Today our SGA stepped up to lead campus efforts to assist with relief in Haiti. They presented as a part of chapel today. I am glad that they responded in such an affirmative manner, and they will have their first task force meeting tomorrow.

We are a United Methodist college, and one of the great relief agencies is UMCOR- United Methodist Committee on Relief. Persons wanting to make donations to a very active organization. In fact, they were already in Haiti doing some HIV/AIDS training when the earthquake hit. Sadly, those workers are missing, including the executive director. If you'd like to make a donation, please visit their website:

http://new.gbgm-umc.org/umcor/

The Prez

We officially opened up the semester with our faculty-staff institute on Tuesday. We have noticed, like most campuses, the number of students struggling with a myriad of personal issues. So I wanted to spend time helping faculty and staff learn how to assist students in a meaningful way.

We set the stage with Michael Hutchinson, assistant to the president who leads our Black Male Initiative. He shared some of the stories he had regarding his work with the men on campus. Many of the faculty and staff were shocked by some of the challenges our students face.

We then brought on Dr. Ruth Harper, professor of counseling, and Mr. C. D. Douglas, director of minority affairs, at South Dakota State University. Dr. Harper is editor of a new book regarding counseling skills. They covered a number of issues that today's college students deal with. Those who don't work in higher education really don't know the depth of the issues.

We then broke the group up.

And after answering questions regarding our students, the groups began their discussions.

We ended by having the groups report the significant areas of challenge they see in our students, and our presenters gave us some take away strategies to assist students. So this was a helpful exercise and helps us continue to try to educate the whole student.

The Prez

Elders featured on AETN tonight (from Arkansas News)

LITTLE ROCK — Dr. Joycelyn Elders, a lightning rod for criticism for her views on sex education as Arkansas health director and the first black U.S. surgeon general, will discuss her life in an interview tonight on the Arkansas Educational Television Network.

The one-on-one interview, part of AETN’s “Men and Women of Distinction” series, is scheduled to air at 9:30 p.m.

Elders, 76, will discuss her childhood, her struggle to make it to Little Rock for her first day of college and stories of her residency at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences that influenced her to become an advocate for children’s health and an opponent of teenage pregnancy.

Born the daughter of a sharecropper in Howard County during the Great Depression, Elders earned a scholarship to Philander Smith College in 1949, becoming the first in her family to attend college.

Inspired by a lecture by Edith Irby Jones, the first woman to attend UAMS, Elders joined the U.S. Army’s Medical Specialist Corps and trained as a physical therapist to treat wounded Korean War veterans.

With the help of the GI Bill, Elders earned a medical degree and a master’s degree in biochemistry from UAMS, where she was later appointed chief pediatric resident specializing in pediatric endocrinology.

In 1987, then-Gov. Bill Clinton appointed Elders director of the state Department of Health. She drew the ire of conservative groups by advocating the dispensing of contraceptives at school-based health clinics.

After Clinton was elected president, he appointed Elders as U.S. surgeon general in 1993. She was forced to resign less than a year later.

At a United Nations conference in 1994, in response to a psychologist’s question whether masturbation could be a useful tool in discouraging school children from becoming sexually active too early, Elders said masturbation was “something that is part of human sexuality and a part of something that perhaps should be taught.” Her comments created a firestorm of criticism from conservatives already put off by Elder’s pro-choice views.

After Clinton forced her out as surgeon general, Elders return to UAMS to practice medicine. Her autobiography, “Joycelyn Elders, MD: From Sharecropper’s Daughter to Surgeon General of the United States,” was published in 1996. She resigned from practicing medicine in 1999 but has continued to lecture on issues regarding AIDS, adolescent sexuality and national health care.

AETN’s “Men and Women of Distinction” series features interviews with prominent Arkansans known for their citizenship, character and accomplishments. The series has previously featured former governors and U.S. Sens. David Pryor and Dale Bumpers, as well as former Gov. Sid McMath and Judge Morris Arnold.

Yesterday during lunch I went over the the Clinton School of Public Service to hear Arthur Brooks of the American Enterprise Institute (and formerly of Syracuse University). It ended up being a great session about fundraising.

http://www.arthurbrooks.net/

His research basically proved the Scriptures (and he talked about that fact as well). So essentially, give and it will be given back to you in good measure.

People who contribute charitably actually increase their wealth. He cited data on the wealthy who gave before their level of wealth. The charitable also are happy people, and are viewed as leaders, both qualities add value to the person and increases their earning potential.

In fact, those who give are 43% happier than those who don't. He shared that if Americans, already the most charitable people in the world, increased our giving by only 1%, that would add $39 BILLION to the economy! Now that's a real stimulus package.

So this was a great lecture. The lesson is simple: give and you'll be better for it. In fact, he argued that those who give actually get more than the charitable organization that receives. Of course, Philander Smith College is a great place for you to give so that you can receive all of these benefits.

The Prez

Here are some scenes from the annual Little Rock alumni Christmas breakfast.

Rev. Maxine Allen

Lydia and Adria Kimbrough

Danita Paige

Psalms 150

Our speaker, Attorney Carla Johnson '2005

The family of the year: The Loves. Their parents sent NINE children to PSC.

And they presented a check for a book scholarship (part of a multi-year commitment)

Board Chair Larry Ross challenging alums

Closing with the Alma Mater

Yesterday we invited a few community leaders to hear about the progress of our justice project. This semester, our major focus was convening our advisory board in October. That was a huge success and we will publish a short summary of the meeting. Our next step is to work on developing a signature academic program to compliment the new initiative. This will be my spring 2010 project.

The Prez

Today I participated in a panel at the UNCF Institute for Capacity Building that was timely considering the news about the Morehouse appropriate dress policy which has garnered national attention.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/10/17/college.dress.code/

So I was joined by Dr. Tony Pinkard of UNCF, Dr. James Moore of Ohio State University, and Dr. William Bynum of Morehouse College. The moderator was Dr. Bryant Marks who directs the Morehouse Male Initiative.

We had a robust conversation. My point was that I did not want schools to jump on the dress code bandwagon since Morehouse's policy is part of a broader context of the 5 wells: well read, spoken, traveled, dressed and balanced. Too many of the policies are now used punitively when we really should form relationships with students and then help change their behaviors, in love.

The Prez

In 2001 I believe, in my second year as Vice President for Student Affairs at Albany State University in Georgia, I started what I called the freshman lunch program. During orientation, I told students and their parents that it was important for them to get connected to people on campus, so if they would gather 2 or 3 friends, we would go to lunch and talk.

Of course, most didn't take me up on the offer. I mean, would a VP REALLY take us to lunch? But I did, and each year the program grew. By the time I left, I had lots of upperclass students coming saying they didn't get their freshman lunch!

So during my first fall at Philander Smith College, now as a president, I kept the program going. So now it really is mind blowing for students and parents- the PRESIDENT is offering to take me to lunch? Nah, can't be true. But each year more and more students have accepted the challenge.

So our 2009 freshmen have taken the program (and my wallet) to new levels. I have already had lunch with about 29% of the freshman class, higher than any of the past three years when I started tracking this program. And I still have a full semester to go!

The conversation is based on research questions designed to determine how things are going for new students. Of course, retention during the first year is critical as students face homesickness, adjusting to college both in and out of class, and academic difficulty. So I ask questions such as "Use a simile to describe your first semester in college" and "What's the best/worst part of being a college student".

So I am able to get some good feedback from students on their experience, as well as learn students names and something about them.

The Prez