Flake to step down as Wilberforce president

Wilberforce University President Floyd Flake has resigned from the university, effective June 30, the university announced Friday.

Flake, president since 2002, announced his resignation in an e-mail sent to faculty and staff Thursday.
"It is with a profound sense of joy and reservation that I hereby tender my resignation as the 18th president of Wilberforce University," Flake wrote.

"I owe an enormous debt of gratitude to Wilberforce University," he continued. "As both an alumnus and as president, I am richer as a result of interactions with students and nurturing faculty members who provided me the tools for success in life."

Flake, an ex-Congressman, is widely credited with pulling the school out of financial emergency when he joined the historically black college six years ago.

But he came under fire last year when the faculty voted no confidence in him in March, saying he was "rarely present on campus."

Flake commutes two days a week to Wilberforce from his home in Queens, N.Y., where he is pastor of the Greater Allen A.M.E Cathedral, one of the largest churches in New York with 23,000 members.

In response to the faculty's charge, he said he was hired to raise money through his political connections and turn around the financially ailing institution.

"You can't raise money in any better place than New York," he told the Dayton Daily News in an October interview. "I indicated I could only be here about two days a week, and no one ever thought differently."

Flake, who is paid $210,000 a year at Wilberforce, served in U.S House of Representatives from 1987 to 1997, representing his Queens district.

Thieves steal NCCU band instruments

With its biggest performance of the year fast approaching, N.C. Central University's marching band has been crippled by the theft of at least two dozen instruments.

Fourteen sousaphones and a selection of other instruments were stolen from the band room in at least two thefts stretching back to November, said Jorim Reid, NCCU's band director. The instruments were taken from locked rooms, and the thieves left the sousaphone cases, so it wasn't immediately apparent that the instruments were missing, Reid said.

Now, with the high-profile, annual Battle of the Bands showcase set to start Jan. 26 in Atlanta, Reid is trying to patch his band back together. The loss of sousaphones, in particular, is a blow to a 180-member band that relies heavily on the large brass instruments. There are 16 sousaphone players in the band.

"I really don't know what we're going to do," Reid said. "It's kind of like driving a four-wheel car with three wheels. You won't go very far. It's like heavy metal with no lead guitar."

Along with the sousaphones, thieves took trumpets, trombones, flutes and piccolos, some of which police have already recovered from area pawnshops, Reid said. NCCU police detectives could not be reached Tuesday, and Reid said he doesn't know how thieves accessed the locked band rooms at least twice.

The sousaphones and some of the other instruments are university property, but some of the smaller ones were owned by students, said Reid, who spent part of Tuesday on the phone trying to find instruments to borrow for the coming band showcase. The stolen sousaphones are valued at $3,000 each; buying them new could run as much as $7,000, Reid said.

Sousaphones are large big-belled tubas that wrap around the body. They are most often purchased by schools, music groups and churches, but there is also a market for individual instruments, particularly on the Internet, said John Simonetti, who works at The Tuba Exchange, a tuba sales and repair shop in Durham.

Still, unloading 14 stolen sousaphones may not be easy, Simonetti said.

"It's not like stealing a television or stereo or something everyone has in their household," he said.

The Battle of the Bands showcase will be held at Atlanta's Georgia Dome. It is a popular event for historically black colleges and universities. NCCU's band is one of 10 invited to the event this year, and one of two from North Carolina; Winston-Salem State University will also be represented.

Reid said Tuesday that his band still plans to perform at the showcase. The band's booster club and alumni base will travel to Atlanta as well, said Norma Petway, NCCU's director of alumni relations. The booster club has raised money in the past for band uniforms and may be called on now to raise money for new instruments, she said.

"There is a sense of pride [in the band]," she said. "When it's time to get band uniforms, the alums get together. They're very loyal."

Rudley selected president of TxSou

Texas Southern University all but ended a 19-month search for a new president Friday, turning to a familiar face and known problem solver to rehabilitate the proud but chronically troubled school.

Regents voted 9-0 to name John Rudley, the University of Houston's interim president, as the sole finalist for the top job at Texas' largest historically black university. State law requires the governing board to wait 21 days before finalizing the appointment.

