FAMU fires basketball coach

Florida A&M University announced Tuesday the release of coach Mike Gillespie, Sr. from his duties as head men’s basketball coach effective November 2.

Gillespie, who has been on paid administrative leave since May, when he was arrested for misdemeanor stalking, will remain on paid leave through November 2.

University President Dr. James Ammons said in a statement Tuesday that “this employment action is in the best interest of the Men’s Basketball Program and the University.”

Athletic Director Nelson Townsend added on Tuesday that “there will not be an interim head coach appointed, rather that a committee will be formed to begin a search for a replacement, whom we hope to name early in the fall.”

Gillespie compiled a 90-94 career mark at Florida A&M from 2001-02 to 2006-07, winning a pair of Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Tournament titles in 2004 and 2007.

The Rattlers won the 2007 MEAC Tournament crown this past March, finishing the season 21-14 overall, after finishing second in the regular season race.

Ex-CAU President expected to be named Interim Chancellor at UMass

The University of Massachusetts’ Board of Trustees is expected to name Thomas W. Cole Jr., a former president of Clark Atlanta University, as interim chancellor of the system’s flagship campus, in Amherst, The Boston Globe reported this afternoon.

The board is scheduled to vote on the temporary replacement for John V. Lombardi on Wednesday afternoon. Mr. Lombardi, who will become president of the Louisiana State University system on September 1, was allegedly pushed out of the Amherst post as part of a controversial systemwide leadership shuffle. The reorganization led to a no-confidence vote in the system’s president, Jack M. Wilson, and the trustees by faculty members on the Amherst campus this past spring.

Mr. Cole retired as president of Clark Atlanta, a historically black, four-year liberal-arts college, in 2002, and was president of Great Schools Atlanta, a local education fund, from 2004 to 2006. The names of several other former university chiefs had been floated as possible replacements for Mr. Lombardi, including Evan S. Dobelle, president of the New England Board of Higher Education and a former president of the University of Hawaii.

The trustees also are expected to name a search committee to fill the chancellor’s slot, but Mr. Cole will not be a candidate for the permanent post.

Record enrollment at Clark Atlanta causes housing shortage

Record enrollment has Clark Atlanta University scrambling to find housing for some of its incoming freshmen after nearly 400 more than anticipated showed up for orientation.

More than 11,000 prospective freshman and transfer students applied, a 26 percent increase from the previous year. About 5,500 were admitted, representing another significant increase. As many as 1,400 confirmed their attendance for 2007-2008.

About 1,200 freshman arrived beginning Wednesday — a few hundred more than the school has space for on campus and more than typically commit to attending the historically black school, according to Darrin Rankin, vice president for enrollment services and student affairs.

The total number includes more than 500 who arrived without room assignments because they didn't notify the school they were planning to attend or because they hadn't yet demonstrated they had the financial resources to pay for housing, Rankin said.

Also, four dormitories are closed for renovations expected to be completed within the next year, further limiting available housing slots.

School officials had hopes of housing the overflow students in dorm spots it has at the nearby Interdenominational Theological Center, MetroPointe Lofts in Midtown, and other off-campus locations by the end of the day Thursday, Rankin said.

CAU also has eased rules that require freshmen and sophomores to stay on campus in an effort to create additional openings and provide students more options.

Fewer than 300 were on the waiting list as of Thursday afternoon.

Long lines at check-in and news that housing wasn't immediately available to some left students and their parents frustrated.

Jessica Scruggs and her mother Stella arrived in Atlanta Wednesday from their home in Washington. By Thursday afternoon, Jessica, still wearing her white new student T-shirt, withdrew and now plans to attend Delaware State instead.

"They're taking in too many students," Jessica Scruggs said. "They can't accommodate them, which is bad."

Not everybody encountered problems. Thaki Ismael of New Jersey said his daughter, Atiyah, learned of her room assignment before arriving. Said Ismael: "We had absolutely no issues."

Rankin admits the process hasn't been as trouble-free as CAU, student and parents would like, but the school hopes to do better.

"We recognize we've got issues with our process. We're trying to work those things out," said Rankin.

Donors rescue LeMoyne from vat of red ink

For LeMoyne-Owen College officials, the future is a little less bleak today.
Interim president Johnnie Watson said Thursday that the financially beleaguered school has received more than $4 million in pledges and contributions. College officials also hope for another $3 million combined from Shelby County and the state, pending legislative approval.

