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By Amy Forbus*
10:00 A.M. EST Tuesday December 28, 2010 | LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (UMNS)
Walter M. Kimbrough, president of Philander Smith College, has been named to Ebony Magazine’s Power 100.
Photo courtesy of Philander Smith College.
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Last year, Walter M. Kimbrough searched Ebony magazine’s Power 100
for potential speakers to invite to Philander Smith College’s “Bless
the Mic” lecture series.
This year, he is on the list himself.
The accomplishments of the 43-year-old president of Philander Smith
College, a historically black institution affiliated with The United
Methodist Church, garnered the attention of the nation’s premier
entertainment and lifestyle publication geared toward an
African-American readership. The honor came as a complete surprise to
Kimbrough, whose father, the Rev. Walter L. Kimbrough, is pastor
emeritus of Cascade United Methodist Church in Atlanta.
“I found out on Facebook,” the college president said. A family
friend from Atlanta posted a congratulatory message on his Facebook wall
before the December/January issue of Ebony had arrived on Little Rock
newsstands.
Since Kimbrough’s installation in December 2004 as the college’s
12th president, Philander Smith has seen its retention and graduation
rates increase, more high-achieving students enter, and its national
profile rise.
A hip-hop lecture series
One reason for the campus’ increasing name recognition has been
“Bless the Mic,” Kimbrough’s reinvention of the traditional president’s
lecture series held at many colleges and universities. Bless the Mic
specifically seeks to appeal to the hip-hop generation and has brought
such diverse voices to campus as former Essence magazine editor Susan L.
Taylor, the Rev. Al Sharpton, an activist minister and 2004 Democratic
presidential candidate, and conservative commentator Ann Coulter.
Power 100 honorees who have spoken at Philander Smith College
include Taylor, Sharpton, Republican National Committee Chairman
Michael Steele, African Methodist Episcopal Church Bishop Vashti
McKenzie and the radio host Tom Joyner.
“I’ve had the most fun with the lecture series,” Kimbrough said. “It
exposes our campus, it exposes the state and particularly central
Arkansas, to people who have never been here.”
As an example, Kimbrough cites Bernice King, daughter of Dr. Martin
Luther King Jr., who made her first trip to Arkansas to speak at
Philander Smith College’s convocation this year.
“It’s been an opportunity to showcase the state to people from all
across the country,” he said. “And I think part of that is how [being
mentioned in] Ebony happened because they talk to people. There are a
number of people on that list who have been to campus, who are really
champions for the college.”
Academic emphasis
According to Ebony, choices for the Power 100 meet one or more of
the following criteria: They consistently challenge the status quo,
forge new paths to opportunity and success, make an impact due to the
sheer breadth of their sphere of influence, and display efforts that
positively benefit African Americans.
Kimbrough’s listing appears on the “academia” page, along with nine
other honorees, including Ruth Simmons, the first African-American
president of an Ivy League school (Brown University), and Henry Louis
Gates Jr., the director of the W.E.B. DuBois Institute for African and
African American Research at Harvard University.
While the attention he’s receiving is exciting, Kimbrough emphasizes
that his proudest accomplishment is raising the bar for the Philander
Smith student body and seeing them meet the challenge.
Moving from open to moderately selective admission policies has
increased the school’s academic profile to the point that, statewide, it
places second only to the University of Arkansas in ACT scores and
grade-point averages among African-American students.
The college’s retention rate has grown from 51 percent in 2004 to 77
percent in 2009. Its graduation rate has increased from 16 percent in
the late 1990s to an average of 20 percent in the past two years.
“Now we have students graduating in three years and going to law
school,” he said. “We didn’t have anybody like that when I got here.”
“They’re excited, and they just bring a new energy to campus,” he
said. “And I think that becomes a catalyst for all the other things
that are happening.”
*Forbus is editor of the Arkansas United Methodist, a publication of the Arkansas Annual (regional) Conference.
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