Former PVAMU president receives prestigious honor from President Joe Biden at White House

President Joe Biden, Dr. Ruth Simmons and Dr. Jill Biden

 Dr. Ruth Simmons, former Prairie View A&M University president, received the National Humanities Medal from President Joe Biden at the White House on October 21, 2024.

President Joe Biden presented the National Humanities Medal to Ruth J. Simmons, the eighth president of Prairie View A&M University and the first female president in the school’s history, at a White House event. The award recognizes people who have made significant contributions to history and cultural access that have improved our knowledge of the human condition.

Dr. Simmons officially became the eighth president of Prairie View A&M on December 4, 2017 after serving as interim president for six months. During her tenure as president, Dr. Simmons made major advancements at the university, including growing the university’s endowment by 40%. There was also an increase in fundraising activities, which led to more financial aid for students.

Dr. Simmons successfully directed the $50 million contribution from billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott to transformational projects at the university in 2020. Among those projects were the founding of the acclaimed Toni Morrison Writing Program and the Ruth J. Simmons Center for Race and Justice, which were named after the well-known novelist and former student of Dr. Simmons, MacKenzie Scott.

As an esteemed professor of Romance language literature, Dr. Simmons has received accolades for her scholarly accomplishments, community involvement, and cultural contributions. Among her honors are the Fulbright Lifetime Achievement Medal, the Harvard University Centennial Medal, and fellowship invitations from the American Philosophical Society and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She was also named a Chevalier of the French Legion of Honor and earned the Susan Colver Rosenberger Medal from Brown University.

President Biden highlighted the vital role that Dr. Simmons and other honorees play in society at the event, saying, “You all help us find meaning and purpose in the ordinary as well as the extraordinary, providing hope, wisdom, and laughter when we needed it, and we needed a way forward. With absolute courage, you combat racial stereotypes, confront ghosts of history, and speak truth to power.”

Simmons formerly served as as Brown’s 18th president from 2001 to 2012, the first Black and woman to hold the position at the Ivy League school. Her 11 years as Brown president were also marked by growth in the University’s research and academic programs, major expansions in student financial aid, faculty growth, campus renewal and the completion of the $1.4 billion Boldly Brown fundraising campaign in support of Brown’s aspirations.  Prior to Brown, Simmons served at Smith College, the largest women’s college in the United States. At Smith, she launched a number of important academic initiatives, including an engineering program, the first at an American women’s college.

Simmons currently serves as a president’s distinguished fellow at Rice University and as a senior adviser to the president on engagement with historically Black colleges and universities at Harvard.

The honors keep coming!

Dr. Tamekia P. LeGrande is installed as 9th President of Prairie View A&M University

March 22, 2024 was an historic day in higher education for the State of Texas with the inauguration of Dr. Tamekia P. LeGrand, as the 9th and second female president of Prairie View A&M University. More than 80 representatives from academia and learned societies and community organizations were on hand to salute Dr. LeGrande.

Mr. Bill Mahones, Chairman of the Board of Regents for The Texas A&M University System (TAMUS), welcomed the students, staff, faculty and guests to the auspicious event. He commended Dr. LeGrande for the wealth of experience that she brings to PVAMU and the system and pledged his full support.

Dr. LeGrande's administration ushers in a renewed promise to improve student success and research innovation at the historically Black university.

LeGrande comes from humble beginnings and is a two-time HBCU graduate with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Savannah State University and a master’s degree from North Carolina A&T State University. She is also a member of Zeta Phi Beta, a historically Black sorority. She later earned the doctorate of education in higher education administration from Texas Tech University. After graudion, LeGrande returned to North Carolina A&T as a graduate recruiter. That springboarded her into a career focused on admissions and student success, taking her to Winston-Salem State University and the University of Houston-Downtown in rising positions; and later as the Vice President for Student Enrollment and Success at Virginia Commonwealth University, where she is credited for enhancing and growing the enrollment through student success and college accessibility initiatives.

Persons paying homage to Dr. LaGrande included Carlotta Picket, LeGrande's sister, Mr. Herbert R. Thomas, Chairman of the Staff Council, Dr. David Rembert, Chairman of the Faculty Senate, Mr. Mark Falls, President of the PVAMU National Alumni Association and Miss Gabrielle Orji, President of SGA. “She carries with her the hopes and aspirations of faculty, staff, administrators and the student body,” ssociation President Orji said. “I have no doubt that she will rise to the occasion for Prairie View.”

The speaker for the inuaguration was Dr. Brenda Allen, 14th President of Lincoln University - Pennsylvania and mentor of Dr. LeGrande. Dr. Allen shared her admiration and respect for Dr. LeGrande and encouraged the students, faculty, staff and alumni, board of regents and legislative persons to do the same. The PVAMU Singers/University Chorale made a rousing tribute of I'll Rise Up.

TAMUS Chancellor, John Sharp presented Dr. LaGrande with the presidential medallion and mace signifying her official installment. Sharp also stated that TAMUS was committed to assisting LeGrande with the necessary tools and funds to support her goals and objectives for the university. Some of the luminaries on hand were Texas State Representative Ronald Reynolds, stood in for U. S. Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee. He commended Dr. LeGrande on this auspicious and life-changing event; Texas Representative Stan Kitzman; Prairie View Mayor Ronald Leverett, who presented Dr. LeGrande the Key to the City, Cynthia Jackson Hammond, brought greetings on the Council for Higher Education Accreditation, advocacy for more than 1,900 colleges and universities. Mr. Bill Mahones made the formal investure of Dr. LeGrande.

In her address to the audience, LeGrande said she is inspired daily by the origins of the university, which was founded in 1876 as a designated college for Black students and opened in 1878 on the site of a plantation for enslaved people in Waller County. Decades later, as of fall 2022, Prairie View A&M was home to more than 7,100 full-time undergraduate students and 390 graduate students. "Any time the wind blows on this campus, I feel hands pushing me on my back, pushing us forward to face new challenges to ensure that Prairie View A&M University relevantly stands forever,” LeGrande said. “My vision for Prairie View A&M University is eminence. Prairie View will be a premier research-intensive public HBCU that serves as a national model for student success.” LeGrande on Friday hinted at some of her plans surrounding student success, although a 10-year strategic plan for the university is still in the works. She will launch a new student support model in the fall, called PV Cares, assigning every undergraduate student to an academic adviser, a financial counselor and a career coach, she said. Dr. LaGrande expressed her sincere thanks to her family, the TAMUS, students, faculty and staff and all the visiting guests from the academy and other organizations.

Preceding the formal inauguration was the special unveiling of the Toni Morrison Freedom Bench. LeGrande stated that the bench marks our significance and impactful history while also shining a bright light on the transformative power of this place."

Concluding the day of celebration was the elegant inaugural banquet held at Houston’s Post Oak Hilton Hotel. The audience was treated to the sound of great music from the PVAMU Jazz Band and PV Singers. On hand for special commendations to Dr. LeGrande were Terry Ellis, member R&B Soul Group Envogue; The REAL TV Host, Comedienne and Actress Loni Love and KUHT Host Eddie Robinson, all PVAMU alumni. President LeGrande's Inauguration in Pictures:

20 PVAMU Coeds vie for Miss Old Gold and Black Title

The Miss Old Gold and Black Scholarship Pageant announces that 20 Contestants will vie for the 2024 title, scholarship and the opportunity to represent the chapters. The contestants were selected from a field of 48 candidates seeking to compete in the 37th Annual event sponsored by the Eta Gamma (Prairie View A&M University) and Epsilon Tau Lambda (Prairie View) Chapters of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. at Prairie View A&M University set for January 26, 2024.

The twenty contestants, the largest number for any pageant in the history of the program and the university, comes from varied backgrounds, experiences, talents, academic standing and classification, and career ambitions. The contestant's majors vary from Agriculture to Zoology with Business, Education, Engineering and Pre-medicine in between. Their future goals include educators, entrepreneurs, business and government leaders to doctors, lawyers, nurses, engineers and forever teachers.

The Producers and Staff are aggressively looking for an exciting production under the theme: VISIONS – of a Golden Reignaissance.™ Additionally, the contestants will participate in weekly sessions preparing for the big day. They will engage in personal and professional development seminars and workshops focusing on their talents, wardrobe selection, the art of the personal interview, modeling, etiquette and dining, dance, platform development and implementation and other career enhancement in addition to community service.

The pageant is a national program of the fraternity created in 1976 and hosted by its local chapters. The pageant is a source of excellence for women in character education, value clarification, economic and social empowerment, role-modeling, mentoring, commitment to service to humanity and to provide opportunities that present her in a positive way. At its 1976 convention in New York the first winner was Miss Denise Smith, representing Zeta Mu Chapter at Georgia State University. After a five-year the pageant returned in 1981 with the competition at the 1982 General Convention in Los Angeles, California.

​Since 1981, the Eta Gamma Chapter has hosted the Miss Black and Gold Pageant with the first pageant in 1982 at Prairie View A&M University. The Epsilon Tau Lambda Chapter has co-hosted the pageant since 1982 with the selection of two queens, thus becoming the first and only sustaining alumni chapter with a representative in the Texas District Pageant.

