The Official Directory of Winston-Salem State University

As we complete the 2009-2010 academic and fiscal year, I wanted to take a few minutes to look back at all we accomplished in the past 12 months.  I think we would agree that it was an extremely busy year, but in compiling a list to present to our Board of Trustees last month, I was reminded that it truly was a productive year in the life of the university.

Chancellor Donald J. Reaves

Of course, a major accomplishment was the completion of the SACS reaffirmation.  Under the leadership of Dr. Merdis McCarter, and with the help of a strong team, Winston-Salem State University completed the process with very positive results.  In fact, our Quality Enhancement Plan, or QEP, was cited as a work of distinction.  The “Rams Write” program was well designed and well marketed to the campus.  Additionally, we know this focus on writing in the major will have a positive impact on our students.

The other accomplishment that will have a long-term impact on the university and our students was the completion of our Strategic Plan for 2010-2015.  We already have begun to implement some of the strategies outlined in the plan, but we do have a great deal of work in front of us.

While the pilot program of liberal learning seminars called for in the plan represents an important first step in curriculum reform, I believe revitalizing the entire curriculum is at the core of changing the way we educate students.  I have said it before and I will continue to emphasize that we must change our approach to education if we are to produce graduates who have the ability to be successful in the ever-changing global community in which we all now live.

Beyond accreditation and the Strategic Plan, there were certainly many other positive accomplishments during the year.  For example, we received approval from the UNC Board of Governors for our first doctoral program.  With SACS approval, we hope to begin the physical therapy doctorate program in January 2011.  The development of a one-stop registration process last fall improved efficiency and customer service for our students.  Our continued partnership with Wake Forest University and Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center led to an amazing bio-dynamics lab and a neuroscience training cooperative.  And our Centers continued to support community efforts and expand their programs and their influence.

This past year was also a time that saw a great deal of focus on our athletics program.  After the decision was made to remain an NCAA Division II school, we knew we had a great deal of work to do to complete the transition.  In addition to meeting NCAA and CIAA compliance requirements, we had to create an athletic budget to ensure that our expenses were not greater than our revenues.  With the addition of Bill Hayes as our new athletic director, the budget efforts were not just aimed at reducing costs.  Bill and his staff have done a great deal of work to launch major athletic fundraising initiatives and to increase the department’s community outreach as a means of creating excitement and support for WSSU teams.  As part of that outreach, our first football game will be against Virginia Union and we will be playing that game in High Point, North Carolina.

Through so many of our efforts the past year, we have been working diligently toward the future and toward our goals to improve student retention and graduation rates, with a special emphasis on improving post-graduation outcomes.

Yet, we also do not want to lose sight of the portion of our mission that makes us an HBCU – providing access to higher education for people of color.  To that end, we have taken steps to improve the support we provide for our incoming students, many of whom are first-generation college students.  The expanded RAMDITION orientation program increased the support provided to the freshman class.  Through approaches outlined in the Strategic Plan, we will also improve the advising services provided, and we are exploring other ways of ensuring that students will be successful on campus – and after they leave WSSU.

To that end, we created a Dual Admission Program with Forsyth Technical Community College.  Students who are not as well-prepared for the rigors of a college education as they should be can now be admitted to both Forsyth Tech and WSSU, with access to resources on both campuses.  When the work at Forsyth Tech is completed, those students will matriculate to WSSU without the need to re-apply.

These efforts are just a few of the accomplishments that were completed during this school year.  Even though the total list is certainly impressive, we know that the 2010-2011 academic year will require a great deal of effort as we face new challenges and accept new opportunities.

We will continue to adjust our resources, examine all of our options and make decisions based on the direction provided by the Strategic Plan.   While the plan has five goals, each of them was developed with one purpose in mind – the success of our students.  Improving the retention rates, graduation rates and post-graduation outcomes of our students will be the driving force behind all that we do during the new academic year.

As always, I look to each of you to help the university continue to progress and to ensure that we are providing our students with the education and the college experiences that will make a positive difference in their lives.

Winston-Salem State University (WSSU) has announced a restructuring that is designed to provide more implementation support for its strategic plan that focuses on improving student retention, graduation rates and post-graduation outcomes.  The changes will become effective July 1, 2010.

“Our strategic plan has identified the programs and initiatives that will provide our students with the support that they need to be successful while at Winston-Salem State and after graduation,” said Chancellor Donald J. Reaves.  “We define success as graduates who are well-prepared for advanced study or work in their chosen profession and who also are willing and capable of providing leadership and service to the community.  There is, however, a set of management challenges that must be addressed if we are to implement successfully the strategies that are contained in the plan.”

