@Claflin: What is CU S.T.A.R.S., Claflin's School of Education Receives Frank Murray Leadership Recognition for Continuous Improvement and more

March 11, 2022

The World Needs Visionaries

Introducing CU S.T.A.R.S.

Claflin University’s Quality Enhancement Plan, CU-S.T.A.R.S., (Students who are Tracked, Advised and Retained... succeed) stems from its Mission and its Strategic Plan (Claflin LEADS/SOARS) and was developed through a broad-based collaborative process that was undergirded on a thorough analysis of institutional data aligned with issues germane to higher education. The mission of Claflin University expresses its commitment to ensuring access to exemplary educational opportunities that develop globally engaged visionary leaders. CU-STARS is aligned with and will aid in strategic goal achievement of the university.

Click here to watch an introductory video about CU S.T.A.R.S.

Claflin University's School of Education Recognized for Leadership in Continuous Improvement in Honor of Frank Murray

The Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP) has announced that Claflin University's School of Education is one of 26 providers from 17 states and the United Arab Emirates to receive recognition for leadership and commitment to continuous improvement. The recipients of the 2021 Frank Murray Leadership Recognition for Continuous Improvement provided evidence and data trends to achieve accreditation with no stipulations or areas for improvement.

The Frank Murray Leadership Recognition for Continuous Improvement is named after the founding president of the Teacher Education Accreditation Council (TEAC). CAEP was created by the consolidation of the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education and TEAC. Murray was the founding President of TEAC, served as chairman of the board for TEAC and was also an initial member of the CAEP Board of Directors. He was a key advocate for a single set of teacher preparation standards to unify the profession and was instrumental in the merger that created CAEP. He also served as the Dean of the College of Education at the University of Delaware from 1979 to 1995.

“Frank Murray was passionate about education preparation, a prominent leader in our profession, and an advocate for evidence to improve education. The providers that CAEP is recognizing are committed to continuous improvement and preparing their students to succeed in a diverse range of classrooms after they graduate,” said Karen Symms Gallagher Chair of the CAEP Board of Directors. “CAEP Accreditation is a sign of commitment to quality through purposeful use of evidence. The Murray Leadership Recognition recipients should be proud of their accomplishments.”

Recipients of the 2021 Frank Murray Leadership Recognition for Continuous Improvement are selected from the educator preparation providers (EPPs) that were granted accreditation by CAEP at the initial level from the previous year, who provided a full complement of evidence with demonstrated data trends and no plans. Recipients had no stipulations or areas for improvement. Providers selected for recognition advance equity and excellence in educator preparation through purposeful use of self-study procedures and evidence-based reporting that assure quality and support continuous improvement to strengthen P-12 learning. These EPPs have a mission driving their continuous improvement inquiry, use assessments that are relevant to the topic being informed and consequential, show the reliability and validity of the evidence provided for accreditation, have quality assurance capacities that inform their knowledge and address questions about relationships in the data.

“This third class to receive the Murray Recognition represents the diversity and innovation that comes with CAEP accreditation. Small, large, public, private, faith-based, and historically minority serving,” said CAEP President Chris Koch. “These recipients reflect the creativity that CAEP affords in achieving excellence, by meeting the standards in a variety of ways, for the diverse populations they serve.”

CAEP accreditation serves the dual purposes of accountability and continuous improvement. 423 educator preparation providers in 45 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, have been accredited under the CAEP Standards. The CAEP accreditation process evaluates the performance of providers and focuses particularly on whether candidates will be prepared, by completion, for the challenging responsibilities that educators face in America’s classrooms. Approximately, 700 educator preparation providers participate in the CAEP Accreditation system, including many previously accredited through former standards. CAEP is the only educator preparation provider recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation.

Claflin University’s Deeply Rooted Commitment to Social Justice

(Originally printed in Stories@Gilead - February 28, 2022)

Dr. Dwaun Warmack was just miles from the town of Ferguson, Missouri in 2014 when the police shooting death of teenager Mike Brown ignited unrest and sparked national debate about the relationship between the Black community and law enforcement.

