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Brandon Chapman to Attend Ralph Bunche Summer Institute at Duke University

Originally Posted by: wichmannkm | April 24, 2015

Political Science and African American Studies Double-Major Brandon Chapman will attend the Ralph Bunche Summer Institute (RBSI) at Duke University. This intensive five-week program is named in honor of the 1950 Nobel Peace Prize winner and former American Political Science Association (APSA) President, Ralph J. Bunche. The competitive program introduces doctoral study to undergraduate students from under-represented racial and ethnic groups.

Dr. Hollis France encouraged Brandon to apply during his junior year. “Brandon struck me as a ‘go getter’ and I thought this kid is going to go places,” Professor France noted. She added, “Brandon’s acceptance places him in a very elite group of minority political science students from around the country. He will be in classes with a diverse student body. Students are drawn from small liberal arts schools, master’s level institutions like CofC, and doctoral granting universities. RBSI also brings in students from historically black colleges and universities and Ivy League institutions. This program works to increase the number of minority students attending Ph.D. programs and ultimately joining the ranks of academia.” Professor France speaks from experience as she also attended RBSI as an undergraduate student and credits the program for giving her the confidence to pursue a Ph.D.

Brandon is looking forward to making the most of this opportunity to develop the writing skills necessary for graduate school and meet top political science students around the country. Brandon said RBSI will encourage him “to do better, study harder, and buckle down.” He also hopes the institute will help him narrow his focus as he is also considering law school and community organizing. Brandon is especially interested in race implications on political institutions.

While he attributed his double major and spring internship with the Office for Institutional Diversity as factors in helping him stand out among other applicants, Brandon mainly emphasized the help he received from Professors John Creed and Hollis France on his personal statement. He noted that they were “very instrumental in securing this great opportunity” because they assisted him with revisions and met with him frequently throughout the application process.

For more information on the Ralph Bunche Summer Institute, please visit http://www.apsanet.org/rbsi.

@AASTCofC Twitter account hacked by current student, Hannah Craig!

Congratulations Lucille S. Whipper!

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Lucille S. Whipper, iconic stateswoman, educator and Charleston civic pillar, has been named the 2013 recipient of the Marjorie Amos-Frazier Pacesetter Award for lasting civic and humanitarian contributions. Montez C. Martin, Jr., award selection chairman, made the announcement today after his 9 member committee chose Whipper in a meeting at the College of Charleston’s Avery Research Center, a nationally recognized repository of African American history that Whipper helped to establish in 1985, the same year she was elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives. Whipper served in the state legislature from 1986-1996.

The award, named in honor of the late Marjorie Amos-Frazier (1926-2010), the first woman, African-American and non-legislator elected to the South Carolina Public Service Commission in 1980, will be presented to Whipper at the Blue Jamboree on October 26 at The Jenkins Institute in North Charleston. The award and the Blue Jamboree are sponsored by West Ashley Democrats. For more information visit: www.scbluejamboree.com.

As members of the Avery Normal School class of 1944, Whipper and her classmates sought to integrate the College of Charleston. As Assistant to the President and Director of the Office of Human Relations at the College of Charleston in 1972, Whipper became the first African-American administrator and developed the College’s first affirmative action plan.

In the late sixties, Whipper and others organized Operation Catch-Up, a tutorial program for high school students that was the forerunner of the Upward Bound programs found today on college campuses nationwide. She was elected to Charleston’s District 20 Constituent School Board from 1978-82.

Whipper is the recipient of numerous awards including Honorary Doctorates of Humane Letters from Morris College, (1989), the University of Charleston (1992) and the College of Charleston (2008). She is a former member of the Morris College Board of Trustees and the Benedict College Board of Trustees. In 1995, Whipper was inducted into the SC Black Hall of Fame and awarded the Order of the Palmetto in 1996.

Currently a member of Morris Street Baptist Church, Whipper has served her denomination as a faculty member of the National Congress of Christian Education, and was Past President of the Woman’s Educational and Missionary Convention of South Carolina.

http://www.charlestonchronicle.net/71166/2152/lucille-s-whipper-to-receive-the-marjorie-amosfrazier-pacesetter-award-2013