opinion

Viewpoint: Norman C. Francis documentary showcases WYES’ commitment to New Orleans

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“We knew he was destined for something, because he had all the qualities of a leader,” said the city’s former First Lady Sybil Morial about her friend and college classmate Norman C. Francis. A courageous civil rights icon, chairman of Liberty Bank, original investor in the Saints, and former president of Xavier University, where he served with honor and distinction for 47 years, Francis is the subject of a new documentary on WYES-TV that will premiere Tuesday (Sept. 27) at 8 p.m.

Produced by WYES Executive Vice President Dominic Massa and moderated by Sally-Ann Roberts with Thanh Truong, the documentary is filled with interviews from key community leaders, including former Tulane President Scott Cowen and former Mayors Marc Morial and the late Moon Landrieu, as well as members of the Francis family. Born into a working-class family in Lafayette, Francis was steeped in the Catholic faith and the importance of receiving a good education. The nuns at Lafayette’s St.

colleges

Xavier University is planning to open a medical school to increase diversity in the health professions

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Xavier University of Louisiana has prepared African-American students for medical school or doctorate degrees in the health sciences since the 1976. It consistently ranks high in the list of undergraduate universities placing Black students in medical schools. Now Xavier will establish a medical school of its own, the Graduate School of Health Sciences and Medical School, the university announced Thursday (April 21). The endeavor is in the planning stages, university officials said, so it will be years before the medical school is ready to begin training future physicians. The nation’s only historically Black and Catholic university has long worked to bring greater diversity into the medical professions.

colleges

Xavier students showcase work in timely exhibit at Ogden Museum of Southern Art

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For the seventh year, the Ogden Museum of Southern Art has partnered with the New Orleans Chapter of The Links, a women’s volunteer service organization, to present a showcase featuring art from students at a historically Black college or university. This year, 12 students from Xavier University have work featured in the exhibit: Kennedi Andrus, Allana Barefield, KaLya Ellis, Barriane Franks, Lauren Gray, Ashley A. Miller, Reid Hobson-Powell, La’Shance Perry, Michael Riley, Makeda Wells, Bryce Williams and Maliya Vaughan. For many students, it’s the first time their work is featured in a gallery. La’Shance Perry, a senior at Xavier from Cincinnati, Ohio, majoring in mass communications and minoring in art, said the experience has made her feel validated as an artist, something that she has struggled with lately. “I guess I’ll say I can be self-conscious about my work, which is why I haven’t shared a lot,” she said.

colleges

Class of 2020 Part 2: Colleges postpone commencement ceremonies and turn to virtual recognition

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With spring graduation ceremonies canceled or postponed, many class of 2020 graduates are disappointed that their official graduation day won’t be recognized the way they had anticipated. “That walk across a stage was earned through four (in my case, five) years of hard work and panic attacks — just to be taken away within a blink of an eye,”  said Loyola University senior Christian Willbern in an Uptown Messenger column. While few deny the public health necessity of closing colleges, it was heart-rendering for many seniors to be abruptly banished from their campuses in the final months of their final year. Universities are finding ways to commemorate the day, often through virtual ceremonies to be followed by a delayed ceremony. Tulane University’s virtual ceremony marking the conferment of degrees to the class of 2020 will take place May 16.

COVID-19

Mobile COVID-19 testing kicks off at Xavier University

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Xavier University is the first site in a campaign bring COVID-19 testing to medically vulnerable communities. Walk-up testing will be available at Xavier from Tuesday (April 21) through Friday of this week. LCMC Health, the New Orleans Health Department and Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center will be conducting a mobile testing campaign for COVID-19 across the metro area over the coming weeks. At a press briefing on Monday, Dr. Jennifer Avegno, director of the New Orleans Health Department, urged residents of the Xavier neighborhoods such as Gert Town, Hollygrove and Dixon to take advantage of the testing this week. To be eligible for testing, you must be 18 years of age or older and either recently exposed to COVID-19 or recently showing symptoms of the virus.

arts, books and music

Xavier will celebrate famed photographer with ‘Picturing Creole New Orleans’

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Xavier University of Louisiana, in partnership with The Louisiana Creole Research Association, will celebrate the opening of “Picturing Creole New Orleans: The Photography of Arthur P. Bedou” on Saturday, Oct. 26. The exhibition is part of LA Creole’s 15th annual conference, and it will feature collected photographs by the heralded New Orleans native who was personal photographer to Booker T. Washington. “The purpose of the conference is to showcase Creole life in New Orleans in the early 20th century through the lens of Mr. Bedou,” conference organizers said. Lectures, a panel discussion, presentations, and workshops inspired by Bedou’s legacy will take place from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Xavier University’s Convocation Center Annex, 7401 Stroelitz St., Building 62 (at Fern St.).

colleges

Xavier receives grant to support community college student pipeline

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From Xavier University of Louisiana

Xavier University of Louisiana has received a three-year, $500,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to support initiatives designed to expand its community college student pipeline and to establish a new summer bridge program. The grant will fund ongoing university efforts to engage and enroll more community college students by streamlining its transfer administrative process, clarifying course and major requirements, and reducing any course-related hindrances to graduating in four-years. It will also fund a new pilot summer immersion program, Mellon Humanities Summer Scholars Initiative at Xavier, which will provide potential community college transfer students an opportunity to “test drive” the university prior to matriculating. During the six-week residential bridge program, specifically target potential transfers in the humanities, participants will benefit from experiential classroom learning, an introduction to research, mentoring by college faculty, counseling, and career development. Upon successful completion of the program, the students are guaranteed conditional admission to Xavier after completing their two-year degree requirements.

colleges

Xavier research center recieves Kellogg grant

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from Xavier University of Louisiana

The W.K. Kellogg Foundation has awarded Xavier University of Louisiana a $500,000 grant to fund the Center for Equity, Justice and the Human Spirit at Xavier. The grant will fund initiatives aimed at improving child well-being, building leaders, and advancing community engagement and racial equity through a focus on building stronger ties between community, policy and practice in education, health, environment and criminal justice reform. Established in August 2018, the Center for Equity, Justice and the Human Spirit is a research, teaching and public engagement endeavor housed within the Division of Academic Affairs. In keeping with Xavier’s founding mission and commitment to social justice and social impact, the Center for Equity, Justice and the Human Spirit works to advance equity, achieve justice and elevate the human spirit through the practical application of knowledge and resources toward an improved the quality of life for current and future generations. The center will inaugurate research, reflection, and calls to action in the areas of pre-K through 16 education equity,criminal justice reform, and environmental justice and sustainability.

colleges

Xavier University administration changes bring backlash

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The new administration at Xavier University of Louisiana has made plans to remove and restructure the entire Office of Student Affairs, which means key staff members will lose their jobs. Over the past few weeks, that plan and other decisions have sparked disapproval from alumni, staff and students, who circulated a petition that garnered nearly 2,800 signatures. Some recent actions have made the Xavier community question the administration’s strategic plans and the identity and direction of the university itself. Xavier’s President C. Reynold Verret and Vice President of Student Affairs Curtis Wright laid out plans for staff restructuring in emails sent to the Xavier community earlier this month. Wright’s May 16 letter went into detail about the changes:

“In order to serve the expanding needs of students, the Office of Student Affairs has determined the need to restructure the division.