Issue 309: 8 / 31 / 2009

Ribbon Cutting Marks Opening of Highly Anticipated Maxine A. Smith Center

Pictured, front row left to right, are Tennessee State Senator Dolores Gresham; Memphis Mayor Pro Tem Myron Lowery; Dr. Vasco Smith; Dr. Maxine A. Smith; Southwest President Nathan L. Essex; Collierville Mayor Stan Joyner; and Tennessee State Representative Karen Camper. Back row, Regent Gregory Duckett, TBR; and Chancellor Charles W. Manning, TBR.

Opening of the Maxine A. Smith Center, August 18, 2009

Southwest Tennessee Community College hosted on August 18, 2009 a ribbon cutting/open house ceremony for its newly constructed, highly anticipated Maxine A. Smith Center, located at 8800 East Shelby Drive in Memphis. This new center replaces the college's Southeast Center, located on the corner of Winchester and Mendenhall. According to site research, the southeast Shelby County location gives access to higher education for more than several hundred thousand residents. It is also convenient to Collierville and Germantown in Tennessee and Olive Branch, Mississippi.

Named in honor of Dr. Maxine A. Smith, the center is a three-story, 67,300-square-foot brick education building containing a library; eight computer classrooms, 21 new classrooms and chemistry, biology and science labs all with 21st century technology; an academic support space; a multipurpose classroom; a student lounge and gathering space; administrative offices; and other mechanical and support spaces.

Dr. Maxine A. Smith is a former college French instructor who served two terms as a member of the Tennessee Board of Regents (TBR) and often championed community service, advocating for education at all levels in Memphis. Her lifelong devotion to education also included numerous contributions to both Shelby State Community College and State Technical Institute at Memphis, the forerunners of Southwest.

A host of dignitaries attended the event and delivered remarks, including Southwest President Dr. Nathan L. Essex, Shelby County Mayor A C Wharton, Collierville Mayor Stan Joyner, Memphis Mayor Pro Tem Myron Lowery, TBR Chancellor Dr. Charles W. Manning, and of course, the honoree, Dr. Maxine A. Smith who was accompanied by her husband, Dr. Vasco Smith.

View YouTube excerpts of the Maxine A. Smith Center Ribbon cutting ceremony and a photo gallery.

Southwest Tennessee Community College Welcomes Maxine A. Smith Center

Willie Armstrong, a professor at the Macon Cove campus, tours Southwest Tennessee Community College's new building named after Memphis educator and civil rights leader Maxine A. Smith.

Maxine Smith

Reprinted from The Commercial Appeal
By Juanita Cousins
Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Among the first students at Southwest Tennessee Community College's new Maxine A. Smith Center may be its honoree.

Smith, who spoke at Tuesday's ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new facility, said she hopes to take advantage of the center's many technology labs to become computer literate.

"This is unbelievable," said the Memphis educator and civil rights leader. "This is just a gathering of love and so many parts of my life are reflected here."

Smith, who taught French at colleges including LeMoyne-Owen College, served on the Memphis Board of Education for 24 years, as well as on the Tennessee Board of Regents. She was the longtime executive secretary of the Memphis Branch of the NAACP.

Others who spoke at the ceremony included Shelby County Mayor A C Wharton, Collierville Mayor Stan Joyner, Memphis Mayor Pro Tem Myron Lowery, State Sen. Dolores Gresham and Tennessee Board of Regents Chancellor Charles Manning.

More than 200 people crowded into the school's lobby after rain cut short the outdoor ceremony.

"They're going to be teaching stuff out here that I can't even spell, but I thank God thousands of students who may have never (gone) to college will be educated here," Smith said.

The 67,000-square-foot Smith center replaces the Southeast Center on East Shelby Drive. The three-story brick building includes a library, eight computer classrooms, science labs and 40 wireless Internet-access points, said Harry Taylor, executive director of extended programs.

"We've never had this kind of space before," Taylor said. "We are expanding to meet the needs of our students so that we truly are the community's college."

Taylor said every Memphian now is within seven miles of a Southwest campus.

Southwest hopes to begin a weekend college program at the Smith Center, through which students can earn degrees by attending classes Friday through Sunday only.

BREAKING NEWS - Additional Parking for Macon Cove and Union Avenue Campuses

Limited student parking is now available at 675 Union Avenue, the old International Auto Sales car lot. The lot is located across the street from Quetzal. View map for more details.

Additional student/facutly/staff parking for the Macon Cove campus is now open at the former Celebration Station parking lot. View map for more details.

Southwest Gets Its Own iPhone App

Want to see an up-to-date list of Southwest classes? There's an app for that. That's right. Southwest now has its very own app for the iPhone. Garry Spencer, department chair of engineering technologies, has written Southwest's very first iPhone app. This new app allows an iPhone user to view a list of Southwest classes which have been selected by user-specified criteria.

When reached for comment, Spencer stated "When I got my iPhone, I knew I wanted to write an app for it. I spent several evenings working at home on this first app. I hope the Southwest community finds my app to be useful. If anyone has a question about this app, please e-mail me or call me at (901) 333-4404. I have some ideas for additional apps that I plan to work on in the near future."

If you would like to install this app on your iPhone, just follow these simple instructions.

Touch the Safari web browser icon.
Go to the following web address: classes.southwestregistration.com
After the web page loads, touch the + symbol at the bottom of the screen
On the menu that pops up, touch the "Add to Home Screen" option.
On the screen that pops up, touch the "Add" button.
The SW Classes icon will now appear on one of your home screens. Touch this icon to launch Southwest's new app. Please remember that this app was designed to be viewed in LANDSCAPE mode.

Boy Scouts from Six States Attend Southwest Tennessee Merit Badge College

Thurston Shrader and Mark Gardner provide the scouts with information on personal financial management.

Jessie Gorley of Memphis Troop 358 displays the many badges he has thus far earned.

The first annual Southwest Tennessee Merit Badge College was held at Southwest Tennessee Community College on August 15. Merit Badge College is a daylong, seminar style event that brings community experts in diverse fields together with Boy Scouts of America for the purpose of earning merit badges. The Scouts earn merit badges based on completing set activities within a specific area of study. The merit badge program exposes Scouts to diverse group subjects including chemistry, citizenship of the nation, engineering, medicine, crime prevention and fire safety.

In keeping with its mission to serve the community, Southwest welcomed more than 220 Boy Scouts and their parents from West Virginia, Illinois, Arkansas, Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee. The scouts received instruction in 22 different merit badge courses, earning more than 330 merit badges. Jessie Gorley of Memphis Troop 358 says a lot of hard work went into earning the chest full of badges he donned. He was there to earn a personal management badge, one of two he was lacking to acquire Eagle Scout status.

Old scouts die hard – Thurston Shrader, associate professor of business administration for Southwest and former scout, has outgrown his old scout uniform, but showed up nonetheless in his khaki shorts to speak with the scouts about the importance of protecting their credit rating. He and Southwest Adjunct Instructor Mark A. Gardner, who is also the leader of Boy Scout Troop 456 of Holy Spirit Church in Memphis, were instrumental in bringing Merit Badge College to Southwest. “Mark came to me and I thought it would be a great idea. We had heard about it in other places around the nation, but nowhere in this area has there ever been a Merit Badge College,” Shrader stated. “I thought it would be ideal and Southwest a good venue, especially being a community college. Supporting the community is our mission.”

Shrader took the idea to Ron Parr, vice president of financial and administrative services for Southwest, who got the approval of President Nathan L. Essex, a strong advocate of community service. “They did it pro-bono. We are using 27 classrooms. We have more than 220 scouts,” Shrader said.

Gardner views Southwest's hosting of the event a double win. He noted that the parents had an opportunity to see the campus firsthand and hopes they'll consider Southwest when choosing a college for their child. Gardner also said the event gave Southwest the opportunity to give back to the community.

Gardner says he volunteers his time because he gets to give back to the community and to guide young men and help them grow as individuals. "Hopefully, this will be the first of many, and we appreciate this wonderful opportunity," said Gardner.

View photo gallery.

Southwest Faculty and Students Nominated for Ostranders

Ron Gephart (center) was Socrates in his most recent role in the production Exhibit This! in the Playhouse in the Square production staged at the Brooks Gallery.

"Southwest was well represented this year in nominations for the coveted Ostrander awards for theater," and Ron Gephart, associate professor of speech and theater, won the award for Supporting Actor in a Drama for his role in Third, at Circuit Playhouse, which also garnered "Best Dramatic Play Production" of the season. Dean of Fine Arts, Languages and Literature Barbara Roseborough previously announced the nominations which included, besides Gephart, Assistant Professor of Speech and Theater Jane Harris. The awards were presented on August 30 at the Memphis Botanic Garden.