To provide the implementation support necessary to monitor and measure the work outlined in the strategic plan, the role of the executive vice chancellor for management and strategic initiatives will be realigned.

Dr. Dorcas Colvin

“We must have someone working continuously on the various aspects of the plan,” Reaves explained.  “Dr. Dorcas Colvin will be the day-to-day driver of our implementation efforts.   Reporting directly to me, and working collaboratively with the other senior officers who have responsibility for various aspects of the plan, she will lead the on-going implementation effort and will ensure that we are measuring our progress in a meaningful manner.

“We will be reassigning the enrollment service and human resources function to allow the executive vice president to provide leadership for new initiatives such as staff development, service excellence and process improvements,” Reaves added.  “Dr. Colvin also has been designated as WSSU’s project manager for the UNC-FIT, or Finance Improvement and Transformation initiative, which is designed to align people, processes and technology throughout the multi-campus University system.”

In August 2008 the responsibility for enrollment management was assigned temporarily to Colvin while the university searched for a new provost.  With Provost Brenda Allen in place for a year, enrollment management will be reassigned to academic affairs.  Additionally, the office of human resources will be reassigned to the finance and administration area where it is better aligned with other business operations.

As part of its larger restructuring effort, the university will create a Secondary Education Department within the School of Education and Human Performance to better serve students who are preparing to teach high school English, mathematics and science.

“We have been providing a high level of education in these specific subject areas that have been housed in our College of Arts and Sciences,” said Reaves.  “By consolidating our secondary education program in the School of Education and Human Performance, we can focus more attention on teacher training.  The world of teaching has changed significantly over the years and we need to be sure that the teachers that we produce are equipped to be successful in the classroom.”

Other changes include moving the physical education major from the Department of Human Performance and Sports Sciences to the new Department of Secondary Education and the English as a Second Language program from the College of Arts and Sciences to the new Department of Educational Leadership, Counseling, and Professional Studies. The new departments will become effective July 1.

The university is also reorganizing the administration of its graduate programs by eliminating the School of Graduate Studies and Research and consolidating the responsibilities for graduate school programs administration, institutional research, sponsored projects and special projects under one associate provost.    Effective July 1, Dr. Carolynn Berry, currently assistant provost for planning, assessment and research will become an associate provost with responsibility for the activities outlined above.   She also will retain responsibility for institutional research.

Dr. Carolynn Berry

WSSU’s strategic plan for 2010-2015 includes five goals that address the curricular, infrastructure and resource factors that have been identified as most relevant to successful academic outcomes.  The five goals are centered on academic excellence at the undergraduate and graduate levels; student success; community engagement; efficiency, effectiveness and resources; and university pride and culture.

“These organizational changes will enable the university to manage more effectively its day-to-day responsibilities while focusing on the implementation requirements of the strategic plan,” Reaves said.

Irene Pace Hairston

Irene Pace Hairston, a WSSU alumna, former board trustee, and strong supporter of Winston-Salem State University, died Thursday, June 17, 2010. She was 96 years old.

Her memorial service was held June 22, at Goler Metropolitan AME Zion Church in Winston-Salem.

Hairston was a dedicated educator for more than four decades. She was not only an educator but a dedicated civil servant as well. She served as a member of the city/county planning board for 16 years from 1980 to 1996.

After graduating from Columbia Heights High School, she enrolled at what was then Winston-Salem Teacher’s College.

Her parents’ house burned down, and Hairston left school with a two-year teaching certificate. She taught school for a few years so that she could earn money to help her parents rebuild their home. Then, she went back to college and earned a bachelor’s at WSSU and then a master’s degree from N.C. A&T State University.

When Winston-Salem State’s nursing program was in danger of losing its accreditation in 1989, Hairston is widely credited with saving the program. As a member of the WSSU Board of Trustees, she used the connections she made in the school system and as a community volunteer to get the ear of politicians and decision makers to save the program.

Hairston also served as member of the Winston-Salem Urban League Board of Directors. For her service, she received the League’s Community Service Award.

Because of her attention to community development concerns, the needs of small businesses, and individuals in need of help in the community, she was named “Woman of the Year” by the Winston-Salem Chronicle in 1992.

In recognition of her unwavering support of her alma mater, Hairston was awarded the Doctor of Humane Letters degree by WSSU in 1993.

Kevin Ritsche is WSSU's new interim baseball coach.

Winston-Salem State University (WSSU) will field a baseball team next spring for the first time since 1973.

“Having a baseball team was a requirement to join the CIAA, but beyond that, it is a great sport to add to the athletic roster,” said Chancellor Donald J. Reaves.  “I believe a Rams baseball team will be good for the university’s athletic program and for the image of the university as an athletic competitor.  As an avid baseball fan, I am certainly excited.”

