TheBESTofBC Highlights

Benedict Names Ron Dickerson Jr.

As Head Football Coach

Benedict College President Dr. Roslyn Clark Artis and Director of Athletics Willie Washington are proud to announce the hiring of Ron Dickerson Jr. as head football coach for the Tigers.

Dickerson has a long successful history as a football coach, bringing more than 27 years of coaching experience to the Tigers.

He comes to Benedict after serving the last two seasons at the University of West Florida, helping the Argonauts to back-to-back Gulf South Conference championships, a 20-6 record and a berth into the NCAA Division II national semifinals in 2022. He served as the UWF Offensive Coordinator and wide receivers coach last season, helping the Argos rank 17th in the nation in passing offense, and 20^th in the nation in total offense. As the team's wide receivers coach in 2022, he guided a passing attack that ranked fifth in the nation in passing yards per completion.

"Benedict College was fortunate to have had a robust pool of applicants for the Head Football Coach position," Artis said. "After a long and thorough search, we believe Coach Dickerson is the ideal person to take Benedict College football to the next level. We welcome he and his family to Benedict and to the City of Columbia!"

Dr. Kennard DuBose is the project’s principal investigator (PI), along with Dr. Eunika Simons, the Interim Chair of the Social Work Department and co-PI. The grant was awarded to develop, promote, and facilitate Benedict College Resist Overcome Achieve Rise, or B.C. R.O.A.R. 

“The program and its acronym are in line with Benedict College’s current Strategic Plan to prioritize its students. ‘Success of Our Students: Students First’ aims to provide a student-centered learning experience, promote enrollment, institutional value proposition, retention, and visibility,” said Dr. Dubois, Assistant Social Work Professor. 

The Benedict College Pre-Law Club attended Benedict Alumnus and Attorney I. S. Leevy Johnson's talk at USC Law School on "The Trumpet of Conscience."

(l-r) Rashonda Rhodes, Naje Virgil-Green, Attorney I.S. Leevy Johnson, Marlayshia Lockhart, Kleopatra Jones, and Dr. Ebony Greene.

The BEST of BC Faculty and Staff

The BEST of BC Students Lead

The BEST of BC Athletics

Gob Gabriel hit a deep 3-pointer with 19 seconds left to give Benedict the lead and the ninth-ranked Tigers held on for an 87-84 victory over Albany State in a men's SIAC basketball contest on Saturday in the Benjamin E. Mays HRC Arena.

The Golden Rams rallied from an 11-point second-half deficit to take a 79-76 lead with 3:21 remaining on a 3-pointer for their first lead of the game. A pair of free throws by Gabriel with 1:12 left to play tied the game at 82, but the Golden Rams scored on a jumper with 49 seconds left to take an 84-82 lead.

After both teams missed shots, Gabriel hit his 3-pointer with 19 seconds left. Brandon Beidleman sealed the game with two free throws with four seconds left.

Tim Moore scored a career-high 29 points for the Tigers, attacking the basket for six dunks. Asanti Price added 13 points, with 12 of those coming in the second half. Beidleman had 12 points and Gabriel added 11 points.

Blaise Wallace led Albany State, now 7-9 overall and 5-5 in the SIAC, with 25 points, all but one point coming in the second half.

Benedict improves to 14-2 overall and 8-2 in the SIAC.

Taylor Christmas scored a career-high 25 points and the Benedict College Lady Tigers led the entire way as they defeated Converse University 65-49 in a non-conference women's basketball contest on Monday night in the Benjamin E. Mays HRC Arena.

Benedict scored the first 11 points of the game and had a decisive 22-4 lead at the end of the first quarter. Benedict had as much as a 24 point lead in the second quarter and took a 34-11 lead at the half. Benedict held Converse to 4-of-28 (14.2 percent) shooting in the first half.

The Lady Tigers maintained a double-digit lead throughout the second half. The Valkyries pulled within 13 points, 53-40, with 5:28 remaining, but Christmas sank a 3-pointer, and Aaliyah Lawrence followed with a layup to push the lead back to 18 points. After Converse trimmed the lead with back-to-back baskets, Christmas hit another 3-pointer for a 61-44 lead with 3:05 remaining.