This year Gephart was nominated for two Ostrander awards for acting, portraying Jack Jamison in Third at Circuit Playhouse, and Roy Johnson in the musical The Light in the Piazza at Playhouse on the Square. Previous Ostrander nominations include two for actor in a leading role and one for direction of a musical. Gephart has been teaching, directing, acting, lighting, producing and building scenery for plays for about 35 years, 27 of them at Southwest. He and his wife, Karen, have produced professional summer stock theatre for about 10 years at Southwest.

Harris was nominated for Set Dressing for the Germantown Community Theater's fall 2008 production of Born Yesterday. Harris is a familiar face in the area, having acted on all the area’s major community theater stages over the past 15 years. She received an Outstanding Supporting Actress award for Playhouse on the Square’s production of To Kill a Mockingbird. She was a judge for the awards in 2001-2002.

"Southwest students were also right up there in the awards nominations' listings," said Roseborough. "Two former students are earning acclaim on a regular basis. Former student Jarron Robinson was nominated for an Ostrander for a leading role as Walter Lee in a Raisin in the Sun, and Shenene Allen was nominated for supporting actress in The African Theatre Company Presents Richard the III."

Gephart added that "Robinson received our [Southwest] award for outstanding theatre student in 2007 and appeared in faculty member Levi Frazier's original play, When It Rains. Gephart directed Robinson in that production as well as One Monkey Don't Stop No Show. "He returned in 2008 to fill in on very short notice for an ailing cast member in Southwest’s production of A Star Ain't Nothin' but a Hole in Heaven and appeared in Levi Frazier's production of Ritual Murder," said Gephart. Robinson was in his basic and intermediate acting classes and has appeared in productions at Theatre Works and The National Civil Rights Museum.

Allen also appeared in When it Rains, and One Monkey Don't Stop no Show, here at Southwest. "Shenene also was in both my basic and intermediate acting classes. And she has also been quite active with the Tri-Art Theatre Company, founded by former Southwest student Ruby O. Gray, who has become quite well known in local theater work," added Gephart.

More to the Band Than Meets the Eye

Wall meticulously adjusts the sound to create the perfect harmonic blend.

Bellow – Woody Wall (left) and vocalist/cellist Tamar Moten (right), make musical magic during their debut.

"Bellow," a fresh new eclectic musical duo, made its public debut on August 14 at Neil's in Midtown on Madison Avenue. The band's name, Bellow, means – shout, roar, bawl, yell, holler. Its keyboardist/sound man Woody Wall, interim director of infrastructure services for Southwest, would give you no indication that he is a master of the ivory keys.

Wall came to Southwest in the fall of 1994. His daily job responsibilities entail making sure the telephone systems, e-mail and Internet services are all running smoothly. The installation of new servers, configuring them to run with the college's software, also fall within his responsibilities.

A music composition major from the former Memphis State, Wall quickly figured out he'd need to learn a new skill to stay afloat financially. He'd played in bands all through high school and in the 1980s, and loved it. But the band couldn't pay the bills. While at Memphis State, he developed an interest in using computers in his music. That interest prompted him to get a degree in computer engineering technology from State Technical Institute at Memphis. "That's how I ended up in this career path. I just developed a big interest in computers and communications technology," said Wall. A year and a half after earning an associate degree from State Tech, he came to work for the college and has been here ever since.

A few months ago, Wall ran across an ad for musicians in the Memphis Flyer. Tamar Moten, a cellist and a teacher for Memphis City Schools, had played in an all-girl band several years ago and wanted to pull together a new band. Wall answered the ad – and, hence came Bellow.

In describing Bellow's musical style, Wall indicated it has a lot of different influences including rock, a little R&B and trip-hop. (Trip-hop originated in the mid 1990s in Bristol, England, during a time when American hip-hop started to gain increased popularity in Europe. British DJs decided to put a local spin on the international phenomenon, and developed hip-hop into a different slower style, marking the birth of trip-hop.) "Then we have classical influences, of course, because Tamar and I studied classical music," said Wall.

People really don't know what to expect when they see the duo. "When a lot of people see pictures of us, they think we play classical music. Once they hear the music, it is not what they expected to hear," said Wall.

Woody doesn't plan to leave his day job. The band just adds another dimension to his life and gives expression to his alter ego. You'll still see him quietly going about his daily activities, which he enjoys at Southwest.

Study Abroad Scholarship Application Days

The following are dates/locations to submit Study Abroad scholarship applications:

September 1, 2009
Macon Cove Campus Library – ML 236
10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

October 1, 2009
Union Avenue Campus – B-223
1 - 3 p.m.

