Winston-Salem State University Foundation Annual Report

Winston-Salem State University Foundation 1984-1985 Annual Report

“A Good School That’s Going to Get Better”

“Winston-Salem State University is a good school that’s going to get better,” says Winston-Salem State’s newest chancellor, Dr. Cleon F. Thompson, Jr.

“I know simply ‘getting better’ sounds easy,” he adds, “but I believe if we’re to achieve truly meaningful, positive change, we must be prepared to face some difficult challenges in the process of becoming the institution we want to be.”

Thompson was born in New York City’s Harlem and grew up in Bennettsville, South Carolina. After earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees from North Carolina Central University, following two years of military service, he served as a research assistant in the University of North Carolina School of Medicine from 1955 to 1960.

Thompson served on the faculty of North Carolina A&T State University from 1960 until 1961. He next went to Tuskegee Institute in Alabama where he taught and conducted research at the Carver Foundation until 1964, when he returned to North Carolina to serve as faculty member, division chairman and provost of Shaw University.

Thompson received his doctorate from Duke University in 1974. The following year, he was named vice president for student services and special programs for the University of North Carolina System’s general administration.

While in that job, Thompson spent the 1980-81 academic year as interim chancellor at A&T State. He played a leadership role in the desegregation of the University System’s 16 institutions, a task that acquainted him intimately with the inner-workings of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, and gave him an ulcer as well.

Thompson assumed his duties as chancellor of Winston-Salem State on August 1, 1985. In the interview that follows, he discusses WSSU’s current status, his administration’s most important priorities and what he calls “the University’s bright and purposeful future.”

You’ve described Winston-Salem State as a good school. Specifically what do you consider to be the University’s strongest points?

In terms of programs, we’re particularly strong in education, nursing, computer science and natural science.

Our graduates who took the National Teachers Exam during the ‘84-’85 academic year had passing rates of 86.4 percent in professional knowledge and 96 percent in the specialty area. Our nursing graduates have scored better than 95 percent on their State Board Exams for four consecutive years, and 100 percent in ‘82, ‘83 and ‘84. Our micro-computing lab is one of the most sophisticated in the state. And last year five of our students enrolled in the Minority Biomedical Research Symposium went with their teacher to an international conference in Japan to present their research on cancer cells. We were the only undergraduate institution to be invited to present a paper at the conference.

I consider our facilities to be another strong point, primarily because of some significant improvements and acquisitions we’ve made recently. On campus there’s the new pedestrian mall, the Sculpture Garden, the new $2.4 million building for the Division of Nursing and Allied Health and the $3.1 million Business and Economics building. We’ve acquired the Anderson High School complex and are renovating it to accommodate several academic and co-curricular programs. We’re also renovating Camp Robert Vaughn for use as an outdoor education center and recreation facility. Eight years ago, there were hardly any curbs and gutters on campus, so we’ve come quite a long way.

Where does the University stand academically?

One of the first things I did as chancellor was to establish four priorities, the first of which addresses just that question. As a result, we’re now conducting a comprehensive internal evaluation of our general program to reassure ourselves that we’re providing the educational experience we should be.

What are your other priorities?

As soon as our self-assessment is complete, priority number two is to conduct a comprehensive review of each of the 30 academic areas in which we offer a major. At that time, we’ll ask ourselves the hard question: Is the quality of each program as high as it should be? The criteria we’ll use will be national accreditation standards in each of the areas where an appropriate accrediting body exists.

Third, we’ll continue improving the quality of our faculty by encouraging educational study leave for some teachers, and by hiring additional, highly-qualified faculty members in certain academic areas.

Finally, while our mission will still be to serve a broad cross-section of students—including some low achievers—we want to improve the overall quality profile of our student body. Specifically, we want to attract more “A” and “B” students, more valedictorians to our campus.

What role will the state and the university system play in Winston-Salem State’s future?

The university system will continue offering their management support and guidance for our operations, and the state will continue supporting us financially.

