PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas – The year 2020 has unquestionably been a year for the books! In spite of it all, Prairie View A&M University (PVAMU) has maintained its commitment to achieving excellence and relevance in teaching, research, and service. There have been new partnerships and initiatives, new spaces, faces, and historic donations. We put together a few of PVAMU’s most notable moments from an unforgettable year below. This list definitely shows how #PanthersPushForward.
Moment 1: Historic Year of Philanthropy
It was a record-breaking year for significant gifts at PVAMU. The university received $1 million from Bank of America for career services; $850,000 from Vistra, Inc., to improve educational opportunities for students; and $310,000 from the American Forest Foundation to help protect African American forest lands, to name a few.
Writer and philanthropist Mackenzie Scott set a record by giving $50 million to PVAMU, the largest gift the university has ever received. Much of the money from Scott will go to the school’s endowment fund to support high-priority academic needs, such as faculty recruitment and development, as well as fellowships and scholarships.
University administrators have already set aside $10 million to create the Panther Success Grant Program, an effort to assist juniors and seniors with unpaid balances created by the financial challenges posed by COVID-19.
Moment 2: A Center for Race and Justice
The Texas A&M University System Board of Regents approved a plan to establish the Ruth J. Simmons Center for Race and Justice. H-E-B Chairman Charles Butt donated $1 million to kick start funding for the center to be named after President Simmons.
Starting next year, the center will “encourage teaching and scholarship that contributes positively to overturning systemic biases that impede the ability of minorities and other groups to be accorded their full rights under the U.S. Constitution,” Simmons said in a June 1 letter to the community. “Fighting racism and discrimination and upholding justice must always be among our highest callings,” she said.
Moment 3: Fighting for Social Justice
PVAMU took part in the nationwide fight for social justice. Students, faculty, and staff designed and painted “Black Lives Matter” on University Drive, the main road to the university and the main thoroughfare in the City of Prairie View.
Several faculty members, administrators, and alumni also used opinionated editorials, television and cable news programs, and online publications to share their research, knowledge, and resources on social injustice to help change the world for the better. You can read, view, and listen to some of their contributions to the national discussion here.
Moment 4: Fighting a Pandemic
In the worldwide fight against COVID-19, School of Architecture students and staff used 3D printers in the Fabrication Center (Fab Center) to create one-of-a-kind face shields to help protect medical personnel fighting against the disease on the frontlines.
Thousands of the shields, labeled “PVAMU School of Architecture,” were shipped to facilities in and around the Houston area. Director of the Fab Center, Stephen Song, says the shields are made from materials with high tensile and impact strength, perfect for our local heroes.
Moment 5: Making a Difference in a Historic Election
PVAMU students ensured their voices were heard during a pivotal election year. Hundreds of Panthers marched to the polls to vote, while shining a light on voter suppression in Waller County, which is home to PVAMU.
In addition, a program hosted by Endowed Professor of Political Science Melanye Price ’95 revealed that voting this year was literally a matter of life and death. The powerhouse conversation featuring scholars, activists, and elected officials is still available to view online.
Moment 6: Creating Healthy Communities
PVAMU’s Colleges of Agriculture and Human Sciences, Nursing, Juvenile Justice and Psychology, and Business collaborated to launch the Healthy Houston Initiative (HHI). In partnership with the City of Houston, HHI will bring training and programming focused on finance, food insecurity, public health, and mental health and wellness to underserved communities in the Greater Houston area.
Those selected communities include Alief-Westwood, Acres Homes, Fort Bend, Gulfton, Kashmere Gardens, Magnolia Park-Manchester, Near Northside, Second Ward, Sunnyside, and Third Ward.
“By investing in these communities, we are investing in people; we are investing in families; we are investing in children,” Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said. “It does make a difference.”
Moment 7: Medical Center Housing
The Texas A&M University System announced plans to build housing for students in PVAMU’s College of Nursing and students in Texas A&M’s new Engineering Medicine (EnMed) program. The half-billion-dollar complex with 704 beds will be the first housing complex for students in the Texas Medical Center, “the largest medical city in the world.”
College of Nursing Dean Betty Adams said the new proximity to EnMed and its emphasis on research would give PVAMU graduate students more opportunities to engage in the larger healthcare continuum. Construction crews should complete the project in 2022.
Moment 8: Athletics on a National Platform
PVAMU alumni Jalen Morton ‘20, Jordan Jones ‘20, and Darius Fulghum ’19 dominated local, regional, national, and international news this year.
Morton and Jones signed free agent deals with the Green Bay Packers, and Fulghum fought his way onto the USA Boxing Olympic Team. Fulghum, who has a Bachelor of Science in Nursing, said he was always fascinated by the human body and learning more about it. So, that’s why he got into science. It’s also why he chose the field of nursing.