This means that, despite dire predictions over the school's future in recent months, LeMoyne-Owen will hold its first day of classes Aug. 20.

"There was never any question in my mind as to whether LeMoyne-Owen College would be open this year or not. ..." Watson said. "I've lived in this community over 60 years, and the community has been very responsive when needed. The greater Memphis community has responded."

That response comes as the school has suffered financial disarray for years. In the last decade, the college's debt has more than doubled -- from nearly $5.3 million in 1997 to nearly $9.75 million in 2005 -- while its enrollment dropped by more than 40 percent, to 589 this school year.

That led the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, the area's accrediting body, to place LeMoyne-Owen on probation for the last two years. SACS officials will visit the campus in September before announcing a decision on that probationary status at their annual December meeting, being held in New Orleans.

School leaders believe the donations are enough to return LeMoyne-Owen to solid financial footing.

"I think (SACS) will respond positively ... It is assured that we will get (that pledged money)," LeMoyne chief financial officer Jim Dugger said. "There's a lot more work to do, and we're going to keep on pushing. (But) it makes the journey a lot more pleasant."

Added Watson: "I feel very confident that we have addressed the concerns SACS had, and I anxiously await the meeting."

While more than $4 million has been pledged to the school, only about $1.5 million is in hand now, Dugger said. The rest is expected to be paid over the next few years.

According to Dugger, the pledges come from:

The city of Memphis, which has pledged $3 million over three years. The first $1 million was delivered June 29.

The United Negro College Fund, which advanced the school next year's contribution of $292,659.

Cummins Inc., which has paid $200,000 of a $500,000, three-year pledge.

Radio host Tom Joyner, who gave $200,000.

The United Church of Christ, which has paid $200,000 of a pledged $600,000 over three years.

Four Delaware State students slain in Newark

Four people have been killed in Newark since last night, including three young people shot execution-style in a school playground, and a man in an unrelated slaying this morning.

Terrance Aeriel's sister, 19-year-old Natasha Aeriel, also was shot. She was listed in fair condition today at University Hospital, hospital spokesman Rogers Ramsey said.

Newark police and the Essex County Prosecutor's Office are investigating the circumstances surrounding the homicides, according to Newark Detective Todd McClendon.

All four people in the schoolyard killings were shot in the head at close range, prosecutor's office spokesman Paul Loriquet said. He said the three victims who died were lined up against a back wall of the school and shot.

The victims all are Newark residents, Loriquet said, and three had Delaware State University identification cards.

A separate shooting at 8:30 a.m. on Smith Street left one man dead, in what the prosecutor's office is calling a retalitatory shooting for an attempt on two people's lives earlier this morning in the same area.

The killings brought the number of homicides in the city this year to 60, compared with 63 for the same time last year, McClendon said

Former student files $1.2M lawsuit against AAMU

A former student at Alabama A&M University, the historically black educational institution in Normal, has filed a $1.2 million lawsuit against the university because of injuries she sustained in a fire on campus. According to the lawsuit, Renada Lee, a student from St. Louis, and her roommate in Terry Hall on the A&M campus were forced to jump from their fourth-floor window to escape a fire that had started in the hallway outside their dormitory room. Lee broke her back and ankle from the fall.

Lee claims that the university failed to maintain the building’s fire alarm system and was negligent in enforcing fire codes. The university maintains that the fire alarm system functioned as designed.

FVSU expecting boost in enrollment

All indicators show that the student population at Fort Valley State University should increase significantly this semester.
"We're expecting a large new student arrival," said Donovan Coley, interim director of admissions.

The school received 3,393 new student applications for the fall semester, which is a 62 percent increase over the nearly 2,000 applications received last fall.

The $44 million housing complex called Wildcat Commons, which will house 950 students, is filled to capacity and the school's pre-existing dorms are overflowing.

Students begin moving in today and classes begin Aug. 13.

The likely surge in new students would bolster a trend that began with last fall's increased enrollment. The university increased its freshman enrollment from 688 in fall 2005 to 867 in fall 2006. The fall 2005 freshman enrollment was the lowest the school has seen in the past 10 years.

Since then, the school has rebounded in its efforts to entice area students.

In March 2006, an energetic Larry E. Rivers arrived on campus as the school's new president. Rivers, along with his staff and faculty, has placed a heavy emphasis on recruitment of new students.

Practically everybody at FVSU from the leadership on down to the students has recruited heavily for the university, Coley said.

An aggressive marketing campaign where the school has promoted its brand and image was also cited as a contributing factor to the larger number of student applicants.

Coley says the school is also focusing on improving its customer service. For the next two weeks, the Office of Admissions, Financial Aid and Recruitment will be open from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. Monday through Friday to accommodate incoming students.

"We're making it convenient," Coley said, adding the school is still admitting new students for the fall semester.

Terrance Smith, vice president for student affairs, said the university is preparing itself for the influx of students. The university has implemented an enrollment contingency task force designed to ensure measures are in place to accommodate the expected surge in campus population.

Measures include opening additional class sections, employing more personnel, relocating offices to allow for space and expanding the food service area.

Plans also call for adding 350 to 400 units to the Wildcat Commons housing complex.

"We took a holistic and comprehensive approach to ensure that we're positioning ourselves to provide optimal customer service to our great students," Smith said.

Another focus is on retaining the new students who are entering FVSU, he added.

Smith cited the first-year experience center as an example. Housed in the Lottie Lyons Student Center, the center is a collaborative effort between the departments of student affairs and academic affairs.

First-year students will have access to professionals from various segments of the university. Mentoring, seminars and workshops, guest speakers and other programs and services will be available as the students transition to college life.

"We're looking to be the light of the path for many students," Coley said

NCCU welcomes new chancellor

N.C. Central University Chancellor Charlie Nelms is started work yesterday. Nelms was welcomed to campus with a ceremony in which he was handed the keys to his office amidst enthusiastic rounds of applause.

In part of a short speech, Nelms addressed students directly: "I'm here because of you. No matter how many dollars we raise, no matter how many buildings we construct, if the students don't succeed, we fail."

Nelms was most recently a vice president with the Indiana University system.

A longtime administrator who has lead two mid-sized Midwestern universities, Nelms has said he expects a busy first few weeks at the Durham campus. Nelms will need to fill several vacant administrative positions in his first few months on the job.

But first, he said will meet with university administrators, trustees, deans and student leaders, as well representatives of other area colleges and universities. Those meetings will start today.

Tx Southern regents want new interim leader

Texas Southern University regents are making plans to replace interim President J. Timothy Boddie Jr. — possibly with the chairman of its governing board — before classes resume next month, officials familiar with the matter said Friday.

The expected departure of Boddie, a retired U.S. Air Force brigadier general, would mark the third shake-up in campus leadership since the board's predecessors fired President Priscilla Slade amid a spending scandal 14 months ago.

The officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said Glenn Lewis, the board's chairman since May and a former state representative from Fort Worth, is the leading candidate to replace Boddie. He would likely serve up to one year while the regents search for a permanent president.

When asked about the possible scenario, Lewis would not confirm or deny it. "There is not a whole lot I can say," he said. "The board has to act."

The idea of a second interim president troubled some lawmakers and community leaders, but others said the time had come for a change. Boddie could not be reached for comment.

Boddie has earned high marks for helping to persuade lawmakers to provide enough emergency money for the university to pay its bills and make repairs to aging and poorly constructed buildings.


"General Boddie restored some credibility, but we need a different set of skills now," Regent Gary Bledsoe said. "We need to give the new (permanent) president every chance to excel, and so we have to do some heavy lifting first."

Last week, the regents hired a second interim chief financial officer, replacing former U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development CFO Carin Barth with Billy Owens, who sorted out the money mess at Grambling State University.

A&T scientist develops cure for peanut allergies

An agricultural researcher at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University has developed a simple process to make allergen-free peanuts. The new process -- believed to be a first for food science -- could provide relief to millions of peanut allergy sufferers, and be an enormous boon to the entire peanut industry.

Doug Speight of the N.C. A&T Office of Outreach and Technology Transfer said food companies are showing a strong interest in licensing the process, which does not degrade the taste or quality of treated peanuts, and might even render them easier to process for use as a food ingredient.

