JOINING FORCES

(L-R) Xavier President Dr. Norman C. Francis joins The Chicago School of Professional Psychology (TCSPP) President Dr. Michelle Nealon-Woods in signing a formal agreement which calls for continued discussions and strategic planning to explore opportunities for future academic and educational collaborations in graduate professional psychology. Looking on is Dr. Orlando Taylor, president of the TCSPP Washington DC campus.

Photo by Irving Johnson III

XAVIER, TCSPP FORGE EDUCATIONAL PARTNERSHIP

Xavier University and The Chicago School of Professional Psychology (TCSPP) have signed a formal agreement of inter-institutional collaboration in the field of mental health education.

U.S. SURGEON GENERAL TO ADDRESS GRADS U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Regina Benjamin will deliver the commencement address at Xavier’s 86th annual graduation ceremony Saturday, May 11, at 10:00 a.m. in the Convocation Center. It will be the University’s first commencement on campus since 1983. Benjamin, a 1979 Xavier graduate, is expected to address more than 550 undergraduate, graduate and pre-professional students and their families at the commencement ceremony. more

Benjamin

TEAM XAVIER HEADS FOR HONDA CAMPUS CHALLENGE

If their performance in the preliminaries is any indication, look for Xavier's Quiz Bowl team to make waves at the 2013 Honda Campus All-Star Challenge when it convenes in Torrance CA April 7-8.

Team Xavier is coming off a big win in the Texas Invitational Tournament at Prairie View A&M, where they defeated five fellow HBCU’s (Historically black Colleges and Universities – including Alcorn State, Grambling State, Langston College, Mississippi Valley State, and Prairie View A&M. Honda allows all teams planning to compete in the national challenge to participate in a pre-tournament (regional) event.

The team, coached Darryl Keller, Jr., includes Javon Bracy, McKenzie Moses, Kirkland Penro, Jessica Piernas, Skyler Quintero, and Meggan Simien. Nekita Bannister-Lee serves as XU’s institutional representative.

Xavier has participated in Honda Campus All-Star Challenge – an intense academic competition among the best and brightest students from Historically Black Colleges ad Universities (HBCUs) – 21 out of 24 years starting in 1992-93 season. Through the years, the University has been awarded more than $75,000 in grants during the competition. In addition, Xavier was presented the 2012 Community Service for partnering with Lafayette Charter Academy to tutor kids with after school program.

This year's tournament is expected to draw 48 schools from 18 states.

For HERE for more info about the Honda Campus Quiz Bowl.

partnership cont

The nonbinding memorandum was officially ratified by XU President Norman C. Francis and TCSPP President Dr. Michelle Nealon-Woods during a campus ceremony.

“It is no secret that the mental health service needs in the New Orleans area are great, as they are throughout this country,” said Dr. Francis. “Through this joint effort we hope to address some of those needs by providing new, young professionals with the finest undergraduate and graduate psychology training experience possible.”

“We foresee this collaboration as being one of mutual benefit to both institutions, as well as to our respective communities,” he added.

“We are excited to partner with an outstanding institution such as Xavier, and the prospect of making available to these students and others in the new Orleans area, opportunities for graduate education in professional psychology,” stated Dr. Nealon-Woods. “As higher learning institutions, we embrace the values of diversity and inclusion as well as a commitment to work with communities to increase the number of mental health experts.”

TCSPP is very familiar with the quality of Xavier students. In the past two years seven Xavier graduates have entered graduate programs at TCSPP across its three campuses, and already this year at least two more students have applied and are awaiting acceptance for Fall 2013.

surgeon general cont

For the past 29 years Xavier has held its commencement in various city venues, most recently the Kiefer Lakefront Arena and the New Orleans Arena. Earlier commencements, traditionally, had been held outdoors in the campus Quad. However, torrential rains in 1983 prompted the decision to hold all future events indoors even though there was no facility on campus large enough to hold the anticipated crowds. The new Convocation Center has addressed that problem.

“Commencement is always an extraordinary time for Xavier, and bringing the exercises back to campus will certainly make very special,” said XU President Dr. Norman C. Francis.

The annual Baccalaureate Mass and Honors Convocation will be held the preceding evening, Friday (May 10), at 6:00 p.m. in the Convocation Center.

Dr. Regina M. Benjamin, a 1979 graduate of Xavier University of Louisiana, is the 18th Surgeon General of the United States. As America’s Doctor, she promotes good health and disease prevention based on up-to-date information and scientific research. Her care and concern reaches beyond individuals and the public health of the nation to the operational command of 6,500 uniformed public health officers who serve in locations around the world to promote and protect the health of the American People.

From her commitment as the founder of a rural health clinic in Alabama – which she kept in operation despite damage and destruction inflicted by hurricanes Georges (1998) and Katrina (2005) and a devastating fire (2006) – to her worldwide advancement of preventive health care, Benjamin has forged a career that has been recognized by a broad spectrum of organizations and publications.

In addition to her B.S. in chemistry from Xavier, she holds an M.D. degree from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and an MBA from Tulane University. She attended Morehouse School of Medicine and completed her family medicine residency in Macon, Ga.  Dr. Benjamin is the recipient of 18 honorary degrees.

A former associate dean for Rural Health at the University of South Alabama College of Medicine in Mobile and past chair of the Federation of State Medical Boards of the United States, Benjamin was the first physician under age 40 and the first African-American woman to be elected to the American Medical Association Board of Trustees. She served as president of the American Medical Association Education and Research Foundation and chair of the AMA Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs. In 2002, she became the first African-American female president of a state medical society in the United States when she assumed leadership of the Medical Association State of Alabama.

