News & Information
Fisk University Receives Approval to Offer Homeland Security Degree Program
July 24, 2019
Dr. Newkirk
Provost
Nashville, Tennessee. Fisk University is pleased to announce that the Southern Association of Colleges and schools approved Fisk’s baccalaureate degree program in Homeland Security. The program is the only such degree program in the state of Tennessee and one of only a handful across the South.
According to Provost Vann Newkirk, “the program will not only expand Fisk University’s degree offerings, but it will allow the University to target a new market for the military. For that reason, the program will not only be offered on the Fisk University campus but also in Clarksville, Tennessee, at the home of Fort Campbell and the 101st Airborne Division.”
Fisk University Receives Approval to Offer Bachelor of Science Degree in Data Science, beginning Spring 2020
Dr. Hussain
Assoc. Provost
Fisk University recently received approval from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACSCOC) to offer an undergraduate degree program in Data Science (BS). The new program will launch in the spring of 2020. Data science is a multi-disciplinary field that uses scientific methods, processes, algorithms, and systems to extract knowledge and insights from structured and unstructured data. “This program will open new doors for graduates of the university,” said the new program director Sajid Hussain, Ph.D.
Fisk University Works to Provide Enhanced Career Guidance for Students
New partnership with YouScience helps connect students with in-demand job opportunities
July 17, 2019
Fisk University today announced a new effort to help students better understand how their natural abilities align with today’s workforce and plan proactive education pathways to pursue in-demand jobs.
The institution has partnered with Nashville-based edtech company YouScience to provide a cutting-edge aptitude assessment tool to students as part of their first-year seminar course. Beginning in the 2019–2020 academic year, all freshmen students will be required to utilize the YouScience program, which uses a series of scientifically-proven “brain games” to identify students’ unique aptitudes and showcase how these innate talents “fit” with modern career pathways.
Mr. Lynwood Berry Retires from Fisk University after More than 30 Years of Service
July 5, 2019
Lynwood Berry
“It is with mixed emotions that we are announcing our friend and longtime employee Mr. Berry’s retirement from Fisk University. Mr. Berry has been a pillar in our community for over 30 years in various roles from student activities to alumni affairs, touching many lives along the way. He will always be remembered for his sunny disposition, and love for everything Fisk. We wish nothing but success for Mr. Berry as he begins the next chapter in his life.” —Fisk Website
Fisk Food and Music Festival on the Campus Grove, June 29
Fisk University President’s Monthly Newsletter, June 5, 2019
Pictured left to right: Rev. Jason Curry, Chairman Frank Sims, Trustee Rev. Marcus Cosby ’95, Rev. Al Sharpton, and President Kevin D. Rome
Greetings,
The month of May was a period of achievement. Many students completed their undergraduate and graduate careers by crossing the stage; our Silver and Golden Sons and Daughters (Class of 1994 and Class of 1969, respectively) achieved a significant milestone in their lives as alumni; and I completed my year in Leadership Nashville, an academy which acquaints Nashvillian leaders with the diversity of people, places, and cultures of metropolitan Nashville. Reunion weekend has coincided with Commencement for many years and in only my third time participating, it continues to get better each year. The end of the school year is always a whirlwind of activity with an invigorating burst of energy from all the people on campus.
Fisk University Organist Anthony Williams Performs Concert of Music by Black Composers in Columbus
Anthony Williams, DMA
It’s an unjustly nelected repertoire of music, likely obscured, at least in part, because of racism. Friday evening, one organist will bring some of this music to light in a concert benefiting a project to update the church building of one of Columbus’ oldest African American congregations.
Anthony Williams, associate professor of music and university organist at Nashville’s Fisk University, will perform a recital of music by black composers Friday, May 17 at 7 p.m. at St. Paul African Methodist Episcopal Church in Columbus.
Admission is free, though freewill offerings will help defray the costs of updating the accessible ramp leading into the church’s historic East Long Street building.
The concert’s program features music by African American composers John W. Work III, Ralph Simpson, Mark Fax and Florence Price, as well as selections by the Afro-British composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor and Fela Sowande, a Nigerian-born composer who served on the faculty of Kent State University.
Some of the works on Williams’ May 17 recital still exist only in manuscript form. But thanks to Williams – who completed his doctoral dissertation on the keyboard music of John W. Work III and is currently editing some of Work’s music – and other musicians, more and more organ music by black composers has been coming to light in published editions and public performances.
“In the past, a lot of these composers had difficulties – because of their race – having publishers publish their music,” Williams said in a recent phone interview. “Many times, (publishers) would ignore them and refuse to publish.”
The correspondence of John W. Work III is a painful record of one African American composer’s efforts to bring his work before the public.
“Work was a very avid letter writer,” Williams said, “and I found a letter to a publisher where he was submitting a manuscript. And with the manuscript, he also gave them money for return postage and asked them if they choose not to publish the manuscript, to please return it, and made a statement to the effect that he was used to rejection in this manner.”
Listen to recorded organ performance by Dr. Anthony Williams.
The Reverend Al Sharpton, Jr., to Deliver the 2019 Fisk University Commencement Address
Rev. Al Sharpton
Nashville, Tenn., April 12, 2019 – Civil rights activist Reverend Alfred C. Sharpton Jr., will deliver the 2019 keynote address during the 145th commencement exercise for Fisk University. Graduation ceremonies will be held at Mt. Zion Baptist Church (7594 Old Hickory Boulevard, Nashville, TN 37189), on Monday, May 6, 2019, beginning at 10:00 a.m.
“It is an honor and privilege for the Fisk community to have Rev. Al Sharpton delivering remarks to our 2019 graduating class,” said President Kevin D. Rome, Sr., Ph.D. “He has lived an extraordinary life full of accomplishments and made a significant impact on our community. I know that his words will inspire our graduates to create positive change in their communities after graduating Fisk.”
Roland G. Parrish Center Ground Breaking at Fisk University, May 3, 2019
“Fisk & Film” Fundraiser for the University, May 2, 2019
Dr. Jessie Carney Smith is Honoree of the Museum of the Bible
Jessie Smith PhD
Dr. Jessie Carney Smith, Dean of the Library and holder of the Camille Cosby Distinguished Chair in the Humanities at Fisk University, will be the honoree during an event at the Museum of the Bible celebrating Women’s History Month on March 21, 2019, at 6:30 p.m., at the museum. The extremely rare copy of the Slave Bible also is on loan to the Museum of the Bible, as an exhibit, by Fisk University.
Dr. Smith is the author of numerous publications, including Black Firsts, 3rd Edition, 2013, Detroit: Visible Ink Press; Encyclopedia of African American Popular Culture. 4 vols, 2011, Santa Barbara: Greenwood/ABC-CLIO; Civil Rights Facts and Firsts, 2009, with Linda Wynn, Detroit: Visible Ink Press; Notable Black American Men, Book II, 2006, Book I, 1999, Detroit: Gale Research; Notable Black American Women, 2003, Detroit: Gale Research.
In Review: The Fisk Jubilee Singers, Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall, March 2, 2019
The Fisk Jubilee Singers
If you’re not allowed to hope for freedom, call it Heaven and stick it in a song. That was the strategy that emerged on March 2 at Zankel Hall, when the Fisk Jubilee Singers presented a concert of spirituals under the aegis of the Harry T Burleigh Society as the inaugural event of their 2019 conference. Very few of the selected songs explicitly mentioned the myriad horrors of chattel slavery or looked forward to its end with yearning, but even in the most ostensibly joyous numbers, the subtext was unmissable.
Plan Your Visit to Fisk University Galleries
Van Vechten Gallery
Fisk University Galleries include the Carl Van Vechten Gallery, the Aaron Douglas Gallery and the Aaron Douglas Murals. All three are within a short walk of each other. When you arrive at the Carl Van Vechten Gallery, one of the Gallery Ambassadors will be happy to direct you to these and other sites on campus.
Please note that the galleries close for Fisk University holidays (click here for the academic calendar).
Tours & Class Visits: If you would like to schedule a free tour of the exhibitions with one of the Gallery Ambassadors or a class visit with a staff member, please call 615–329-8720 or email galleries@fisk.edu. If you are interested in a tour of Fisk University’s campus, please contact Kara Duke, Campus Visit Coordinator, in the Office of Recruitment and Admission, at 615–329-8835, or email kduke@fisk.edu. Read more.