Glenn Lewis, the board's chairman, said Rudley emerged as the leading candidate because of his extensive background in higher education finance, edging former state lawmaker Anthony Hall, the city of Houston's chief administrative officer.

Both candidates had ideas for turning around the 9,500-student university, Lewis said, but Rudley "showed us that he has the ability to implement his vision. I think his résumé speaks for itself."

TSU has been without a permanent president since the board fired Priscilla Slade amid a spending scandal in June 2006.

Rudley received his bachelor's degree in business administration from the University of Toledo and master's and doctoral degrees from Tennessee State University.
His wife, Docia, is a professor at TSU's Thurgood Marshall School of Law.

"It is a singular honor to be selected as the next president of Texas Southern University, and it is one that I do not take lightly," Rudley said in a statement. "I am privileged to have the opportunity to return to this great institution."

Detroit HBCU may close its doors

The only historically black college in Detroit may have to shut its doors.

Classes are scheduled to resume January 14 at Lewis College of Business. But the school has lost its accreditation, and is trying to recruit a president and has just a few dozen students enrolled.

According to news reports, some staffers at the 80-year-old school haven't been paid since October.


Last year, the Higher Learning Commission (HLC), an accrediting agency, concluded that the school was unable to meet two of its criteria for accreditation: leadership and evidence that it can respond to future challenges.

“I thought that the withdrawal of accreditation was too harsh,” says Allen. “Student learning should be the major criteria for whether a school should maintain its accreditation. The HLC said Lewis met the student learning requirement

”School officials challenged the HLC’s findings, arguing that the information was vague and misguided. In a statement, former interim president, Dr. Violet E. Ponders, said Lewis “does not believe the HLC decision to withdraw its accreditation is ‘just or serves the community.’”

Lewis lost the appeal but was granted permission to start the reaccreditation process in 2008. Meanwhile, so many tuition-paying students have left that it isn't certain how long Lewis will remain open.

Losing accreditation is suicide for many collegiate institutions, especially for HBCUs, where the majority of students receive some type of federal financial aid. Without accreditation students are ineligible for federal financial aid. Additionally, some graduate institutions and employers will not recognize a degree from an unaccredited college.

Dr. Walter McMurty Jr., chair of Lewis’ Board of Trustees, argues that even in the absence of accreditation, Lewis still has a lot to offer its students, including a dedicated staff that temporarily went without paychecks and a rigorous curriculum.

“The only thing we lost is our Title IV funding. Now, that is not a small thing, but everything that was here before is still here,” McMurty says.

Lewis has since hired a team of evaluators to conduct a “self-study” of the institution. This team was designed to identify the school’s weakness and generate solutions. School officials say the team’s findings will dictate the timetable for a reaccreditation proposal. “It could take anywhere from 18 months to three years,” McMurty says.

Like most historically Black colleges, an important history is woven into the fabric of Lewis’ founding. Lewis was founded at the beginning of the Great Depression in 1928 by Dr. Violet T. Lewis. She sought to establish a postsecondary institution for young Black adults, particularly women. In the early days, Lewis trained many of Detroit’s Black professionals including the first Black accountants, bank tellers, stenographers and switch board operators.

Administrators at Lewis are hoping that alumni, local businesses and churches will champion its cause.

Despite the current situation, Lewis’ presidential search is moving forward, and the school is currently considering four candidates. McMurty hopes the new leadership will usher in a new wave of popularity and financial stability for Lewis.

During the past 79 years, more than 32,000 students have attended Lewis and nearly 13,000 have graduated. While enrollment currently hovers at a meager few dozen, the resolve for survival is present among the faculty.

“We owe it to our students, especially to those who have stood beside us to regain our accreditation as soon as possible,” Allen says.

UMES to offer Pharm. D. degree

Maryland regents recently approved a new three-year Doctor of Pharmacy degree for the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES). Students will be eligible for admission into the program, if they hold a relevant degree or after successful completion of the pre-pharmacy curriculum, which consists of two years of coursework.

The UMES Pharm.D. Program, is expect to start with an initial student enrollment of 55 in 2009, and expand to 210 by the fourth year of the program.

Texas Southern researchers link mold to neuropsychological illness

Researchers at Texas Southern University say contamination of the indoor environment by toxigenic molds is directly related to adverse health effects.
Mold releases spores into the air to reproduce. These spores grow readily in damp environments and are easily inhaled.

According the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), “ Molds can trigger asthma episodes in sensitive individuals with asthma. People with asthma should avoid contact with or exposure to molds.” However, mold exposure is not limited to affecting only asthmatics.

TSU researchers examined twelve female office workers who presented with symptoms of neuropsychological illnesses with mold as the suspected cause.

The subjects complained of weakness and numbness in their legs, dizziness, loss of memory, light-headedness, vertigo, fatigue, getting lost in familiar territory, and confused thoughts. All the subjects showed abnormal antibodies to Alternaria tenuis, Pullularia pullulans, and Epicoccum nigru, each a form of mold.

The TSU researchers concluded that chronic exposures to toxigenic molds appears to lead to neuropsychological manifestations.

Finalist for Texas Southern president expected to be named soon

The search for Texas Southern University's next president is drawing to a close, although the selection could not come soon enough for some state lawmakers.

The university's governing board is expected to receive a recommendation from an advisory search committee at a specially called meeting — more than 18 months after the firing of former President Priscilla Slade.

Although the regents could act immediately upon the recommendation, it's likely that they will wait before making a decision because not all of them will attend the meeting, said Glenn Lewis, the board's chairman.

The short list of candidates, according to people familiar with the search process, includes interim University of Houston President John Rudley; the city of Houston's chief administrative officer, Anthony Hall; and Ivory Nelson, a former Texas A&M University System administrator who now leads Lincoln University in Pennsylvania.

It's unclear how many candidates the committee will recommend to the board.

Lewis declined to comment on the candidates but previously praised Rudley, who served as TSU's chief financial officer and internal auditor during the 1980s. He said the board needs to make a decision soon but cannot afford to make the wrong one.

"It needed to be done yesterday," Lewis said.

The board is under pressure to move quickly to the fill the position, which has been vacant since the firing of Slade in June 2006 amid a spending scandal.

TSU is at risk of losing accreditation if campus leaders do not rectify a series of financial and management issues within a year. The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools placed the state's largest historically black university on probation last week because of the school's poor financial picture.

"I would hope that a decision be made and a new president on campus by the beginning of next semester," said state Rep. Garnet Coleman, a Houston Democrat whose district includes the 9,500-student campus. "If not, it's a big problem."

The spring semester begins next month.

The university had suspended the search this year after Gov. Rick Perry decided to replace the entire nine-member governing board. The search resumed in September after Lewis added three regents to the advisory committee, which includes alumni, faculty and community members and students.

The committee, headed by Gerald Smith, chairman and CEO of Houston investment firm Smith, Graham & Co., had narrowed the field of candidates to 18 names in November but accepted applications and nominations through last Friday.

Rudley will be the interim president at the University of Houston until Renu Khator, formerly the second in command at the University of South Florida, takes over the reins next month. Rudley is expected to return to his role of vice president for administration and finance.

Hall, a TSU-trained attorney who oversees the day-to-day operations of the city, is a former City Council member and state representative. He also recently served with Lewis on Perry's blue-ribbon committee on the future of the university.

Nelson, a noted chemist, served one year as acting president of Prairie View A&M University and six years in the top job at the Alamo Community College District in San Antonio. He has been president of the historically black Lincoln since 1999.

After the finalist are named, state law requires the regents to wait 21 days before voting on the appointment.

SC State plans to have new president by July

South Carolina State University trustees are working toward having a new president by July 2008, the board chairman said Wednesday.

The S.C. State Board of Trustees met by telephone to develop a framework for hiring a new president and to select a firm to help in the search.

The trustees approved creating an 11-member presidential search committee including three trustees, two elected officials, one faculty member, one staff member, one student, one member from the Board of Visitors, one member of the national alumni association and one member from the local corporate community.

The trustees expect to name the members of the committee by the end of the year, board Chairman Maurice Washington said.

He said search committee members will have to possess a knowledge of S.C. State, a commitment to S.C. State's greater good, credibility, clout, a willingness to devote time and an ability to maintain confidentiality. He also said the board wants to ensure the committee is diverse.

"Selecting a CEO is the board of trustees' most important task," Washington said before going into a two-hour executive session with the board.