“I understand why the CIAA wanted to expand the conference’s baseball presence,” said Bill Hayes, WSSU’s athletic director.  “Developing an eight-team league will definitely create more competitive play within the conference.  As for WSSU, I think the local community is much more excited about baseball in general as shown by the attendance at DASH games in Winston-Salem and Grasshopper games in Greensboro.  I am hopeful that the growing interest in baseball will create support for our team as well.”

Chancellor Reaves (left) and WSSU director of Athletics (right) listen as Ritsche answers questions from the media.

WSSU has hired Kevin Ritsche as interim, part-time head coach in an effort to move the baseball program forward.  Ritsche has been an assistant professor in exercise science at the university since 2006.  He was team captain and later a graduate assistant for the varsity baseball team at The College of St. Scholastica in Duluth, Minn., where he earned his graduate and undergraduate degrees in exercise physiology.  He was also a two-time Academic All-American and selected for the Midwest Baseball All-Region First Team in 2004.

The CIAA now requires that schools entering the conference have a baseball program.  With the addition of Chowan University, Lincoln University and now WSSU, eight of the 13 CIAA schools will have baseball teams next spring.

Student researcher Erin Byrd makes a point during her presentation.

Twenty-three undergraduate students from Winston-Salem State University (WSSU) and Forsyth Technical Community College (FTCC) were recently awarded for their research efforts as participants in a summer program designed to give them research experience over a five-week period.

The Summer Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE) program is one of the project activities associated with a five-year $1.75 million National Science Foundation (NSF) grant to fund the HBCU-UP Program at Winston-Salem State University.  The grant runs from September 2009 to August 2014.

The goals of the WSSU HBCU-UP are as follows:
•           To increase the number of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) majors graduating from WSSU
•           To strengthen undergraduate research education and capacity at WSSU
•           To increase the number of STEM graduates who matriculate into graduate programs.

Student researcher Cory McCoy points to facts during a presentation to Dr. Charles Ford, dean of WSSU's College of Arts and Sciences.

This NSF HBCU-UP grant seeks to investigate how a research-intensive program can enhance STEM education at WSSU. A major theme of the grant is the engagement of STEM students at WSSU in “active learning” and “learning through research” in order to better prepare them for gaining successful admission into research intensive Ph.D. programs.

This year’s SURE program at WSSU ran from May17 to June 25. It consisted of 23 student participants, 18 WSSU faculty research mentors, and advisers in the STEM fields.  Most of the participants were undergraduate students from WSSU, including three students from Forsyth Tech Community College.

Students were involved in activities that included pairing up students to conduct cutting-edge research with WSSU STEM research faculty members from the departments of Chemistry, Life Sciences, Computer Science and Mathematics.  In addition, these students attended weekly research seminars and various hands-on workshops on searching scientific literature, writing a research report, research presentation skills, and guidelines on graduate school applications.

The program concluded with a Research Presentation Day on June 23, 2010.  Each of the SURE participants gave a research poster presentation of the research studies they conducted during the five-week program.

Each student participant received a certificate acknowledging their involvement in the program.

Rear Admiral Clara Cobb

Rear Admiral Clara H. Cobb, United States Assistant Surgeon General, served as a keynote speaker for Leadership Institute II held June 17-18 at Winston-Salem State University (WSSU).

Organized by WSSU’s Center of Excellence for the Elimination of Health Disparities (CEEHD), the institute is designed to help prepare young professional minority educators to move into leadership positions within nursing education programs.

“We know we need more minority health care providers as part of our efforts to eliminate health disparities throughout the community, this state and this nation,” said Dr. Sylvia Flack, executive director of the CEEHD.  “We also need, however, more minority nurses in leadership roles.”

Dr. Flack presents Rear Admiral Cobb with a token of appreciation from the university.

As assistant surgeon general, Cobb is the regional health administrator for eight southeastern states, including North Carolina. Other keynote speakers for the institute included Dr. Debra A. Toney, president of the National Black Nurses Association and president of a home health care agency in Las Vegas, and Dr. Virginia Adams, past dean of nursing at the University of North Carolina-Wilmington and consultant on diversity and global issues for the National League for Nursing.

“The institute provides those aspiring to leadership positions in nursing education and individuals who are new in leadership positions with the opportunity to hear from some excellent speakers,” said Flack.  “More importantly, however, it provides the opportunity to be mentored by these outstanding women.”

In addition to the presentations, protégées attending the institute were matched with mentors who represented the top researchers, administrators, educators, policy makers and clinicians in nursing.

