Vol. 3, No. 49                                                                             December 20, 2013 
 
 
Former First Lady passes to her rest
 
Mrs. Jean Reaves 
1930-2013
 
 

"With deep hurt and profound hope," Dr. Benjamin Reaves informed us that his beloved wife of 58 years, Jean Reaves, peacefully passed to her rest on December 17, 2013.

 

Mrs. Reaves served on the faculty of the Family and Consumer Sciences Department for 20 years, leaving as associate professor in 1997.

 

A memorial service is scheduled for 11:00 a.m. on Sunday, December 22, 2013, at the Patmos Chapel SDA Church, in Winter Park (Orlando), Florida. The service will be streamed on PraizeVision.

 

The family requests, in lieu of floral tributes, that donations be made directly to The Jean Reaves Scholarship Fund, in care of the Office of Development, Oakwood University, 7000 Adventist Blvd., Huntsville, AL 35896.


Personal tributes can be sent to the site:  www.jeanreaves.org.

    

All other correspondence may be sent to:

 

Dr. Benjamin Reaves and Family

c/o Patmos Chapel SDA Church

821 W. Swoope Avenue

Winter Park, FL 32789

(407) 629-7005

www.patmoschapel.org 

 
  
Oakwood's "Miracle on 42nd Street":
NYC's Times Square marquee features Oakwood University!
   

   Oakwood's

If they timed their Thanksgiving/Black Friday/Christmas/New Year's Eve activities in New York City's Times Square precisely, an estimated 986,000 daily visitors will see 10 seconds each hour of Oakwood University's new marketing awareness campaign flash up on the marquee beneath the famed CBS-TV Eye.

 

Begun on November 6 and running until January 4, 2014, OU can change its Times Square marquee messages every two weeks.

 

"Neutron Media, a full-service marketing firm that operates such high-profile outdoor multimedia venues as the Times Square marquee beneath the CBS Eye, had a cancellation and approached us here at Oakwood University, primarily due to our social media victory with The Home Depot 'Retool your School' campaign," explained Miss Denica King, OU assistant marketing director.

 

At the same time, however, Oakwood University has been working to expand its awareness to its non-traditional audiences. "So, for Oakwood and Neutron Media, this created a win-win situation."

 

Within its hourly 10 seconds of advertising - totaling four minutes each 24-hour day - OU shares with Time Square viewers its recent endorsements, such as our 2014 ranking in U.S. News and World Report, and that a Huntsville station described Oakwood as the "Julliard of the South" - WAAY-TV (ABC).

  

In its inaugural two-week ad cycle, OU also included the testimonial "A Life-changing Experience" - Rear Admiral Barry Black (ret.) (class of 1970) - referencing the U.S. Senate's first-ever Seventh-day Adventist and African American chaplain, who gained international attention for his searing and provocative invocations that opened each Senate session, during its 16-day federal government shutdown in October. 

 

Noting that this Times Square marquee marks possibly a first-time appearance for either a Seventh-day Adventist, historically Black college or university or Huntsville institution to have been so prominently displayed in this venue, King concluded that "Oakwood will continue to explore unique opportunities to promote its brand."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    

Earlier this week, BlackNews.com 

  1. e-blasted this "Oakwood's 'Miracle on 42nd Street'" news announcement on its own online newspaper, with over 250,000 monthly visitors; and
  2. distributed it to all the African-American newspapers, magazines, television stations, radio stations, and news-related web sites; and
  3. shared additionally with approximately 40,000 African American journalists and bloggers at nearly 1,000 media outlets; and 
  4. search-engine optimized for Google/Yahoo/Bing, and share it with our 600,000+ Facebook fans and Twitter followers.

 

  

A Holiday Greeting from our family to yours

Oakwood University Holiday Greeting 2013
Oakwood University Holiday Greeting 2013
 
 
"God-texted" prayers described in Adventist Review Online
  
"If you're going to prepare for a miracle where leprosy disappears, you've got to speak the truth to power." 

Heralded in some media outlets as the only "hero" of the 16-day U.S. federal government shutdown, U.S. Senate Chaplain Barry Black told Seventh-day Adventist pastors Sunday, December 8, 2013, their church "is sleeping through a revolution."

