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Yolanda Hudson ‘87 &
Son, Justin Bullock, MD, MPH

Former President of the Detroit Fisk Club is Very Proud of Her Son’s Outstanding Achievements

June 22, 2024

Yolanda R. Hudson is a graduate of the Fisk Class of 1987. She also is a former (penultimate) president of the Detroit Fisk Club.

Her son, Justin Bullock, MD, MPH, who recently completed a fellowship in nephrology at the University of Washington, Seattle, has been cited for his outstanding work.

Since 2007, health advice website WebMD.com has selected recipients of the annual Health Heroes awards, recognizing individuals who work tirelessly to improve the mental health of medical professionals, veterans, first responders, and older adults

UW Nephrology fellow Justin Bullock, MD, MPH was selected as a Health Hero this year [2022] for his advocacy for mental health and suicide prevention in medicine.

"A lot of my work involves trying to change the narrative of how we separate patients and providers in our minds; how health care workers think of people with illness as 'them' and not a part of ‘us,’'" Bullock says.

Bullock advocates for mental health promotion and suicide prevention by speaking about his own experiences while in medical school, which he detailed in a 2020 perspective in The New England Journal of Medicine..

"In a 2014 Archives of General Psychiatry study, the rate of depression among interns jumped from less than 4% at the beginning of the year to more than 40%.'You don't take all these healthy people and break them without there being a problem,' he says."

Dr. Bullock is a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in chemical-biological engineering and completed his medical degree in internal medicine at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF). He is cited by the University of Michigan Department of Internal Medicine for his podcast on Docs with Disabilities.

In February 2023, the United States Surgeon General, Dr. Vivek Murphy, highlighted Dr. Bullock — then a research fellow in the nephrology program at the University of Washington — for Black History Month, for his advocation “for greater mental health support for our nation’s health workers.”

Mother Yolanda Hudson, who holds a master’s degree from the University of Detroit-Mercy, owns a business consultancy Gateway Grant Writing and is a retired member of the chemistry faculty at Cass Technical High School, Detroit.

Crystal Churchwell Evans

Crystal Churchwell Evans Joins Fisk University as
VP of Development and Alumni Affairs

April 29, 2024 (NASHVILLE, Tenn.) – Crystal Churchwell Evans, former Director of Development for Frist Art Museum, has joined Fisk University as its Vice President of Development and Alumni Affairs, according to Dr. Agenia Clark, the university’s president.

“Crystal brings a wealth of knowledge in business, community partnerships and communications to Fisk and I am elated for her to join our team,” said Dr. Clark. “Not only is Crystal well-experienced in organizational development, she also has a long-standing connection to the institution as her grandfather − a Fisk alumnus − met her grandmother while a student at Fisk. Passionate about community engagement and social justice, Crystal embodies values deeply ingrained in the university’s mission and we are thrilled to welcome her to Fisk.”

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Wendy Thompson, JD

Higher Education Leader Wendy Thompson Joins Fisk University as Chief of Staff

December 13, 2023 (NASHVILLE, Tenn.) Higher education veteran Wendy Thompson, the former Vice Chancellor of Organizational Effectiveness for the Tennessee Board of Regents, has joined Fisk University as its Chief of Staff, according to Dr. Agenia Clark, the university’s new president.

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Dr. G. Preston Wilson, Jr.

Main Featured, University News and Publications

FISK UNIVERSITY ANNOUNCES DR. G. PRESTON WILSON, JR. , FISK ‘10, AS NEW DIRECTOR OF THE FISK JUBILEE SINGERS®

Maya Brown
Executive Director of Marketing and Communications

October 31, 2023

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Nashville, TN – October 31, 2023 Fisk University is thrilled to announce the appointment of Dr. G. Preston Wilson, Jr. as the new Director of the Fisk Jubilee Singers®. Dr. Wilson’s selection comes after an extensive yearlong search and is set to take effect on January 1st, 2024. He will be following in the footsteps of esteemed musical legends such as Dr. Matthew Kennedy and Dr. Paul T. Kwami, both of whom have previously served as Directors of the Fisk Jubilee Singers®.

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Ford Photographs - Nashville Architectural PhotographerGabe Ford

Renovation Gives Fisk’s Historic Boyd House New Life

Bradley Projects and Certified Construction Services Complete $1.4M restoration

NICOLLE S. PRAINO

Nashville Post

OCT 24, 2023

Fisk University has restored a historic campus building that was once home to one of Nashville’s most influential families.

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Dr. Agenia W. Clark

Fisk University Picks Longtime Nashville Leader as Next President

Rachel Wegner

Nashville Tennessean

September 12, 2023

Fisk University has named Agenia Walker Clark as its next president.

The announcement came Tuesday from the school's board of trustees, bringing the yearlong search process to a close. Clark will take up her new post on Nov. 6, according to a news release from the board. She will be the 18th president of the school, and the third female to lead the institution. Fisk is among the highest ranked historically Black colleges and universities in the nation, the release said.

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Fisk University and the Schomburg Center of New York Public Library Awarded a NHPRC-Mellon Planning Grant to Plan a Digital Edition of Arturo Alfonso Schomburg’s Papers

July 25, 2023

Fisk University News Post

Main Featured, University News and Publications

The project entitled “Remaking the World of Arturo Schomburg” lays the foundation for ongoing collaboration between Fisk University and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.

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Franklin Library

Patricia Rencher

Patricia A. Rencher, Fisk BA ’76, MA, MPA, is Dedicated to Community Education about Care for the Aging

July 19, 2023

Patricia Rencher, longtime member of the Detroit Fisk Club, is a strong advocate for the care and well-being of the elderly; especially, those in Metropolitan Detroit and in urban areas across the United States. She has published the free quarterly Urban Aging News since May 2015 and has served on Michigan state commissions and councils focused upon aging. Pat, who experienced the role of caregiver for her parents, knows first-hand about the challenges and joys of providing essential resources, support and love for the elderly.

Recently, Pat and her publishing team launched Urban Aging News online to complement her widely circulated paper version. Back issues, from 2015, also are available online. Both versions are provided, free, by subscribing here.

Read more about the outstanding community education Pat Rencher is providing to improve the care and quality of life for the elderly and to support their caregivers and families.

Read here, also, about the free 8th Annual Aging Matters Expo, Thursday, August 10, 2023, 8:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., with a link to required registration.

Click on image to Enlarge it.

Honorands Katalin Karikó (clockwise from top left), David Levering Lewis, Michael Mullen, Jennifer Doudna, Hugo Noé Morales Rosas, and Tom Hanks join President Larry Bacow and Provost Alan Garber in Harvard Yard following the Morning Exercises. (Click on the picture to enlarge it.)

Jon Chase/Harvard Staff Photographer

David Levering Lewis, Fisk ‘56, is One of Six Recipients of Harvard Honorary Degree

The Harvard Gazette

May 25, 2023

Recipients include a Nobel laureate, an actor, a biochemist, a historian, a co-founder of Radio Bilingüe, and a decorated military leader

Harvard presented six honorary degrees during Thursday’s Commencement ceremony in Tercentenary Theatre.

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Fisk University Invites the Public to Ribbon Cutting for the Roland G. Parrish Career Planning & Development Center, April 22, 2023

By Earnestine Cole
PR Consultant 
The Dallas Weekly

The Ribbon Cutting Ceremony and Grand Opening of the Roland Parrish Career Planning & Development Center will take place on Saturday, April 22, 2023, 11:00 a.m., at Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee. The ceremonial groundbreaking for the Center was in 2018. Catalyst Builders Inc. In Nashville, provided the civil engineering, landscape, architectural planning and design services. 

Posted on DFA 4/18/2023

Fisk Chapel

Fisk University and Vanderbilt University Team Up for New Postdoctoral Fellowships

Journal of Blacks in Higher Education
March 24, 2023

The Graduate School and Office of Postdoctoral Affairs at Vanderbilt University in Nashville has partnered with historically Black Fisk University to create a groundbreaking new postdoctoral fellowship program.

These fellowships have been designed to offer opportunities for recent Vanderbilt Ph.D. graduates to build their teaching and scholarship portfolios, receive mentoring from faculty at both institutions and allow time for publishing their dissertations or preparing other research papers. Fellows will be considered by Fisk for faculty positions, with the goal of leading to tenure-track positions.

Posted on DFA 4/3/2023