@Claflin: Panther Talks, Black Agenda Podcast and more

March 5, 2021

The World Needs Visionaries

Panther Talks Live is a webinar series that highlights Claflin University events and issues. The in-depth discussions involve talks with faculty, staff, students, alumni, and supporters. Panther Talks Live engages Claflin University and surrounding communities while increasing awareness for student success, accomplishments by our distinguished alumni, faculty, and staff, fundraising opportunities, and special events.

Click here to register to watch the next Panther Talks Live on Tuesday, March 9 at 6 p.m.

If you would like to submit questions for this virtual program, please send to [email protected].

The Black Agenda Podcast Announces In-Depth Interview Series With HBCU Leaders

President Dwaun J. Warmack will be featured on The Black Agenda Podcast's new, in-depth series showcasing leaders from Historically Black Colleges and Universities on March 16 at 8:30 p.m. EST. According to producers, the goal of the series is to "shed light on the state of our nation’s HBCUs and provide historical context for the important role they play and have played, in the American education system." Co-hosts Adrian Guess and Devin Dedeaux will interview guests about the importance of HBCUs, biased public perceptions, reasons for financial challenges and positioning universities for future success.

You can listen to the The Black Agenda Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Podbean, Spotify or watch on YouTube.

Claflin University to Host Center for Social Justice Author Series

The Claflin University Center for Social Justice, in partnership with Claflin University’s First Lady LaKisha Warmack, the Freshman College, SC Humanities Council, and the South Carolina Arts Commission, will host the “Social Justice Author Series – A Morning with Dr. Danielle Allen” on Tuesday, March 9, at 11 a.m.

Harvard University professor and award-winning author, Dr. Danielle Allen will be the Center’s first featured author in a series of virtual presentations. Dr. Belinda Wheeler, director of the Center for Social Justice, will serve as the program’s moderator. The program is free and accessible to the public.

Pre-registration is required by clicking here.

Dr. Allen’s appearance is made possible through a generous grant from the SC Humanities Council and the South Carolina Arts Commission, and books for this event were provided by the Freshman College to Claflin students as a part of their community reads program.

“Dr. Allen was selected as the first speaker in this series because of her steadfast commitment to social justice,” said Wheeler. “During the event Dr. Allen will read from her book, Cuz: An American Tragedy, discuss her cousin’s experiences with America’s criminal justice system, share details of her life with her cousin, Michael, and discuss what social justice means to her. Claflin has had a deep commitment to social justice for over 151 years. This programming allows us to bring current day champions of social justice to our campus and the wider community to promote real change in the community. The topics discussed in Dr. Allen’s book, especially America’s criminal justice system and access to educational opportunities for people who are currently or formerly incarcerated, are especially important at this time.”

Student Spotlight

Noah Jenkins, a senior mass communications major from Columbia, S.C., is serving as an intern for Infinity Marketing, a a fully integrated marketing agency in Greenville, S.C. A former media intern with the company, Jenkins is now helping to support the agency’s analytics team. He is responsible for building interactive reporting dashboards, helping to determine integration options for various data sources and providing actionable insights on client media campaigns. Founded in 1993, Infinity Marketing offers a wide range of services including brand strategy, digital and traditional media, analytics, influencer programs, social media, SEM, SEO, creative services and web development.

Kambria Cook, a junior music education major, and Weveney Williams-Barber, a freshman music education major, are featured as Claflin University representatives in the 105 Voices of History, the only national choir for students of HBCUs, in its recording of the Star-Spangled Banner. The virtual recording, also featuring members of the U.S. Navy Band, is a commemoration of the 90th anniversary of the adoption of The Star-Spangled Banner as the U.S. national anthem. The project is part of the ongoing Navy Band tradition of conducting masterclasses, mock auditions and performing as musical guests with HBCUs. For this new project band members held virtual masterclasses for vocal training, recording preparation and video production best practices.

Click here to watch the recording.

Faculty News

The George Gallery in Charleston, S.C., will feature the work of Raishad Glover with an exhibition titled “Retro Cube Series.” that will be on display March 18 until April 8. Glover is an assistant professor of studio art at Claflin and this is his first exhibition in Charleston. It features a series of paintings on square hemp boards that originated as digital sketches. The paintings feature a textured graphite powder background to which he incorporates an iridescent glow with diagonal color slashes.

Glover considers himself a conceptual artist who uses mediums such as lenticular printing, graphite powder, beeswax, dura-trans/backlit film, analog and digital photography and LED lights. He has exhibited his work in Europe as well as across the United States. “My art process leads with the notion of diligence and simplicity applied to innovative and traditional media. I exercise principles and design elements, such as rhythm, value, line, and color, to name a few, to guide my development. The complementary studies that inspire my studio habits are community networking formats, ecological design services, and visual systems.” He states, “Through media practices and fundamental foundations, my research derives from pragmatic exploration, self-awareness, and commits to a heightened study on how progressive art and design styles have motivated relationships and environments.”

Alumni News

Congratulations to Dawanya Burgess, '20, a student in the Doctor of Chiropractic Program at Sherman College in Spartanburg, S.C., who received the Segal AmeriCorps Education Matching Award. AmeriCorps is a voluntary civil society program supported by the U.S. federal government, foundations, corporations, and other donors that engages adults in public service work with a goal of helping others and meeting critical needs in the community.