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Student Life
student Life 139TH COMMENCEMENT
GRADUATES' PERSEVERANCE AND AUTHENTICITY ON DISPLAY
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More than 540 undergraduate students at North Carolina Central University (NCCU) received bachelor’s degrees on Friday morning, May 6, 2022, in spirited ceremonies at McDougald-McLendon Arena.
Chancellor Johnson O. Akinleye hailed the graduates as a “distinct class,” noting that they “matriculated and graduated at a time like no other – when a global pandemic interrupted and uprooted our lives.” He praised the students for their “responsible and creatively disciplined” perseverance as they dealt with hybrid classes and a host of activities held in an online environment.
992
GRADUATES
540
UNDERGRADUATE DEGREES
325
GRADUATE DEGREES
124
PROFESSIONAL DEGREES
Above: Dr. Quinton Parker, accepts posthumus degree for brother and fallen Eagle, Courtland Parker.
The commencement exercises, initially planned for outdoors at O’Kelly-Riddick Stadium, were moved to the arena because of the prediction for inclement weather.
A highlight of the ceremony was the awarding of honorary degrees to the ROYAL ICE CREAM PARLOR SEVEN or “Royal Seven,” the activists who took part in an early and under-appreciated civil rights protest in Durham. On June 23, 1957, a young minister, DOUGLAS MOORE, and six teenagers challenged segregation at Royal Ice Cream, a white-owned business in Durham’s Black community. Their sit-in garnered little attention beyond the local press, but it anticipated the higher-profile protests that followed, most notably the sit-in that began in 1960 at a segregated Woolworth lunch counter in Greensboro.
Accompanying Moore, a 1949 graduate of what was then called North Carolina College at Durham, were MARY CLYBURN HOOKS; VIRGINIA WILLIAMS; the late CLAUDE GLENN; the late MELVIN WILLIS; the late VIVIAN JONES; and the late JESSE GRAY.
They were arrested and later fined. Represented by attorneys William Marsh Jr., BS, LLB ‘53, and Floyd McKissick, L‘51, the group appealed, but lost in the N.C. Superior Court and the N.C. Supreme Court.
Hooks and Williams, the two surviving members of the group, were honored in person with presentation of the Doctor of Humane Letters degree. The degrees were presented posthumously to the other participants, most of whom were represented by members of their families.
Delivering the commencement address was AGNES MOSS, a 1996 NCCU graduate who is the founder of the National Black Movie Association and creator of National Black Movie Day. It is an organization committed to opening the film industry to under-represented groups, and specifically to provide opportunities for students and alumni of Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
“I’m looking at many stories,” Moss told the graduates. “Life is about living fully and telling your story authentically. Tell your story – your story will help you find you.”
The story, however, “is a process,” she said. “Be patient – the value of your story lies in your journey.”
Moss said she aspired to be a filmmaker when she was young, but encountered rejection after rejection and pursued other career paths. “I gave up,” she said. “But this story has a happy ending.” She quit a successful career in public relations to found the National Black Movie Association in 2019. “My purpose,” she said, “has evolved to offer opportunity for the next generation of storytellers.”
The "Royal Seven" receives honorary degrees
Life is about living fully and telling your story authentically. Tell your story – your story will help you find you. The story, however, “is a process. Be patient – the value of your story lies in your journey.”
—AGNES MOSS '96
TIMOTHY MULROONEY, associate professor in the NCCU Department of Environment, Earth and Geospatial Sciences, was presented with the University of North Carolina Board of Governors Award for Excellence in Teaching. His extensive work in open-source programming and data-mining techniques to assess geographic information systems and metadata integrity along with his commitment to training students in the geographic sciences were noted.
Additionally, three NCCU professors—Jessica Ganao, Ph.D., Hilary N. Huskey and Charity Watkins, Ph.D.—were recognized as recipients of the 2022 NCCU Award for Excellence in Teaching.
A posthumous Bachelor of Science degree in behavioral and social sciences was presented to the brother and parents of Courtland Parker, a student who passed away in December 2021.
BY ROB WATERS
student Life 139TH COMMENCEMENT–PROFESSIONAL GRADUATES
EMPOWERED TO DO THE EXTRAORDINARY
To the cheers of their families and friends, some 450 graduate and law students at NCCU received master’s and Juris Doctor degrees on, May 7, 2022, during the 139th Commencement exercises at McDougald-McLendon Arena.