At the time, Dwaun was nearly a month into his new role as president of nearby Harris-Stowe State University. He says Brown’s death was deeply felt by the campus community given that 40% of the students hailed from Ferguson. To help the community heal, learn and move forward, he made sure that all the ensuing conversations with police, municipalities, leaders and legislators were held on campus.

“We had a civic and moral responsibility to be the think tank to help the community heal,” explains Dwaun. “I don’t believe social justice is an activity or event. It’s who you are as a university. It’s in the DNA.”

Today, he’s the president of Claflin University in South Carolina, one of the nation’s top 10 Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), where his longstanding commitment to social justice aligns with the university’s foundation. He explains how Claflin, which opened in 1869, was founded on basic social justice principles and became the first institution in the country to award a degree to a woman of any race or background.

Soon after joining Claflin in 2019, the university established the Center for Social Justice, which is supported by Gilead’s Racial Equity Community Impact Fund. He views the Center for Social Justice as a vehicle for transforming attitudes and thinking about race while also reshaping systems that have historically disadvantaged Black communities. The center currently conducts diversity, equity and inclusion training for police departments, civic governments and corporations around the country. It’s also focused on health disparities, conducting research on why Blacks suffer disproportionately from conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes and most recently, COVID-19.

“Blacks are dying at a higher rate than anyone else of COVID-19, but COVID is not racist,” Dwaun says. Rather, Blacks are impacted by a range of socioeconomic factors such as lack of access to quality health care, he explains. To help remedy the problem, Claflin is forming a partnership with a major healthcare company to provide telehealth services to rural communities in South Carolina using a home-based technology. The goal is to develop a model that can be adapted for use throughout the state.

Early last year, the center launched a Pathways from Prison education program, in which some 100 incarcerated individuals in South Carolina are working toward their college degrees. Dwaun understands the value that education brings as he had to fight against prevailing social forces to become the first member of his family to go to college. His grandmother was a sharecropper and his father was incarcerated when he was a child. His mother, who raised him and four other siblings, had limited schooling but recognized the importance of education and preached that it was “the great equalizer.”

While he admits he wasn’t the best student in high school, Dwaun was fortunate to have a “guardian angel” and mentors who believed in him and showed him the way, even guiding him through the process of applying for college financial aid.

“I am unapologetic about mentoring young people,” he exclaims. “It’s our mission to academically, personally, socially and spiritually develop students.”

Dwaun notes that HBCUs have been fundamental to building a class of Black professionals in the United States. Though HBCUs represent fewer than 3% of colleges and universities in the country, they produce 23% of the country’s Black graduates. Some 40% of Black individuals with STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) degrees were educated at HBCUs, and 70% of Black dentists and doctors practicing today attended HBCUs. He says these colleges and universities succeed by creating a nurturing environment that takes a holistic approach to educating students.

“At HBCUs, no matter how you come in, you are much better when you get out,” he says. “It’s important that our students have real impact, to create a more just society for all.”

Save the date and tune in to Facebook Live for the Groundbreaking Ceremony for Claflin University's new Student Center on March 25, 2022, at 12:30 p.m. The new Student Center will centralize student services in one location and include a campus bookstore, university pantry, and a hair care center. The first floor will feature indoor and outdoor lounge areas, and an auditorium/movie theater.

Click here to watch the Groundbreaking Ceremony.

Vote for Claflin in the Retool Your School Competition

Claflin University is currently participating in The Home Depot Retool Your School Grant Program which began February 28. The University is competing to win up to $75,000 to create a student multi-media room. Claflin has also partnered with Lane College in its voting strategy.

Go to www.retoolyourschool.com/vote/ to vote for Claflin University (in Cluster 2) and Lane College (in Cluster 3). Claflin and Lane will receive a vote every time the hashtags #RYSCLAFLIN and #RYSLANE are used in your public posts on Instagram and Twitter. You can vote Multiple Times on any device including your laptop, desktop, smart phone, or tablet.

The contest ends on March 27 at 11:59 p.m.

Alumni News

Tamika Felder, '97, recently shared her story in Yahoo! Life about being a cancer survivor. A pap smear in April 2021 revealed that she had cervical cancer. In the story, Felder shared "I’m in this office and [the doctor] starts going over this and that, and I remember my mind trailing off. And then I heard that word. I heard her say a word that grabbed my attention. It’s like the Charlie Brown cartoon with the teacher you never see, that says whamp whamp. She was saying 'carcinoma this' and you have to see a specialist.” Click here to read the story.