Immunoassays showed 100 percent inactivation of peanut allergens in whole roasted kernels, and the processed peanuts showed no reaction in tests on human serums from severely allergic individuals. The inventor, Dr. Mohamed Ahmedna, is optimizing the process further to remove allergens from other foods.

"We are extremely pleased that we were able to find such a simple solution to a vexing problem that has enormous economic and public health ramifications, both for peanut sensitive individuals, and the food industry as a whole," said Ahmedna, associate professor of food science in N.C. A&T's School of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences.

Peanut and tree nut allergies are the most severe of all food allergies, affecting approximately 3 million Americans, and causing 100 -- 150 deaths from anaphylactic shock annually and many more hospitalizations. In industrialized nations, the allergy has been rapidly increasing in children, for causes that are not entirely understood. One study showed that between 1997 and 2002, peanut allergies in children doubled in the United States. Today, an estimated one percent of all children suffer from the allergy.

Life can be stressful for families with peanut sensitive children, who must take extraordinary precautions to prevent contact with even small traces of peanuts or peanut dust. Tracking, record-keeping and labeling for peanuts is costly for industry, while schools and other institutions that serve the public have limited their use due to concerns about public health and liability.

Ahmedna's work on peanuts has been funded through a United States Agency for International Development grant. During the course of the project, he has developed many other value-added products and processes for the benefit of the peanut industry worldwide, including a process to remove a common mold toxin from peanuts, a low-fat, high protein meat substitute, an infant formula, and antioxidants from red peanut skins. The allergy-free peanut is the first in a portfolio of peanut innovations to be available for commercialization from N.C. A&T.

Ahmedna's process is expected to add value to a crop that is already economically and nutritionally important. Peanuts are the 12th largest crop in the United States, with a farm value of close to $1 billion a year. The Southeast is the main peanut producing region in the nation. Worldwide, the legume is even more important from an economic development standpoint. In developing nations, and Africa in particular, the soils and climate are especially suitable for peanuts.

Peanuts are not only important commercially, but nutritionally as well. Packed with proteins, healthy fats and a broad array of essential vitamins and minerals, they are considered an almost complete food. Their rich flavor, nutrition, fat and protein profile makes for a nearly perfect food from a food processing standpoint as well.

From his lab at Tuskeegee University in the early 1900s, the famed agricultural chemist George Washington Carver discovered approximately 300 food and non-food products from the legume. But despite their versatility, the allergy issue has caused the peanut to be viewed increasingly with caution. That might change, thanks to Ahmedna's work at NC A&T.

Iverson donates $100,000 to HBCUs

Allen Iverson did more than hold a football clinic, play in a celebrity flag football game and offer moral support to fellow Peninsula professional athlete Michael Vick over the weekend.

Iverson, a Denver Nuggets all-star guard, also handed out some serious money. Through his crossOver Promotions, Iverson gave $1,000 scholarships to two athletes at Norfolk's Booker T. High School, where his weekend events were held. The athletes are basketball player Myles Holley, who is attending Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, N.C. and hurdler Elaine Rhoades, who is attending Bowie State in Prince George's County, Md.

Both athletes were introduced to a crowd estimated at more than 1,000 who turned out to see the DeAngelo Hall stars defeat the Iverson stars 27-25, despite several tight spirals and long touchdown passes completed by A.I.

Iverson, a former Bethel star, also announced a donation of $100,000 to historically black colleges in North Carolina and Maryland. Over the past few years, Iverson, who attended Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., has provided scholarships for local students attending historically black colleges.

Housing problems land Ala. State in court

Alabama State University has spent $1.6 million on a campus housing project still in the bid stage and is looking at hefty legal and hotel bills connected with the work, which will be completed -- at best -- at least a year behind schedule.

University officials announced the renovation of six dilapidated dormitories nearly two years ago; so far, two of the buildings have been gutted. Plans used by the university last year to obtain financing show the same two dorms restored at this point.

Some of the students who would be living in those dormitories will stay at a hotel when they return for the fall semester in two weeks. The board of trustees is expected to approve a proposal to rent 100 hotel rooms at a meeting next month.

The university asserts it doesn't have a dollar figure for the hotel rooms because the contract isn't finalized. It's paying for the housing project with a $25 million bond it secured last year; that amount was guaranteed to cover everything from inside demolition work to new furniture.