This remarkable attainment of earning your diploma took increased focus, endurance and dedication,” Johnson O. Akinleye, Ph.D., NCCU chancellor, told the graduates. “COVID-19 has transformed nearly every aspect of our society, but through it all—hybrid classes, a first-ever virtual Homecoming and a host of interactions and activities that were held in an online environment—you remained compliant, responsible and became creatively disciplined with our ‘new normal.’”
Delivering the commencement address was KEISHA LANCE BOTTOMS, J.D., mayor of Atlanta from 2018 until January of this year, who told the graduates, “You leave this campus with your cup running over with all you need to succeed.”
Lance Bottoms, who drew national attention as mayor for her efforts to promote diversity, inclusion, affordable housing and a commitment to transparency, spoke movingly of the challenges she faced growing up in Atlanta.
Photos by Vernon Samuel '14
Her father was Major Lance, a renowned and prosperous R&B musician. “But at age 8,” she said, “I learned that people make bad mistakes.”
With the love and support of her family, though, Lance Bottoms excelled as a student. Relying, she said, on “Pell grants, work-study and student loans,” she graduated magna cum laude from Florida A&M University and went on to earn a law degree at Georgia State University.
Still, she said, “I struggled with impostor syndrome. There was a constant nagging voice asking if I was worthy. Do I belong here?” It took years, she said, but with the love and support of her family, teachers and mentors, she came to realize, “I was more than good enough.”
Urging the graduates to avoid succumbing to self-doubt, she said, “You are equipped and empowered to do extraordinary things. You may face a major loss. What matters is not how many times you fall, but how many times you get back up.”
During the ceremony, Akinleye took a moment to praise the achievements of one of the graduates, Christie Smith of Durham, who at age 20 was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa, a degenerative eye disease that has left her legally blind.
“She learned to embrace her unique journey with visual impairment, which helped her become aware of the overwhelming need for service professionals in the field,” Akinleye said.
After earning bachelor’s degrees in psychology from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and middle grades education from NCCU, Smith entered a master’s program, specializing in teaching and assistive technology training. The program at NCCU’s School of Education is the only one of its kind in North Carolina and the only one at any historically Black college or university.
“She underwent four major eye surgeries, yet maintained a 4.0 grade point average,” Akinleye said. “Today, she is the first graduate of the visual impairment master’s program with a concentration in assistive technology for individuals with visual impairments. She is interviewing for teaching positions where she can utilize her expertise. Christie, we congratulate you and know that only success lies ahead for you.”
BY ROB WATERS
138TH COMMENCEMENT
LARGEST BATCH OF EAGLE GRADS
NCCU awarded a record number of degrees during the university’s 138th Commencement Exercises. Graduates represent largest fall class in university history.
APPROXIMATELY 757 NCCU graduates received their degrees on Dec. 11, 2021, during the university’s 138th Commencement Exercises. The degree recipients included 471 undergraduates, 278 graduates and 8 juris doctors.
NCCU alumna and University of North Carolina (UNC) Campus Health primary care sports medicine physician NAIMA STENNETT, M.D., delivered the keynote address at both ceremonies, encouraging graduates to “be willing to adapt.”
Stennett offered three guidelines to help graduates navigate the next chapter in their life, including how to develop a plan with a willingness to rewrite it; the importance of understanding the magnitude of gratitude; and allowing service to be a new measure of success.
“You are now equipped with what you need as it relates to your ability to continue to adapt and show gratitude. Know that success is synonymous with service,” she said. “No matter what careers you decide to pursue after leaving NCCU, you are all empowered to soar towards greatness.”
KELVIN NIXON JR. ’s initial journey to obtain his degree began in 2002; however, it included many setbacks at various universities and community colleges, which led to academic dismissal. According to Nixon, his academic experience at NCCU was life changing. He appreciates his professors for
their genuine passion for helping students, regardless of status or age, and for inspiring him to educate individuals on the importance of mental health. He was awarded a Bachelor of Science degree in psychology.
During the graduate ceremony, NCCU CHANCELLOR JOHNSON O. AKINLEYE recognized Liberia, West Africa native, KENMINA DEVINE, who earned a master’s degree after obtaining a bachelor’s degree in environmental sciences from NCCU. After her family's agricultural investment was washed away due to uncharacteristic rainfall, Devine was driven to continue her studies in the Department of Environmental, Earth and Geospatial Sciences’ accelerated graduate program in earth sciences. Her family’s misfortune fueled her graduate research, which sheds light on unique rainfall patterns across Liberia and how climate change has ushered in an era of extreme rainfall variability in parts of the country. She plans to continue her research in a doctoral program at North Carolina State University.
An estimated 471 bachelor’s degrees were awarded, including 286 Bachelor of Science degrees; 88 Bachelor of Arts degrees; 54 Bachelor 757 of Business Administration degrees; 16 Bachelor of GRADUATES Science in Nursing degrees; and 27 Bachelor of Social Work degrees. Approximately eight graduates of the NCCU School of Law received their juris doc- 471 tor degrees, and an estimated UNDERGRADUATE 278 master’s degrees were DEGREES awarded in areas of science, arts, public administration, library science, social work, education, information science, business administration, teaching, music and school 278 GRADUATE DEGREES
administration. 8
Akinleye closed the ceremony by charging the graduates and said, “NCCU is counting on your success and PROFESSIONAL will support you as you as- DEGREES cend to the highest of heights. Nurture the grounds that helped you grow and support your alma mater – with your resources, advocacy and ambassadorship. You have responsibility for sustaining the legacy of these sloping hills and verdant green.”
BY KIA BELL
NCCU is counting on your success and will support you as you ascend to the highest of heights. Nurture the grounds that helped you grow and support your alma mater – with your resources, advocacy and ambassadorship. You have responsibility for sustaining the legacy of these sloping hills and verdant green.”
— Johnson O. Akinleye, Ph.D., Chancellor
Serving Meals and Wisdom is a Passion
URQUOISE PARKER, a Durham educator and North Carolina Central University alumna, is well-known and loved throughout Durham. Deeply inspired by groundbreaking women like Septima Clark and Ida B. Wells, Parker takes pride in making sure she invests in her students at Lakewood Elementary School, who she affectionately refers to as her “Professors.” She teaches them about history that is often not taught in school, like how Durham was once home to a Black Wall Street and how wealth inequality endures. Parker also teachers her students how to structure their own business plans, even having them participate in mock “Shark Tank” competitions. She knows that as much as she tries to equip her students, they still face barriers like food insecurity.
Parker is determined to do everything she can not to let these barriers hold her students back. When a parent approached her in 2015 for assistance feeding her children over the winter break, Parker realized many other families were also in need of help. She texted every contact in her phone asking for donations to feed the students in her class, and the Bull City Foodraiser was born. Though the initiative has been going on for nearly a decade, the most recent fundraiser attracted unprecedented traction after Parker, with the help of many others, raised over $100,000. Parker credits lessons she learned while at NCCU, particularly during her time in the band, for the success of the drives. As Parker describes it, “she grew up on Black college campuses.” As a child, she would often travel with her mom, a school counselor/social worker and member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc., to events where the importance of HBCUs was uplifted. When it was time for her to apply to colleges, Parker had three ideas in mind: she knew she wanted to attend an HBCU, she knew that she wanted to be in the band, and she knew that she wanted to eventually become an educator. In the end, Parker applied to only one school: NCCU.
During the summer before her freshman year, Turquoise met Donald Parker III, who would later become her husband. As they toured the school with their freshman orientation group, they bonded over their goals and ambitions. Turquoise wanted to be a dancer in the band, while Donald wanted to be a drum major. They would both eventually reach these goals, but as then-band-director Jorim Reid notes, it would require Turquoise to make some sacrifices.
“Her first act, honestly, was when she came into the band at a time when I was doing everything I could to build the program,’ Reid said. “I was actually teaching musicians to play because we needed more brass players, and she
put off her dreams of being a dancer and a flag girl for a whole year so she could help the entire band to grow.” Reid also fondly remembers how Turquoise cared for her classmates, often giving them comfort in their moments of need.
“It was just amazing to be able to be a part of something that had a huge part in representing the university,” Turquoise said of her experience in the Marching Sound Machine. During her time at NCCU, she served as the chaplain of the band and president of Tau Beta Sigma, a national band sorority.
After graduating, she came back to serve as a supervisor for the band.
