Hampton University Establishes Partnership with U.S. Coast Guard

Hampton University Establishes Partnership with U.S. Coast Guard

HU Provost Dr. Pamela Hammond and Rear Adm. Kevin Cook, Coast Guard Director of Prevention Policy, joined by members of HU and U.S. Coast Guard, sign the Memorandum of Understanding.

Hampton University signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the U.S. Coast Guard on May 13. The partnership agreement will provide HU students with scholarships and internship opportunities in the Coast Guard.

This partnership will provide academic options to HU students and faculty, while supporting the Coast Guard’s civilian and military officer recruiting efforts. The agreement is a part of the Coast Guard’s Historically Black College and Universities outreach initiative.

“This partnership agreement between Hampton University and the U.S. Coast Guard provides an opportunity for HU students to gain much more insight into the wonderful professional and career programs in the Coast Guard while they are students and after graduating,” stated retired Maj. Gen. Wallace Arnold, director of the HU Data Conversion and Management Laboratory.

Under the new agreement, HU students may participate in internships in operations, intelligence studies, community relations, marketing, publicity, and information services among other areas within the Coast Guard.

HU students may also participate in the Coast Guard’s volunteer service program in which they work side-by-side with Coast Guard junior officers and civilian personnel.

In addition, full-time HU students eligible for the College Student Pre-Commissioning Initiative (CSPI) program can receive full tuition for up to two academic years, books and essential supplies, as well as active-duty Coast Guard benefits during their junior and senior years of college. The program provides students with valuable leadership, management, law enforcement, navigation and marine science skills and training.

The agreement will remain in effect for two years and may be renewed after the two-year period.

HU Logo Wins DHDP Security Committee Competition

HU Logo Wins Downtown Hampton Development Partnership Security Committee Competition

The first place winning logo submitted by HU faculty and students.

Hampton University Associate Professor Dr. Anne Pierce recently led a team of HU faculty and graphic design students to be named the first place winners of the Downtown Hampton Development Partnership’s Security Committee logo design contest.      

The DHDP’s Security Committee was requesting local artists to submit concepts for a logo for the city’s new Eyes and Ears Program, a crime prevention program.  

The aim of the new plan is to get visitors, businesses, and residents involved in keeping their community safe. Based on the same principles as a neighborhood watch program, the initiative is partnering with the Hampton Police Department as well as other emergency agencies throughout the city.  The winning entry had to be creative and distinct, meanwhile incorporating the Downtown Hampton Development Partnership’s logo. 

Pierce first learned of the logo submission request in April through the Hampton Art League, of which she is a member.  As a photographer and art historian, Pierce thought this competition would be a great opportunity for students and faculty to unite.  Pierce, along with Assistant Professor Joseph Martin and his ART 402: Illustration and Rendering class, worked in the Armstrong-Slater graphic design studio as their research and product development space.  Together, they benchmarked similar programs in other states to develop various logo concepts.

“Collaboration is a hallmark of the design philosophy at Hampton University,” said Pierce.

In a blind review, the students chose to submit a design created by HU student Olu Fann.  Fann’s concept reflected the city of Hampton’s nautical past by using the Point Comfort Lighthouse as safety iconography. Pierce and Martin then aided Fann in refining the final design before submission.

“Mr. Fann has a canny sense of commercial logo copy and it shows in a design that is professional,” said Martin. 

The $300 award for first place will be used to support the graphic design studio printers.

 - Alison L. Phillips

HU/ODU Solar Decathlon Home Arrives

Unit 6 Unplugged

The ODU/HU Solar Decathlon team received an interesting gift overnight on the ODU campus. The house that Team Tidewater, which includes HU architecture students and engineering students from ODU, has  designed for the past two years arrived in four parts to the ODU campus.

At around 7:30 a.m. this morning a crane lifted each section of the Solar Decathlon unit off of flatbed trucks and onto concrete foundation blocks. Each piece was fitted together and the roof was lifted off of the truck and placed on the top.

The home is located on the lawn across 48th Street from the ODU Student Recreation Center.

Members of the Solar Decathlon team will spend the rest of the spring and summer doing construction on the home. The home which is officially called Unit 6 Unplugged will be disassembled once complete and moved to the National Mall's West Potomac Park in Washington, D.C.

The competition, which is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, takes place on the National Mall throughout Sept. 23 through Oct. 2. Team Tidewater is among 20 university teams that entered the competition and are expected to design, build and operate the most affordable, attractive, effective and energy-efficient solar-powered house.

Team Tidewater has focused their efforts on the local urban environment. Expanding on the goals of the DOE, to create a marketable and sustainable building that members of the community can afford.

For additional information on Team Tidewater, visit their site http://www.teamtidewaterva.org/

Noel Harrison, HU architecture student and member of Team Tidewater in the model kitchen.

Unit 6 Unplugged

- Naima A. Gethers

HU Pharmacy student featured on Walgreens Site

Hampton University School of Pharmacy Senior Kefa Wainaina received the Walgreens Diversity Scholarship for $2,000. As a result, he will be featured on the pharmacy chain’s community and social responsibility website, which features students and schools actively participating and initiating diversity awareness in pharmacy schools, and communities in which they serve.

Wainaina was awarded the Walgreens Diversity Scholarship by the HU School of Pharmacy scholarship committee, said Erin Berry, a pharmacy campus relations manager for Walgreens.

“When the school submits an annual reporting form to Walgreens outlining how the Diversity Donation funds were used, they also submit a form acknowledging the awarding of the Walgreens Diversity Scholarship to a deserving student and provide a rationale for why that student was chosen to receive the award at that school,” Berry said. “Kefa was shown to be a very deserving recipient of this award through his work in the community during rotations, which focused on addressing and reducing kidney disease in the Hampton Roads area.”

With Walgreens and AARP, Wainaina has participated in community health outreach programs, raising awareness about health conditions that affect, mainly, the minority population and the community at large. The groups visit churches and community events, where they offer immunizations, medication therapy management, and answer questions.

“It feels good, knowing that somebody noticed my efforts. It also motivates me to do more,” said Wainaina, who graduates May 8 and is set to work as a retail pharmacist at a Yorktown, Va. Walgreens.

Walgreens’ effort to prioritize and highlight community involvement in the pharmacy profession indicates that it’s an important effort, said HU School of Pharmacy Dean Dr. Wayne Harris.

And, HU is committed to that effort and the national priority of increasing minority representation in the health professions, he said.

“The project for which Mr. Wainaina is being highlighted is one of many examples of the outstanding work that Hampton students are performing in the community and we are extremely proud of these efforts,” Harris said.

                       
 -Leha Byrd

HU Cadet Named George C. Marshall Award Recipient

Cadet Ronald Britt

HU Cadet Named George C. Marshall Award Recipient

Graduating senior Ronald Britt, a psychology major and an Army ROTC cadet from Ellicott City, Md., was recently awarded the prestigious George C. Marshall Award.  The award is given to only the top-ranked cadets from across the nation. 

Each year, cadets are ranked and selected from their respective battalions based on scholarship, leadership, physical fitness, community involvement. Recipients are college seniors and a majority hold senior leadership positions within their schools or Army ROTC battalions.  To date, more than 9,000 Army cadets have been named Marshall Award winners.

By winning the award, Britt was invited to attend the 34^th Annual George C. Marshall Awards and Leadership Seminar, April 17-20 in Lexington, Va.  He was one of only 272 Army ROTC cadets from across the nation gathered for the three-day event to discuss the challenges they will encounter as new leaders in the U.S. Army.  

The event is designed around the principles of leadership practiced by the late George C. Marshall, former general of the U.S. Army, U.S. Secretary of State and Nobel prize winner. 

At first, Britt wasn’t aware of the value of the prestigious honor he had received.  But once at the seminar, he “realized it was a big honor.”

As the only cadet present from the HU Pirate Battalion, Britt had the unique opportunity to hear from several U.S. Army and military leaders, including U.S. Army Chief of Staff Gen. Martin E. Dempsey and Secretary of the Army John McHugh.

“You can learn a great deal from listening rather than talking,” said Britt.  

Following graduation, Britt leaves for Georgia on July 23 to begin training to use various military vehicles such as the Abrams tank and Humvee.

-Alison L. Phillips

Senior Launches Career Fighting for Justice as a Community Organizer

Senior Launches Career Fighting for Justice as a Community Organizer

Aaron Washington, a graduating senior at Hampton University, will put his education into action this summer by launching a career in community organizing with the Direct Action and Research Training (DART) Center.

The DART Center is a national network of congregation-based community organizations working to promote justice and fairness. Washington is one of fifteen individuals selected from a pool of more than 850 applicants to have been accepted into the DART Organizers Institute, a field school designed to train a new generation of community organizers.

Washington will be graduating in May with a major in English and a minor in criminal justice. During his time at HU, he was involved with Golden Key International Honour Society, Alpha Pi Sigma Criminal Justice Honor Society, worked as a Youth Program Leader with Youth Family & Education Services and the Hampton Parks & Recreation Department, and completed an internship with the South Carolina Attorney General’s Office.

The Institute’s four-month curriculum, offered annually, begins with a week of intensive coursework at Xavier University on the fundamentals of organizing. Following the week long classroom training, participants are matched with a DART member organization, where they engage in fifteen weeks of field training and skill development. Organizer Trainees also help community members explore possible solutions and implement action plans. After completing the training, graduates are then placed onto permanent salaried staff with a community organization while receiving continuing education, training, and mentoring.

Ben MacConnell, DART’s Recruitment Director, summarizes the program and why Aaron was selected from so many applicants, “We scour the country for individuals with hard-to-find personality traits like passion for justice and a strong work ethic. And then we give them the skills and training to launch a career tackling serious issues as community organizers. Aaron stood out from hundreds of applicants because he has shown tireless commitment to the Hampton community and is aware of the systemic problems many vulnerable populations are facing now during this recession.”

Washington believes that working as a community organizer with DART will give him, “a way to positively express my frustration and hopefully become part of making changes that will benefit various communities.”

Washington first learned about the DART Center from an information session he attended at Hampton University this past February. Attendees of this session were asked the question, ‘What in the community makes you angry?’ Washington reflects, “This question sparked a nerve inside of me. I have seen schools without a gym. I have seen community centers close. I have seen the mistreatment of the homeless and the poor. I have seen people fall prey to the loan industries. I became inspired. I believe that I have found my calling as a community organizer.”