Kudos for November: Faculty, staff and student awards, appointments and achievements

Faculty/Staff Recognition

Roy Doron, associate professor of history, was recently highlighted in Perspectives on History, the newsmagazine of the American Historical Association. Doron, who co-authored the award-winning biography of environmental activist Ken Saro-Wiwa, also was interviewed by Jacobin Magazine for the 24^th anniversary of Saro-Wiwa’s execution by Nigeria’s military government in 1995.

Amir Henry, deputy chief for the WSSU Police Department, graduated from the 85^th Administrative Officers Management program through North Carolina State University.

Jaime Hunt, vice chancellor for strategic communications, has been elected vice-chair of the Women's Fund of Winston-Salem, effective Jan. 1, 2020. The Women’s Fund of Winston-Salem is a strategic initiative of The Winston-Salem Foundation comprised of a diverse group of over 700 women and girls seeking to create social change. Through the power of collective giving, grantmaking, and advocacy, members of The Women’s Fund are working to reduce concentrated poverty while strengthening economic security for women and girls in Forsyth County.

Elwood L. Robinson, chancellor, has been named one of The Triad Business Journal’s 2019 Power Players. Robinson, who was featured in the Nov. 1 issue, was recognized along with other recipients at the Piedmont Triad Partnership’s State of the Region address on Oct. 31. In the article The Triad Business Journal notes WSSU’s impact on health sciences and recent partnership agreements with Forsyth Technical Community College and Davidson County Community College.

Dr. Wanda White, director of the Center for Innovative and Transformative Instruction (CITI);  Dr. Bart Ganzert, faculty development specialist for CITI; Joe Baker, coordinator for the North  Carolina Math and Science Education Network (MSEN); and Keith Penn, university program specialist for MSEN, presented at EduMax, the Adobe national conference on Nov. 3. The topic of the presentation was “WSSU’s Digital Literacy Project Implementation: A Perspective from an HBCU.” WSSU became the first HBCU Adobe Creative Cloud Campus in 2018.

Student Recognition

Kyndal Dodd, a senior biology major from Winston-Salem; Mykasia Simpkins, a senior biology major from Winston-Salem; and Nalexus Stocks a senior biology major from Charlotte, completed a 10-week intensive summer undergraduate research program that was funded through a National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant. The program pairs students with cancer researchers at Wake Forest University Baptist Comprehensive Cancer Center and aims to promote diversity in cancer research. WSSU is one of three universities who partner on the grant.

Celvin Davis, a junior exercise science major from Fayetteville, recently attended the National Conference on Ethics in America (NCEA) at West Point Academy. Davis was selected by his military science instructors to represent the “No Fear Battalion,” which includes students from WSSU, Wake Forest and Salem Academy. The conference, held Oct. 7-8, was themed “Harder Right Easier Wrong.”

WSSU’s Singing Rams were the guest performers at the North Carolina Music Educators’ Association Conference on Nov. 11. The performance, at the Stevens Center in downtown Winston-Salem, focused on social justice. The choir is under the direction of Maestra D’Walla Simmons-Burke. Dr. Myron Brown, associate professor of music, was the accompanist.  

WSSU's Office of Integrated Marketing Communications distributes the Kudos Report monthly as a platform for the university to celebrate and promote the many achievements, successes and contributions of our campus community. Submit a kudos announcement online.