Last week, the board voted not to renew President Dr. Andrew Hugine's contract, which was due to expire in June. He was placed on administrative leave, with his last day scheduled to be Jan. 4. Dr. Leonard McIntyre was appointed interim president.

The board on Wednesday also approved the selection of Academic Search, Inc. to assist the university in the nationwide search for its next president. Washington said the firm was an attractive pick because it works exclusively with higher education institutions and has a previous working relationship with S.C. State.

"They are familiar with many of our needs. They should be able to move quickly through the process and help meet our dates," Washington said.

Academic Search is based out of Washington, D.C. and has served more than 800 clients during its three decades of existence, according to the firm's Web site.

Washington said that Senior Vice President of Finance John Smalls will negotiate the terms of S.C. State's arrangement with Academic Search before the end of the year.

A press release announcing Wednesday's meeting said a contractual matter concerning the 2008 football season would also be discussed in executive session. However, trustees did not mention the issue after coming out of executive session. Athletics Director Charlene Johnson was present at the meeting.

Ft. Valley makes cuts to grow amid challenges, changes

The long list of academic programs shutting down at Fort Valley State University may seem like a death sentence for the, but it's actually part of the school's plans for a revival.

Fort Valley has emerged from a $2.5 million budget deficit by shuttering 12 programs and revamping the remaining offerings.

The university is boosting its once plummeting enrollment by hundreds with an expansive recruitment program, posh new apartment-style dorms and promises of a bright future.

"Some folks told me they had put Fort Valley on life support, that it was on its way to withering up," said President Larry E. Rivers, a Fort Valley State graduate who took charge 18 months ago. "It's a new day in the valley."

Fort Valley, like many other public historically black colleges, is still recovering from the deep imprint racial politics left on the nation's higher education system, said Michael Lomax, president of the United Negro College Fund and former chairman of the Fulton County Commission.

After years of living in the shadow of their majority white counterparts, historically black institutions are working aggressively to draw students, he said.

"What integration did ... was it gave our students an opportunity to be selective," said Dwayne Ashley, president and CEO of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, which provides support for public historically black colleges.

Two years ago, Fort Valley was an aging campus that still hadn't completely recovered from the segregation-era decades when Georgia gave more support to majority white colleges than it did its three public historically black institutions - Fort Valley, Savannah State University and Albany State University.

Fort Valley's enrollment had declined for nearly a decade. It hit 2,100 in the fall of 2006 after the state suspended accreditation for the university's teacher education program, sending 300 students in search somewhere else to get a degree.

For eight consecutive years, the university had received a low rating from the state on audits of financial records, in part because the financial aid department liberally bestowed tuition waivers, helping swell the deficit.

Donations were stagnant.

After Rivers took the helm in March 2006 he went on a speaking tour, expanded the recruitment program and sent his students to high school across the state to talk about their institution.

The university began airing monthly TV shows on a local station to talk about programs and projects on campus.

Donations increased. The university's endowment grew $2 million, to $5.5 million.

Rivers eliminated the campus' deficit by closing low enrollment programs, including programs in physics and office administration, and by laying off 15 employees and not filling vacancies left by retirements. He closed most of the university's teacher education degree programs and is opening new ones to regain accreditation.

The university - which began as a trade school for blacks - is focusing on its teacher education, health science and agriculture programs, said Daniel Wims, vice president for academic affairs.

Rivers had a 3,000 pound bronze statue of the university's mascot - a wildcat - placed in a commons area between academic buildings. The statue, students say, is the symbol of a new type of energy on campus.

"It seems like it's getting better every year," said Jasmine Wilson, 18, a freshman from Columbus, Ga., who said attending Fort Valley State is a tradition in her family.

To reach out to students, Rivers put his profile on online social networking sites Facebook and MySpace. Like many faculty and staff members at Fort Valley State, he makes sure students know they can e-mail or call him any time.

It's that nurturing and family-like atmosphere that minority students often cite as the reason they continue to choose historically black institutions like Fort Valley over majority white campuses.

"I went to other college campuses but I didn't get that home feeling like I did at Fort Valley," said freshman Darrell Lockhart Jr. "I was talking to my friends that went to other campuses. They feel alone. They say they don't know anybody."

