Jackson State University mourns the loss of 1933 graduate

The Jackson State University family mourns the loss of alumna Esther Ellis Sampson Marshall, 99, who recently passed away in Austin, Tex. The 1933 Jackson College graduate was the wife of the late H. T. Sampson Sr., the former executive dean of Jackson State University after whom the university’s library is named. She later married Luther J. Marshall, also now deceased.

Visitation will be held at 6 p.m. Friday, Feb. 11, at Peoples Funeral Home in Jackson, Miss. Funeral services will be held at 1:30 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 12, at Pearl Street A.M.E. Church in Jackson. A graveside service will follow at the Garden Memorial Park Cemetery.

The Vicksburg native earned a master’s degree in social work from Atlanta University and was recognized as the first, and for many years the only, African-American professional social worker in the state of Mississippi. She also served as the executive director of Project Head Start in Hinds County and associate professor of Social Work at Jackson State University. Her papers will be donated to the university.

“Mrs. Marshall was a kind woman with a wonderful spirit, who really was a pioneer in social work and with Head Start in Mississippi,” said Evangeline W. Robinson, executive director of the JSU Development Foundation. “We are so proud of all that she was able to accomplish.”  

Marshall was the mother of two sons, Dr. Henry T. Sampson Jr., of California and John B. Sampson of Texas. Henry T. Sampson Jr. recently donated an expansive collection of historical materials to the university. The collection relates to the historic contributions of African Americans to motion pictures, the performing arts, music, and radio and television broadcasting from 1865 and 1970.

Marshall was preceded in death by her brothers, Otis Ellis, Robert Ellis and Tellis Burthorne Ellis Jr., after whom Jackson State’s T.B. Ellis Health and Physical Education Complex is named.

Marshall will be sorely missed by the Jackson State University family and friends.

Evangeline W. Robinson (left), the late Esther Sampson Marshall and Dr. Henry T. Sampson Jr.

Summer Bridge Program (2011) for incoming freshmen

Jackson State University through the Division of Undergraduate Studies is offering a Summer Bridge Program for incoming freshmen who have been admitted to Jackson State University for the fall 2011. The program will provide room, board, tuition and books at no cost to 130 qualifying students. Applicants should have an ACT score between 17 and 25. Students are required to complete the first summer session, June 1-29, and the second summer session, July 5-Aug. 4. Interested students should contact Josie Latham, Coordinator of Intervention Services, at 601-979-0562 or josie.h.latham@jsums.edu.

Former foster child and award-winning blues singer to speak at child welfare conference

(JACKSON, Miss.) – Former foster child and award-winning blues singer Janiva Magness will speak during the ninth annual Mississippi Child Welfare Institute Conference Feb. 17-18 at the Jackson Marriott Hotel, 200 E. Amite St., in Jackson, Miss. Magness’s latest CD, “The Devil is an Angel, Too,” was just named the No. 1 blues CD of 2010 by “Living Blues” magazine.

Sponsored by the Jackson State University College of Public Service School of Social Work, the two-day conference will focus on building community partnerships for safe and healthy children and families. The event will feature local and national experts who will provide the latest information on issues affecting vulnerable children and families.

During her 30-year career, Magness has performed at theatres and festivals across the world. In 2009, she received the coveted Blues Music Award for B.B. King Entertainer of the Year, making her the second woman ever to win this award.

Although she achieved success as a singer, Magness’ rise to the top was not easy. At 16, she lost both parents to suicide, which pushed her out onto the streets and from one foster home to another. She became pregnant at age 17 and gave up her daughter for adoption. Magness said her life started to turn around after becoming inspired by Motown music and the blues and country songs in her father’s record collection.

Magness now serves as a national spokesperson for the Casey Family Programs promoting National Foster Care Month. Although she relinquished her parental rights as a teenager, Magness has since established a relationship with her daughter, and is the proud grandmother of an 8-year-old boy.

The conference will begin at 8:15 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 17. Plenary speakers include Eileen Mayers Pasztor, associate professor at the School of Social Work, California State University – Long Beach, and Juli Alvarado, president of the personal and professional development firm Coaching for Life. Magness will be the keynote speaker during the closing luncheon on Feb. 18. 

Social work students, educators, practitioners, human service workers and mental and health care professionals are invited to attend. Participants will receive 10 continuing education hours.

For more information, call 601-432-6816 or 601-979-1123.

 Registration form: http://www.jsums.edu/assets/cps/mcwi_9th_form.pdf

JSU professor to serve as guest conductor of JPS band festival

(JACKSON, Miss.) – Jackson State University’s Director of Music Technology and Assistant Professor of Music Dowell Taylor will serve as guest conductor for Jackson Public School’s Annual All-City High School Band Festival at 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 10.