Over the years, the chapters had winners at the Texas District level with TCAC winner Coy Henderson (Epsilon Tau Lambda), Nadia Greer (Eta Gamma), Adibisi Adele (Eta Gamma), Destiny Jefferson (Epsilon Tau Lambda) and the current winner Chloe Nyr'ee Tolbert (Eta Gamma) and 2nd runner-up Gabrielle Orji (Epsilon Tau Lambda), Kiera Hooey (Epsilon Tau Lambda) - 1st Runner-up; Briana Clark (Epsilon Tau Lambda), 2nd Runner-up in 2014; Joselyn Eusery (Eta Gamma) and Christina Balthazar (Epsilon Tau Lambda) being named to top Seven; and Nakisha Francois (Eta Gamma), Moriah Cobert, (Epsilon Tau Lambda) and Z’Nae Mangum (Eta Gamma) being named 2nd Runner-up to TCAC Miss Black & Gold.

The winners and former contestants have also benefited from the experiences as they competed in other pageants, including the Miss PVAMU: Brandy Byars, Moriah Colbert, Ivy Walls and Z’Nae Mangum have all claimed the Miss PVAMU title, while others have been named runners-up to Miss PVAMU - Mya Campbell - 1st, Kala Washington - 1st and Kala Robinson - 1st; and Melanie Hollis - 2nd.

​The Miss Old Gold and Black Pageant continues to be an important activity for the students at Prairie View A&M University and the young ladies give tremendous credit to the pageant for their achievements and success as student leaders and role models for other students.

https://missblackandgoldpv.wixsite.com/missblackandgoldpv

Contact:  missblackandgoldprairieview@gmail.com

Brittani Hunter . . . A Profile in Success!

Brittani Hunter is the founder of Mogul Millennial, a digital media startup that helps Black entrepreneurs and professionals advance in their careers through smart, actionable content, resources, and experiences - www.mogulmillennial.com.

Since launching Mogul Millennial, our startup has quickly grown to be a leading voice and source of smart content for Black entrepreneurs and professionals looking to elevate their careers and/or businesses. We're also the brand behind The Quick Pitch, the leading startup pitch practice for Black founders (https://www.thequickpitch.com/).

For my work at Mogul Millennial, I've been listed on the Forbes #Next1000, LinkedIn Top Voice, and PVAMU 40 Under 40 list.

Mogul Millennial is a smart media platform that empowers and educates Black entrepreneurs and professionals. Through smart, actionable content, experiences, and leveraging resources and data, we help this community build successful careers while moving the culture forward.  Whether you're climbing the corporate ladder, or you're an aspiring or early-stage entrepreneur, we built this platform just for the Black community to help them achieve more.

Our startup pitch practice event series can be found at: https://www.thequickpitch.com/Mogul 

Some of Brittani's experiences include Snap's Yellow launchpad for creative minds and entrepreneurs who are looking to build the next generation of great media companies, created in 2018. The new batch of startups coming from across the U.S. and international cities like London, Mexico City, Seoul and Vilnius are building.

She also completed a six-year stint with American Campus Communities, beginning while a student at Prairie View A&M University as a Community Assistant.  She later found full-time employment as an Assistant General Manager and later to General Manager where her management operations supervised more than 80 employees in the operations, marketing, and accounting department.  She also worked in the Human Resources department managing direct reports and their performance in the recruitment, onboarding, and in learning and development areas, facilitated employee development programs through classroom and self-guided training and assisted the corporate Human Resources team with payroll, benefits administration, and performance management.

Additionally, she worked in the Marketing and managed the ideation, creation, and execution of a cross-platform content strategy plan and marketing initiative to drive engagement and hit marketing KPIs; coordinated collegiate marketing events including pre-event planning and on-site logistics; collected market research data through a variety of resources and implements techniques to support the development of business.

Brittani holds the Master of Business Administration degree from Texas Woman's University and the Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication and Media Studies from Prairie View A&M University. She holds or has held membership in various organizations to include Membership Chair and Charter Member of the 100 Collegiate Women of America, Inc. at Prairie View A&M University.  The 

This organization was one of the newest organizations for empowering and developing collegiate women. It is devoted to creating leaders, providing opportunities to empower, to improve the quality of life for women and to influence development at all levels of society. While accomplishing the objectives of the organization.  

Brittani is committed to giving back to the community and could be found volunteering with Panthers at Work (PAW) while a student at the Prairie View A&M University. The organization was provided cleanup and landscaping services for the community in the Prairie View, Waller and Hempstead areas.  The also helped to clean and paint the Fire Station and Recreation centers. She also participated as a  Mission trip volunteer to El Salvador, sponsored by the Concord Church, which provided disaster and humanitarian relief to the Salvadoran families realize the dream of being a homeowner by building a home for them. There, she had the opportunity to work alongside local construction workers and college students on the work site. They also partnered with the Habitat for Humanity organization.

You can contact me by email at brittani@themogulmillennial.com or on Twitter at @BrittaniLHunter
or https://www.linkedin.com/in/brittanihunter/

For more information on support with your startup and to reach Black entrepreneurs and professionals, visit https://www.mogulmillennial.com/about/ and fill out the 'contact' form.