Of the $25 million, more than $600,000 has gone to TCU Consulting Inc. for overseeing the project, now stuck in the bidding phase for more than six months. The rest of the $1.6 million was spent on architectural fees and gutting the two dorms.

TCU picked up the project after ASU fired the project's creators, Ohio-based Marous Brothers Construction and Pennsylvania developer Gil
Berry Associates. The university contended Marous Brothers and Berry inflated their fees and underestimated the project's total cost.

With TCU handling the project, the first bids came in three months ago at more than $13 million over the Marous Brothers-Berry budget. To attract lower bids, ASU pushed the completion date back six months and re-bid the project. Renovation work now won't begin until at least late next month. Even if completed on time, the first renovated dorm rooms will be more than a year behind the original timetable.

"It's not accurate to say that we're behind schedule and over budget," ASU spokeswoman Janel Bell said. "The project calendar was extended to address high bids. It's premature to say it's over budget."

Continue reading: ASU housing drama

Kentucky State added to federal list of HBCUs

The U.S. Senate has added Kentucky State University to the government's list of Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

The federal government provides funding to graduate programs at a limited number of historically black schools that are listed in the Higher Education Act. Because KSU previously was not included on the list, it was not eligible for this funding.


KSU, chartered by the Kentucky General Assembly in 1886, is the state's only historically black school.

In a news release, U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell, who asked for KSU to be included in the list, said that Kentucky State's absence from the list was discussed when he met with KSU president Mary Sias earlier this year.

Del. State to issue $48M in bonds to fund student center

Delaware State University plans to use about $48 million in bonds to pay for a new wellness center, swimming pool and student center.

The new facilities will replace structures school officials say are outdated and undersized. DSU hopes the amenities will help recruit and retain students, who will shoulder much of the initial burden for repaying the debt through a new $200 fee each semester.

Representatives from the university detailed the projects for a state advisory board Tuesday. After the presentation, the Council on Development http://www.umes.edu/lmrcsc/del%20state%20library.jpgFinance recommended that the state issue the bonds on behalf of DSU. The school has full responsibility for repaying the debt.

The first phase of the $21.4 million wellness center, a strength and conditioning facility for student athletes, should be completed next month. DSU requested money in the state's 2008 budget to fund the second phase, which includes equipment and facilities for the general student population, employees and the public. The proposed $6 million swimming pool complex would be located next to the wellness center.

The school previously received $9.9 million from the state for the wellness center project and raised another $1.5 million on its own, said state Rep. Richard Cathcart, DSU's associate vice president of business services. DSU received $3.5 million in capital money from the state for fiscal 2008, about $13 million less than what officials requested. Cathcart, R-Middletown, said all of that money is going toward maintenance and renovation of existing buildings, meaning DSU had to find another way of financing the wellness center.

Working with the state means the bonds are issued at a competitive rate, Cathcart said.

The new student center, which is in the planning phase, would replace the Martin Luther King Jr. Student Center. Cathcart said students who took part in creating the school's master plan named an upgraded student center as one of their most important concerns. He said the current structure, which features an auditorium, lounges and a canteen, is a "very aging building in dire need of an upgrade" and that engineers deemed it costlier to renovate than to replace.

"We have surplus classroom space, but our student center is below capacity for our current enrollment and when it comes to our projected enrollment, it's not even close," Cathcart said.

Members of the council wanted to know how DSU intended to shoulder the cost of issuing bonds.

"Obviously, I assume you'll either have to increase tuition or increase enrollment," council member Fred Sears said. "I assume for a $48 million bond you don't have that kind of money sitting around."

Amir Mohammadi, DSU's vice president for student affairs and university operations and acting finance director, said the school was reallocating funds toward repaying the debt and hoped the two facilities would create new potential sources of revenue, such as increased enrollment.

"The $200 fee will create about $1.3 million [a year, based on current enrollment] to payment of the debt service," Mohammadi said.

Four members of the council approved the project. Abstaining were Sears, president of the Delaware Community Foundation, former Dover mayor James Hutchison and Richelle Vible, president of Citizens Bank of Delaware and a member of DSU's board of trustees.

Miles raises $19 million for expansion

Miles College, the small, historically black liberal arts school with a place in civil rights history, has quietly raised $19 million for an expansion that would double the size of its Fairfield campus, officials said.

