Cheyney University rolled out the red carpet in February for a group of 80 Executive MBA students from the University of Ghana visited the campus to take part in an International Economic Development Workshop. 

Cheyney’s Chief-of-Staff and Deputy to the President, Sheilah Vance arranged for the visit with the help of Dr. George Colton, Dean of Graduate and Continuing Studies; Gedeon Mudacumura, Director of CU's Master of Public Administration (MPA) Program; Eric Hilton, Executive Director of Enrollment Management; Stephen Hughes, Director of the University’s Aquaculture Research and Education Laboratory (AREL); Adedoyin Adeyiga, Professor and Director of the National Science Foundation Building Excellence and Access through Research (BEAR) Program; Vice President of Student Affairs Dr. Suzanne Phillips; Sharon Cannon, Executive Director of CU's Entrepreneurial Leadership Center (ELC); Keith Bingham, CU's archivist; and the Honorary Consul General for Ghana, Michael Griffin.

The students began the day with breakfast at CU's Center City location — hearing from Drs. Colton and Mudacumura. VP Phillips and Vance also brought greetings on behalf of President Michelle Howard-Vital, who welcomed students at CU's main campus later in the day.  

Ghana's Ambassador to the U.S.--His Excellency Daniel Ohene Agyekum--also visited the Center City location to bring greetings before heading back to Washington.  Ambassador Agyekum said that he was impressed with the CU facility, had heard great things about CU, and that he hoped this visit was the start of a long and fruitful partnership between CU and Ghana. He also agreed to visit CU's main campus in the fall.

The Ghanaian students toured the impressive high-tech facility and got their admissions, MPA and housing questions answered before boarding a bus for CU's main campus, where they had lunch and enjoyed a reception at the Great Hall in Carnegie.  This gave the visitors an opportunity to interact with CU students and faculty.

CU Ambassadors took groups of the Ghanaian students on tours of the campus on what turned out to be a cold, snowy day--something the visitors were not used to.  

"It was definitely cold for them," Griffin said. "They come from 90 degree temperatures so the weather is a big factor for them.  That's why, he believes, Ghanaian MBA students will choose to come to study at CU in the summer, when the weather is more to their liking.

"I want to very seriously do some type of exchange program between Cheyney University and the University of Ghana," Griffin exclaimed.  He is interested in a program that facilitates a bilateral relationship.

A big highlight of the tour came when Biology Associate Professor Stephen Hughes, showed them around the artificial tilapia and basil farm on campus. CU earns profits from its tilapia and basil sales.

The visitors had a busy afternoon, hearing from Associate Professor and Director of International Programs Norma George, who serves as advisor to international students.; Honorary Consulate Griffin regarding International Economic Development featuring Agribusiness;  Adeyiga; Cannon, who talked about the services at CU's ELC; Bingham, who gave students a brief history of the nation’s first historically black college; and Sesime Adanu, Director of Cheyney's Institutional Research and a native of the Volta Region of Ghana.

While in the U.S., the students also toured Temple, Howard, Harvard and Princeton Universities but Griffin says that most of the students liked Cheyney the best. 

"They were very happy," he said. "They felt that everyone was very warm, very welcoming and very informative.  I felt that the aquaponics part was incredible information for them.” 

CU even gave the students goodie bags and workshop certificates, something Griffin said no other university did.

Griffin returned to Cheyney University in March to discuss possible joint ventures.  He met with Vance, Colton, Mudacumura, Hughes, Adeyiga, and Lawrence Green, CU's Director of Sponsored Research, to put some options on the table, including wind power. According to Chief of Staff Vance, "We are working on a follow up plan to develop collaborations in renewable and sustainable energy and agriculture with Ghana, Rwanda, and Nigeria."

"The idea of a solar energy power facility on campus" is exciting, Griffin said. 

The International Peace and Conflict Resolution (IPCR) master’s program at Arcadia University presents the free forum, “African Solutions to African Problems: Healing after the Rwandan Genocide,” on Monday, April 8.

Originally developed in Rwanda and Burundi, the program brings together 20 people from both sides of the conflict – 10 Tutsi and 10 Hutu – in a workshop aimed to restore normal relationships and begin a process of healing and reconciliation.

Facilitated by Amy Cox, Administrative Director of the IPCR, and Theoneste Biximana, Co-founder and Coordinator of Healing and Rebuilding Our Communities (HROC), the three-hour workshop will begin at 6:30 p.m., in the Grey Towers Castle Rose and Mirror Rooms (450 S. Easton Road, Glenside, Montgomery County).

The Rwandan genocide was a mass slaughter in 1994 that resulted in an estimated 500,000 to one million Tutsi deaths at the hands of the Hutu government.

