Winter 2006 (PDF - Spelman College

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Contents Features 1 Spelman Names Building in Honor of ‘Sister Prez’ Johnnetta B. Cole 1 Artist Amalia Amaki Shakes the Winter Blues 3 Hip Hop Week at Spelman College 4 Two Times Three – Class of 2009 Boasts Three Sets of Twin Biology Majors Departments 2 A Dialogue with Dr. T. 5 Spelman Salutes Special Section 7 2004–2005 Annual Report & Donor Honor Roll 350 Spelman Lane S.W., Atlanta, Georgia 30314 www.spelman.edu EDITOR Jo Moore Stewart COPY EDITOR Janet M. Barstow GRAPHIC DESIGN Garon Hart EDITORIAL COMMITTEE Eloise Alexis, C’86 Andrea Barnwell, C’93 Tomika DePriest, C’89 Renita Mathis Olivia A. Scriven CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Cathy Lee TaRessa Stovall PHOTOGRAPHERS Wilford Harewood J.D. Scott Bud Smith Julie Yarbrough, C’91 2 I NSIDE S PELMAN Inside Spelman is published four times per academic year for a readership that includes alumnae, trustees, parents, students, faculty, staff and friends of the College. The newsletter is dedicated to informing our readers about news, upcoming events and issues in the life of the College. A DIALOGUE WITH DR. T. Spelman ALIVE: Building a Better Spelman for the Next Generation Academic Excellence, Leadership Development, Improving Our Infrastructure, Visibility of Our Achievements, and Exemplary Customer Service are the five key components of the Spelman College strategic plan known by the acronym, Spelman ALIVE. We are working hard on all five areas, but this spring our focus on the “I” in ALIVE will be most noticeable as the renovation and expansion of Rockefeller Hall, the oldest building on campus, is now under way, and construction of a new residence hall will begin this spring. The Rockefeller project is the second phase of a two-part project, involving the renovation of both Packard Hall and Rockefeller Hall, initiated and approved by the Board of Trustees during Dr. Audrey Manley’s tenure. This project has not only provided for improved customer service through the centralization of student administrative services in Packard Hall and the expansion of muchneeded office space in Rockefeller Hall, but it has also insured the historic preservation of two of the oldest buildings on campus. Our newest building, approved by the Board of Trustees in October 2005, will preserve and enhance the residential character Dr. Beverly Daniel Tatum of our campus. Though many alumnae fondly recall their days in the dorms with their Spelman sisters, today more than 40 percent of our students commute to Spelman from off-campus apartments simply because we do not have enough on-campus housing to accommodate them. Though off-campus living offers a level of independence that some young women seek, a long and increasingly expensive commute discourages active campus involvement, limits the valuable interactions with faculty outside the classroom and reduces the opportunity for the close-knit relationships among Spelman women that are the hallmarks of a Spelman education. Further, our goal of recruiting and retaining excellent students is hampered when we cannot assure anxious parents that we can provide housing for their daughter for at least the first two years of her college experience. For this reason, increasing our on-campus housing capacity has been a high priority for me. Scheduled to open in August 2007, our new residence hall will house approximately 300 students in apartment-style suites, changing our current housing capacity from 57 percent to 70 percent of our student population. Though we expect most of the residents of the two-, three- or four-bedroom suites will be upper-class students, the additional space will create the room we need to house all of our firstyear and sophomore students, who will be required to live on campus beginning in 2007. Because our current cafeteria is too small to accommodate an additional 300 campus residents, a dining facility will be included as part of the new housing complex. Also included will be an adjacent power plant to meet the heating and cooling needs of the new building as well as any future construction on the west side of the campus. This ambitious construction project represents the first expansion of the Spelman College campus beyond the current gates. In 2004, we were successful in purchasing some property adjacent to the campus that includes a large parking lot (next to the Lee Street campus entrance), the Milligan office building (which is currently housing the displaced Rockefeller Hall administrators) and a large parcel of vacant land which lies behind the Stewart and Cole Living and Learning Centers and runs parallel to Westview Drive across from the Morehouse School of Medicine. The landscaping plan for the project will create a new pedestrian walkway from the central campus to this new section, and the elegant fence which