Oakwood Hosts Fall Board of Trustees Meeting

Oakwood University's Board of Trustees held its Fall meeting this past Monday. Board meetings convene twice an academic year, primarily for the purpose of accepting reports from the various Divisions of the University as well as voting and amending policy. Board Members are comprised of North American Division, Union, and local Conference leadership as well as lay leaders and alumni of Oakwood University.

Major reports for this Fall meeting included Oakwood University's transition to the North American Division from the General Conference, updates on construction projects, plans for the Health and Wellness Center, and a major presentation about information technology concerns on the campus.

Click here to see a video version of President Leslie Pollard's report to the Board.

Oakwood Ranks Among Nation's 30 Best HBCUs

Best Colleges reports that Oakwood University has placed at #14 out of the top 30 historically black colleges and universities. To compile the list, they first looked at academic excellence and student satisfaction, and then factored in cultural impact and community service.

Best Colleges only includes institutions with at least two of the following four data points published:

Acceptance Rate
Retention Rate
Graduation Rate
Enrollment Rate

Every school was ranked against one another for each data point, and all data points were weighted equally. Schools that did not have a particular data point available were excluded from that specific ranking to avoid unfairly "punishing" them for not having that information available. These four data points cover the school's assessment of students, student opinion of the school, and student success once enrolled. Schools that excel in all four areas rank the highest in their respective categories.

Oakwood Grad Interns at Redstone Arsenal

RTC summer intern Sheldon Smith (left) and fellow intern Carl Grover (right) collaborated on a hexa-coper with aerial video and photography capabilities. (Photo by Destin Sandlin, RTC)

This past summer, Sheldon Smith, '13, experienced what he calls "one of the most valuable challenges of my college career thus far." He worked side-by-side with junior and senior test engineers at the Redstone Test Center (RTC) on the Redstone Arsenal, learning the tools it takes to be a successful engineer. One of these individuals is Carl Grover, a fellow summer intern assigned to RTC's Aviation Flight Test Directorate. "Together we researched what changes could be made to satisfy the requirements for test purposes at the RTC."

Smith said, "This project has been the highlight of my summer here at the RTC. It's a good feeling to know that I participated in a useful, collaborative effort that could significantly enhance RTC's capability to quickly, efficiently and cost effectively video- and photographically survey a potentially hazardous, post-test range environment.

Like most interns, Smith enjoyed the paycheck, but he says "the real payoff was the opportunity to work on a real project." He looks forward to continue working with the RTC to "field" the system.

Class of 1974 Donates to Oakwood

Oakwood University is pleased to announce a recent gift to support student scholarships and the much anticipated Health and Wellness Center on the campus. The Oakwood University Class of 1974 has made a generous donation to the Health and Wellness Center in the amount of $13,000, as well as a $2,000 gift to support a scholarship for Oakwood students in the name of the Martin family of Memphis Tenn.

"More and more we are seeing alumni stepping up to change the future for Oakwood," said Kisha Norris, CFRE, executive director of Advancement and Development. "It's exciting to see the alumni take such an active role in fundraising for their alma mater."

Oakwood University administration, faculty, staff, and students would like to extend a big thank you to the Class of 1974 for their generous gift to further the mission of the University.

If you, or someone you know, would like to make a gift to the University, please feel free to call us in the the Office of Advancement and Development at (256) 726-7201, or send an email to developmentoffice@oakwood.edu.

Alumni Notes

Jackson M. Doggette, Jr., '82, is the first African-American ordained minister to be appointed General Counsel for a regional conference. Doggette serves as the director of Philanthropy and Trust Services, and as general counsel, for the the Allegheny East Conference. He graduated from Oakwood with a major in Theology and minor in History, and has a masters degree in Divinity, and a doctor of laws degree.

James Butler, '93, is the new vice president for Information Technology at Washington Adventist University. He is no stranger to Adventist higher education, having spent the past 21 years at Oakwood University. Most recently, James served Oakwood as director of Administrative Software Systems and previously as a programmer analyst and webmaster. He holds an M.S. in Computing Technology in Education, and is pursuing his PhD in Information Systems with a concentration in Information Security.

Note: Share your Alumni News with us at pr@oakwood.edu.

Employee News

Oakwood University and the Tennessee Valley listening audience are happy to welcome Reginald Hicks as the new general manager and director of Oakwood's radio station, Praise 90.1 WJOU FM.

He brings to the station more than 30 years of experience in radio and television broadcasting and program development. Just prior to joining the staff at Oakwood, Hicks was the development director at WCLK 91.9 FM in Atlanta, Ga.

"Already we can feel the new energy at WJOU," said Kisha Norris, executive director of Advancement and Development. "Reggie's enthusiasm and ideas are what led to the invitation for him to join the Oakwood team."

WJOU broadcasts Christian programming 24 hours per day. Listen live at www.wjou.org.

OU Picture of the Week

Today, at the Bradford Cleveland Brooks Leadership Center, Dr. Tarshia Stanley, who writes under the pen name Carolina Knight, presented to Oakwood University students and faculty her first novel titled The Book of Ephesus: A Novel. The reading was sponsored by the Office of Academic Administration and the Eva B. Dykes Library, for educational enrichment and to inspire students to get more involved in reading, writing, and publishing. (Photo by Anthony Chornes, II)

About Oakwood

The mission of Oakwood University, a historically black, Seventh-day Adventist institution, is to transform students through biblically-based education for service to God and humanity.