Anticipating an enrollment spike this fall, the university opened a $44 million, 951-bed housing complex, financed by the private Fort Valley State University Foundation. Every room was reserved in the first two weeks they were available.

Fort Valley saw the largest enrollment increase of any public college in the state this fall with a 17 percent jump to 2,500 students. Rivers says he wants to see that number increase to 15,000 over time.

Another 500-bed housing building will open next fall, and the university has plans for a $20 million science building and a new stadium.

Rivers wants to expand the university's offerings beyond its traditional teacher education and agriculture-based programs. He's eyeing a nursing and pharmacy program and would like to expand the veterinary technician program - the only accredited one in the state.

Students say they can feel the evolution.

"When I first started attending here, people used paper and pen in class," said Shanoria Morgan, a junior at the university. "Now we sit in class with laptops. Now there's more pride in our school."
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SC State Trustees vote not to renew President's contract

Ending weeks of speculation and rumors, the South Carolina State University Board of Trustees voted to oust President Dr. Andrew Hugine, Jr. during a Tuesday afternoon telephone conference.

Acting on the motion of trustee Lumus Byrd, the board voted not to renew the contract of its ninth president, which expires in June 2008. The board also agreed to immediately place Hugine on administrative leave, with his last day scheduled to be Jan. 4, 2008.

Byrd said Hugine’s contract should not be renewed because of his performance evaluation and an academic review of the university conducted by the Education Commission of the States.

Hugine had been back by U. S. House Majority Whip James Clyburn who said, "Hugine is someone I hold in high regard. Even so, if I felt for a minute that he was not keeping faith with the institution, I would tell him so, but that is not the case."

Hugine did not comment following the vote.

Trustee Col. John Bowden said that he would tender his resignation on that same day if the board accepted Byrd’s motion. Board Vice Chairman Jonathan Pinson, Charles Williams and Bowden voted against the motion.

Claflin Choir invited to perform in China

Choir needs to raise $170,000 to go

The Claflin University Concert Choir has been invited to China as part of a choral tribute and prelude to the 2008 Summer Olympics that will be held in Beijing, China. In order for the choir to go, they must first raise $170,000 by Mach 2008. To date they've raise about $15,000.

About 40 members of the concert choir have an opportunity to take the 10-day June tour of China in what is being called a "Stunning Choral Tribute to the 2008 Beijing Olympics: Perform in Harmony with Olympic Spirit." The Olympic games begin Aug. 8, 2008 and run to Aug. 24.

The choral tour will run from June 8-18 and will include stops in Tian Anmen Square, the Great Wall of China and the ancient Warriors Museum, a collection of 8,100 larger-than-life terra-cotta Chinese figures of warriors and horses dating to the 3rd Century BC.

St. Aug students host holiday party for kids

Students at St. Augustine's College held a Christmas party for more than 140 children in the surrounding Southeast Raleigh neighborhoods Friday.

Children 13 and younger from the Southeast Raleigh YMCA, Boys and Girls Clubs and the Tuttle Day Care Center received toys donated by St. Aug's faculty and staff.

WSSU seeks to raise graduation rates

The new chancellor at Winston-Salem State University, Donald Reaves, is right to make raising graduation and retention rates his top priority. Low rates in those areas have been a problem at the school for too long.

The school’s four-year graduation rate is about 18 percent, and its six-year rate is about 44 percent. The school is aiming for a four-year graduation rate of 30 percent and a six-year one of 56 percent, the Journal’s Laura Giovanelli recently reported.

Good graduation and retention rates “are the primary reason we’re here,” Reaves rightly said. “In the end, that is the measure of your success.”

Raising those rates won’t be easy. This is a complex problem. Reaves obviously realizes that, and has some good ideas for raising the rates. He wants to make sure there are enough classes and in the right sequence for students to graduate on time. He also wants to hire staff to advise students (faculty does that now) and raise admission standards.

N.C. A&T State University in Greensboro raised those standards this week. At WSSU, Reaves wants to raise the median GPA required for admission to 2.6 and the median SAT score to 800 next year. The medians in those are now 2.5 for GPA and 780 for SATs.

All in all, Reaves is tackling the problem of graduation rates realistically and honestly.

“I think we do a real disservice when students are not prepared,” Reaves said in regard to admissions. “And I think we will do a better job … if we guide them into the institutions that are designed to prepare them, such as the community colleges.

“And that’s a hard pill for some people to swallow, but, in the end, I think they have a far greater chance to succeed.”

When you keep more students, Reaves correctly noted, “you don’t have to recruit as hard year-in and year-out.”

Other factors also figure in the number of students dropping out. There are financial strains, and huge pressures to succeed, especially for freshmen from inferior schools competing against those from better schools. It’s no wonder that many students drop put. But with hard work, the problem can be curbed.

Measures to raise graduation rates such as hiring staff to help students will take money. Academic programs, in general, are expensive. Reaves, like any college president, has to be a good fundraiser. He’s leading by example. He and his wife, Deborah, have pledged $100,000 to WSSU.

Reaves, who was the chief financial officer at the University of Chicago before coming to WSSU, obviously believes in his new school. He has good reason to. His predecessor, Harold Martin, greatly enhanced WSSU.

But like any good college, WSSU is a work in progress that must constantly be led to greater heights. At WSSU, a big part of that journey has to be raising graduation rates.

Texas plans to overall Texas Southern

Texas Southern University is proposing top-to-bottom changes to ease the concerns of state lawmakers, including greater oversight from regents, tighter controls over spending and the involvement of outsiders in academic and financial matters.

The sweeping set of reforms comes after nearly two years of turmoil at Texas' largest historically black university and could lead to an infusion of money from the state.

While the additional funding is an immediate and critical need, campus leaders characterized the proposed strategy as the best chance for improving a school with myriad of problems, including declining enrollment and low graduation rates.

The long-range plan calls for new policies that would require the governing board to be more involved than before, especially in money matters. At the same time, it says the regents' first priority should be to hire a permanent president.

The 167-page blueprint draws from ideas proposed by Gov. Rick Perry's TSU advisory committee, which offered a stinging assessment of the university in March. In following the committee's report, the new plan suggests a renewed focus on undergraduate education while making no mention of earlier research ambitions.

If the plan is approved, the state would provide nearly $40 million in supplemental funding over the next two years.

Focus on management
The roadmap focuses mainly on the university's management, recommending a series of tighter controls, including several continuous, scheduled reports and audits to the board. Regents, for example, would receive an annual plan to maximize the amount of financial aid available to students before setting tuition rates.
The goal is to provide more information in the decision-making process to the board, which came under heavy criticism for lax oversight amid the spending scandal that led to the firing of President Priscilla Slade in 2006.

Glenn Lewis, board chairman since May, said the regents' workload would increase, but their "primary responsibility is having an administrative team in place that we can trust and rely upon." A new TSU president could be hired as soon as January.

The reorganization plan calls for a balanced budget and an end to the use of special funding for ongoing operation costs. It also identifies nearly $140 million in possible one-time expenses over the next eight years, including the demolition of shuttered buildings and repayment of financial aid to the U.S. Department of Education, among other unpaid bills.

Shooting for success
On the academic side, TSU would use improved tests to assess the college readiness of applicants and strengthen advising and counseling programs to design "a plan for success" for each student. The university would advise students seeking job skills rather than a bachelor's degree to enroll elsewhere.

TSU, however, would not introduce entrance requirements, and doing so would be a fundamental change from its long-standing commitment to accept anyone who wants to pursue higher education, Lewis said.

"We're not concerned with your previous record, as long as you're committed from this point on," he said. "If you're committed, we can work with you."

Still, the university may ease out of the costly remedial education business, possibly transferring responsibility for improving basic math and English skills of its students to Houston Community College, according to the reorganization plan.

TSU estimates that roughly 70 percent of first-time freshmen arrive on campus without the skills needed to do university-level work. More than half do not make it to their sophomore year.

The university's enrollment plunged to its lowest point in five years with 9,544 students this fall. Although campus leaders are hopeful the numbers will stabilize next year, there is concern over a new state law that requires some students who do not complete specified high school coursework to attend a community college.

To reverse the enrollment decline, TSU must increase the number of transfer students from community colleges, said Gayla Thomas, vice president for enrollment management.