“By providing mentors to the young professionals, we hope to accelerate leadership development and provide ongoing career support,” Flack added.  “The program should certainly impact efforts to prepare more young professionals to assume leadership roles in nursing education as well as in the clinical field, both of which are extremely important to the future of healthcare.”

Happy Hill: Pride and Dignity, 2006 by Chandra Cox

Winston-Salem State University’s Diggs Gallery (WSSU) opened its summer season with an art exhibit inspired by the Happy Hill community of Winston-Salem.

The exhibition is titled Pride & Dignity from the Hill: A Celebration of the Historic Happy Hill Community. The exhibition will run through February 26, 2011.

An “Opening Reception and Honoring Happy Hill: Past and Present” will be held on Friday, July 9, at 7 p.m. The reception will feature music by the Rising Ebenezer Baptist Church Youth Choir and Voices from Happy Hill Community members.

Diggs Gallery director Belinda Tate

“Pride and Dignity from the Hill is a unique confluence of memory, community history, and visual art,” said Belinda Tate, director of Diggs Gallery. “The exhibition pays homage to struggle and progress of all African Americans through a vibrant interplay of stories and family photos from Happy Hill intermixed with important works by nationally celebrated artists.”

Happy Hill is Winston-Salem’s oldest African-American community.  For generations, residents have preserved the oral history of the neighborhood and its families.  The exhibition documents this important legacy through the art and testimony of community leaders such as Georgiana Paige McCoy, Maurice Pitts Johnson, Kathleen Bitting Mock, Pastor Edith Jones, Nathaniel Tucker, William “Rock” Bitting, WSSU alumnus Jerry Hanes, Glen Johnson, Ben Piggott, Leander Sales, Kayyum Allah, WSSU alumnus James Funches and others.

The exhibition includes architectural models of area homes embellished by local participants, paintings, photographs, video documentation of the community and a multi-media installation of a juke joint.  The show features works by celebrated artists Chandra Cox, Juan Logan, Larry Sass, Leon Woods and Willie Little. It also features works by WSSU art majors Nichola Lumpkin and Ryan Gilliam.

This exhibition is sponsored by the Arts Council of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County, the North Carolina Arts Council, the Richard S. Reynolds III & Marie M. Reynolds Foundation and Winston-Salem State University.

Other Diggs Gallery and Happy Hill coming events include:

Happy Hill Cemetery Memorial
Saturday, July 10 • 10 a.m.
Rising Ebenezer Baptist Church, 900 Free Street in Winston-Salem

Procession to 17th Annual Happy Hill Reunion
(March from Happy Hill Cemetery to Happy Hill Park)
Saturday, July 10 • 11 a.m.

17th Annual Happy Hill Reunion
Saturday, July 10 • 11:30 a.m. – 6 p.m.

Happy Hill Park, 1201 Alder Street in Winston-Salem, NC 27127

Save the Date
Diggs Gallery 20th Anniversary Celebration
An Evening of Music and Spoken Word
Friday, October 15 • 7 p.m., $ Tickets required

About Diggs Gallery

Diggs Gallery, one of the South’s leading showcases dedicated to African and African‐American art, is located on the lower level of the O’Kelly Library on the campus of Winston‐Salem State University, 601 South Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive, Winston‐ Salem, NC 27110. It is open to the public Tuesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. until 5 p.m. The gallery is a major cultural center at Winston‐Salem State and offers one of the largest exhibition spaces dedicated to the arts of African and the African Diaspora in North Carolina. In 2007, the gallery was identified as one of the top 10 African‐ American galleries in the nation. For more information on this exhibition or to schedule a tour, call Diggs Gallery at 336‐750‐2458, e‐mail diggsinfo@wssu.edu or visit www.wssu.edu/diggs.

Dr. Notis Pagiavlas

A trip to Carowinds is a wonderful outing for area teenagers, but for some high school students in foster care attending this year’s Teens Engaged in Aspiring Mentorships – an Uplifting Partnership (TEAM-UP) program, it was also a learning experience.

In addition to having fun, the students also studied the business aspects of the park, including its target markets, advertising options, staff behaviors and merchandising.

A project spearheaded by Winston-Salem State University’s Center for Entrepreneurship, TEAM-UP provided a week of learning about careers, small business start-up, leadership and personal finance for 30 foster care children from Forsyth, Guilford and Durham counties.

“We began this program as a means of providing a unique experience for teenagers who are in foster care,” said Dr. Notis Pagiavlas, an associate professor of marketing at the university’s School of Business and Economics and director of the Center for Entrepreneurship.  “We want to make this experience fun for the students, but also have various life lessons embedded in what they are doing.”

