Genma Speaks: Michael J. Sorrell

Saturday, September 28, 2013

H.O.P.E. Scholarship Third Anniversary and #50for50 Kick Off on Living Your Best Life with Genma Holmes

On Saturday, September 29, 2013, tune in to hear us celebrate the 3rd Anniversary of H.O.P.E. Scholarship. Listen to the founders, Jeffery Chance and Michelle Nealy, share about their passion to help make quality education affordable to deserving students. Hear how they have stayed inspired to continue to give to others while still pursing their career and educational goals. We will also hear from H.O.P.E.'s fundraising chair, Brandy Jackson, who will give us input on how we can all "bloom where we are planted" to help others stay in school. And to help keep the motivational party flowing, we will be joined by everyone's favorite college President, President Michael J. Sorrel of Paul Quinn College.

In 3 years, HOPE has given away several scholarships and raised nearly $10,000! HOPE’s blog readership boasts 31,000+ views and we have a social network of over 5,000. HOPE has made the thoughts and views of university presidents, Phi Beta Kappas, and alumni accessible to current students. HOPE is helping to change the face of philanthropy through the H.O.P.E. Dealer movement by challenging millennials, ages 18 to 34, to give their time, money and talents to empower their communities.

Living Your Best Life, a radio show that empowers, inspires and motivates one to live their BEST life, can heard on 760 AM in the Middle-Tennessee Region, on Tune In, military bases, and streamed live on U-Stream.TV from 9-10AM CST. This show will also be aired on WTST, a member of the HBCU radio network.

More About H.O.P.E.

Since their inception in 2010, The H.O.P.E. Scholarship team has worked diligently to lighten the financial burden on college students by providing need-based scholarships. We understand the serious financial challenges that college students face. For that reason, H.O.P.E has raised nearly $10,000 and awarded five scholarships.

We have resolved to be HOPE DEALERS, individuals committed to sustaining historically black colleges and universities by empowering the students who attend them financially, physically and emotionally.

Please consider giving a gift to The H.O.P.E. Scholarship. Your donation provides more students with the opportunity to thrive in our competitive world. You can change the world by providing others the gift of a college education. Start with H.O.P.E. The impact is everlasting.

The H.O.P.E. Scholarship Initiative is a non-profit organization designed to empower college students facing financial hardships. The organization was founded by two Howard University alumni committed to serving their communities.

Photos from H.O.P.E. Scholarship 3rd Anniversary Party can be found here.

HBCUstory Part 2 on Living Your Best Life with Genma Holmes

Join Living Your Best Life with Genma Holmes as we profile organizations and leaders who lead by example. With extraordinary acts of kindness and charitable giving that help countless lives daily, these organizations and leaders embody "Be the change you want to see in the world".

Throughout 2013 listeners will hear from presidents of organizations who are global change agents. We will also hear from CEOs of social enterprise businesses who are changing communities and college educators who are taking their students out of the classroom and into surrounding neighborhoods to learn and serve others.

On Saturday, April 6, 2013 we will continue the dialogue with Dr. Crystal deGregory, founding editor of HBCUstory. Listen as the lively discussion from last week pick up where we left off. Updates on presenters, along with perspectives on open and closed campuses, the telling of the HBCUstory in places other than HBCU zoned areas of the community, and navigating the politics of higher education will be shared.

Hear why the HBCUstory Symposium will be an opportunity for young professors and doctoral candidates to gain value exposure for presenting their publications and a reminder for young academia to not become complacent in their careers as educators and mentors to the next generation.

Dr. deGregory will also share more insights from her dissertation: Raising a Nonviolent Army: Four Nashville Black Colleges and the Century Long Struggle for Civil Rights, 1830s-1930s, Vanderbilt University 2011.

Online registration can be found at HBCUstory Symposium.

Living Your Best Life, a radio show that empowers, inspires and motivates one to live their BEST life, can heard on 760 AM in the Middle-Tennessee Region, military bases, and streamed live on U-Stream.TV from 9-10AM CST. This show will also be aired on WTST, a member of the HBCU radio network.

More About HBCUstory

Founded in 2012, HBCUstory, Inc. is a nonprofit advocacy initiative, preserving, presenting and promoting inspiring stories of the Historically Black College and University (HBCU) community’s past and present, for our future.

