MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Middle Tennessee State University alumnus Ronald Roberts was recently elected as new president of the MTSU Foundation while four other alumni were appointed as new members of the MTSU Foundation Board of Trustees. Roberts, a managing partner of DVL Seigenthaler public relations, will serve a two-year term as president that ends in June 2024. Newly appointed trustees Michael Gaines, an agent with State Farm; Ramsey Hassan, transportation business owner; Mike Ussery, president and COO of National HealthCare Crop; and Nashville attorney Luther Wright will serve three-year terms that began July 1. “We’re extremely pleased to add these outstanding…
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The Ponchatoula, Louisiana community honored the life of The Drum co-founder Carrie Wells Ponds on July 16, 2022, at the First True Love World Outreach Ministries in Ponchatoula. Mrs. Ponds died July 9, 2022, in her home surrounded by her husband of 60 years, Eddie Ponds, and daughters Michelle and Sharon. Mrs. Ponds was born February 10, 1941, in Ponchatoula to the late Louis Wells and Charlotte Wells Jefferson. She was educated in the Tangipahoa Parish School System and graduated from Greenville Park High in 1960. Always a dedicated mother and hard worker, she was a certified nursing assistant at Hammond Nursing Home and an early childhood educator at Little…
INCOLN, Neb. /PRNewswire/ — The Poetry Foundation has awarded a $343,750 grant to the African Poetry Book Fund (APBF) to fund a research study of African poetry book distribution. Established in 2012 by Kwame Dawes, George W. Holmes Distinguished Professor of English and Glenna Luschei Editor of Prairie Schooner, the APBF operates from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln through an international complex of additional collaborations and partnerships. First supported by the generosity of Laura and Robert F.X. Sillerman, the APBF since has been awarded grants from the Ford Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and the Academy of American Poets. The Poetry Foundation granted…
By Dr. John E. Warren, Publisher, The San Diego Voice & Viewpoint America is once again demanding action on guns and their availability to those murdering our children, families, loved ones and neighbors. It appears that no loss of life is great enough to overcome the money flowing to politicians who have exchanged their oaths of office for campaign contributions. It is a sad day when we see the funerals before us of those who have been murdered by assault weapons; hear the demand of Americans for change and watch legislators in the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate argue…
The World Outreach Church, 1921 State Hwy 99, Murfreesboro, is honored to host special guest speaker Dr. Ben Carson, founder of the American Cornerstone Institute, who will bring messages for both weekend worship services Saturday, July 23, at 6 pm and Sunday, July 24, at 9:30 am. Dr. Carson’s life and career is extensive in medicine and public service. Following his tenure as the 17th Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Dr. Carson founded The American Cornerstone Institute and works to uphold the principles that have guided him through life, and which make this country great: faith, liberty, community, and…
Maryville, TN – July 14, 2022 – NS4ed, a Tennessee-based educational technology provider (dedicated to helping all students attain successful futures through integrated career exploration and accessible labor market data), is thrilled to announce its partnership with The Boys’ Latin School of Philadelphia, a highly-respected charter school known for its superb support and development of college-bound students. According to NS4ed CEO and founder Dr. Joseph L. Goins, “The Boys’ Latin of Philadelphia is recognized across the country for their innovative approach to building a community of college-bound, career-ready, and civically responsible critical thinkers. NS4ed is excited to play a role in supporting these efforts…
Nashville, TENN. (TN Tribune) – Actors Bridge Ensemble (ABE) is pleased to present the World Premiere production of THE CALLING IS IN THE BODY by Cynthia C. Harris. Ms. Harris, who also directs the play, is a graduate of Hume Fogg High School, Florida A&M University (B.S.) and Tennessee State University (MPH). STORY: THE CALLING IS IN THE BODY is a choreopoem telling the story of Deidre Williams, a Nashville hero and early HIV advocate in the 1990s as the pandemic was growing internationally and changing culture and language around sex, safety, and intimacy. It is the story of her…
By Kimberly St. Julian-Varnon What Kimberly St. Julian-Varnon was THINKing about this week after she wrote: Trump fans need to keep Brittney Griner’s name out of their mouths With my THINK piece, I wanted to force into the light the disturbing online vitriol I continued to see as Americans learned more about Brittney Griner’s detainment in Russia. Admittedly, I was unprepared for the conservative and anti-women’s sports backlash. Perpetually the academic, I realized that the hatred launched at me was the same thrown at Griner — claims that we’re ungrateful Black women with unearned prestige, all spewed with a “you get what you…
Lebanon, Tenn. (TN Tribune(Derek and Micayla Giffin of Obion County are this year’s Achievement Award winners for the Tennessee Farm Bureau Young Farmers and Ranchers program. The results were announced during the YF&R Summer Conference held at the Farm Bureau Expo Center in Lebanon, Tenn. As a fifth-generation farmer, Derek operates Giffin Farms alongside Micayla and also his father and cousin near Union City. The family farm is a diversified row crop operation consisting of more than 1,000 acres of corn, soybeans, wheat and occasionally other small grains to increase diversity and produce their own cover crop seed. The couple…
By Kara Thompson, MDDC Intern | The AFRO The AFRO American Newspapers won big at the National Newspapers Publishers Association’s (NNPA) Messenger Awards this year. The publication, which began in 1892, was one of many newspapers recognized for their outstanding work in the Black Press. Among the eight awards won by the AFRO, the most notable was the John B. Russwurm Award, which was the pinnacle award of the evening. The award is named after Russwurm, who was the founder of Freedom’s Journal in 1827, the first newspaper in America that was owned and operated by African Americans. It is given to…