Here are some pics of our new residence hall going up. This building, the first of 4, will house 60 students.

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This is the second year we've participated in the new game, budgetball. Created by the National Academy of Public Administration, the game teaches how to better understand our national debt. It is high energy, but strategy is needed to determine how much to spend, and how much to save, in order to gain advantages in the game. Here are some scenes from this year's event.

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On Tuesday morning I had the pleasure of hearing Jackson Katz at a men's leadership breakfast. Katz is an activist addressing gender related issues, including sexual assault.

He shared lots of shocking statistics, but one of the most important to me is that between 20 and 25% of college women will experience either an attempted or successful sexual assault. 65% of my students are women, so this hits close to home. And with the close nature of our campus, I have had conversations with students who have been assaulted. And as Katz indicated, not some random stranger, but a father, a relative, a boyfriend.

Katz argued that we need to stop calling this a woman's issue because 99% of the perpetraotrs are men. So he called for those men in that room to be engaged in this issue and take a real stand against sexual assault.

Below is a news story about sexual assault in Arkansas, one of the few places that has experienced an increase.

http://www.todaysthv.com/news/news.aspx?storyid=102206

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Over 300 potential students, parents, and family members came to campus this past Saturday to visit PSC. We had a great day all around, and hopefully landed some new students.

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I was really looking forward to our lecture this past Thursday night. Dr. Tricia Rose is one of if not THE foremost scholar on hip hop, with her first book dating back to the early 1990s. She was joined on the program by Capri Courtney of Chicago and April Cotton of Little Rock.

Her new book is called "The Hip Hop Wars" and discusses the arguments on both sides for and against hip hop. In a profound analysis, she mentioned that hip hop had become the perfect vehicle for maintaining racial stereotypes. Hip hop after all is the first mainstream Black music form.

Most of the audience didn't understand Soundscan. Dr. Rose explained how this computerized system began to accurately track album sales, and 2 weeks after Soundscan debuted, the gangsta rap group NWA reached the top of the billboard charts. Sounscan also determined, by zip codes, who brought the music, and we know that 70% of the hip hop music is purchased in white suburbs. So this changed how hip hop was marketed.

She talked about the power of stories, and asked what if Lil Wayne turned his gift for the use of metaphor to talk about something. She stated, "The stories we tell ourselves teach us who we are." If the stories we tell didn't matter, she argued, then we wouldn't get so irate about racist images which appear from time to time.

In a very energetic and engaging lecture, Dr. Rose gave us lots of food for thought. I would LOVE to take a class from her- she was excellent.

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Thursday we hosted our annual honors convocation. Several hundred students were recognized for their hard work over the past year. Our speaker was Tymli Frierson, a 2006 PSC grad who is finishing a masters degree in engineering at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville.

Tymli's speech was very appropriate, encouraging them to reach out to their peers who have not done well academically. So she spoke about them repositioning their peers.

We ended the ceremony with about a dozen students being initiated into Alpha Kappa Mu Honor Society. A number of parents came in from out of town to participate, from as far away as Atlanta and Kansas City.

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So, about 23 hours ago, our phone begins to ring. There was a wrong number a night or two ago so I wasn't quick to answer. But then my wife's cell phone rang, and then the house phone rang again. I picked it up and it was our pastor's wife, so I gave it to my wife.

We learned that a group from Little Rock traveling to the Black Methodists for Church Renewal conference was in an accident, and that the bus had flipped over, but everyone was OK. I began checking my cell phone and spoke with our VP for Student Affairs. A few minutes later one of the students called and said everyone was OK.

So, I tried to go back to sleep. I was thinking the bus tipped over, but it couldn't have possibly flipped like I was told.

The students, as well as the persons from several churches returned at 2 today. I was there to meet the bus. It looked like a scene from a disaster movie- crutches, bandages, splints, neck braces, patched eye, lacerations, etc. I was told that the bus flipped 2 or 3 times, and people were thrown from the bus.

A staff member and 2 students pulled everyone out, and help began to arrive. They went to a hospital in Greenville, MS where they were closest, and stayed there until about 11 a.m. then headed back.

3 of the 11 students had dinner at my house and told us the story. This was truly a miracle, because those kinds of crashes usually have fatalities. So as a community, we are truly thankful that their lives were spared.

Maybe this miracle should not have been a surprise. One of the students on the bus is named Miracle.

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I was invited by Deja Avery, a 7th grade student at Covenant Keepers College Prep, to come to their college prep day. Last month they spent studying HBCUs, and several students presented their schools. So I am sharing her letter below- you see why I had to go.

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February 15, 2010

 

 

 

Dear Dr. Kimbrough,

 

 

 

My name is Deja Avery. I attend a school called Covenant Keepers College Preparatory Charter School in

Little Rock, AR. I am in the 7^th grade, and I’m doing a Geography project on Philander Smith College. I have

been researching on a lot of stuff on my project so that I can do well on it! This is a very big project for me

and whatever score I get I will be very happy because I’m trying hard.

 

So would you mind sending me any kind of information or something good about Philander Smith College?

Really any kind of information will work. I just want to make a good grade. The biggest thing I want to ask

you is “Can you come to my school?” It would be really great if you do ‘cause I would probably get extra

points. But if you don’t I will understand.

 

Presidents are always busy like Barack Obama. But it would be really great if you do. So I would really

appreciate it if you could do these things for me for the research that I’m doing on Philander Smith College.

So please respond to my letter. I would really appreciate it.

 

 

Sincerely,

 

                                                                                                                                              

 

Deja Avery

 

After unexpected hip surgery caused her to cancel her trip in February, Iyanla Vanzant made it to PSC to Bless the Mic.

Sharice opened up the evening.

and let the crowd know you can now give to PSC via texting (go ahead- try it!)

Veneta was up next to make sure the 600+ in attendance knew of all the good things going on here.

Follwoed by Adria Kimbrough, who introduced our guest.

Iyanla Vanzant actually worked out better to be in Women's History Month, because she had a word of encouragement for the sisters.

In a very candid way, she talked about her life story, the challenges she faced as well as her triumphs.

Her speech was very well received, and she spent another hour afterwards signing books and autographs, and taking pictures.

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