What many people don’t realize is the importance of gifts from the private sector to a state-supported institution. The General Assembly of North Carolina allocates funds to the University in support of basic education in a generous manner. However, many of today’s academic programs and University operations exceed our funding base. For example, business majors need computer support. Communications majors need fully-equipped radio and TV studios. Medical technology majors need sophisticated lab equipment. So the support we receive from the state will have to be supplemented.

What role with the WSSU Foundation play in the University’s future?

The Foundation will continue to serve as administrator of all contributions to the University and to manage all funds most efficiently. And the Foundation Board will continue to distribute funds based on the recommendations of the University in ways that will best benefit our programs.

Finally, if we’re to move to the next level of excellence—if we’re to become a major university—we must rally the support of everyone who is part of the greater University community. The Foundation will play an essential part in securing and focusing that support.

Bright and Purposeful Futures: Oletha Coulter and Katherine Short

When Chancellor Cleon Thompson describes the kind of students he’d like to recruit more aggressively in the future, he’s particularly gratified to be able to single out current WSSU students like Oletha Coulter and Katherine Short as outstanding examples.

Coulter and Short are the first two recipients of the University’s top award, the Hanes Scholarship, which includes full tuition and fees throughout the student’s four-year enrollment, plus a $50 monthly stipend and an opportunity for summer employment.

Coulter, a junior business major from Newton, North Carolina, was the first Hanes scholar. Her mother is a school teacher and her father is disabled.

“My parents had saved to send me to college,” says Coulter, “but their savings would have made only a small dent in the total cost. Let’s face it—a school teacher doesn’t make that much, and my father’s medical bills are ridiculous. My mom kept telling me she’d find the money somewhere, but I knew it would be a burden to them.”

Katherine Short is a freshman accounting major from Salisbury, North Carolina. She has one 15-year-old brother and an eight-year-old sister. Her mother, a single parent, works as a secretary.

“My mother went to college, but she didn’t finish,” says Short. “She’d always told me I was going to college one way or another. She was so happy when we found out I’d received the scholarship she cried.”

The Scholarship

The Hanes Scholarship is funded by an endowment from the Hanes Group and, like all scholarships available to Winston-Salem State students, is administered through the Foundation. The minimum qualifications for Hanes Scholars include the following:

• a combined score of 900 on the Scholastic Aptitude Test,
• ranking in the upper quartile of the applicant’s high school class,
• participation in recognized organizations requiring consistent academic excellence, and
• recommendations from the student’s high school principal.

Applicants are usually referred by high school guidance counselors. After screening applications to identify the top three candidates, the Foundation arranges personal interviews with representatives of the Hanes Group who then make the final selection.

“I was very nervous when I went for my interview,” says Short. “Oletha helped a lot, though. She told me to give them a firm handshake and look them in the eye. And she told me people in businesses don’t wear lots of make up or perfume.”

“Mrs. Tidwell helped me a lot,” says Coulter, referring to WSSU’s director of sponsored programs, Hellena Tidwell. “I was very quiet the first time I met with the people from Hanes. I was so nervous, I think about all I said was ‘hello’ and ‘good-bye.’ When we had lunch, I remember Mrs. Tidwell told me not to order anything that would be hard to eat.”

Outstanding Achievements

Both Coulter and Short have outstanding records of achievement and participation in extra-curricular activities during high srchool.

“I was in everything,” says Coulter, listing the band, the Pep Club, the Beta Club, the Science Club, the Math Club, the French Club and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes as organizations to which she belonged. She was also a National Merit Scholarship Semi-Finalist and was listed in Who’s Who Among Students in American High Schools.

At Winston-Salem State, Coulter is a qualifier for the National Dean’s List and is listed in Who’s Who Among Students in American Colleges and Universities. She’s also a member of the Student Government Elections Committee, is a fraternity sweetheart and participates in WSSU’s Company Student Adoption Program.