For example, students went to Concord Mills for shopping, dinner and a movie. Participants were expected to use the funds provided to cover their expenses and have some savings for the future.  Providing this type of hands-on personal budgeting experience is designed to underscore the importance of what they were taught in the financial literacy session earlier that day.  The students learned teamwork skills and had a nutritional analysis lesson through a shared dinner at Triad Community Kitchen.

“Thinking about your future and fully grasping the concepts you need to be self-sufficient is difficult for many young people, but it can be exceptionally challenging if you do not have consistent, strong family support,” Pagiavlas added.  “By bringing these students together on our campus and providing them with a variety of learning and social opportunities, we hoped to influence their decisions to pursue productive careers and make better life choices.”

The TEAM-UP program ran from June 14-18 and was supported by a series of grants from BB&T, the DataMax Foundation and through the N.C. LINKS program of the participating counties’ Departments of Social Services. Participants were current or former foster children ages 16 through young adulthood.  Their selection was based on a variety of factors including level of maturity, involvement in local LINKS programs and service, a written essay, and their ability to participate in activities outside of the week-long program.

Two additional follow-up days were scheduled in July and August to provide focused support for the participants’ projects that will be presented at the program’s conclusion August 9.

University College will conduct two Transfer Orientation Programs and Services (TOPS) sessions for new transfer students entering fall 2010.  The TOPS session dates are Thursday, July 15 and Tuesday, August 3, 2010.  Below is the schedule for both sessions of the free event:

8:30 – 9:30 a.m.

Check-In

K. R. Williams Auditorium

9:30 – 9:50 a.m.

Orientation Welcome

K. R. Williams Auditorium

9:50 – 10:00 a.m.

Dismissal to Advising Locations

Locations TBD by Academic Divisions/Departments

10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

Advising and Registration

Locations TBD by Academic Divisions/Departments

12:00 – 5:00 p.m.

“Taking Care of Business”

Various Campus Offices

ACCUPLACER placement testing will occur from 9:00 – 11:00 a.m. for students who need to test.

A webpage devoted to TOPS will be posted at the University College website on Thursday July 1, 2010.

to Dr. Merdis McCarter and WSSU’s SACS accreditation team for successfully guiding the university through the SACS Reaffirmation process and on the recognition of the university’s “Rams Write” Quality Enhancement Plan being cited as a “Work of Distinction” by the SACS Reaffirmation team. Outstanding!!!

Linda Cole

to Linda Scott Cole, WSSU Program Specialist in Facilities Management, on her invitation to serve on the Business and Information Technologies Division Advisory Committee at Forsyth Technical Community College (FTCC).  “I am honored to be asked to serve FTCC by providing current curriculum feedback and new course study suggestions that the administration feels are vital to the success of its programs”, said Cole, who received an Associate in Applied Science degree in Business Administration upon her graduation from FTCC, with high honors, in 2005.

Dr. Mark Schultz (left) of UNC-G and Amber Johnson with presentation poster.

to Amber J. Johnson, a WSSU 2006 Psychology major and now a social research specialist in the WSSU Center of Excellence for the Elimination of Health Disparities, on her May presentation to the UNC-G Public Health Education Poster Session. Her poster presentation was titled “Spatial Analysis of Select Factors that Contribute to Health Disparities in Forsyth County”. The poster, created with the help of Tim Mulrooney of the WSSU Center for Community Safety and consisted of spatial maps that compared certain factors of the built environment as they relate to the spatial distribution of minorities in Forsyth county.  Factors included: location of fast food restaurants, grocery stores, ABC and convenience stores, available parking space, and available health care facilities. ABC  and convenience stores were found to be centrally located in areas with a high percentages of minorities. Her research indicated that only two grocery stores were located in East Winston, a primarily black neighborhood.  She concluded that these factors could be implicated in the development and sustainment of health disparities in Forsyth County. Johnson earned a master’s degree in Public Health from UNC-G in 2010.

to the following School and Programs on their accreditations:

•School of Business and Economics – AACSB International

•Social Work – Council on Social Work Education (CSWE)

•Rehabilitation Counseling – Council on Rehabilitation Ed (CORE)

•Nursing – Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE)

For the WSSU Friends of the Library, 25th Anniversary Celebration on Friday, November 5, 2010 from 6:30 pm – 10:30 pm at the Village Inn Conference Center in Clemmons, NC. For more information contact Dr. Mae Rodney at 336-750-2446 or email her at rodneyml@wssu.edu or contact Rachel Simon at 336-750-2442 or email her at simonra@wssu.edu.