Fifteen students have been selected to receive the 1997 UNCF/Merck Under-graduate Research Award. 

Selected for their accomplishments and interest in scientific careers, education and research, the 1997 UNCF/ Merck Science Scholars are the following: Sedrick Anderson, Biology major at Rust College; Kenneth L. Arrington, Chemistry major at Kutztown Univ. At Pennsylvania; Tenesha L. Byrd, Biology major at Benedict College; Donnie Eddins, Jr., Biology/ Chemistry major at Talladega College; Christopher L. Forbes, Chemistry major at New York Univ.; Takasha O. Halmon, Chemistry major at Benedict College; Phillip B. Harris, Chemistry & Mathematics major at Morehouse College; Samer T. Ismail, Molecular Biophysics & Biochemistry major at Yale Univ.; Germaine R. Johnson, Biochemistry/Cell & Molecular Biology major at Univ. of Washington; Viola S. Nivens, Chemistry major at North Carolina State Univ.; Shermelle E. Robinson, Biology/Pre-med major at Virginia State Univ.; Patrick K. Safo, Pharmacology major at SUNY-Stony Brook; Wanda D. Seyton, Chemistry major at Wesleyan Univ.; Adrian J. Thomas, Molecular Biophysics & Bio-chemistry major at Yale Univ.; and Tashica T. Williams, Chemistry major at Baylor College. 

The award provides each scholar with a maximum of $35,000, which includes up to $15,000 toward tuition expenses and a grant up to $10,000 to support the science department of the recipient. The scholars will also receive a mentor (Merck scientist) and two internships totaling $10,000 in stipends. 

For program information and eligibility requirements call (703) 205-3538. Awards are also available for African Americans on the graduate and postdoctoral levels. 

HBCUs Help Communities 

Several Historically Black Colleges and Universities are rejuvenating their surrounding communities with help from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, HUD. 

HUD sponsors a program that gives grants to HBCUs to improve their surrounding communities. Coppin State College received $2.3 million in the last five years from HUD and other organizations. With the funding, Coppin State created the Coppin Heights Community Development Corporation, a non-profit group. The group purchased and renovated several row houses and turned them into a health clinic and an office building for the corporation and community organizations. The group plans to renovate a building to provide 13 two-bedroom apartments for single mothers attending college and an intergenerational center that will include child-care and elderly housing. 

Xavier University of Louisiana created a job-training program in basic construction and lead abatement. Other plans include forming a construction company, to be managed by job-training graduates, to build and renovate properties in New Orleans. St. Paul's College used the grant to provide technical assistance to 50 small and minority businesses and to tobacco farmers seeking alternatives. Jackson State University created the West Jackson Community Development Corporation. Albany State University plans to purchase and renovate property to provide housing for four families displaced in recent floods in the region. 

Comparative Women's Studies at Spelman  

Spelman College is now offering an undergraduate major in Comparative Women's Studies, making it the first Historically Black College to do so. 

Consisting of 10 four-credit courses, the new major has a global, comparative focus with a special focus on women of African descent. 

The major exposes students to the social construction of gender in various cultural contexts, conceptual models for a comparative analysis and feminist critiques of traditional scholarships. The major also provides the analytical tools for understanding the lives and experiences of women as well as opportunities to analyze hierarchies and damages to women by the media. 

Having existed as a minor for 15 years, Comparative Women's Studies became a major in Spring 1997. 

Paul Quinn & UT Southwestern Unite 

The Department of Psychiatry at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and the Dallas Veterans Affairs Medical Center have joined with Paul Quinn College in a project to seek scientific information on the interaction between alcohol and depression. The project will allow the Dallas VA Medical Center and UT Southwestern re-searchers to share their expertise in medical research with Paul Quinn students. The project will fund the following: a postgraduate scientific internship for a recent Paul Quinn graduate, a faculty scholars program, and a neuroscience elective. 

Fisk to Digitize History 

Fisk University's Race Relations Institute will take the lead in digitizing African-American history through a project called HOLDINGS. 

Standing for Holding Our Library Documents Insures Nobility, Greatness, Strength, HOLDINGS will collect and preserve records, books, letters and photographs and will work to make them available electronically. It will provide global access to historical collections by developing CD-ROMS, World-Wide Web sites and other digitized resources. 

The first task of HOLDINGS is to provide equipment and technical assistance to the Encyclopedia Africana project, the goal of which is to produce a 20-volume biographical dictionary of Black historical figures. The project will also help digitize collections in the Fisk library and at the National Council of Negro Women. 