Each and everyday, the HBCU community is writing the HBCUstory. We have fond memories of administrators, faculty, staff and fellow alumni–of people who believed in us and made us believe in ourselves.

We who believe in the mission and vision of HBCUs must leverage our HBCU stories as more than mere memories. They serve as compelling evidence for the future of these’s educational, cultural and social treasures.

At HBCUstory, we’re making memories matter.

HBCUstory Keynote Speaker Michael Sorrell, President of Paul Quinn College

Micheal J. Sorrell is the 34th president of Paul Quinn College in Dallas, Texas and is the reigning “HBCU Male President of the Year.” Under his trans-formative leadership, Paul Quinn demolished fifteen abandoned buildings, achieved full accreditation with the Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools (TRACS) and partnered with PepsiCo to transform its football field into the two-acre “WE Over Me Farm.” As Paul Quinn’s president, Sorrell is masterfully branding the college’s dynamic “Quinnite Nation,” which is experiencing one of the greatest turnarounds in the history of higher education.

More About HBCUstory's Founding Editor, Crystal deGregory, Ph.d

A native of Freeport, Bahamas, Dr. Crystal A. deGregory received her doctoral degree in history from Vanderbilt University in May 2011. Entitled "Raising a Nonviolent Army: Four Nashville Black Colleges and the Century-Long Struggle for Civil Rights, 1830s-1930s," her dissertation focuses on the role of American Baptist College, Fisk University, Meharry Medical College and Tennessee State University and their students in the struggle for equality, justice and civil rights in Nashville, Tennessee.

Crystal received her undergraduate training at the historic Fisk University. A proud Fiskite, the school's small but mighty faculty nurtured her love of history as both a passion and profession. In May 2005, she was awarded a master's degree from Vanderbilt for her thesis "The Color Divide in the Emergent Black Man's Party: The Political Strivings of the Bahamian Colored and Black Middle Class in the Progressive Liberal Party, 1953-1963."

A former fellow of the National Visionary Heritage Fellows Program of the National Visionary Leadership Project, her research on Drs. McDonald and Jamye Coleman Williams was included in the 2004 monograph, A Wealth of Wisdom: Legendary African American Elders Speak. In addition to being among the inaugural fellows of Vanderbilt's Center for Nashville Studies (in conjunction with Vanderbilt's College of Arts and Sciences), Crystal was the recipient of the Bahamas Government Graduate Scholarship and Lyford Cay Graduate Student awards. In 2010, she also won the alternate award for the TIAA-CREF Ruth Simms Hamilton Research Fellowship.

Crystal believes deeply in the unique mission of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) and to this end, proudly serves on the faculty of Tennessee State University's department of history, geography and political science. A regular contributor to HBCU Digest, she is also the founder and executive editor of HBCUstory.com, an online advocacy center presenting inspiring stories of the HBCU community's past and present, for our future.

Her work has been published in Encyclopedia of African American Popular Culture (2011), Tennessee Historical Quarterly (2010), Freedom Facts and Firsts: 400 Years of the African American Civil Rights Experience (2009), National African American Biography (2008), Notable Black American Men II (2007), and Encyclopedia of African American Business (2006). She has forthcoming works in The Tennessee State University Journal and in A Single Garment of Destiny: Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Globalization of an Ethical Ideal, Lewis V. Baldwin and Paul Dekar, editors; she will also serve as editor for Emancipation and the Fight for Freedom, the sixth volume in the 12-part series, Tennessee in the Civil War: The Best of the Tennessee Historical Quarterly.

Photo credits: Genma Holmes, Paul Quinn College, and HBCUstory

HBCUstory on Living Your Best Life with Genma Holmes

Join us on Saturday, March 30, 2013, to hear from the founding editor of HBCUstory, Dr. Crystal deGregory. Listen to Dr. deGregory share her passion for chronicling the history, the struggles, the challenges, and the beauty of the nation's Historically Black Universities and Colleges. deGregory will share the traditional roles of HBCUs as well as the relevancy of HBCUs as they adapt to the changing demographics of our country and financial challenges. deGregory will discuss the culture of academia, young academics need for mentoring, and why HBCU institutions must get better at telling their story beyond the HBCU community.

