc., back home in Anderson. He then plans to own his own business, possibly opening a Peruvian restaurant in the Piedmont plateau similar to an Alpaca charcoal chicken, before striving towards his other passion of politics as an NCCU graduate.

“My biggest dream is to run for president of my home country of Peru,” said Velarde. “Two years ago, I was invited to the Peruvian Consulate in New Jersey, and I was able to talk to diplomats and that has given me a toe into politics. I want to become financially stable and learn everything about politics to eventually step away from my career when I am older to run for president and try and provide a better future for millions and millions of people back in Peru.”

’BY KEVIN BUCZEK

The men’s and women’s tennis teams took third place at the HBCU National Tennis Championships hosted at the South Fulton Tennis Center on Sept. 19-22. Junior Alejandra Hidalgo Vega won the women’s A Singles Flight Championship as the one-seed. Sophomore Leo Fortier-Gariepy and freshman Antoni Pankowski triumphed in the men’s B Doubles Flight Championship.

NCCU head football coach

Trei Oliver has been named one of the top 20 coaches in NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), according to Underdog Dynasty. Oliver came in at No. 11 on the list, which was originally published on July 13.

Please send address corrections to Advancement Services, Phone: 919-530-7399 / E-mail: rgallow7@nccu.edu or mail to 1801 Fayetteville Street, Durham, NC 27707. At a cost of $2.07 each, 10,000 copies of this public document was printed for a total of $20,771 in the Fall of 2024 and distributed to NCCU supporters and donors. NCCU is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges to award baccalaureate, master’s, education specialist and doctoral degrees. Contact the SACSCOC at 1866 Southern Lane, Decatur, GA 30033-4097 or call 404-679-4500 for questions about the accreditation of NCCU. Copyright 2024, North Carolina Central University.

Photo by Kevin Ortiz