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Friday, April 1,1988
BENNETT COLLEGE, GREENSBORO, N. C.
Vol. XLIX, No. 4
•m. *
Satellite enriches college
V ft.
Entering new worids: With thh dl«h, Bennett join* the Black College Satellite
Telecommunications Network, an event which will enhance the future of the
college, according to President Scott, (photo by Waller)
Diplomat visits
by Yvette N. Freeman
A United States diplomat
is now a temporary member
of the faculty and staff of
Bennett College.
Ambassador Robert J. Ryan
Jr., a career member of the
Senior Foreign Service, was
assigned to Bennett by the
U.S. State Department to par
ticipate in TTie Diplomat in
Residence Program. The pro
gram, which is a first for
Bennett, will enable the stu
dents and faculty members to
enhance their awareness of
international affairs.
Ryan, who served as am
bassador to Mali from Sep
tember 1984 to September
1987, says that he is “very
impressed” with Bennett, es
pecially with the architecture.
He says that Bennett and
Johns Hopkins University,
where he received his bache
lor’s degree in political science
in 1960, resemble each other
in what Ryan calls “Georgian
architecture.”
Ryan will not only be work
ing with Bennett during his
stay, but also other black
colleges in North Carolina,
He says, “Instead of work
ing with one university, I’ll
be working vdth six histori
cally black universities here
in North Carolina. I’m happy
to say that Bennett is one.
The others are St. Augustine
in Raleigh, North Carolina
Central in Durham, your
neighbor. North Carolina A &
T, Winston-SaJem State, and
Johnson C. Smith in Char
lotte.”
Ryan’s activities as diplo
mat in residence have not yet
been determined. He says,
“That’s still being worked
out.” However, he says that
it is certain he vdll be a guest
lecturer in some of the classes,
mainly the political science
courses, in addition to speak
ing at seminars dealing with-
topics in international affairs.
Ryan says that he will also
be glad to counsel “any stu
dents who are interested in
pursuing careers in interna
tional affairs.”
There is also a possibility
of setting up a model United
Nations program with the six
schools, if there is enough
interest in the project.
Ryan says, “That’s where
they have sort of a mock ses
sion of the United Nations.
Each school that’s participat
ing represents a country. The
students debate issues that
would actually be coming be
fore the United Nations, as
if they were the ambassadors
for that country.” This would
result in the students gaining
valuable experience in nego
tiating.
With almost 30 years
abroad, Ryan says that some
of his knowledge may be of
assistance to those faculty
members interested in parti
cipating in foreign exchange
programs.
Ryan joined the State De
partment as a foreign service
officer in 1960 and has served
as a vice consul in Ponta
Delgada, Azores, assistant
commercial attache in Rio de
Janeiro and economic officer
in Pretoria.
He was a member of the
National Security Council
staff under Dr. Henry Kiss
inger. In addition, he has
attended the Executive Semi
nar in National and Interna
tional Affairs, a distinguished
training program for senior
executives in the United
States foreign affairs com
munity.
He received his master’s
degree in economics from the
Massachusetts Institute of
Technology in 1967 and
speaks both French and Por
tuguese. In addition to head
ing several international
meetings for the United
States delegations, Ryan has
also received a Presidential
Meritorious Service Award
and the State Department’s
Superior Honor Award.
Ryan says, “If I can help
raise awareness of the impor
tance of international affairs,
I think people will understand
better what’s going on in
foreign countries, and how the
United States debates with
foreign countries. Then in the
end I’ll be able to make a
contribution to the lives and
careers of the students.”
Ryan will be in residence
here until July 1988, but he
says, “There’ll be someone
replacing me in the summer
so that the program with the
six colleges will last at least
until the end of the ’88-’89
academic year.”
Bennett was chosen for this
program when a recruiter for
the State Department visited
North Carolina and was “im
pressed with the atmosphere
here and the seriousness and
(see page 3)
by Yvette N. Freeman
The students and faculty of
Bennett College are now able
to view live satellite broad
casts from other black insti
tutions around the country
as a result of the purchase of
a new satellite dish.
The dish was installed in
mid-February and now “en
ables Bennett to be a part of
the Black College Satellite
Telecommunications N e t -
work,” says President Gloria
Dean Randle Scott, “which is
a network of 102 predomi
nantly black colleges that are
joined together through the
satellite communications for
purposes of enriching educa
tion programs.”
The network offers special
programs. Scott says that stu
dents may be able to tune in
to certain courses that may
not be offered at their insti
tution, but are offered at an
other.