"The community college pipeline will be the wave of our future," she said.

Lincoln University to break ground on $40.5 million on science building

Lincoln University will hold a groundbreaking ceremony for construction of a new Science/General Classroom High Technology Building on November 17 at noon on the southeast section of the campus, site of the proposed structure.

The building will cost $40.5 million, including design, construction, furniture, fixture and equipment, and will house the biology, chemistry, physics and mathematics and computer science departments.

“We are excited about the construction of the building and what it means to our students,” President Ivory Nelson said. “It is in essence another step forward in our efforts toward achieving excellence.”

With its brick and glass exterior, the four-story building will feature six laboratories each for the chemistry and biology departments. Also of note are 100 and 60-seat lecture rooms on the first floor.

Construction of the building no doubt will enhance Lincoln University’s new academic initiatives, particularly its Center of Excellence in the Sciences. An outgrowth of that initiative would be the increase of minorities pursuing advanced degrees in the sciences, thereby increasing significantly the number of underrepresented researchers.

“The new building has many implications for the future of our students,” President Nelson said.

NCCU Law School named nation's best value

PreLaw Magazine has named the North Carolina Central School of Law as one of the nation's "best values" in law.

NCCU and law schools throughout the nation were judged on such criteria as tuition costs, bar passage rate and the employability of graduates. The NCCU School of Law was ranked # 1, edging out the University of Alabama School of Law (# 2) and Georgia State University College of Law (# 4).

Tuition at NCCU School of Law costs 2007-2008 academic year is less than $6,000 for residents and a little more than$8,700.

NCCU’s bar passage rate at 86 percent in 2006 compared with the overall state ratings of 71 percent. The faculty-to-student ratio at the law school is about one professor for every 21 students according to statistics gathered in January of this year.

“People like our graduates,” says Pierce. “The word is out and within nine months of graduation, about 88 percent of our young attorneys have jobs.”

Chemistry Dept at Hampton gets $1 million in grants

The Hampton University Department of Chemistry recently received four grants from three different government agencies. The grants, which total over $1 million, will help the department's continuous effort to support new programs, improve facilities and to advance the instruction that students attain from the program.

"Undergraduate research, mentoring and the preparation of students for graduate work are central to the department's activities and initiatives," said Dr. Isai Urasa, chairman of the HU chemistry department. "These grants will provide the department with new resources and opportunities that are needed to maintain the trend that has been established."

These grants were provided by the following agencies:

U.S. Department of Education, $420,111 - The three year grant will support forensics chemistry program. As more students become interested in forensic chemistry, the grant will help to cultivate the program. The grant will also aid in the establishment of a new forensic chemistry research laboratory.

The National Science Foundation, $308,000 - The grant, from the Major Research Instrumentation Program, will be used to acquire a 400 MHz nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer. The instrument will allow students to study molecular compounds, their structure and how they form. The extremely powerful and sophisticated instrument will provide enhanced data for students.

The National Science Foundation, $120,000 - This grant supports the creation of a computation and simulation laboratory. The lab, which will be completed in a few months, allows students to simulate situations and chemical reactions prior to performing experiments in the lab. The practice of computation and simulation are important tools; this preparation allows for a better-designed experiment.

The National Institutes of Health, $221,566 - This renewed grant, as a part of an on-going international research training program, will continue to fund opportunities for students and faculty to assist three universities in Kenya, Nigeria and Tanzania in Africa. The summer program consists of 10 to 15 students from different universities. The program which began at HU in 1995, allowed a total of 13 students to travel to Africa and embark on biomedical research this past summer. The 10-week study allows students to incorporate science with social and cultural experiences.

UDC may return $18M in unspent funds

The troubled University of the District of Columbia is preparing to return up to $18 million in unused funds to the city.

Officials discovered the idle funds after reviewing their expenses for fiscal 2007, sources said. The university is raising students’ tuition by 40 percent in part because it claimed it was cash-strapped.

University spokesman J. Michael Andrews said officials were still reviewing the fiscal 2007 budget.

“We’re not finished yet,” he said. “But it looks, preliminarily, like there may be some underspending.”

The university was chartered in 1974 as D.C.’s only public college. It was designed to give poor and working-class students a shot at a top-flight education, but it has struggled for decades with mismanagement. Almost 25 provosts have come and gone since it opened.

The latest disclosure comes at the same time that federal and city authorities opened criminal investigations into the university’s spending. The D.C. and U.S. Department of Education inspectors general have been told millions in federal and local grants were lavished on no-bid contracts to cronies of top school officials, and millions more were wasted on programs that didn’t deliver promised results, sources said.

In June, the university’s board of trustees fired President William L. Pollard, but it left his command staff in place.

Last month, members of the university Senate sent blistering letters to acting university President Stanley Jackson and Mayor Adrian Fenty, demanding the replacement of Provost Wilhelmina Reuben-Cooke and a top-to-bottom review of the university’s finances and academics.

The Sept. 27 letter to Fenty asks him to fix what the faculty calls a “debilitating state of affairs” that is “an impediment to the well-being of the University.”

Both Jackson and Reuben-Cooke couldn’t be reached for comment.

Ex-Tx Southern pres. could be tried again in March

Ousted TSU President Priscilla Slade's attorney said today he's not sure he'll be able to represent her again if prosecutors insist on retrying his client on financial mismanagement charges.

Defense attorney Mike DeGeurin said he remains hopeful that prosecutors will dismiss charges alleging Slade spent more than $500,000 of Texas Southern University's money on personal expenses.

"This case should not be retried," DeGeurin said. "I hope that when the dust settles, reason will prevail and there will be no need for another trial."

Prosecutors said they would not consider dismissing the charges.

"There's no chance that will happen," Assistant District Attorney Donna Goode said.

State District Judge Brock Thomas said he was considering setting the retrial for March 24, but DeGuerin said he could not yet commit to a second trial because of obligations to other clients.

Thomas scheduled a Nov. 9 hearing to give DeGeurin time to decide.

DeGeurin represented Slade in the two-month trial that ended a week ago in a mistrial after the jurors said they were hopelessly deadlocked at 6 to 6.

If convicted, Slade faces a punishment ranging from probation to life in prison for the first degree felony.

DeGeurin has maintained that no crime was committed, that Slade was using university money to enhance TSU's image in the community and to court donors. The state's largest historically black university has long suffered financial hardship, testimony showed.

Jurors deliberated almost a week before being dismissed. The jury's foreman said the jurors who voted not guilty wanted to know more about how the checks and balances in the process were circumvented before convicting.

Spelman gets $10 million gift from Lehman Bros.

Lehman Bros. Holdings Inc. yesterday announced it is making a $10 million donation — the largest in the firm's 157-year history — to Spelman College.

The donation to the historically black, all-female Atlanta college — which also is the single-largest corporate donation Spelman has received — will create the Lehman Bros. Center for Global Finance and Economic Development at the school.

In addition to the development of an interdisciplinary program that will ultimately become a major, Lehman's gift will be used to hire new faculty, establish scholarships and create a Chinese-language instruction program, said Beverly Daniel Tatum, Spelman's president.

"For me, this is yet another step in identifying a place where black women have been underrepresented and creating new opportunities," Tatum said in an interview Tuesday. She noted that in the past the school addressed gaps in nursing, sciences and mathematics that needed a pipeline of black women.

New York-based Lehman Bros., an investment banking powerhouse that reported total assets of $605.9 billion at the end of the second quarter and more than 28,300 employees worldwide, said it's making a statement that corporations can help drive change.

"It's because there are so many elements that have contributed to why there is underrepresentation in the financial services industry among women of African descent and other segments of the population that we created a partnership," Scott J. Freidheim, Lehman's co-chief administrative officer, said in an interview.

"We think it is a wonderful opportunity to create a corporate-academic partnership that helps in one of the most important issues that the country faces today."

As part of the agreement, Spelman students will be paired with mentors from Lehman and be tapped for international and domestic internships.

The center, which will be housed in Spelman's Milligan Building, is expected to launch next fall as an interdisciplinary curriculum, school officials said. The goal is to spin it out as a stand-alone major by 2013. The Chinese-language program was included because of the center's global focus, officials said.

"This is not just about any one of the elements that we're going to accomplish together," Freidheim said. "This is about creating a model that will hopefully serve as a wonderful example of how to make a difference."