The school plans to add new student housing, a performing-arts center, a health center with an Olympic-sized pool and gymnasium, and a new School of International Studies that would teach Homeland Security courses and Arabic and Farsi.

Miles President George T. French Jr. said Friday that contributions from business and alumni have exceeded expectations, and the school likely will meet its $30 million fundraising goal much sooner than initially anticipated.

"We kind of underestimated our abilities," he said.

The $30 million capital campaign is part of a larger, long-term effort to raise $49 million for campus expansion and scholarships. It already is the most successful fundraising effort in the college's history, he said.

French said corporate support in particular has been impressive. The Alabama Power Foundation has agreed to contribute $1 million, the single largest contribution to date, and EBSCO International Inc. has promised $500,000.

The Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, with which Miles is affiliated, has established a goal of raising $1.2 million.

In a prepared statement, Alabama Power Co. Vice President Steve Spencer said the company's foundation chose to back the Miles expansion because it believes Birmingham will benefit from a stronger, historically black college that serves students who otherwise might not pursue education after high school.

"It's a jewel that has been overlooked for far too long," he said.

Lloyd Noland site:

Most of the expansion would be on 41 acres just north of the existing 35-acre campus, said Miles spokesman Ricky Lee. The college bought the property, formerly occupied by Lloyd Noland Hospital, from HealthSouth Corp. last year. The old hospital will be demolished, Lee said.

Miles officials also are considering building a child-care center that would be open to students and the community at large. The expanded campus would straddle the Fairfield public-housing community now on its northern edge.

The college has 1,735 students now, and expects to have 2,000 in the fall, when work on the expansion could begin. Within five years the student population is expected to be 2,500 to 3,000, Lee said.

"We're going to need some place to put these students," he said.

Former Birmingham Mayor Richard Arrington, a Miles alumnus and academic dean at the school 1966-70, said the expansion will help the college continue to raise its academic standards, and help recruit both students and faculty.

Of particular significance is the planned International Studies program, he said, because it is expected to have direct ties to the Department of Homeland Security and the Central Intelligence Agency.

"It will become a resource for those agencies, providing students who are potential employees," he said.

The expansion would mark the school's high point since recovering from serious financial problems in the 1980s, when enrollment dipped to just 400 and the school owed the federal government $4 million. In recent years the school, which hosted meetings and launched marches during the civil rights era, has established a much more solid financial footing, building an endowment of more than $12 million.

In addition to its place in civil rights history, Miles has produced numerous political leaders. In addition to Arrington, its alumni include Birmingham Mayor Bernard Kincaid, U.S. District Judge U.W. Clemon and current and former members of the Birmingham City Council.

Hampton breaking ground on $200M cancer center

The financing for it isn't complete, but Hampton University has lined up enough support for a planned $200 million cancer center to break ground, according to the school's president.

The center will be open by 2011, President William Harvey vowed in an interview this week, despite the school's failure so far to win the $20 million in state and federal funding he has sought for the project.

Harvey said major banks are advising the university and that bonds will be issued to complete the financing.

In the meantime, Hampton has been lining up support from local health providers and complet ing a contract with Armada Hoffler to build the facility. The private, historically black school plans a groundbreaking ceremony Monday, with construction set to start in August.

The facility will provide a radiation-type treatment that offers the promise of more effectively destroying diseased tissue with fewer side effects.

"We're bringing this to Virginia because there's such a tremendous need," said Harvey, noting that one of its special ties will be treating prostate cancer, which disproportionately kills black men.

There are five such centers in the country: California, Texas, Indiana, Florida and Massachusetts. Another is under construction at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Ultimately, Hampton University projects that it will treat 125 patients a day at the facility.

"There are some patients for whom protons are the only answer," said Dr. Christopher Sinesi, president of Oncology Associates of Virginia, who has agreed to be the center's medical director. He said he has had patients travel thousands of miles for such treatment. "It's such a momentous thing for Hampton Roads to have this.

The therapy differs from conventional radiation because of the way that protons interact with body tissues, said Cynthia Keppel, a Hampton physics professor and cancer researcher who is the scientific and technical director of the center. Protons are subatomic particles that essentially travel harmlessly until they reach a peak and release their energy. Using a highly specialized and expensive machine called a cyclotron, scientists can control when and where the protons will release their energy - in this case, against a cancerous tumor.

Keppel said the treatment can be especially valuable in lung and pediatric cancer cases.

"There's nothing experimental about it. It's very well known," said Sinesi, a radiation oncologist. "The problem with it has been the cost and complexity of starting up these centers."

Former UMES President Hytche dies at age 78

William Percy Hytche Sr., the former president of the University of Maryland Eastern Shore who was a national advocate of historically black colleges and universities, died yesterday morning of unknown causes at his home in Princess Anne. He was 78.

Under Dr. Hytche's leadership, the university added 32 degree programs at bachelor's, master's and doctorate levels, saw its student enrollment more than double to 3,200, and its campus expanded and beautified.

Freeman A. Hrabowski III, president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, described Dr. Hytche as a mentor for himself and other younger educators.

"He understood what it meant to be educated and appreciated the power of education to transform lives," Dr. Hrabowski said, recalling Dr. Hytche's positive attitude, humor and smile.

Talladega begins search for new president

A job description for the next Talladega College president has been outlined and the search is getting under way.

Board of Trustees Chairman James Thornton said the search committee has been compiled, and includes three board members, including himself, a faculty representative, an alumni representative and a student who was elected from all the campuswide student organizations. The next step is to have the advertisement displayed in nationwide publications for higher learning.

“Our plan is to aggressively begin screening resumes in order to find a replacement for Dr. (Oscar) Prater,” he said. “We feel confident we still have his leadership until we find the next president of Talladega College.”

After announcing his “re-retirement” on May 10 in a letter to alumni, students and faculty, Prater, whose contract officially ended on June 30, has agreed to stay on until a new president is chosen.

Prater made his first venture into retirement in 2001 when he stepped down as president of Fort Valley State University in Georgia.

After coming to Talladega College in January 2005, Prater made it clear his intentions were to lead his alma mater through its probationary period with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools for its longtime financial instability. The college was given two years of probation to either remedy the more than $1 million debt or, in turn, lose its accreditation and federal funding.

Prater was able to follow through with his promise and Talladega College received a clean bill from SACS in December 2006.

“It’s a platform or a runway, if you will, where an individual can leverage off that success and build on the rich history of the college,” Thornton said.

Aside from experience and educational credentials, the board chairman said one of the most important attributes the future president needs to exhibit is a “successful track record when it comes to fundraising.

“Someone who will continue to build on the successes Dr. Prater has brought,” he said.

Also at the top of the list is a leader who can build strong relationships in the community with both businesses and citizens; an individual who enjoys the students and is interested in “what the whole life of academe brings to bear;” and someone who is a visionary who can “link with the past while mapping out the future.”

“We just need a champion to tell that story,” Thornton said.

Some applications have already come in and the group has set the cutoff date for some time in August.

Hackley named interim chancellor at Fayetteville State

Vic Hackley, who led N.C. A&T State University for the past year, was named Thursday as interim chancellor at Fayetteville State University. His appointment, effective July 23, was announced by UNC President Erskine Bowles.
Hackley, a former FSU chancellor, UNC system vice president and N.C. Community College System president, will serve until a permanent chancellor is chosen.

He succeeds T.J. Bryan, who announced this week that she would resign amid a number of problems at the campus.

Hackley is credited with uncovering serious financial abuse and mismanagement at N.C. A&T State and helping clean up the problems. A team of UNC officials and auditors was sent to the campus at Hackley's request.

A retired U.S. Air Force officer with a doctorate in international relations from UNC-Chapel Hill, Hackley is the founder of a firm that focused on ethics, leadership and community and character development.

In a statement Thursday afternoon, Bowles said Hackley "tackles every challenge handed to him with full commitment, great passion and absolute integrity."

Dillard president charged with DWI

Dillard University President Marvalene Hughes was arrested and booked with misdemeanor drunken driving in April after sideswiping another car and causing an accident, according to court records. Hughes was visiting the California city where she used to live.

She has pleaded innocent. Her case will go to court in Modesto on Tuesday, but she signed a waiver so her attorney could resolve the case without her, according to The Modesto Bee.

Hughes has been Dillard's president since July 2005. Before that, she was president of California State University, Stanislaus, for 11 years.

She still has a home in Modesto, according to The Bee