encircles Spelman will be removed and restored around the new boundary of our expanding campus. Given our current financial status (“healthy but not wealthy”), it would be natural to ask how we will pay for this project, expected to cost approximately $50 million. Our plan is to borrow the money by issuing a bond in early 2006, to be repaid over many years with the revenue generated from the room and board. We must also continue to focus on the twin goals of increasing our endowment through leadership gifts and augmenting our annual funds to support the increase in our operating expenses that a new building represents. Taking on additional debt of this magnitude must always be done with caution; however, we are confident that our financial plan is sound. The need for more housing is urgent if we are to maintain a high-quality residential experience for our students. So the next time you visit our beautiful campus, you may find us living with the noise and mud of major construction projects. Though never convenient, these are exciting signs of progress toward our goal of making sure that Spelman College is nothing less than the best – strong and vital well into the 21st century. ●
Hip Hop Week at Spelman College A Critical Analysis and Celebration of the Culture S pelman College and hip hop pioneer MC Lyte joined forces, October 31 – November 4, 2005, to host a series of events focused on women and hip hop, and the impact this popular culture is having on youth in urban, suburban, rural and global communities. The weeklong series included panel discussions, guest lectures, events organized by the student organizations SisterFire and The Hip Hop Collective, a conversation between Cosby Endowed Professor Pearl Cleage and hip hop pioneer MC Lyte, a surprise performance by musical artist India.Arie and an impromptu performance demonstrating the finer points of rapping by MC Lyte. During the conversation between Pearl Cleage and MC Lyte, author/playwright/feminist/ activist Cleage asked MC Lyte about the role race plays in relation to the images and messages that are popular in hip hop today. “White kids in the suburbs are making hip hop popular . . . being one of its largest consumer groups,” explained Lyte. “Young white consumers are making these artists popular and getting them on the cover of national magazines.” In addition, Lyte opined that young women “are not During Hip Hop week at Spelman College, an evening of conversation occurred between Cosby Endowed Professor Pearl Cleage (left) and hip hop pioneer MC Lyte. quite sure what behavior is acceptable from young men, and they’re getting their answers from hip hop music and videos.” Cleage asked what special role students of historically Black colleges and universities can play in countering the negative images that are popularized in some hip hop music and videos. Lyte responded, “They can get involved with elementary and middle school students and offer them their knowledge. They can give the kids something to look up to by getting involved in the community.” The week of activities was especially meaningful in the wake of the October 12, 2005, passing of C. Delores Tucker, who was one of the first Black women to candidly and publicly address the issue of negative, hypersexual imagery in hip hop music on a national scale. Other special guests who participated in Hip Hop Week programs included rap artists Chuck D., Cheryl “Salt” James, YoYo, Da Brat, actor/ musician Malcolm Jamal Warner, actor Darryl “Chill” Mitchell, hip hop historian/journalist/ DJ Davey D. and cultural critic Joan Morgan (author of When Chickenheads Come Home to Roost: A Hip Hop Feminist Breaks It Down) as well as Paul Porter, filmmaker Byron Hurt and Spelman College faculty members William Jelani Cobb, assistant professor of history, and Dr. Tarshia Stanley, assistant professor of English. A remarkable success, Hip Hop Week attracted more than 2,500 students and guests from the community at large, and generated national media coverage in such outlets as CNN, BET, National Public Radio, the Atlanta Journal- Constitution, CBS 46, Fox 5, WSB-TV, WXIA-11 Alive, and the Associated Press Wire Service. ● W INTER/SPRING 2006 3
Page 1: SPELMAN I n s i d e Spelman Names B
Page 5 and 6: Spelman Salutes Academics Achieveme
Page 7 and 8: Spelman College Annual Report 2004-
Page 9 and 10: Statement of Financial Position Yea
Page 11 and 12: Greetings: The generosity of the do
Page 13 and 14: Audrey Irvin Johnson, C’63 Hester
Page 15 and 16: Kelly-Ann Iola Henry, C’96 Robin
Page 17 and 18: Alumnae Giving by Class Alumnae sup
Page 19 and 20: Nelwyn McDuffie Mpare * Lynn Pride
Page 21 and 22: REUNION 2005 EXCEEDS $500,000 GOAL
Page 23 and 24: Aziza Asha Belcher Rayna Nichelle B
Page 25 and 26: Citigroup Foundation * Clement & Wy
Page 27 and 28: Emma Stone Jeffries, C’49 Kenneth

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