Alaysia Nash added 13 points for the Lady Tigers, while Lawrence had 11 points and a team-high nine rebounds.

Benedict improves to 3-12 overall, while Converse falls to 5-10. Benedict avenged a season-opening loss to Converse by nearly the same score. Converse led the entire way and won 63-49 in Spartanburg on Nov. 14.

Alumni Spotlight

Congratulations to Class of 2012 graduate, Zakiya Brownlow who plays a role in “The Color Purple!

"The Color Purple" is on screens across the country with big names. One of the names that isn’t as big yet is Zakiya Brownlow. But the Benedict College graduate has been abuzz on Facebook since making her debut in the film. “I’m still currently, like, catching up with text messages and posts,” Brownlow said regarding the reaction to her appearance on the big screen.

On any given day during the school year, she’s in the classroom teaching her students. “If we’re speaking 'Color Purple,' as Deaconess but, right now, I am obviously back in the classroom, so I am a teacher, eighth grade,” she said.

But, one day in 2021, she was persuaded by a friend to audition for an African dance call. It turned out to be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

“At this point, we did not know it was 'The Color Purple.' It was just auditions in Atlanta, and she said, specifically, that they needed African dancers, which, as far as dance, that’s my go-to,” Brownlow said.

Brownlow said that after auditions, she was cast in a speaking and dancing role as Deaconess. “It was 10 out of 10. I can’t explain it, but if I could do all of that all over again, I definitely would,” she said.

Her roots lead back to the Midlands at Benedict College, where she said her time prepared her for the silver screen.

“Shout out to Benedict College; I graduated with my bachelor's in child and family development in 2012,” she said.

At Benedict, she was the homecoming queen, in the dance company, and guided many students along the way, including the current admission counselor.

“When I came here in 2010, she was Miss Homecoming Queen. She had a phenomenal aura around her; she was so interactive between all of us students and making sure all of us were supportive, and she’s also one of our academic leaders too,” Davante Pondexter said.

Brownlow said her Tiger family didn’t forget about her during what she calls five minutes of fame.

“So it was amazing; I’m so humble and grateful for just the small moments,” she said. You can still catch "The Color Purple" in theaters now.

Just in case you missed it, here is a recap of Highlights from 2023,

another extraordinary year for Benedict College!

For students at Benedict College who are food insecure, the school’s food pantry is getting a bit of an upgrade thanks to some help from the American Heart Association.

The American Heart Association is working to teach students at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSI) about the risk associated with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), a genetic heart condition.

“One of the biggest challenges also with HCM is you see it effect disproportionately African American communities and so that’s one of the reasons why American Heart Association decided to start with HBCUs and also institutions that have Hispanic students, because those groups are sometimes affected so much more by HCM ,” Maranda Williams said. Williams is the director of marketing and communications at the American Heart Association (AHA). 

According to the association, HCM, is the condition responsible for sudden cardiac death in young athletes. 



Providing healthier food options on campus is one way to help students stay healthy. 

“The Benedict College area around the school is considered a food desert. I think there’s a grocery store maybe one within a mile radius to the college so that’s another challenge for students sometimes that are in the area to be able to find health items,” Williams said.

The food pantry will now have refrigerators to offer students cold options including fresh fruit and vegetables. Healthy on-the-go snacks will be offered as well. 

“We started out with just small snacks and things that we can just grab and go, but students really wanted more fruit, more vegetables, more healthy things but we didn’t have refrigeration so we weren’t able to buy those things in bulk,” Kymm Hunter said. 

Hunter is the assistant vice-president of communications and marketing at Benedict College. She says the school makes sure all students have easy access to food.

“Food insecurity is real and we understand that and we want to help them as much as we possibly can. We’re trying to be the best of Benedict College and this is a part of it, offering our students the types of things that they need that may not be able to be provided from their own home,” Hunter said. 

Benedict Remembers Our Risen Tigers