Short graduated with honors, was a National Merit Semi-Finalist, and was a member of the National Honor Society, the Top Ten Percent, the Pep Club, a service organization called the Anchor Club, the French Club, the marching band and three concert bands at her high school. At Winston-Salem State, she sings soprano in the University Choir.

Coulter lives off-campus, primarily because she finds it easier to study. She says she’s very selective in choosing co-curricular activities for the same reason. “Keeping a 3.2 average is not that easy,” she says. “I didn’t have to study much in high school, but now that it’s college, I’m reading chapters a night instead of pages.”

Short lives on campus, where she finds the atmosphere relaxing. After a few months on campus, she says she particularly enjoys the freedom of being on her own. “I like having my own space and planning my own schedule,” she notes.

Their University of Choice

For both Coulter and Short, the Hanes Scholarship was highly influential in their decision to enroll at Winston-Salem State. Short had narrowed her college choices to three—Winston-Salem State, North Carolina State and A&T State—when her guidance counselor suggested that she apply for the Hanes Scholarship. When she found out she’d been chosen, WSSU became her first choice.

“I was really leaning toward Chapel Hill,” says Coulter. “I was filling out an application for the Morehead Scholarship there when the letter came saying I’d received the Hanes Scholarship. That’s when I decided to come to Winston-Salem State.”

Coulter says she found attending a predominantly black institution appealing because most of her friends in high school were white and, as she explains, “I didn’t think I was ‘black’ enough. I felt I was missing something in the culture. I thought that I would see and feel more of what the average black person experiences at Winston-Salem State.”

Short says she was attracted to a black institution because of her mother’s experiences in college. “My mother went to a predominantly black school,” says Short, “and the feelings and experiences she’s talked about made me want that, too.”

An Added Dimension

Although summer employment is not required, the opportunity for on-the-job experience is one Coulter says seemed too valuable to pass up. At the end of her freshman year, she went to work at L’eggs Products, a division of the Hanes Group, where her duties required basic accounting skills.

The following summer, Coulter worked at L’eggs Direct Marketing Division where, after starting with some simple bookkeeping chores, she was asked to tabulate and analyze reasons why customers return merchandise. “It was so much fun,” she says, “because it was the first time it had been done at the company and I got to figure it out on my own. I even got to train someone to do it when I left. That was the first time I’d felt a project was really mine.

“I learned a lot in both jobs,” she adds. “From the first one, I found out I don’t particularly like accounting. And from watching some of the managers and discussing it the next semester in management class, I found out some things not to do as a manager.

“From my job at L’eggs DMD, I found out I’m really interested in marketing. In fact, I’m now thinking about going into marketing after I go to graduate school to get my MBA.

“From both internships, I learned a lot about what it’s like to work in an office,” Coulter adds. “As a result, I already know how to handle many types of situations on the job better than most college students.”

This year, about 90 percent of Winston-Salem State students received financial aid totaling $3.3 million. The Foundation distributed approximately $80,000 of the total in the form of scholarships.

Bright and Purposeful Futures: Wilveria Atkinson and Bill Turner

The level of excellence achieved by any university is a function of many interrelated factors. Facilities, students, curriculum, administration, financial resources—all are integral to the complex total quality formula.

But for the individual student the person Chancellor Cleon Thompson considers “the most important person on campus”—perhaps no factor influences the quality of the educational experience more than the teacher who presides over the classroom.

“Winston-Salem State’s image is largely a function of what teachers do in the classroom and in their offices,” says Dr. William H. Turner, an associate professor and chairman of WSSU’s Department of Social Sciences. “To recruit and retain the best quality teachers, the University must provide an environment that nurtures them professionally and personally.”

For Turner, who recently left his position as dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Kentucky State University to come to WSSU, his new job offers just such an opportunity.

“I was torn between the administrative burdens that went with being a dean and my desire to teach and write,” says Turner. “I felt I needed more time to reflect, to write, and to go out and see what’s new in my field. I decided to come to Winston-Salem State because I believe I will have those opportunities here.”