Dr. Kizzi (Staley) Gibson, '03, kicked off her campaign for South Carolina Superintendent of Education. She is a candidate in the June 14 Republican primary. A teacher at Carolina Springs Elementary in Lexington County, S.C, Gibson has a bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate degrees in the education field and has been an educator for more than 18 years. She is president of the board of directors for a newly chartered public virtual school based in Summerville, S.C. Dr. Gibson is a past board member for South Carolina Connections Academy, the state’s largest virtual public charter school.

Orangeburg City Councilwoman, Dr. Liz Zimmerman Keitt, '70, received a national civic award for her volunteerism in the community. She was chosen as a Top 100 national winner of the 2021 Small Town America Civic Volunteer Award. The award was presented on February 15, 2022, at the City Council meeting. Dr. Keitt was selected from nearly 700 nominations from 49 states in recognition of her volunteer efforts. The award was presented by Kansas-based CivicPlus, a private web-development firm that advocates for volunteership among public servants. Dr. Keitt is founder of Project Life Positeen, an after-school group that provides tutoring and mentoring to students from K-5 to 12th grade, as well as summer programs and college aid with the Kiwanis Club.

Elliott Melton, '19, who was named the 2022 Most Outstanding Student at the Wendelstedt Umpire School in Daytona, Fla., will soon begin his first pro season in 2022. Click here to listen to his experience at the Major League Baseball Umpire Camp in Round Rock, Texas.

Congratulations to Councilwoman Melinda P. Robinson, '06, who is the first African American woman to be elected as Town Administrator in Latta, S.C. The Town of Latta, the second largest town in Dillon County, was established in 1887.

Dr. Temple Robinson was a featured honoree for February 2022 in the Cherry Hall Alexander African-American History Month Calendar. She is the chief executive officer of the Bond Community Health Center in Tallahassee, Fla. Dr. Robinson and her team at Bond were leaders in the fight against COVID-19, partnering with Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University and the State of Florida Department of Health to establish a COVID-19 testing site at Bragg Stadium.

Employee News

Barbara Chappell, interim assistant vice president of major and planned gifts, has been selected to participate in the Diversity Leaders Initiative (DLI), an award-winning program of Furman University’s Riley Institute. Now in its 19thyear, the program equips participants with tools and perspectives to leverage diversity to improve organizational outcomes and drive social and economic progress in South Carolina. Chappell is one of 39 individuals to be a part of the 14th Midlands cohort. Participants are accepted based on their capacity to create impact within their organizations and communities. Once participants of this class graduate in June and become Riley Fellows, they join a powerful cross-sector network of South Carolinians that includes corporate CEOs, legislators, superintendents, religious and nonprofit heads, and business and community leaders.

Dr. John Jasina, associate professor of economics, has been named the 2021-2022 Claflin University Presidential Faculty Fellow. The President’s Faculty Fellow Program cultivates faculty leadership through the advancement of institutional mission fulfillment. As the Fellow, Dr. Jasina will complete a Focus Project in support of furthering the Elevation and Transformation Agenda which will be collectively developed by him and Claflin President Dr. Dwaun J. Warmack. Dr. Jasina received his Ph.D. in applied economics from Clemson University. His areas of specialization include applied microeconomics, industrial organization, financial economics, econometrics and times series analysis. Prior to attending Clemson University, Dr. Jasina attended West Chester University in West Chester, Pa., where he earned his Bachelor of Science degree in economics. While at Claflin, Dr. Jasina has taught courses in microeconomics, macroeconomics, business statistics, quantitative methods and managerial economics. Dr. Jasina also teaches graduate level courses in the Master of Business Administration program.

Central Savannah River Area Alumni Chapter to Host Alumni Association Convention in Augusta, Georgia

The Central Savannah River Area Alumni Chapter will host the 48th Claflin University International Alumni Convention on April 21-24, 2022, in Augusta, Ga. This year's planning committee is pleased to welcome attendees to Augusta where the theme for the Convention is "Feeling Good from the Garden City to the Hilltop High."

Click here to download the convention schedule/brochure.