Southwest Study Abroad Programs:

Antigua - Diversity of Socio-Politics (POLI 2040)
Belgium - Finite Mathematics (MATH 1630)
London - Theatre Appreciation (THEA 1030)
Macedonia - Social Problems (SOCI 1020)

The scholarship application deadline for Southwest Study Abroad Programs ONLY is October 30, 2009. For more information, please contact Kristina McDaniel in the International Studies Office, Union Avenue Campus B-223 or Macon Cove Campus ML-238, or call 901-333-5268.

EPIC Focuses on Workplace Preparedness

The Assisi Foundation is partnering with the Mid-South Association of Contingency Planners (MSACP) and FedEx in hosting the group's annual Emergency Preparedness and Incident Conference (EPIC) September 10 at the FedEx Institute of Technology at the University of Memphis.

This year's focus is workplace preparedness. EPIC is free and open to all business owners (small or large), human resources professionals, and anyone working for a company in the Mid-South area who has been charged with disaster preparedness. According to the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), if a small business is forced to close its doors due to a disaster, close to 40 percent never re-open. Although the event is free, advance registration is required (www.msacp.org and click on EPIC).

Gill Center to Host Common Ground this Fall

Common Ground sessions this fall will be held at the Gill Center, beginning September 15. Seven sessions are scheduled on Tuesdays through November 3 (no meeting during the week of fall break, October 19 and 20).

What is Common Ground? Picture a room with about 12 people, sitting in a circle: men and women, black, white, Asian, Hispanic and other ethnic groups, of different religions, different backgrounds and different generations.

This small group of people has agreed to meet for two hours one day a week for seven weeks, with a facilitator trained to lead a discussion on race relations. If you decide to become part of such a group, you will find it's a sort of safe and open environment, where you can talk about yourselves, your experiences, things that have shaped your ideas. And maybe you'll find it a place where you can consider the possibility of changing some of your ideas.

Common Ground gives you a time, and a place, to consider other people's ideas, and how you might look more closely at your own, and at new possibilities. Each session of Common Ground ends with an action forum where participants in each small group come together and take the talk to the next level, discussing development and implementation of specific recommendations on how to improve race relations in our community.

The Gill Center is scheduling space for four groups of 10 to 12 each. For more information, e-mail Patsy Anderson, director of the Gill Center, at panderson@southwest.tn.edu or call her at (901) 333-5970; or e-mail Shannon Little, assistant professor and coordinator of service learning and civic engagement, at slittle@southwest.tn.edu or call her at (901) 333-5628.

Sickle Cell Walk-A-Thon

Join in the Sickle Cell Walk that will take place September 19 in Overton Park (Levitt Shell). Registration will begin at 8 a.m. and the walk at 9 a.m. Past American Idol winner Ruben Studdard will be the celebrity guest.

Enrollment and donation forms can be picked up and returned to the following Southwest locations:

Macon Cove Campus
Student Activities and Multicultural Affairs
Farris Room 1101

Union Avenue Campus
Center for Service-Learning & Civic Engagement
B Building Room 210

To register online, visit the 3rd Annual-Sickle Cell Walk Web site. Southwest is an official sponsor of the walk. For more information contact Ken Carpenter at (901) 333-5288 or Shannon Little at (901) 333-5628.

2009-2010 Southwest Basketball Schedule Released

A total of 30 home games highlight the 2009-2010 Southwest men's and women's basketball schedule which was released today. The men's team will open with an exhibition on October 24 against the Spirit Express at the Verties Sails Gymnasium. A week later on October 31, the Saluqis and Lady Saluqis will play the annual Alumni Games before tipping off the regular season on November 6-7.

Both teams will start their season against outstanding competition, with the men traveling to Chicago, Illinois, for the Kennedy-King College Tip-Off Classic, and the women journeying to Eunice, Louisiana, to play in the Lady Bengal Classic. The 2009-2010 schedule features an 18-game Tennessee Community College Athletic Association slate with two games against each of the nine conference opponents. Southwest will open conference play on November 13 against Chattanooga State Technical Community College at the Verties Sail Gymnasium.

The men's team will also play non-conference games at Mineral Area College (Parkhills, Missouri) and at home against Mississippi Elite Christian Academy, Kennedy-King College and Genesis One Prep. The women's team will play in the Georgia Perimeter Classic in Atlanta, Georgia and will host the Lady Saluqi Classic. Both teams will also play at home against Arkansas Baptist College.

This season's National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Region VII tournament will be hosted by Columbia State Community College in Columbia, Tennessee, March 3-8, 2010. The tournament champions will advance to the NJCAA National Tournament March 16-20, 2010 in Hutchinson, Kansas (men), and Salina, Kansas (women).

View complete schedule.