Alexandria Williams . . . A Profile in Success!

Congratulations to Alexandria Williams in her new position as Manager, Media and Investments at Target!

 

Alexandria has been in the position since November 2021 and is very excited to be part of a team  and organization that truly values diversity and inclusion.  "It's very refreshing that all voices, community, volunteerism, and most importantly our Guests are respected," she said about the position.

 

In this position, Alexandria works closely with:

1.  Target brand and creative strategy teams to create innovative communication strategies;
2.  The media agency and internal activation team in development of media strategy and tactical   plan development that deliver on brand goals
3.  media partners to co-create content that will engage guests in new and different ways
4.  Media Effectiveness team to evaluate media performance, optimize in campaign and mine for future learnings.

Additionally she supports teams both internal and external to deliver comprehensive media plan recommendations across multiple channels including all Owned, Earned, Shared and Paid, and builds relationships across disciplines and with creative agencies.

 

Prior to the Target position, Alexandria was an Adjunct Professor in Media & Communications at the University of Houston, teaching Strategic Social Media & Media In Society Classes. She also had a stint at the University of North Texas at Dallas as the Director of Brand Marketing, where she set brand direction across all platforms such as direct mail, print publications, digital advertising, out-of-home, broadcast, and website advertisements to ensure brand expansion.  Other positions include Marketing and Promotions for Cinemark in Dallas; Community Marketing & Public Relations Specialist (CBS-TV) KHOU 11 in Houston and Marketing and Communications Manager for the Alzheimer's Association where she managed $100,000 yearly marketing (non-profit), advertising, and printing budget to increase awareness of the association.

Alexandria is a charter member of the 100 Collegiate Women of America, Inc., and is engaged in several civic and professional organizations.  Some of her community activities include working with the American Heart Association, Dress for Success of Houston, Girls Inc. of Greater Houston, American Red Cross, Susan G. Komen, Blue Cure Foundation, Alzheimer’s Association, Rebuilding Together Houston, City of Sugar Land, Souper Bowl of Caring, Buffalo Bayou Partnership, and Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center, etc.

Alexandria holds the Bachelor of Business Administration in Marketing from Prairie View A&M University and the Master’s Degree in Mass Communication/Media Studies from Purdue University.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexandria-williams-395bb318/ 

Women in Leadership: A Guide for Women, Their Mentors and Allies

The information provided in this story is by Dana Theus, Executive Coach InPowerCoaching.com

While women have been a critical element of the workforce since the beginning of time, it’s only recently that women in leadership have become a holy grail for major organizations that want to be seen as open and welcoming places to work. The data is clear that organizations with significant representation of women (and other diverse leadership) on their boards and in their executive suites, regularly out-perform those with more homogenous leadership. Despite the overwhelming data that demonstrate women are good for business, organizations seeking to support women in leadership roles, not to mention the women themselves, continue to be frustrated by systemic and cultural barriers to success.

And yet, many women succeed despite the barriers put in their way. What are they doing right? How are their mentors helping them? What are their companies doing to change historically discriminatory dynamics? What are the best practices to create gender equality?  In this guide to Women In Leadership, you’ll find a comprehensive look at the hard facts as well as the soft skills that help women become powerful contributors at the most senior levels of any organization. I’m often asked to speak and share my resources and perspectives on women in leadership. After years of culling good resources, I’ve put them into this comprehensive guide to help my clients, colleagues and connections identify good information sources and positive steps to take to help women rise to greater levels of leadership. We update this guide regularly, you’ll find the most recent version at InPowerWomen.com.

Read more here:

 

The Forbes World’s 100 Most Powerful Women includes Five Black Women

       ILLUSTRATION BY GRACELYNN WAN FOR FORBES; PHOTOS BY MICHELE TANTUSSI

Vladimir Putin’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine was a defining moment for Europe. European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen rose to the challenge. A week after the war began, she announced three major economic sanctions against Russia—banning transactions with its central bank, closing airspace to Russian plane travel and barring Kremlin-owned news agencies.

“Protecting our liberty comes at a price,” von der Leyen said. “This is our principle: freedom is priceless.”

For her leadership during the Ukraine war, as well as her handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, von der Leyen sits atop the 19th annual Forbes list of the World’s 100 Most Powerful Women. Her influence is unique—no one else on the list formulates policy on behalf of 450 million people—but her commitment to a free and democratic society is not. Von der Leyen is just one face of the biggest storyline of 2022: women acting as stalwarts for democracy.

American women suffered the greatest reversal of rights in the two decades of the list when the Supreme Court limited the right to an abortion. In reaction, female voters energized U.S. midterm elections. In Iran, thousands of women marched in the streets in protest against theocratic laws that treat them as second-class citizens. 

Read more here: