HBCU Hot Facts

2009-08-04
By Joy T. Bennett

From state-of-the-art facilities to performing arts, there’s hot stuff happening on our college campuses! Here are a few programs and offerings worth noting.

•  Texas Southern University, Houston, offers more than 120 baccalaureate, masters and doctoral degree programs in nine schools and colleges. TSU offers the only Urban Planning degree in the area and has one of only two flight simulators in the nation to support its airway sciences programs.  The university also offers a new degree in entertainment management and is partnering with the Port of Houston Authority on a new degree program in Maritime Transportation Management and Security. In June school officials were notified that the Southern Association of Colleges and School’s (SACS) Commission has removed the university from probationary status. “Texas Southern University will be a part of the normal ten-year accreditation review cycle beginning in 2011,” says TSU President Dr. John Rudley. “This truly exemplifies the essence of where TSU is NOW,” he adds.  
 
• Florida A&M University’s (FAMU) new Animal Healthcare Complex will support the new veterinary technology program beginning this fall. FAMU will become one of only 11 other major universities to offer a four-year degree in veterinary technology, and it will be the only institution in the country with a program that places emphasis on regulatory education and training.  The first classes in the new discipline are set to begin in fall 2009. “This new animal healthcare facility will impact FAMU’s ability to help address a critical national shortage of minorities in the field of veterinary medicine, and related disciplines,” said FAMU President James J. Ammons.  With an enrollment of 12,000 students, FAMU offers 62 bachelor’s degrees, 39 master’s degrees and 11 doctoral programs.

• Howard University, Washington, D.C., founded in 1867, consists of 12 schools and colleges. The University owns and operates campus and commercial radio stations, a television station and a teaching hospital. Recently, Howard University Hospital began offering free medical treatment for low-income and uninsured patients in a new clinic on the first floor of the hospital.  The New Freedmen’s Clinic is run, staffed and funded by Howard University College of Medicine students, overseen by two Howard University Hospital physicians. Initially the clinic will only treat adults by appointment or referral from the hospital’s Emergency Department.

• Harris-Stowe State University, St. Louis, MO., is scheduled to open an Early Childhood Development and Parenting Education Center this fall.  The state-of-the-art newly constructed facility includes on-site childcare.

• South Carolina State University, Orangeburg, S.C., is the state’s only public, historically Black college and university. It boasts several unique programs, including the only undergraduate environmental science field station in the nation and the only undergraduate degree program in nuclear engineering in the state.  In June the Wal-Mart Foundation announced a $150,000 gift to support the South Carolina State University’s Savannah River Environmental Sciences Field Station (SRESFS) program.

• “From the Storm to the Stage” was the apt theme for the 2009 graduating class of Xavier University, New Orleans.  The 440 seniors were freshmen in August 2005 when Hurricane Katrina, the worst natural disaster in the cities recent history hit. Initially scattered to other college campuses, more than 74% of the students returned to Xavier University to complete their education. Fifty-two have been accepted to medical school.

• Pre-eminent scholar, educator and orator Dr. Michael Eric Dyson, Professor of Sociology at Georgetown University gave the commencement address at Lane College in Jackson, Tenn., a private institution affiliated with the Christian Methodist Episcopal (CME) Church. Located on a 40-acre campus and founded in 1882, the college has storied legacy of educating teachers and other professionals.

• Prairie View A&M University’s Marching Storm Band and Black Foxes dance troupe (the university’s majorette team) performed in the 2009 Rose Parade on New Year’s Day.  It was the noted band and dance troupe’s first appearance in the Rose Parade and they served as the lead band. Prairie View A&M University was founded in 1876 and is the second-oldest public institution of higher education in Texas. PVAMU offers baccalaureate degrees in 50 academic majors, 41 master’s degrees and four doctoral programs through nine colleges and schools.