The festival brings together top high school musicians for a two-day rehearsal marathon culminating in a public concert at the Belhaven Center for the Arts. Students who participate in the festival must pass a rigorous city-wide audition.

JSU Associate Professor of Music David Ware will be featured as trumpet soloist and JSU Associate Professor of Music Harland Zachery will be featured as a piano soloist on one of the selections.

Taylor said he was honored to have been invited to serve as guest conductor “especially since it gives me the opportunity to revisit my first love in music, band directing.”

Taylor is the former director of the JSU Sonic Boom of the South marching band, a certified Pro Tools recording engineer, a pianist who serves as minister of music at Greater Mount Calvary Baptist Church and a regular performer with his jazz trio/quartet. His 40-member Dowell Taylor Big Band performed last year for the Blair E. Batson Children Hospital’s annual New Year’s Eve Gala in Jackson.

For more information, call 601-316-1791 or 601-214-1348. Admission is free.

JSU seeks judges for regional science, mathematics and engineering fair

(JACKSON, Miss.) – Jackson State University is seeking judges for the annual Mississippi Region II Science and Engineering Fair scheduled for Thursday and Friday, March 24-25.

Judges are needed with expertise in behavioral, social science, public health, education, science, mathematics, engineering, technology, health and medical professions.

The fair will assemble close to 1,500 students from 250 public and private schools in Claiborne, Copiah, Hinds, Jefferson, Madison, Rankin and Warren counties. Students from grades 1-12 will present projects in the areas of science, mathematics and technology.

The lower fair for grades 1-6 will be held March 24. The upper fair for grades 7-12 will be held March 25. Judges are needed from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. and may volunteer for one or both days. The two-day fair will take place in the Lee E. Williams Athletics and Assembly Center at Jackson State University, 1400 John R. Lynch St. in Jackson, Miss.

Qualified judges should have a master’s or equivalent degree or a minimum of five years related professional experience to judge projects in the lower fair (grades 1-6). Upper fair (grades 7-12) judges and should have a Ph.D., M.D. or equivalent degree or a minimum of eight years related professional experience. College juniors, seniors and/or graduate students may judge in the lower fair upon advisor recommendation and fair official approval.

First, second and third place winners from grades 7-12 will advance to the Mississippi Science and Engineering Fair to be held the week of March 28 at Mississippi State University.

Interested persons may register online at www.jsums.edu/scifair.

The application deadline is Friday, March 11. For more information, call 601-979-1603.

JSU ranked No. 6 nationally in the number of doctorates awarded to African Americans

According to data from the National Science Foundation, Jackson State University ranked No. 6 in the nation for awarding doctorates to African Americans during the 2005-2009 period. During that time, 9,825 African Americans earned doctorates.

Other top schools include Howard University, which bestowed 338 doctorates on black Americans, more than any other institution. Walden University, a nontraditional institution of higher learning where much of the coursework is conducted online, ranked second with 158 black students earning doctorates. The University of Michigan ranked third with 149 doctorates earned by blacks. Morgan State University awarded 137 doctorates to blacks, followed closely by the University of Maryland, which granted 135 doctorates, and Jackson State University, where 129 African Americans earned doctoral degrees.

Rounding out the top 10 universities in awarding doctorates to blacks in the 2005-2009 period are the University of Southern California, Clark Atlanta University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Virginia Tech.

Source: Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, Feb. 3, 2011

JSU professors create possible prostate cancer treatment

By Gary Pettus
from Clarion-Ledger.com

Paresh Ray, a JSU assistant professor of chemistry, talks about the laser system and synthesized gold nanoparticles used in the detection of low levels of prostate cancer cells. (Brian Albert Broom/The Clarion-Ledger)

Researchers at Jackson State University have created a possible treatment for prostate cancer using particles that are about 80,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair.

But their potential is massive, said Paresh Ray, who led JSU’s research team.

“The particles can be used in three ways: detecting the cancer cells, killing them and monitoring the treatment to see if it is working,” he said.

It’s that monitoring capacity in particular that is new, Paresh wrote in an article published recently in The Journal of the American Chemical Society.

Reading over an abstract of Ray’s report, Dr. Charles Pound, chief of urology at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, said, “This could be something that is so novel and exciting that they win the Nobel Prize.

“Or it could be something very humdrum.”

The Nobel-spoiler could be the wrong answer to this question: Will the treatment work on patients?

So far it’s only been tried on detached human cells.