Cyberlab at Morris Brown 

Students and faculty at Morris Brown College now have access to a new computerlab, CyberLab. Costing $1.4 million, CyberLab is equipped with about 200 computers, two training rooms and four additional rooms, one for each school of the college. 

The lab was funded and installed by GTECH, a Rhode Island-based company that provides communications technologies to governmental agencies. GTECH will provide the Morris Brown CyberLab with free systems and software upgrades in the next two and a half years. 

Courses Via Video at SCSU 

South Carolina State University has implemented a new Distance Education Program through its Office of the Summer School. 

Having begun in Summer 1997, this program allows students throughout South Carolina who are unable to attend classes to learn in their home location. 

Three undergraduate and three graduate courses were taught via interactive video the summer of 1997. Courses will be added as demand increases. For more information call (803) 536-8290. 
 

NBCAR's Educator of the Year 

The Director of Florida Memorial College's Education Department, Dr. Mildred Berry, was named the 1997 Educator of the Year by The National Black College Alumni Reunion (NBCAR). As the leader of FMC's largest academic division, Berry is responsible for the implementation of 10 teacher education programs by the Florida Department of Education. 

NBCAR named Darryl Davis, marketing and promotions manager for WHQT/Hot 105 radio station, the Corporate Advisor of the Year. He was recognized for being an advocate for Historically Black Colleges and Univer-sities and a supporter of NBCAR. 

To submit nominees for the 1998 awards, call (305) 653-7755. 

TSU President Receives Award  

Dr. James Hefner, president of Tennessee State University, was awarded the W.E.B.DuBois Award by the National Association of Social and Behavioral Scientists. As recognition of a scholar of national and international magnitude who displays the scholarly research and activism of the late DuBois, the award was given to Hefner during the organization's 1997 national conference in Nashville. He was selected to receive this award because of his professional career, scholarship and leadership in the area of Black studies.

  Spelman's New President 

Audrey Forbes Manley, once acting Surgeon General of the United States and Spelman alumna, has been named the new president of Spelman College. 

Manley has accomplished several firsts throughout her career. She is the first African-American woman to achieve the rank of Assistant Surgeon General Rear Admiral and the first to be named Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health. Now she is the first alumna to be named president in Spelman's 116-year history. 

Manley began her term as president July 1, 1997. She succeeds Johnnetta B. Cole, who served as Spelman's president for 10 years. 

Dillard's New President  
 
Michael L. Lomax, former president of The National Faculty in Atlanta, has been named president of Dillard University. 

During his career, Lomax has taught at several colleges, including Spelman and Morehouse Colleges. He has also held several positions in the community, including board chair of the Board of Commissioners of Fulton County. 

Lomax's term as president began July 1, 1997. He succeeds Samuel DuBois Cook, who served as Dillard's president for 22 years. 

SUNO's New Chancellor 

Gerald Peoples, former vice chancellor for Student Affairs at Southern University at Baton Rouge, is now the chancellor of Southern University at New Orleans. 

During his career, Peoples has held several academic positions: Dean of Student Life, Adjunct Professor of Education, Coordinator of Alumni Affairs and Assistant Director of High School Relations at Grambling Uni-versity; Staff Assistant of Graduate Division at Kansas State University; and Special Assistant to State Superintendent for Louisiana Department of Education. 

Peoples' term as chancellor began July 1. He succeeds Robert Gex, who served as SUNO's chancellor for eight years. 

Stillman's New President  

Earnest Mcnealy, associate provost and dean of undergraduate academic affairs at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, has been named president of Stillman College. His term as president began July 1, 1997. Mcnealy succeeds Cordell Wynn, who served as president for more than 15 years. 

PSC's President to Retire 

Myer L. Titus, President of Philander Smith College, will retire effective June 30, 1998. A search committee has been formed and the search for a new president is underway. 

MVSU's President to Retire 

William W. Sutton, president of Mississippi Valley State University, announced his retirement effective June 30, 1998. A search committee has been formed and the search for a new president is underway.
 

The Association for Black Culture Centers (ABCC) Seventh Annual Conference-"Culture Centers: Con-fronting the Crisis of Black Unity and Difference."
 November 6-8, 1997 
 Nyumburu Cultural Center, Univ. of Maryland, College Park, MD
 Contact: Dr. Fred Hord
 (309) 341-7862

The National Brotherhood of Skiers in association with THE BLACK COLLEGIAN Magazine: The 1st Annual Career Fair.
 Jan. 31-Feb 1, 1998
 Sun Valley, Idaho
 Contact: Leon Capers 
 (504) 523-0154