To Dr. Wilveria B. Atkinson, a professor of biology at Winston-Salem State since 1970, the University offers a supportive environment for her research in immunology as well as a chance to enjoy the benefits of teaching.

“I’m extremely student-oriented,” says Atkinson. “I find it exciting to be in a classroom and watch my students develop and handle increasing levels of complexity. I find that most rewarding.”

Atkinson received her undergraduate degree in zoology from Howard University and, after studying for several months at the University of Madrid, she earned her doctorate in biology and immunology from New York University.

Immediately before coming to Winston-Salem State, Atkinson held positions at the Bureau of Laboratories for the New York City Department of Health and the Public Health Research Center in New York. Before that, she worked for Columbia University’s Baby’s Hospital, a division of the Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center.

Atkinson was a member of the National Institutes of Health Review Committee from 1976 to 1980, served another term in 1982, and co-chaired the committee in 1983. She currently serves as director of the Minority Biomedical Research Support Program and is a member of the Review Committee for the Office of DNA Activities at Wake Forest University’s Bowman Gray School of Medicine.

In addition to teaching courses in anatomy and physiology and in immunology, Atkinson serves as director of Project Strengthen, a program launched in 1971 to provide basic biomedical research and advanced academic opportunities for faculty and students on the Winston-Salem State campus.

In Fall 1985, she and five students traveled to Ito, Japan, to present a paper titled “Tumoricidal Capacity of Artificially Activated Murine Macrophages” to the tenth International RES Congress. Winston-Salem State was the only undergraduate university to have a paper accepted for presentation, an achievement of which Atkinson is particularly proud.

Turner received his bachelor’s degree in sociology from the University of Kentucky, and his master’s and doctorate degrees in sociology from the University of Notre Dame. During his 15-year teaching career, he’s taught sociology at the University of Kentucky, Howard University, the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, Fisk University, Southern University and Notre Dame. At WSSU, he teaches an introductory sociology course and a course in Afro-American society.

Turner’s areas of specialization include race and ethnic relations, Afro-American ethnography, sociology of black higher education, and social change and rural development. In addition to numerous monographs, journal articles, chapters in books and book reviews, Turner recently wrote and published a book titled Black Harlan: On the Origins, Evolution, and Current Status of Black Enclaves in Appalachian Kentucky and was coeditor of Blacks in Appalachia, published in 1985 by the University of Kentucky Press.

Turner currently serves on the Mellon Fellowships Study Committee at Berea College. He was a co-founder and co-chairman of Leadership Black Kentucky and served as a panelist and reader for the National Endowment for the Humanities and as a consultant for the Kentucky Council on Higher Education.

Role Models

Whether inside or outside the classroom, Turner and Atkinson take seriously their responsibilities as role models for their students. “By being here and performing as best I can, I serve as a role model on campus that tells students they can be successful,” says Atkinson. “In fact, I tell them they can be even more successful than I because each generation has greater inherent intelligence than the last.”

“As a role model for young students, I simply do what I want them to do,” says Turner. “I’m careful to speak and dress in ways that are appropriate for the academic environment. I come to class on time and thoroughly prepared, and I expect my students to do the same.”

Both teachers emphasize the importance of developing meaningful personal relationships with their students. “I learn their names, shoot pool with them, take them to my home and engage them in other ways that show my interest in them as people,” says Turner.

“I listen to a lot of personal things,” says Atkinson. “I just listen. I don’t give a lot of advice. Usually, the students don’t want advice anyway. They just want a sympathetic ear.”

An Evolving University

During her 15 years on campus, Atkinson has witnessed rapid growth in enrollment and programs. “The students have grown in numbers,” she says, “but the interest and motivation I saw in them when I first got here are just as evident today.”

In her field, however, Atkinson says the changes since 1970 have been significant.

“Considerable scientific advancements have been made during the time I’ve been here,” she notes. “In physics, for example, much of the purely descriptive information is now being replaced with information that can be quantified. In immunology, the advances have been even more astounding.”