 

"And the reason why we are not experiencing the miracles that God would have us experience, is because we're not prepared to speak the truth to power," he admonished the nearly 1,000 attendees at the 34th annual Pastoral Evangelism & Leadership Council (PELC), held at Oakwood University in Huntsville, Alabama. 

 

Read the full story in the December 18 edition of Adventist Review Online. 
 

  

  

  

Strategic Plan Overview, 2013-2017

Installment 6 

 

At its annual meeting in October, the OU Board of Trustees approved Oakwood's direction for the next five years, outlined in "The Strategic Plan Overview." OU? Oh, Yes! has been presenting, in installments, the Organizational Priorities for each division. You are also welcome to view the document in its entirety on the Oakwood website. 

 

 

Priority 6: Fiscal Growth, Responsible Management, and our Long-term Stability.

 

Sabrina Cotton,
Vice President for Financial Administration

The Division of Financial Administration will secure the fiscal health of Oakwood University by the creation of non-tuition revenue, by managing internal financial resources in harmony with the strategic mission of the institution, and by decreasing dependence on governmental sources of income through the recovery of industries appropriate for the 21st century.

 

Goals across the next 5 years include:

  1. Increase revenue and decrease tuition dependence through the creation and/or procurement of mission and values-compatible businesses;
  2. Increase student employment opportunities;
  3. Create an industry development endowment;
  4. Repurpose and renovate facilities for new uses; and
  5. Plan for the development of new and needed facilities. 

 

 

 

 

  

Social Work students 'make the season bright' at local elementary school  

 

 

On December 11, 2013, members of the Oakwood's Eta Pi Chapter of the Phi Alpha Honor Society for Social Work collaborated with Morris Elementary School to provide six families with $50 Walmart gift certificates for the holidays.

 

As a result of OU students working with Ms. Ariela Angjeliu (counselor at Morris Elementary), a total of $300 was collected within a three-week period.

 

The recipients presented Dr. Octavio Ramirez (chapter sponsor, fifth from left) and Ms. Jade Callahan (chapter president, fourth from right) with handmade posters, expressing their gratitude. Also pictured are other members of the Eta Pi Chapter and Morris Elementary School staff.

 

 


Into all the World! 
Warren's book is one of the three textbooks for his Biblical Preaching class.
 

Well, at least all the Americas.

 

The book Ellen White on Preaching by Mervyn A. Warren was first published by Review and Herald and featured at the General Conference of 2010. Since then, Casa Publicadora Brasileira (Brazil Publishing House) has secured permission to translate the book into Portuguese and distribute it in hard copy and also launch it as an E-Book. 

 

As this academic publication takes wings beyond the boundaries of the USA, it carries the name of Oakwood University with it.

 

Warren is Dean of School of Religion here at OU where this book is one of his three now serving as textbooks in his class Biblical Preaching.

 

 

 

 

  

Oakwood's SAC wins reported in Southern Tidings

Attendees at the 2013 Society of Adventist Communicators Convention in Salt Lake City, Utah.

 

The latest Southern Tidings features a four-page report on the 2013 Society of Adventist Communicators (SAC) Convention, which took place in Salt Lake City this past October.

 

Oakwood University received multiple awards at the convention, including the Award for Excellence for their social media campaign to Retool Your school, a grant competition funded by The Home Depot.

 

In 2014, SAC will mark its 25th anniversary, at the convention in Jacksonville, Florida, October 16-18, 2014.

  




  

President Pollard's Fall Semester Update  

 

Click on the video to watch.

OUBN Oakwood Update - PELC 2013
OUBN Oakwood Update - PELC 2013
 
  

#findteleka

 

As the days go by since Dr. Patrick's disappearance, more and more questions are brought to light.  However, we believe in a God who specializes in the impossible. Please continue your prayers for Teleka Patrick (Oakwood, class of 2004) and her family as the search continues.  

  

A Dickens Christmas celebration

 

Employees and retirees celebrated "A Dickens Christmas" at the OU Employee Christmas Party on December 16, 2013.

 

The Millet Activity Center was transformed into Victorian England by the Christmas Party Committee: Patrice Conwell; Lucy Cort; Sylvia Germany; Pamela Henry; John Hill; Raymond King (decorations); Timothy McDonald (chair); Diane Rugless; Ivy Starks; Cheryl Sullivan; and Andrew Young.

 

Entertainment was provided by strolling carolers and photo opportunities. Prizes were awarded for the best costume, and a good time was had by all.