“Being in the band helped prepare me for my career as an educator because you understand how to operate and orchestrate multiple people with multiple personalities to achieve a common goal,” she said. She believes that the type of strategic planning that she learned in band has also helped with the success of the foodraiser. “It’s like in band when you can’t make that infamous NCCU across the field with one person. This work needs everybody,” she says. Now, instead of collaborating to put together band routines, Turquoise and Donald often find themselves collaborating on how they will put together over 5,000 bags of food. Donations have doubled every year since the The foodraiser has expanded to 12 elementary foodraiser began, which Donald attributes largely schools, and Turquoise wants to continue to to the fact that the initiative is centered on faith. expand: first to middle schools, then to the rest “”What we don’t have, we pray for and it’s provided,” of Durham County, then even further. he said. “And I think that’s primarily because it’s about helping people, and God cares about the poor and those in need, and he wanted to be able to provide for them.” The foodraiser has expanded to 12 elementary schools, and Turquoise wants to continue to expand: first to middle schools, then to the rest of Durham County, then even further. In July, the National Education Association awarded her the 2022 Reg Weaver Human and Civil Rights Award, named for the union’s former president known for his advocacy for students living in poverty. Doing this work is part of what Eagle Excellence means to her. It’s about “leaving footprints on people’s hearts,” she said.
BY REBEKAH BARBER '16
From NCCU Eagles to MacArthur Foundation Fellows
REV. WILLIAM J. BARBER II, PH.D.
THE REV. WILLIAM J. BARBER II, PH.D.,
was born in Indianapolis on Aug. 30, 1963, two days after the March on Washington at which the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous ‘I Have a Dream’ speech. Barber’s actual due date was Aug. 28 – a foreshadowing if ever there
was one.
When he was five, Barber’s family relocated to his father’s hometown of Roper, North Carolina, a small municipality in Washington County in the eastern part of the state. Barber’s parents worked with Roper civil rights leaders to desegregate public schools, and when he was 7, Barber integrated the second grade in Washington County Public Schools, later becoming the first African American class president of his high school.
In 1981, Barber enrolled at North Carolina Central University (NCCU). Today he’s nationally and internationally known, often appears on CNN and other major networks and has been a speaker at the Democratic National Convention.
IBRAHIM CISSÉ, PH.D., was born in
Niamey, Niger, a landlocked country in West Africa that’s named after the Niger River. According to published reports, Cissé, the youngest of five children, grew up under the assumption that he’d work in his father’s law firm. However, Cissé, loved science from a young age.
Word is the family converted a storage room into “Laboratoire Cissé,” and that’s where Cissé used appliances and devices as guinea pigs for experiments. His high school didn’t have a lab, which prevented him from getting hands-on science experience, so after graduating a few years early, he moved to the United States and enrolled at NCCU after obtaining a degree from Durham Technical Community College.
Makeshift labs would soon be a thing of the past for Cissé, who studies the physics of molecular mechanisms in living cells.
In 2015, then Niger President Mahamadou Issoufou visited Cissé’s biophysics lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), citing it as a model for Niger students. In September 2021, Cissé relocated his lab to Freiburg, a city in southwest Germany, where he’s director of the Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics.
IBRAHIM CISSÉ, PH.D.
TRESSIE McMILLAN COTTOM, PH.D.
TRESSIE McMILLAN COTTOM, PH.D.,
was born in Harlem, New York, spent her early childhood years in Winston-Salem and grew up in Charlotte. She’s never forgotten the enthusiasm over NCCU displayed by an admissions recruiter who stopped by her high school – or the impression it made on her.
At the time, McMillan Cottom was considering becoming a superior court judge and knew of the outstanding reputation enjoyed by NCCU’s School of Law. She got accepted to NCCU and Spelman College, the only other institution to which she applied.
Thanks to a high GPA and good SAT score, McMillan Cottom received a full scholarship offer from NCCU. After graduating high school in 2005, she left the Queen City and headed north on Interstate 85 to become an Eagle.
Today she’s an accomplished, award-winning author, sociologist and professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s School of Information and Library Science. She’s also an affiliate of the Center for Information, Technology and Public Life at UNC-Chapel Hill.
Though they traveled different paths to 1801 Fayetteville Street, Barber, Cissé and McMillan Cottom all found a nurturing campus and quickly learned that excellence is the standard at NCCU, where history abounds and students are motivated to strive for exceptionalism.
They performed well academically, participated in extra-curricular activities and made a name for themselves at NCCU before obtaining their Ph.D. degrees.