“For example, a course in
17th century theology, that
might be taught at one of
the other black colleges, which
very few other schools would
be teaching because they
wouldn’t have that kind of
investment in faculty, can be
run on a weekly basis or a
daily basis, from that school
to any of the other schools
in the network who’d want to
do it and have their students
be able to have access to it,”
says Scott.
Scott also has hopes of
“having interactive confer
ences, even workshops that
may be held on one campus,
then could be broadcast by
satellite to all the other cam
puses, as long as we know
when to tune in.”
There is also the purjx)8e of
“providing for some commun
ity outreach,” says Scott. She
says this would consist of
providing “almost an exten
sion of the Lyceum programs
or convocations that the
college itself has.”
The satellite program
would also enable Bennett to
have “specialty programs”
that could be shown to parti
cular groups. As an example,
Scott says that “many people
who are in the process of re
certifying themselves as
teachers or reviewing where
they are might be able to
have a joint workshop on the
NTE or other kinds of tests,
that might be at one campus
and we could tune in on it
and then invite teachers in.”
This could include Bennett’s
occasionally running courses
for a specific time period, such
as five weeks, “so that every
Saturday you might invite a
group of teachers in who
would take that course over
the five week period, really
telecoursing, is what that
would be,” says Scott.
Another major goal of the
program is to have Bennett
producing its own programs
that could be broadcast to
other college campuses in the
network. “We’re trying real
hard to see if we can’t get a
good political debate that
might come from the Bennett
College campus,” says Scott.
The satellite program is also
expected to improve the com
munications program at Ben
nett. Scott says that it will
help Bennett to “enrich, ex
pand and deepen our com
munications program; to
teach studente the use of the
media. We didn’t get produc
tion equipment, but event
ually I hope we will be able
to have the electronic part of
journalism and telecommuni
cations as a part of our pro
gram. There are many, many
possibilities for it.”
“Once we purchased the
dish, that enabled us to be
able to do all of this. And so
I imagine as we get more
experience, that there will be
a number of kinds of uses,”
says Scott. She also says that
“As traveling becomes more
expensive, and in some cases,
prohibited, interactive tele
conferencing is a wave of the
future.”
The program, which is
funded under Title III, has
been available to colleges and
universities for about three
years. Bennett had been in
vited to participate about two
(see page 3)
Gordon offers farewell
by Betty Ellis
The SGA president has
learned one big lesson.
“From my responsibilities
this year, I have learned to
take criticism with a grain
of salt. Before taking office,
I often took criticism per
sonally. Now I listen objec
tively to what people say
about the job I’m doing. In
deed, I get my feelings hurt
a lot less this way,” says April
Gordon.
At first glance, you may
conceive April to be shy and
timid, but behind those
friendly, expressive eyes lies
a powerhouse of a leader. A
native of California, the
senior computer science major
says she is indeed an achiever.
“Events sponsored by SGA
were very successful. Per
sonally, I feel that I stayed in
contact vdth the student
body, although the office took
up much of my time. Projects
I found to be interesting as
well as enjoyable would in
clude planning the Morehouse
weekend and seeing every
thing executed smoothly.
There is a certain satisfaction
that comes from seeing your
hard work finally paying off.
I also found the congressional
Black Caucus Youth Summit
to be the most informative
conference I attended.”
Shortages of various kinds
have been Gordon’s biggest
difficulty.
“Lack of available people
vdlling to work on projects
has caused trouble. Usually,
it’s the same few people doing
all the work. Many members
of SGA have other leadership
responsibilities . . . The time
“The four years I’ve spent
here have had a positive ef
fect on my life. I would like
to advise the Bennett family
to utilize all the talent and
enthusiasm available. The
Bennett family is full of
young women with desire and
ability to be leaders. However,
SGA, faculty, staff and ad
ministrators must reach out
to them.”
Outgoing President: SGA leader
April Gordon has learned to cope
with criticism, (photo by Waller)
available for SGA was often
limited,” Gordon says.
As the year comes to a
close, April is preparing to
clean out her SGA office desk
as well as finish her stay here
at Bennett.
“After graduation, I will
be working at the Los Alamos
National Laboratory, where I
have been working for the
past two summers on a gr^-
uate assistantship. During
this time, I will decide where
I want to go to graduate
school and what I want to
pursue an advanced degree in.
Our condolences
to President Scott
upon the death
of her Mother
Mrs. Juanita Randle
on March 24
in Houston, Tex.
The Bennett Family