In looking toward the University’s future, Atkinson says she’d like to see more faculty members involved in applied research. “And I’d like to see them share their research experiences with their students,” she adds. “It helps the faculty remain current in their disciplines, and it provides students with excellent opportunities for learning.”

Atkinson would also like to see the University add a major program in molecular biology. “There are vast opportunities for qualified graduates in biotechnology,” she notes, “and we currently have the faculty with the expertise needed for such an offering.”

“I’m not one to allow myself to wallow in despair over what I don’t have,” says Turner. “I believe in doing my best with the resources at hand.

“But if we’re to attract the best students to our programs in the social sciences, we’ll need facilities that will permit the use of modern methods of data gathering and analysis. Once we get wired up with that kind of telecommunications network, we’ll be more successful in student recruiting.”

“A Commitment to the Future”

As part of Winston-Salem State’s renewed emphasis on achieving educational excellence, the WSSU Foundation chose 1984-85 as the year to join forces with the University and the WSSU Alumni Association to revitalize the Annual Fund.

“Share the Commitment” was the chosen campaign theme. The dual goals were to encourage large gifts and a high level of alumni participation.

“We believed the alumni and the community would be supportive of an annual fund drive, but we had no real evidence to back up our beliefs,” says Hellena Tidwell, who, as director of sponsored programs, headed the campaign effort.

An Invitation to ‘Share the Commitment’

The Annual Fund campaign solicitation began in December ‘84 with an invitation to approximately 6,000 WSSU alumni to “Share the Commitment” with the University. The brochure alumni received also described a special commitment by the Hanes Group and Wachovia Bank.

According to the terms of their jointly issued “Hanes-Wachovia Challenge,” the two companies agreed to match the first $20,000 raised in the campaign dollar for dollar and to give an additional bonus of $10,000 if as many as 10 percent of all alumni participated.

“Quite candidly, we didn’t think they’d do it,” confesses Pat Temple, vice president of Human Resources and chairman of the Contributions Committee for the Hanes Group. “They were a little slow in getting the campaign off the ground, but they were remarkably successful with their alumni. So we were surprised—and very pleased—when they qualified for the matching gift and the full bonus.

“We feel very strongly about Winston-Salem State here at Hanes,” adds Temple, “and we’re convinced they’re headed in the right direction. Hanes supports the University partly because of our commitment to being a good corporate citizen. We feel we can raise the whole standard of living in the community by helping institutions like Winston-Salem State achieve their goals.

“Of course, we have a selfish motive, too. Our investment in Winston-Salem State pays handsome dividends in the form of qualified graduates who become prospective employees.”

A Successful Campaign

In all, the “Share the Commitment” campaign raised $129,769.66. Tidwell attributes the campaign’s
ultimate success—including donations of $34,217 from more than 650 alumni—to careful planning, strong leadership from alumni chapter presidents and tremendous volunteer and corporate support.

“The real turning point came with the Phonathon,” says Tidwell, referring to the efforts of 49 volunteers from the five Winston-Salem Alumni Association chapters whose calls to fellow-alumni generated contributions totaling more than $21,000. The effort was organized by Phonathon Committee Chairman Beaufort Bailey, an alumnus and director of WSSU’s Media Center.

“I raised the most money the day I was on the phone,” says Bailey. “I got there early and picked out the people I knew to call. I don’t think a person I talked to refused to pledge something—especially after I told them we were going to publish their name with a big fat zero beside it if they didn’t. I think some of them actually believed me.”

Marilyn Roseboro, president of the Alumni Association’s Campus Chapter—the top fund-raising chapter of the five participating in the Phonathon—and director of public relations at WSSU, played flute in the marching and concert bands during her years as a student. She made it a point to call fellow band members during the Phonathon.

“What I was trying to do is key in on something they were involved in,” she explains. “Most people have never really thought about the need for private funding. I think if you sat them down and gave them the opportunity to think through the business aspects of running a university, they’d understand.”