A member of the Institute of Medicine (the health arm of the National Academy of Sciences) and is a fellow of the American Academy of Family Physicians, she was chosen as a Kellogg National Fellow and a Rockefeller Next Generation Leader. Past board memberships include the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, the Catholic Health Association, and the Morehouse School of Medicine.

She was named by Time magazine as one of the “Nation’s 50 Future Leaders Age 40 and Under.” She was featured in the 1995 New York Times article, “Angel in a White Coat;” the December 1999 cover of Clarity magazine; in the 2002 People magazine’s article, "Always on Call;” and was featured on the January 2003 cover of Reader’s Digest as one of the national publication’s"Everyday Heroes." She was also named “Person of the Week” on ABC’s World News Tonight with Peter Jennings, and “Woman of the Year’ by CBS This Morning. 

festival of scholars cont

Virtually every discipline across the campus is represented, and those attending the two-day event should note the depth and the diversity of the research. Past conferences have included presentations in the STEM disciplines (science, technology, engineering, and math), the social sciences and the humanities, and student produced short films from Communication Studies. In recent years the festival has branched out to include special sessions highlighting performance-based research - staged presentations that have been adapted from research projects and scripted for live audiences.

Each semester, CUR offers grant opportunities for students to pursue their research interests and many of the Festival of Scholars presentations are the culmination of those projects. Through CUR, Xavier students gain experience in formulating and conducting research projects, grant writing to secure funds that support their research, and presentation of their work to the academic community and the general public. CUR is funded through Title III Part B and the Mellon Foundation.

music cont

The purpose of the Xavier Jazz Festival is expose the News Orleans community to a varied range of jazz related concerts and clinics/workshops and provide them with a more sophisticated insight into the artistry and effort which goes into the creation of the music and the making of Jazz Greats. The programing and presentations are structured with a broad audience in mind, ranging from local junior/senior high school musicians to college students, to professionals.

The schedule of events follows:

April 16
Traditional Jazz: Dr. Michael White and the Original Liberty Brass Band
Old Mint, 7:00 p.m.

LaTasha Henderson, a senior biology/premed major from Shreveport LA (Caddo Parish Magnet High), has been accepted into the LSU-Shreveport School of Medicine.

Akia Jackson, a senior English major from St. Louis MO (Metro Academic High), has been accepted into graduate school at Iowa University.

Lawrence Jackson, a senior psychology major from Garland TX (Naaman Forest High) has been accepted into The Chicago School of Professional Psychology-California.

Deanna Johnson, a senior chemistry/premed major from Baton Rouge LA (Redemptorist High), has been accepted into medical school at LSU-New Orleans and LSU-Shreveport.

Kara Keller, a senior mathematics major from LaPlace LA (East St. John High), has been accepted to the Ph.D. program in statistics at Purdue University.

Nicholas Rayfield, a senior psychology major from New Orleans (McDonogh 35 High), has been accepted into The Chicago School of Professional Psychology.

Alonza Terry, a senior mathematics major from Conyers GA (Southwest Dekalb High), has been accepted into the master’s degree program in mathematics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Corrine Williams, a senior speech pathology major from Lynwood IL (Thorton Fraction South High), has been accepted into graduate school at Midwestern University.

Shaheera Chughtai ’12 has been accepted into medical school at Meharry College, Indiana University, and Texas A&M.

Jennifer Christopher Colbert '71 has been elected to the Board of Directors for the League of Women Voters of Louisiana.

Charisse Graham ’12 has been accepted into Meharry Medical College.

Jasmine Holmes ’12 has been accepted into the UCLA School of Medicine.

Maya Jones ’12, made the cover with her first FEATURE story for espnW. on Olympic runner Jeneba Tarmoh.

Twins Ashley Matthew ’12 and Asia Matthew ’12, both currently pursuing MD and Ph.D. degrees at the University of Massachusetts (UMass) Medical School, have been named co-recipients of the 2013 Chairman's Award for Leadership in Health & Wellness by the 100 Black Men of America, Inc. The awards will be presented this summer during the organization’s 27th Annual Conference in New Orleans.

Marylynn Nguyen ’11 has been accepted into the LSU-New Orleans School of Medicine.

Ashley Sutherland ’09 has been accepted in the University of Cincinnati Medical School.

Aishah Yanssaneh ’10 has been accepted into the Southern Illinois School of Medicine.

Dr. Nicole P. Greene (Kellogg Professor of English) had her book review of Heather Ingman’s A History of the Irish Short Story published in the Spring 2013 issue of Irish Literary Supplement: A Review of Irish Books.

Dr. Megan Osterbur (political science/women's studies) served as moderator for the Newcomb College Institute's faculty seminar, The Anna Julia Cooper Project on Gender, Race and Politics in the South.

Dr. Joseph LaRochelle (pharmacy) co-wrote an article, “Vincristine and daunorubicin administration in an adolescent during ECMO,” published in the medical journal Critical Care and Shock.

Two Division of Business faculty – Dr. Joe Ricks, Jr. and Dr. Richard Peters – co-wrote a paper “Motives, Timing, and Targets of Corporate Philanthropy: A Tripartite Classification Scheme of Charitable Giving” accepted for publication in Business and Society Review.