HROC brings together 10 survivors of the genocide and family members of the Hutu perpetrators in order to help the victims share their grief and heal, and to help the Tutsi and Hutu rebuild their relationship to strengthen the fabric of communities torn apart by a long history of violence.

Anyone wishing to attend should register at ipcrforum.eventbrite.com or call (267) 620-4753. The workshop is made possible by support from the Public Education for Peacebuilding Support Initiative of the United States Institute for Peace. 

— SOURCE: ARCADIA UNIVERSITY

Services were held March 29 for James O. Wilson.

He died Wednesday, March 19, 2013. He was 69.

Wilson was born Oct. 6, 1943 to the late Marion Wilson and Vernise Hepburn in Bennettsville, S.C.

He was educated in the Philadelphia Public School system where he attended West Philadelphia High School. Wilson enlisted in the armed forces from 1961 to 1964.

Wilson married Wisteria Johnson on June 15, 1964. The couple had one son.

He worked with the local union 32 BJ SEUI from 1986 to 1996.

He and Darlene Lewis later had two daughters.

Wilson’s family said he had a passion for fashion, dancing and socializing with people.

“If you had Billy as a friend, you had a good friend who cared,” his family said.

He is survived by his children, Tahirah Wilson, Brittany Lewis and William A. Wilson; sister, Margie Wilson; son-in-law Sheldon McGeth; granddaughters, Sanaa’ McGeth and Sariya Rasheed; grandson, Sahir McGeth; nieces, Cyndraanita Wilson-Waring and Chrystal Wilson; nephews, Christopher Wilson and Renile “Man” Wilson; cousins, Willie Hepburn and Earlene Campbell; great nieces Antoinette Hill, Karimah Rhone, Dyndra Waring and Demiyah Mosley; great nephews Yusuf Rhone and Dayton Waring and other relatives and friends.

Services were held March 29 at Slater Funeral Home, 1426 Fitzwater Street.

Burial was in Washington Crossing Veteran Cemetery in Newtown.

Lester and Lena Oliver celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary on March 2 with a weeklong vacation in Las Vegas.

Lester, 73 and Lena, 71, met in 1959 at a Horn and Hardart Automat, where Lester was responsible for making the coffee and Lena was in charge of desserts. The two lovebirds courted for two years before marrying in 1963 in the home of Lester’s mother in South Philadelphia.

Lester, who is retired from the Post Office, and Lena, who is retired from the AEL Electronic Co., are the parents of three sons and reside in the Olney section.

The Union Benevolent Association has opened its spring 2013 grant cycle with a stronger commitment to distribute its dollars to high-impact grassroots organizations throughout Philadelphia.

“We recognize the need is not shrinking, even if traditional sources of aid are drying up for many organizations,” said Phyllis Martino, president of the Union Benevolent Association trustee board.

“That’s especially true of the smaller nonprofits that make up the bulk of our grantees. Under these conditions, it would be easy to throw in the towel, and our neighborhoods would be decimated even more should that happen. We want to affirm and encourage good and worthy work on behalf of others.”

The deadline for the spring cycle grants is April 30. In its fall 2012 cycle, UBA awarded grants to nearly 50 eligible organizations across Philadelphia, awards tallying $94,700.

UBA specifically funds projects that help combat poverty, increase employment, further education and improve health, but will consider viable proposals that address other pressing issues affecting its targeted populations. Many area nonprofits have received their initial startup investment from UBA.

Because the economic recovery has only sputtered forward, UBA trustees last year introduced micro-grants, featuring a simplified application for funds under $1,000 and priority given to organizations with operating budgets below $250,000.

For shoestring neighborhood operations, a $500 grant could mean new uniforms for a youth sports team or money for a neighborhood garden and infinite outcomes. Groups such as these – making direct impact on a daily basis – remain most under threat, facing higher difficulty in attracting support, Martino said.

“The simple fact is, everyone is cutting back, and that includes people who historically may have made charitable donations, but now find themselves redirecting those dollars to cushion their own households,” she said.

“It’s that much harder for people who want to help themselves and their communities.

“The typical sources for money are facing more requests from savvier, already connected grant writers, which is virtually squeezing out the little guy – that church group trying to keep their food cupboard operational or people trying to stock a school library,” Martino added.

“We want to help fill that gap.”

Besides the micro-grants, UBA offers general operating grants for organizations with operating budgets under $500,000 and project support grants to organizations with operating budgets below $2 million. These standard grants range from $1,000 to $5,000. Grants are for Philadelphia organizations and agencies only. Start-up groups seeking support may apply by partnering with established nonprofits.

Since 1831, the private foundation has made charitable contributions to individuals and organizations working to aid the economically and socially vulnerable. It offers seed grants for community-based programs and projects that assist the working poor, seniors, children and teens, LGBT people and those with physical or mental challenges, among others.

For eligibility details and applications, visit www.uba1831.org.