Moment 9: Golf Partnerships and Scholarships
PVAMU Golf had lots of exciting news this year. The organization announced a two-year partnership with Mustang CAT and the Sand Hill Farm Golf Course in Waller County. The agreement makes Sand Hill Farm Golf Course an official partner and home to the Panthers’ men’s and women’s golf teams.
As part of a $500,000 donation to Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) to mend racial inequality and social injustice, PGA Tour donated $100,000 to PVAMU’s men’s and women’s golf teams. The donation followed a $40,000 contribution from the Cameron Champ Foundation and Chevron Corporation to establish scholarship funds for golf student-athletes at PVAMU. The funds are named in memory of Cameron Champ’s grandfather, Mack “Pops” Champ. Mack taught Cameron how to play golf and inspired his grandson and other minority golfers to pursue competitive golf.
“My grandfather always wanted to go to PVAMU; Now, others will get the chance in his name,” Cameron said.
Moment 10: Coding and Creativity in Greater Houston
Technology giant Apple teamed up with PVAMU to create a “Coding and Creativity Hub” within the Greater Houston and Waller County region.
The hub on “The Hill,” one of 10 around the country, is housed in Roy G. Perry College of Engineering’s Computer Science Department. It will help organize workshops and classes to teach students, faculty, staff, and residents programming coding language used to develop iOS apps. Apple has already delivered the necessary equipment to PVAMU to support the program.
Moment 11: Reigning Supreme
For the second year in a row, PVAMU students took home first place in the national HBCU Battle of the Brains competition. The interdisciplinary team of students from the Colleges of Business, Engineering, and Arts and Sciences surprised the judges with their knowledge, experience, and ability to work well under pressure. Their reward: $25,000 in prize money.
Other top student winners this year include the university’s debate team, who brought home two national championships, and students in the College of Agriculture and Human Sciences, who dominated the Irrigation Association’s 2020 E3 program. The group of CAHS students made up 7 of the 18 winners from universities across the nation.
Moment 12: An Innovative Space on Campus
PVAMU hosted a grand opening and ribbon cutting for the Panther Collaboration and Innovation Commons (Panther C.I.C.).
Located on the third floor of the John B. Coleman Library, the Panther C.I.C. is home to various services and collaborative meeting spaces available to students and faculty. The C.I.C. (or “kick” as students call it) is an initiative of the Center for Instructional Innovation and Technology Services (formerly Distance Learning) and is funded in part by the Title III Federal Grant Program through the Office of Research and Innovation.
Moment 13: A New Soul
PVAMU’s one and only radio station underwent a major revamp in 2020! 91.3 KPVU-FM changed its brand to “The Art of Soul,” now playing neo-soul, jazz, Latin, world music, new music, classic hip-hop, R&B, and indigenous Texas Soul Music, in addition to National Public Radio (NPR) news and talk programs.
The station said in rebranding that it wants to better reflect the essence, indomitable spirit, and formidable partnership between itself and the students, faculty, and staff of PVAMU, as well as the Greater Prairie View and Houston community. It also wants to bridge the gap between Millennials, Generation Xers, and Boomers.
“We’ve learned there is a connective tissue that binds the three generations… and that connective tissue is music and relevant and timely information.”
Moment 14: New Faces and Fallen Panthers
Within the President’s Cabinet and Executive Committee, there were several promotions and hires this year. James M. Palmer was named Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs; Cynthia Carter-Horn was named Senior Vice President for Business Affairs; Donald R. Reed, Athletic Director; Dorie J. Gilbert – Dean of the Marvin D. and June Samuel Brailsford College of Arts and Sciences; and W. Gabriel Selassie I ’88 was announced to be PVAMU’s inaugural Visiting Alumnus.
The PVAMU family also lost of few of its own, including the university’s first Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, Flossie M. Byrd; Lt. Col. Benny Lockett ‘61, who served on the Prairie View A&M Foundation’s Board of Trustees; Associate Provost James A. Wilson Jr.; Patricia Smith ’89 ‘90, former Associate Professor and Director of Student Teaching; Technology Specialist Ivory L. Jenkins, and devoted alumni leader Opal Johnson Smith. Fallen students included Ariel Freeman, Terryon Jefferson, Michael Gamble, Aerial Grant, and Abdimalik A. Maigag. Though these friends and loved ones, and others not mentioned, are no longer with us, they will always be Panthers in our hearts.
Moment 15: Joining the Ranks
PVAMU held its first ever virtual Celebration of Our Graduates and two virtual Commencements (one in the summer and one in the fall). PVAMU gained 1,739 alumni this year, bringing the total degrees awarded in the university’s 144-year history to over 77,000.
Of the 615 students who graduated in the fall, nearly 36-percent identified themselves as first-generation students.
“I am the rose that grew from the concrete,” said Plano, Texas native Tajaun M. Burton, who graduated with a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a minor in political science. “I did not have a path to follow. I had to create my own.”
We are glad Tajaun and thousands of Panthers decide to create their paths at PVAMU.
If this was a year during a pandemic, we cannot wait to see what lies ahead for “The Hill.”
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