JSU Student LeMarc Humphrey touted as “another Mississippi hero”

LeMarch Humphrey was honored at the JSU basketball game on Feb. 6 by JSU President, Ronald Mason, Jr, the campus NAACP, and several others. He spoke to the large crowd on hand, saying that he only did “what was right.”

From the Clarion Ledger
Story by Heather Civil

LeMarc Humphrey helped save Andrea Scott's life

With tears in his eyes, Bill Scott said “three miracles” saved his wife’s life.

First, the gunman used small bullets, probably .22- or .25-caliber, Scott said.

Second, the gunman had bad aim, he said.

Third, LeMarc Humphrey ran toward the sound of gunfire instead of away from it, Scott said.

“He’s another Mississippi hero,” Scott said.

Humphrey, a 21-year-old computer engineering major at Jackson State University, heard shots and rushed to the aid of Andrea Scott behind the John A. Peoples Science Building on Monday night.

Andrea Scott, 36, was shot twice in the head in a dimly lit parking lot behind the science building. She’s a research chemist at JSU.

As Bill Scott sat in the hospital waiting room Wednesday, he teared up when talking about Humphrey.

“Our country is in desperate need of repair, and when you find a man like LeMarc, you see he was an American and he did something above and beyond the call of duty,” Bill Scott said.

Andrea Scott told police two, possibly three, men tried to rob her around 7 p.m. as she was leaving work. She told her husband the gunman shot her when he found out she only had $5.

No arrests have been made. Police have only a vague description of one suspect – 5-foot-6 and wearing a brown skull cap and blue coat.

Scott had just gotten off the phone with her husband to tell him she was on her way home. She is in fair condition in the intensive care unit at University of Mississippi Medical Center.

For his help, Bill Scott wants to see Humphrey nominated for the Presidential Medal of Freedom. The medal is the highest civilian honor and is typically awarded to citizens who have impacted history.

The 2009 list of medal recipients includes physicist Stephen Hawking, Sandra Day O’Connor, Billie Jean King, Sidney Poitier and Desmond Tutu.

Humphrey smiled sheepishly when asked about the Medal of Freedom. He said he doesn’t think he deserves that kind of recognition.

“Wow. It’s something kind of big for something so small that I did,” he said.

Humphrey stayed with Scott and called campus police for help.

“Anybody could have done the same thing,” LeMarc Humphrey said Wednesday. “I just made one call.”

JSU Pres. Mason discuss issues facing Miss. HBCUs during Press Conf. on Jan. 29, 2010

Jackson State student receives Department of Defense award

Jackson State University junior meteorology major Jarrett Claiborne has been selected to receive a nationally competitive Science, Mathematics, and Research for Transformation (SMART) Award from the U.S. Department of Defense. The SMART scholarship consists of tuition, a book stipend, healthcare, and a post-graduate job.

During the school year, Claiborne will intern as a research physical scientist at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Vicksburg, Miss. The future meteorologist is a native of Lorman, Miss., and is the weather forecaster for WJSU 88.5 and TV23.

“I accept this award on behalf of Jackson State and all that it has given me as a student,” Claiborne says. “I am forever in debt to JSU.”

Jarrett encourages other students to apply for the scholarship, which opens in August 2010. The direct link is www.asee.org/smart.

President Ronald Mason discuss Miss. Gov. Haley Barbour’s college merger proposal

JSU music professor receives Mississippi Jazz Foundation Award

The Mississippi Jazz Foundation will honor and recognize Jackson State University professor of music Russell Thomas Jr. during its sixth annual holiday jazz concert, “A Night of Musical Artistry,” at 7 p.m. Dec. 11 at the Alamo Theater on the historic Farish Street in downtown Jackson.

During the concert, the foundation will honor Thomas’ musical works and will recognize his contributions to music education and the music entertainment industry in Mississippi.

Other honorees include jazz artist and JSU alumnus Cassandra Wilson and former JSU band director the late William Davis.

Thomas, a member of the JSU Department of Music faculty since 1984, is director of jazz education and the coordinator of music theory. He is a Fulbright Scholar and the founder of the “Jazz in the Schools” program, which is dedicated to the teaching of jazz history and jazz improvisation concepts in kindergarten through secondary schools.

Thomas has presented “Jazz in the Schools” residencies for elementary and high schools throughout the United States. He has presented jazz education lectures and seminars at the International Association of Jazz Educators Conference, Music Educators National Conference, Southern Arts Exchange Conference, North American Saxophone Alliance Conference, National Black Music Caucus Conference and the “ORFF 100” International Conference on Music and Dance in Melbourne, Australia.

At JSU, Thomas developed the Bachelor of Music Education Degree – Jazz Education Concentration curriculum, and directed and produced nine educational recordings of the Jackson State University Jazz Ensemble Class I. The JSU Jazz Ensemble Class I earned national acclaim by receiving the “Dr. M. E. Hall Award” for being selected as the outstanding jazz ensemble at the University of North Texas 2009 Annual North Texas Jazz Festival.

Thomas’ publications include a musical composition for jazz orchestra, “Blues Grove” (Walrus Music Publications), and a book chapter, “Li’l Darlin’, Neal Paul Hefti,” in the book, “Teaching Music Through Performance In Jazz” (GIA Publications, Inc.). Thomas has received numerous honors and awards including the Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts and the Mississippi Humanities Teacher / Scholar Award.

JSU music professor to present at three international conferences

David N. Ware, associate professor of music at Jackson State University, has been invited to present at the Hawaii International Conference on Education, the Hawaii International Conference on Arts and Humanities and the International Conference on the Arts in Society in Sydney, Australia. The Hawaii conferences will be held in January 2010, and the Sydney conference will take place in July.

Ware’s presentation is titled, “King of the Chit’lin Circuit: The Life and Music of Bobby Rush.”

Ware, a member of the JSU Department of Music faculty since 2000, directs the Jazz Ensemble II, the Brasswind Ensemble and the Trumpet Ensemble. He was one of 14 professors selected as a University Scholar for the 2008-2009 academic year. Ware’s publications include “Interviews with 16 Band Directors at Historically Black Colleges: Their Attitudes, Opinions and Methods” (Edwin Mellen Press); “Flexibility Studies for the Trumpet, French Horn, Trombone, Euphonium, and Tuba” (Cimarron Music Press); “Gettin’ It Together: Tips for Creating an Excellent Teaching Portfolio;” and numerous articles in the International Trumpet Guild Journal, the Jazz Education Journal, the School Band and Orchestra Magazine and the Mississippi Bandmaster.

Jackson State University and Jackson Medical Mall researchers present project at National Institutes of Health

Sandra Hayes (left), academic project director; Barbara Johnson, principal investigator and assistant professor, health policy and management; and Primus Wheeler, community project director and executive director, Jackson Medical Mall Foundation.

The Department of Health Policy and Management at Jackson State University and the Jackson Medical Mall Foundation have spent the past two years engaged in a collaborative research effort sponsored through the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Partners in Research Program.

The research project, funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, is designed to increase community engagement and participation in biomedical and clinical research. The project’s academic principal investigator, Barbara Johnson of Jackson State and project directors, Sandra Hayes of Jackson State and Primus Wheeler of the Jackson Medical Mall Foundation, presented a poster at the Partners in Research Conference hosted by the NIH in Bethesda, Md., Oct. 26-27. The poster presentation focused on preliminary findings from the research.
It is anticipated that the findings from this data will provide direction for the development of strategies that will foster the building of networks for increasing research awareness and infrastructure that will promote biomedical research that not only takes place in the small business community, but involves the community.
“It is through projects such as this one that academia and community organizations can work together to empower the communities that we serve and change public health outcomes for the better,” said Johnson, an assistant professor in JSU’s Department of Health Policy and Management.
To date, the researchers have facilitated two community forums. The first of these focused on how the community can become engaged in research that affects their health. A second forum focused on the impact of the environment in which one lives upon health outcomes. Upcoming initiatives of the project for 2010 are two additional community forums designed to educate participants on various aspects of health outcomes and community engaged research. The first of these, tentatively scheduled for January 2010, will focus on the relationship between lifestyle choices and health outcomes.

JSU professor, Ally Mack, wins Excellence in Trade Education Award

                                
Jackson State University professor and dean of the Division of International Studies Ally Mack was presented the Excellence in Trade Education Award on Nov. 12 by the Mississippi World Trade Center. This was the Center’s first year presenting an award for Excellence in Trade Education.  The award honors educational programs and individuals who have promoted and/or developed international business and turned import and export opportunities into Mississippi success stories.

“It was an honor to be the first recipient of the Mississippi World Trade Center award recognizing the crucial role that education plays in international trade,” Mack said. “Thus, I am delighted that Jackson State University was the first recipient and that it is being recognized for its efforts in this area.”

For the past 30 years, Mack has worked to internationalize Mississippi through the International Visitors Center of Jackson and the Mississippi Consortium for International Development. From her efforts, better engagement in the international trade arena has occurred.

American Geological Institute selects JSU student for program

Jackson State University senior Earth System Science major Mitchell Johnson has been selected for the American Geological Institute’s Minority Participation Program (AGI MPP). The program develops the professional corps of underrepresented ethnic minority students in the geosciences. A native of Meridian, Miss., Mitchell will receive a $2,030 scholarship and an assigned mentor from the geoscience community to foster his professional development.

The AGI MPP program is the longest running minority program in the geosciences, dating back to 1972. Over the past 36 years, more than 950 MPP scholars have received millions of dollars of scholarships, and many of the past scholars are currently working as leaders in the geoscience community.

Jackson State University launched its Earth System Science degree program in the fall of 2008 within the Department of Physics, Atmospheric Sciences and Geoscience. Jackson State is the only historically black college or university in the country with a degree program in Earth System Science.

JSU grad earns 2010 Black Engineer of the Year award

 Jackson State University civil engineering graduate Jeremy Laster has been selected to receive the 2010 Black Engineer of the Year (BEYA) Most Promising Engineer Government Award.

Laster works as a structural engineer for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers New Orleans District. He graduated from Jackson State in 2007.

In the BEYA Award’s 24-year history, less than 700 professionals have achieved the distinction of being a Black Engineer of the Year honoree.

Laster, a native of Bay Springs, Miss., will receive the award at the BEYA STEM Global Competitiveness Conference on Feb. 20, 2010, in Baltimore.

Jackson State’s undergraduate civil engineering program is fully accredited by the Engineering Commission of the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology.