Storyteller of the Year Awards Celebrate Architects and Preservationists of the HBCU Experience
NASHVILLE, TN.—Wednesday, September 9, 2015 — Nashville-based advocacy initiative HBCUstory Inc. will honor Meharry Medical College Professor Emeritus Henry A. Moses Ph.D. and HBCU Digest Founder Jarrett L. Carter Sr., during the initiative’s Storyteller of the Year Awards during the third annual HBCUstory Symposium, scheduled Oct. 9-10.
The Storyteller Awards, which recognize architects and preservationists of the HBCU experience, will be presented following the inaugural HBCUstory President’s Roundtable, which begins at 9:30 a.m. in the Clinton B. Fisk Memorial Chapel on Friday, Oct. 9.
“It is HBCUstory’s privilege to honor outstanding members of the HBCU community whose life and work provide the content for the stories we hold dear,” said Dr. Crystal A. deGregory, convenor of the symposium and founder of HBCUstory. “Dr. Moses’s career is unmatched, as is his dedication to his Meharry, and to Fisk where he established an endowed scholarship in honor of his father and Fisk alumnus, the Reverend Andrew McLean Spaulding ’34.”
Moses received his bachelor’s degree in chemistry at Livingstone College in Salisbury, N.C., in 1959 and later earned his master’s degree and Ph.D. from Purdue University. He began his tenure at Meharry in September 1964 as an assistant professor of biochemistry, becoming a full professor in 1981 and professor emeritus of biochemistry in 1999. Concurrently, he began teaching biochemistry in 1966 at Fisk University, where he serves as distinguished professor of biochemistry and biology.
“For more than 50 years, Henry A. Moses Ph.D. has been a revered touchstone for all Meharrians,” wrote Gayle Starling-Melvin in “A Legacy of Touching Lives” for Meharry Today. “He’s fulfilled the role of teacher, counselor, financier, confidante, father figure and so much more. And, that’s why we love him.”
Carter, a native of Seat Pleasant, Md., earned a bachelor’s degree in English with a journalism concentration from Baltimore’s Morgan State University in 2003. As the founding editor of HBCU Digest, Carter directs and manages an online daily news blog dedicated to coverage of historically black colleges and universities throughout the U.S. He is also the host of the HBCU Digest Podcast series, a program that covers societal, cultural and institutional issues at HBCUs; Carter also founded and serves as executive director of the Center for HBCU Media Advocacy, a non-profit organization working to enhance new media and media outreach opportunities at HBCUs nationwide.
“HBCU Digest is undeniable evidence of Jarrett Carter’s visionary leadership,” deGregory said of Carter who will also deliver a keynote address. “In his professional work and through his advocacy, he is leading the charge for establishing a new vanguard of HBCU voices–voices which are critical in the 21st struggle for the persistence of HBCUs.”
Also to be honored during the Storyteller of the Year Awards are this year’s posthumous award recipients, which include:
• Fisk University alumnus and director of the Fisk Jubilee Singers Matthew Kennedy;
• Tuskegee and Albany State universities alumna and Olympic gold medalist, National Track & Field Hall of Famer and U.S. Olympic Hall of Famer Alice Coachman;
• Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University alumnus and professor Dr. Charles U. Smith;
• Tennessee State University alumnus and pioneering cardiac surgeon Dr. Levi Watkins;
• Norfolk State University alumnus and minister, the Rev. St. Paul Epps;
• University of Maryland Eastern Shore alumnus, Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Hall of Famer and athletic director Nelson Townsend;
• Alabama State University alumnus and mathematics professor Dr. Wallace Maryland, Jr.;
as well as,
• West Virginia State University alumnus and professional basketball player Earl Lloyd.
This year’s symposium, themed, “Reconstruction in a New Age of Resistance: Respecting our Roots + Restoring our Rites,” will contextualize the resistance that proponents of black education faced during the Reconstruction era while juxtaposing those challenges with the economic, political, social and cultural climate of today.
The two-day research and cultural symposium, which will celebrate the beginning of the sesquicentennial of Reconstruction and of the Fisk School, annually convenes more than 100 historically black college and university (HBCU) presidents, researchers, administrators, faculty members, students and alumni from across the nation.
For more information contact: Crystal A. deGregory, Ph.D., executive editor via telephone at 615.601.1866 or email at cadegregory@HBCUstory.com.
###
Registration for the third annual HBCUstory Symposium is available online here.