President's Report 2007 - Benedict College

BENEDICT
COLLEGE
Benedict to awards new degrees
Benedict awarded its first five electrical engineering degrees during the
May 2007 graduation program. The school will now be eligible to seek
accreditation, and for which dean Stacey Jones has high hopes.
The private, historically black college in the heart of Columbia will
award those new degrees among the 280 it plans to hand out today in
Charlie W. Johnson Stadium. Ceremonies begin at 9 a.m. at the
stadium on Two Notch Road at Read Street. The speaker for the
commencement is U.S. House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn.
Jones, who has master’s degrees in math and science from
Johns Hopkins University and a doctorate in computer sciences
from George Washington University, can hardly contain her
pride in the five graduates, all of whom plan to enter graduate
school.
The five earned scores between 730 and 790 on the Graduate
Record Exam, for which 800 is a perfect score in math.
Jones aims to prove that students can excel at an institution
that has an open admissions policy, which means Benedict accepts
students with marginal academic backgrounds.
Adura Sopeju, who transferred to Benedict from the University of Lagos
in Nigeria, has 10 scholarship offers, seven of which are fully funded, from
universities including Virginia, Florida, Cornell University and Purdue. And,
he has participated in research at the European Organization for Nuclear
Research in Switzerland, where Benedict plans to send more engineering
students for hands-on experience.
The five students also have had opportunities to interact with students
from engineering powerhouses like Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, Georgia Tech and Cornell.
They say they often feel a lack of respect for the Benedict program, and
they plead with the engineering world to give them a chance to prove
themselves.
“Don’t judge us until you see what we’ve done,” said graduate Aderele
Fapohunda.
Some people automatically think they’d prefer someone from MIT,”
Fapohunda said. “Just give us a chance.”
Jones said that, for starters, her electrical engineering program was
approved by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, a key
accreditation agency.
The program can now seek accreditation by ABET Inc., the recognized
accrediting agency for college and university programs in applied science,
computing, engineering and technology.
– by James T. Hammond
The State newspaper
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