Tune in to hear share about the stellar line up of speakers of the Inaugural HBCUstory Symposium and it's keynote speaker, President Sorrell of Paul Quinn College. Listen to how her share how her dream is now reality with the support of the Nashville Public Library and why the symposium will be a safe environment to exchange ideas and share concerns that will collect “Inspiring Stories of the Past and Present, For Our Future.”

Part 1 will air this weekend.

Living Your Best Life, a radio show that empowers, inspires and motivates one to live their BEST life, can heard on 760 AM in the Middle-Tennessee Region, military bases, and streamed live on U-Stream.TV from 9-10AM CST. This show will also be aired on WTST, a member of the HBCU radio network.

More About HBCUStory

Founded in 2012, HBCUstory, Inc. is a nonprofit advocacy initiative, preserving, presenting and promoting inspiring stories of the Historically Black College and University (HBCU) community’s past and present, for our future.

Each and everyday, the HBCU community is writing the HBCUstory. We have fond memories of administrators, faculty, staff and fellow alumni–of people who believed in us and made us believe in ourselves.

We who believe in the mission and vision of HBCUs must leverage our HBCU stories as more than mere memories. They serve as compelling evidence for the future of these’s educational, cultural and social treasures.

At HBCUstory, we’re making memories matter.

Symposium Announcement

Nashville-Based HBCUSTORY Announces Distinguished HBCU President as Keynote for Inaugural Symposium
Symposium will also feature 15 scholars from across the nation

NASHVILLE, TN – March 18, 2013: Nashville-based HBCUSTORY Inc. announces that Michael J. Sorrell, Esq., president of Paul Quinn College in Dallas, will serve as keynote speaker for the inaugural HBCUSTORY Symposium, scheduled Saturday, April 27, from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Main Nashville Public Library at 615 Church Street.

Presented in partnership with the Nashville Public Library and the Nashville Public Library Foundation, the 2013 HBCUSTORY Symposium, themed “Inspiring Stories of the Past and Present, For Our Future” will also feature fifteen scholars from across the nation. These academicians and practitioners will share original research on emerging topics in the fields of history, information science, fundraising, partnerships, LBGTQ studies, athletics and wellness.

“This historic event provides an opportunity for members of the HBCU community to support positive stories reflecting the great work HBCUs have done and are doing,” said Dr. Crystal A. deGregory, HBCUSTORY Founder and Executive Director. “Our HBCUSTORY Symposium encourages HBCUs to craft their own stories and encourages academicians to consider HBCUs as subjects worthy of serious study. And, perhaps, even more importantly, the Symposium compels HBCU supporters to take an active role in ensuring a bright future for these giants in the pantheon of American educational history.”

Named by HBCU Digest as its “2012 HBCU Male President of the Year,” Sorrell is leading Paul Quinn College into one of the greatest turnarounds in the history of higher education, which includes the college being named by its peers as HBCU Digest’s “2011 HBCU of the Year” and being selected as a finalist for the 2013 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll.

“This type of symposium is long overdue,” Sorrell said. “Kudos to Dr. deGregory for creating a venue for scholarly discourse around a topic about which so many of us are passionate. Paul Quinn College and I will always support efforts that are committed to analyzing, debating, and celebrating both the history and the future of HBCUs.”

To register for the 2013 Symposium, please visit http://www.hbcustorysymposium.eventbrite.com. Registration is required. Limited on-site registration is available.
To learn more about HBCUSTORY, visit us online at http://www.hbcustory.com/

HBCUstory Storytellers

FOUNDER & EXECUTIVE EDITOR/HISTORY & CULTURE EDITOR
Crystal A. deGregory, Ph.D. is a graduate of the historic Fisk University ’03. She received her master’s and doctoral degrees in history from Vanderbilt University and now teaches in Tennessee State University’s department of history, geography and political science. Follow her on twitter at @HBCUstorian or contact her via email at cadegregory@HBCUstory.com.

MANAGING EDITOR/HEALTH & WELLNESS EDITOR
E. Clare Stewart, MSPH is graduate of Fisk University ’05 and Meharry Medical College, School of Graduate Studies and Research. She currently serves as the Community Coordinator for the HBCU Wellness Project at Fisk University. Follow her on twitter at @EClareStewart or contact her via email at ecstewart@HBCUstory.com.

Photo credits: Genma Holmes

President of Paul Quinn College on Living Your Best Life with Genma Holmes

Update: Audio of show can be found here.