And, in true testament to the type of student NCCU produces, since 2018 Barber, Cissé and McMillam Cottom have been named MacArthur Foundation Fellows. Commonly referred to as the “Genius Grant,” the award is among the most prestigious bestowed in the U.S. and comes with a no-stringsattached $625,000 grant awarded over five years.
REV. WILLIAM J BARBER II, PH.D.
One of the MacArthur Fellow Program’s primary aims is to demonstrate that creativity appears and flourishes at many different types of institutions, in all regions of the country, in all demographic groups, across a limitless range of fields and career stages,” said Senior Program Officer, Fellows Program, Laura Scholl.
Scholl credited NCCU as the institution that gave Barber, Cissé and McMillan Cottom their foundation.
“It’s thrilling to note that their creative thinking, passion for learning and persistence in disparate areas of work were nurtured at the same institution during their undergraduate years,” Scholl said. “It’s equally thrilling to consider how their paths and pursuits might inspire the next generation of NCCU students and alumni.”
According to their website, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation “supports creative people, effective institutions and influential networks building a more just, verdant and peaceful world.”
These three graduates of North Carolina Central University, a storied HBCU, have distinguished themselves. Barber has made exceptional contributions to social justice advocacy and movement-building, McMillan Cottom has made exceptional contributions to sociology and cultural racism and Cissé has made exceptional contributions to biological physics.”
The website also says the Foundation is “placing a few big bets that truly significant progress is possible on some of the world’s most pressing social challenges, including advancing global climate solutions, decreasing nuclear risk, promoting local justice reform in the U.S. and reducing corruption in Africa’s most populous country, Nigeria.”
Barber is doing his part to bring about a more just and peaceful world. He stepped down as president of the North Carolina chapter of the NAACP in 2017 and now serves as president and senior lecturer at Repairers of the Breach and co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival.
He’s well-known for organizing Moral Mondays at the NC state capital, but in June 18, he called on poor and low-wealth people, as well as scholars and voting rights lawyers, to hold a massive, generationally transformative event in Washington, D.C., that he billed as “the third reconstruction.”
“One of the reasons I feel so strongly about addressing the issues of racism and poverty and economic devastation is there are 87 million people in this country who don’t have insurance or who are underinsured,” Barber said. “We have to address these things, and we have to resist the lies of scarcity and the lies of ‘we don’t know how to do it’ and the lies of trickle-down economics. I learned at North Carolina Central University that you have to speak the truth.”
Barber said NCCU more than adequately prepared him for a life of service, a life worthy of a Genius Grant.
“I learned to march for justice at NCCU,” Barber said. With 140 million people living in poverty, including over four million in North Carolina, if we ever needed this march, we need it now. I’m honored to have come through the halls and quarters of NCCU and to have been prepared at that institution for this moment.”
Cissé, too, has lauded NCCU, saying in published reports the institution was fundamental in his approach to teaching and mentorship.
“Having trained at a historically Black college was just an incredible way to see and think about race, not just in America but also in Africa,” he said in an article about the Vilcek Prizes for Creative Promise in Biomedical Science. “It gave me the knowledge and that empowerment that, no matter what adversity I was going to face, it is important to move forward in a way that will empower others and create opportunities for others.”
McMillan Cottom joins Cissé and Barber in praising their alma mater.
“I didn’t realize how much attending Central has shaped my understanding of what was considered the canon, you know, the default knowledge,” she said. “Every course I took at Central was infused with not just the core knowledge, but Black knowledge
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IBRAHIM CISSE, PH.D.
production. I watched the film, Sankofa, in a math class. A history course not only covered western civilization but explained the foundation of the conflict in the Middle East.
“So, when people say my perspective on the world is very unique and sort of remarkable and counterintuitive, I kind of giggle to myself because what they’re saying is my training in the Black canon and the non-western canon has made me a deeper, better and more rigorous thinker,” McMillan Cottom continued. “And I agree. I think everybody should have that experience.”
The MacArthur Award hasn’t changed how she sees herself but changes how the world sees her, she said.
“The extent to which other people can imagine the fullness of me matters to my ability to do the fullness of myself, to live my life the way I see fit,” McMillan Cottom said. “So, it has absolutely changed how people can imagine me, and that changes the kinds of opportunities I’m afforded, the kinds of things I can then do for other people.”
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TRESSIE MCMILLAN COTTOM, PH.D.