“I told them, ‘State funding will keep us afloat, but were not going to sail very far. We’re not going to be head and shoulders above the rest without your help.’”

Gifts to the Annual Fund will be used to fund scholarships, co-curricular activities, campus beautification projects and improvements to the physical plant.

“The Challenge of Singing Good Music”

Christmas was a little brighter this year for the University Choir and its Christmas concert audience, thanks to the WSSU Foundation. Using a modest Foundation grant, Director James Kinchen was able to hire instrumental musicians to accompany the student singers on several selections.

The Foundation grant also helped keep dormitories open for choir members during spring break until the choir left campus to begin their spring tour, sponsored by alumni chapters and church congregations in Washington, D.C., Newark and East Orange, New Jersey, New York City, and Greensboro, North Carolina.

Other co-curricular activities the Foundation supports include the marching, jazz and stage bands, various athletic programs and cheerleading.

“Until we received the Foundation grant, we had virtually no direct funding,” says Kinchen. “We relied on contributions from audiences at our performances and piggy-backed onto the Music Department for additional support. It’s almost incredible how we’ve survived.

“The choir is an important part of life here, and an important part of the history of the University,” adds Kinchen.

“Choral groups at historically black institutions have an obligation to maintain our cultural heritage and to share it with others through spirituals and other types of black folk and gospel music. At the same time, we have an obligation to our students to let them experience the best of the Western musical traditions. Typically, we try to include music that represents the best of both in our concerts.”

In the future, Kinchen would like the choir to perform more works composed for choir and orchestra, but since WSSU has no orchestra on campus, the cost of hiring musicians makes his ambitions difficult to realize. “To hire even a small ensemble for a minimum number of rehearsals and the performance would cost upwards to two thousand dollars,” he says. “And that’s not counting the purchase of the music itself. Music scores have become incredibly expensive.”

‘Can You Sing?’

Kinchen estimates that about a third of the approximately 50 members of the University Choir are music majors. He says he recruited a number from other disciplines using a personal approach.

“I work hard to get a variety of students from all over campus,” says Kinchen. “This year, I recruited straight out of the registration lines. I went up to people and said, ‘Can you sing?’ If they said yes, I invited them to join.”

Kinchen says students’ motives for joining the choir are many. “Some are looking for an opportunity for artistic expression or an opportunity to broaden their experiences,” he notes, “while there are others for whom singing in the choir is a status opportunity. Some join for social reasons—for a chance to meet other good-looking, talented people. The fact that we’re a touring organization attracts people who want to see things they’ve not seen before. And there are people who join because they want the challenge of singing good music.

“We do get ambitious,” Kinchen admits, adding that students sometimes complain when he asks them to learn a particularly difficult piece. “Good music has a complexity and a compelling quality that requires you to stick with it until you master it. I tell my students that if they can work on difficult music and polish it, they can channel that same kind of time and energy into other endeavors that will result in the accomplishment of any of their goals.”

“Annual Fund Gifts Support New Scholarships”

“Higher education is a buyer’s market,” says Winston-Salem State Chancellor Cleon Thompson, “and we have to be prepared to offer more than premium quality programs.

“To make ourselves truly attractive to the academically talented students we want to recruit, we must have a strong scholarship program.”

In an effort to make Winston-Salem State more competitive in its efforts to recruit outstanding students, Chancellor Thompson established two new scholarship programs. Both programs will be administered by the Foundation. Initial grants will be funded using contributions to the 1984-85 Annual Fund.

Beginning in the fall of 1986, Chancellor’s Scholarships will be awarded to two incoming freshmen who have at least a 3.5 grade point average (or the equivalent) and a combined score on the Scholastic Aptitude Test of at least 900 points. Each scholarship covers full tuition and fees for the student’s four years of enrollment, provided he or she maintains a grade point average of 3.0 or better. Each Chancellor’s Scholarship is worth approximately $10,250.

Five Alumni Scholarships, worth $1,000 a year, will be awarded to incoming freshmen with at least a 3.0 grade point average and a combined SAT score of at least 800. Alumni Scholarships are renewable each year for up to four years, provided the student maintains at least a 3.0 grade point average.

After the initial awards are made, future awards will be funded by an endowment established for that purpose.

“A Natural Environment”

Twenty-five miles north of the Winston-Salem State campus, the WSSU Environmental Center at Camp Robert Vaughn provides the University more than 250 acres of wooded land and an eight-acre lake, making the facility ideally suited for a variety of outdoor educational and recreational activities.

A 4,000-square-foot lodge, complete with a fully-equipped kitchen, serves as a multi-purpose building for meals, indoor classes and social activities. The camp’s dozen cabins can accommodate as many as 100 overnight guests. Three bath houses, a staff house and a caretaker’s cabin are also part of the facility.

“Our operating funds for the camp come primarily from two sources,” explains Dr. Jerry Hickerson who, as director of WSSU’s Division of Continuing Education, is responsible for running the camp. “About $40,000 a year comes from student fees. Most of the rest comes from the Winston-Salem State Foundation which also serves as the camp’s fiscal agent.”

During 1984-85, its first full year of operation, the camp hosted a number of campus and community organizations. Bessie Sherman, an employee loaned to the University by the United States Department of the Interior, managed the facility for the year, overseeing a number of improvements to the physical plant, as well as the purchase of some new recreational equipment.

“Our biggest expense was roofing the lodge,” says Hickerson. “That cost over $20,000. We also had the floors in the lodge refinished, had some plumbing and electrical work done, paid insurance premiums, bought a refrigerator and fixed the ice machine.

“We bought basketballs, volleyballs, horseshoes, checkers, backgammon sets, baseball and softball bats, canoes and a rowboat, too,” adds Sherman. “And we put fire extinguishers and smoke detectors in each of the cabins.”

Among the renovations needed in the near future, Hickerson lists repairs to the bath houses, repainting the cabins and resurfacing the basketball court.

The University’s plans for using Camp Robert Vaughn were outlined in a marketing plan developed during the year. The specific uses proposed in the plan by the various WSSU departments were many, including field trips, seminars, retreats and camps for students, faculty and community groups.

“I’m sure we’ll continue finding new ways to use the camp well into the future,” says Hickerson. “Our goal will be to serve not only the University, but the community as well.”

“Opening WSSU to Little Ones”

“Little ones have always been an interest of mine,” says Dr. Faustina L. Holman, assistant to WSSU’s chancellor, “and it seemed to me that in all the University’s community projects, we’d been leaving out the very young.

“I thought I’d see about opening the world of Winston-Salem State to our tot-citizens. That’s how the idea for the Arts for Tots Project came about.”

The Arts for Tots Project was funded initially by a grant from the Projects Pool of the Winston-Salem Arts Council, Inc., with additional support from the North Carolina Arts Council and the Grass Roots Bill. Funding is administered by the WSSU Foundation.

As director of the project, Holman set out to establish a partnership between the University and people in the community who work with young children in day care and childhood centers, churches and other organizations. Her goals were to teach child-care workers ways to use the arts to teach basic intellectual and motor skills, to instill “a higher level of consumerism in the arts” among children and “to help them feel more worthy” as a result of their experiences on the WSSU campus.

“We feel that if the young can latch on early, they’ll turn to the arts as a means of life-long learning, and as an avocation,” says Holman. “Too often people don t have the arts to draw on. But for those who do, it can be almost like a faith.”

For teachers and caretakers of young children from throughout the community, an Arts for Tots conference led by early childhood development specialists focused on ways to incorporate an arts instruction program into the daily curricula of their centers.

For 150 children, aged three to six, from a half-dozen area child-care facilities, weekly visits to the University campus provided opportunities to participate in arts-related activities and to tour campus sites, including the Sculpture Garden, the Learning Resources Center, the library, the greenhouse, the gymnasium and the swimming pool. During the five-week period, from June 18 through July 16, 1985, the children also made a mural and a quilt, played musical instruments and sang, experimented with computers, and learned aerobic dances.

As the Arts for Tots Project continues, Holman says she’d like to examine the long-term impact of the program on the children who participate. “We also hope down the road to do a little bit of talent-searching,” she adds.

In the more immediate future, Holman says shell concentrate on building a volunteer pool and “restructuring to include all who want to participate without compromising our quality.

“We have so many dreams,” adds Holman, “but we need more grant money to establish a solid base. The arts are the way we educate our feelings, so we feel it’s vitally important for the project to continue. For now, we’re just having fun being creative and innovative.”

‘Something to be Proud Of’

Some people say they don’t understand it—or like it. But for most of the University’s students, faculty and alumni, the Sculpture Garden on campus is a source of genuine pride and infinite pleasure.

The idea for the Sculpture Garden emerged more than a dozen years ago when the auditorium on the WSSU campus collapsed. Upon seeing that the proposed new auditorium was completely surrounded by a parking lot, Associate Art Professor Mitzi Shewmake suggested modifying the plans to include sculpture. Local art enthusiast and philanthropist Gordon Hanes provided landscaping and walkways that would serve as suitable settings for the collection.

“For many years, black institutions got the short end of the stick when it came to funding,” says Hanes, who proposed that the first major acquisition be selected through a national competition. “My main motive for sponsoring the Sculpture Garden was to help Winston-Salem State have something unique on campus. Obviously, having artwork of this caliber on campus is something to be proud of.”

‘We were interested in sculptors—particularly minority sculptors—who hadn’t had a chance to do big pieces,” recalls Shewmake. “We were looking for artists who were on the way, rather than those who had arrived.

“Sponsoring the competition was particularly appropriate for us to be doing at Winston-Salem State because were a predominantly black institution,” Shewmake continues.

“A support system for black artists—particularly sculptors who can’t afford the materials to create a major work on their own—had to begin somewhere. Starting with college students is one of the best ways.”

Mel Edwards of New York was chosen from among 191 artists who entered the first competition to create the garden’s first major work. His 12-foot stainless steel sculpture, “Southern Sunrise,” was installed in 1983.

Judges for the second competition, begun in 1984, were museum curators from Storm King Sculpture Park, Wesleyan University and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Because it was so difficult to choose one artist from among the three finalists, the University commissioned each of them to complete the sculptures they had proposed. Beverly Buchanan’s “Garden Ruins,” completed in 1984, was the first of the three to be added to the Sculpture Garden. Gordon Hanes funded Buchanan’s work through the WSSU Foundation.

The sculpture is an arrangement of three pieces of pink granite from Salisbury, North Carolina. “The sculpture is difficult for people to understand unless they know a lot about the movement in modern art that Beverly’s work comes out of,” says Shewmake. “And unless stone appeals to you, you may find the work hard to like.

“I think the Sculpture Garden is making people think about the campus—what a campus looks like what a space looks like,” Shewmake adds. “I’ve read essays about the sculpture written by students for classes in which they’ve made some remarkably insightful observations. Some of the students don’t like it, but they have to deal with it anyway. And that can be very educational.”

Letter from the Executive Secretary

Dear Friend:

Winston-Salem State University has a proud and honorable history. But whether or not we fully realize the bright and purposeful future envisioned by our leaders depends at least in part, on the continuing growth of the Winston-Salem State University Foundation.

If 1984-85 is any indication of the Foundation’s future, I’d say we can look to the University’s future with a large measure of hope and confidence. To all who helped make the year the success it was, I express my deepest appreciation.

During 1985-86, and in the coming years, we at the Foundation will be encouraging even more individuals and companies to become part of WSSU’s bright and purposeful future. We hope you’ll join us in our efforts.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Myron M. Chenault
Executive Secretary