Join Living Your Best Life with Genma Holmes as we profile organizations and leaders who lead by example. With extraordinary acts of kindness and charitable giving that help countless lives daily, these organizations and leaders embody "Be the change you want to see in the world".

Throughout 2013 listeners will hear from presidents of organizations who are global change agents. We will also hear from CEOs of social enterprise businesses who are changing communities and college educators who are taking their students out of the classroom and into surrounding neighborhoods to learn and serve others.

Join us on Saturday, February 16, 2013, to hear from 2012 HBCU Male President of the Year, Michael J. Sorrell. Listen to President Sorrell share his passion for Paul Quinn College and the students of Quinnite Nation. Hear him talk about the numerous challenges he encountered on day one of his tenure at Paul Quinn College and how those challenges did not deter him for setting (and achieving) goals for the school that has inspired his students... and the nation.

Tune in to hear why he believes Paul Quinn College is on the path to becoming one of America's best small colleges. President Sorrell will share about servant leadership and its role in preparing college students for their future now. He will also discuss why he believes Paul Quinn College's Center for Philanthropy and Fundraising will be a "transformative force within our society

We will also hear from Marybeth Gasman who will share her insights on our interview with President Sorrell.

Living Your Best Life, a radio show that empowers, inspires and motivates one to live their BEST life, can heard on 760 AM in the Middle-Tennessee Region, military bases, and streamed live on U-Stream.TV from 9-10AM CST. This show will also be aired on WTST, a member of the HBCU radio network.

More About President Michael J. Sorrell

Michael J. Sorrell is the 34^th President of Paul Quinn College and the reigning “HBCU Male President of the Year”. Under his leadership, Paul Quinn is experiencing one of the greatest turnarounds in the history of higher education. His vision is to transform the school into one of America’s great small colleges by focusing on servant leadership and academic rigor. Among the college’s numerous accomplishments during President Sorrell’s tenure have been: winning the “2011 HBCU of the Year” and the “2012 HBCU Student Government Association of the Year” titled; the demolition of 15 abandoned campus buildings; partnering with PepsiCo to transform the football field into the two acre “WE over Me Farm”; and achieving full accreditation with the Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools (TRACS).

Michael received his J.D. and M.A. in Public Policy from Duke University. While in law school, he was one of the founding members of the Journal of Gender Law & Policy and served as the Vice President of the Duke Bar Association. Michael was a recipient of the Sloan Foundation Graduate Fellowship, which funded his studies at both Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government (as a graduate fellow) and Duke University. He graduated from Oberlin College with a B.A. in Government, served as Secretary-Treasurer of his senior class, was a two-time captain of the men’s varsity basketball team, and graduated as the school’s fifth all-time leading scorer.

The President recently joined the Alpha Epsilon Boule of Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity and is a life member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. He currently serves on the National Finance Committee for Obama for America and on the boards of Amegy Bank, Teach for America, the North Texas Public Broadcasting Company, Inc. and KIPP Truth Academy. He also has been recognized by the Root Online Magazine as a member of the “Root 100” (a list of the top 100 emerging leaders in America) and the Dallas Observer as one of Dallas’ “30 Most Interesting People”. Among his other recognitions are: the Excellence in Education Distinguished Alumni Award from his high school, St. Ignatius College Prep in Chicago, Illinois; the A. Kenneth Pye Award for Educational Excellence from Duke University’s School of Law; and the TRACS Leadership Award. He is a past recipient of the Dallas Urban League’s Torch for Community Leadership and both the President’s and C.B. Bunkley Awards from J.L. Turner for his outstanding contributions to the Dallas legal community.

President Sorrell is married to the former Natalie Jenkins. Natalie is an alumna of Spelman College and received her MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. They have one son, two-year old Michael Augustus.

Wall Street Article featuring Paul Quinn College can be found here.

Paul Quinn College on Living Your Best Life with Genma Holmes

Update: Audio of show can be found here.

Join Living Your Best Life with Genma Holmes as we profile organizations and leaders who lead by example. With extraordinary acts of kindness and charitable giving that help countless lives daily, these organizations and leaders embody "Be the change you want to see in the world".

Throughout 2013 listeners will hear from presidents of organizations who are global change agents. We will also hear from CEOs of social enterprise businesses who are changing communities and college educators who are taking their students out of the classroom and into surrounding neighborhoods to learn and serve others.

Join us on Saturday, February 9, 2013 as we officially kick off a year of living and giving with Paul Quinn College Center for Fundraising and Philanthropy's executive director, Halima Leak. Listen as she shares with us her experiences as a fundraiser for organizations like the United Way of Forsyth County, Communities in Schools of Wake County, INROADS NC / Triangle, Barnard College of Columbia University, the New York University School of Law, and the Faculty of Arts and Science at New York University.

Halima will discuss her study of philanthropy in education as a doctoral student in New York University's Higher Education Program. Halima will also share the exciting historical news of her new position at Paul Quinn College and the impact the center will have in the world of philanthropy while developing and educating young leaders. Hear how Paul Quinn's program will empower communities of color and HBCUs throughout the nation.

Living Your Best Life, a radio show that empowers, inspires and motivates one to live their BEST life, can heard on 760 AM in the Middle-Tennessee Region, military bases, and streamed live on U-Stream.TV from 9-10AM CST. This show will also be aired on WTST, a member of the HBCU radio network.

More About Paul Quinn College

Michael J. Sorrell, 34th President of Paul Quinn College

Paul Quinn College has received approval from the Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools, also known as TRACS, to include Entrepreneurship and Fundraising and Philanthropy as concentrations in the College’s Business Administration program which confers a bachelor of science to its graduates. Students will be able to declare the two concentrations starting Fall 2013.

“Our goal is to empower students from under-resourced communities around the world use their power, abilities, and imagination to change not just their circumstance, but those of everyone around them” said Michael J. Sorrell, president of Paul Quinn. “This is the Quinnite Nation’s new urban college model. We will use higher education as an economic development incubator for under-resourced communities. These programs are another step in that direction.”

Entrepreneurship at Paul Quinn will train students to become conscious business developers and investors in under-resourced communities. Entrepreneurship students will be expected to carry out the College’s mission of servant leadership by applying the principles of business ethics and social responsibility. Graduates of the program will have learned to resolve ethical dilemmas to improve business opportunity and development in underserved communities. Courses will include social entrepreneurship, a social entrepreneurship internship, small business management, and leadership.

The first of its kind to be established at a historically black college or university and only the second undergraduate institution to offer such a degree in America,Paul Quinn’s undergraduate program in Fundraising and Philanthropy is a comprehensive curriculum that will prepare students to compete for careers related to the emerging field of philanthropy. Recognized as one of the hottest 25 future careers by U.S. News and World Report, fundraising creates leaders among diverse career paths related to the philanthropic sector. Courses at Paul Quinn will include advanced fundraising, donor relations, grant proposal writing, and prospect research.

Paul Quinn was accredited by TRACS in 2011. The College overcame accreditation challenges by achieving full accreditation status in a record-breaking 18 months. TRACS is recognized by the U.S. Department of Education, the Council for Higher Education Accreditation, and the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.

More About Halima Leak

Executive Director of Paul Quinn's Center for Fundraising and Philanthropy

Halima Leak has spent close to 15 years involved in fundraising and philanthropy as both a practitioner and scholar. Her experience includes institutions and organizations such as: The City University of New York’s School of Professional Studies, New York University, Barnard College of Columbia University, and Communities in Schools of Wake County (North Carolina). She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Hampton University and Master of Arts degree in Educational Sociology from New York University Steinhardt School of Education, from which derived her master thesis topic of research, “Alumni Giving and Historically Black Colleges and Universities.” Leak is also a Ph.D. candidate at the New York University Steinhardt School of Education. In addition to providing leadership for the Center for Fundraising and Philanthropy, she also serves as the Interim Director of Development for Paul Quinn College.

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Saturday, September 28, 2013

H.O.P.E. Scholarship Third Anniversary and #50for50 Kick Off on Living Your Best Life with Genma Holmes

Saturday, April 6, 2013

HBCUstory Part 2 on Living Your Best Life with Genma Holmes

Saturday, March 30, 2013

HBCUstory on Living Your Best Life with Genma Holmes

Saturday, February 16, 2013

President of Paul Quinn College on Living Your Best Life with Genma Holmes

Friday, February 8, 2013

Paul Quinn College on Living Your Best Life with Genma Holmes