But if the answer to the question is yes, the implications are profound, said Ray, associate professor of chemistry and the director of JSU’s Center for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology.

“Prostate cancer is one of the problems we have in Mississippi. When we look for funding for research we need to show that it can do something for the population.”

Mississippi’s population lost 330 men to prostate cancer in 2010, the American Cancer Society estimates.

The prostate cancer incidence rate in Mississippi is higher than that for the United States as a whole.

Across the country, this form of cancer is the most common among men, other than skin cancer, killing about one in every 36, the American Cancer Society reports.

“Men at high risk are those who have relatives who were diagnosed with the disease before age 65,” said JeanAnn Reeves, with the Metro Jackson American Cancer Society.

Age and diet are also risk factors. So is race. In the United States, prostate cancer occurs about 60 percent more often among black men, compared to white men………. Read the rest of this article here .

JSU chemistry professor wins prestigious National Science Foundation award

(JACKSON, Miss.) – Jackson State University assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry Md. Alamgir Hossain has been honored with the coveted National Science Foundation CAREER Award, which supports outstanding young faculty “who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through outstanding research, excellent education and the integration of education and research.”

Hossain is the second member of JSU’s chemistry faculty to receive the CAREER award since 2004.

“This is a very competitive grant nationally,” said JSU’s chemistry department chair Hongtao Yu. “It’s the hallmark for faculty to become independent researchers.”

Hossain’s award, which comes with $400,000 over the next five years, will support integrated research, education and outreach activities, including the development of new “chemosensors” that will be useful to identify and separate hazardous anions in the environment.

“These molecules can be used for environmental remediation,” Hossain said. “If you have pollutants in water, you can actually remove them from the water.”

This highly interdisciplinary program at the frontiers of chemistry and biology will support graduate and undergraduate students working in Hossain’s research group and will recruit high school students and teachers for training during the summer. An outreach program called “Chemistry in Nature” also will be implemented to make chemistry interesting and understandable to local K-12 students.

“When I was in high school, chemistry was my most interesting area,” Hossain said. “That’s when my interest grew.”

The research components of the project are aimed to characterize fundamental factors responsible for selective anion recognition at the molecular level, and to develop effective and efficient methods for sensing and analyzing harmful anions, particularly at low concentrations.

Hossain received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in chemistry from the University of Dhaka in Bangladesh and a Ph.D. in supramolecular chemistry from Hokkaido University in Japan. He was a recipient of a prestigious Alexander Humboldt Fellowship for his postdoctoral work in Germany. Hossain’s research includes supramolecular and macromolecular chemistry focusing non-covalent interactions between synthetic hosts and guest species, and to develop new biomimetic sensors for anions of environmental and biological relevance. Hossain has published more than 50 research articles in chemistry journals, which were cited more than 700 times by other researchers. For more information about Hossain’s research, visit http://chem.jsums.edu/alamgir/.

JSU Mass Communications Department to receive reaccreditation

Jackson State University’s Department of Mass Communications has great news to report! Following a two-day visit to the campus, the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications announced that it would recommend the department be fully accredited.

“We are all very excited,” said interim department chair Olorundare Aworuwa. “Everyone really has worked together as a team.”

Since earning a provisional accreditation in 2009, the department has installed new computers and software, revised its curriculum and made solid steps to improve student diversity. The council will return in four years for its next review of the program. The department is a part of the university’s School of Communications in the College of Liberal Arts. Established in 1978, the department earned its first accreditation in 1984 and introduced its first master’s program in 1981. In 2008, the department relocated from Blackburn Hall on the main campus to the Mississippi e-Center@JSU on Raymond Road in Jackson. In addition to the traditional classrooms, the facility offers classroom computer labs and editing labs. It is also home of the department’s instructional television studio JSU22 and the university’s commercial television station, JSU-TV.

The Mass Communications Department's Diversity Committee held a mixer last week to kick off its Mentoring Program.

Tigers football team helps JSU earn Carnegie Foundation distinction

Earlier this year, the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching recognized Jackson State University, along with three other Mississippi higher education institutions, for its outstanding work in the community. The designation puts JSU among 115 schools nationwide that earned the prestigious distinction.

To be selected, colleges and universities had to provide descriptions and examples of their institutional focus on community engagement.

The Jackson State University Tigers football team is part of the reason why JSU has been ranked nationally in its commitment to community service. The team visits Blair E. Batson Children’s Hospital in Jackson throughout the year.

 

For more information, read the press release from the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching at http://www.carnegiefoundation.org/newsroom/press-releases/carnegie-selects