Professional basketball player Russell Westbrook unveils student-designed lounge at Pensole Lewis College

By Sheyla Fairley

NBA star Russell Westbrook, through his partnership with PepsiCo, unveiled the Pepsi x Frito-Lay Refresh and Relax Lounge designed by Pensole Lewis College of Business and Design, Detroit, MI, students Rodney Banks and Angel Buckens after participating in the inaugural PepsiCo Design & Innovation program.

“I’m so grateful to be part of a partnership that is inspiring young Black creatives and prioritizing their education like the PepsiCo program at Pensole Lewis College. I share a mission with PepsiCo in wanting to create educational opportunities and provide valuable resources to young people who don’t always get the same support as their peers. Together, we want to inspire and encourage students to continue their creative journey and pursue a career in design,” said Westbrook in a release.

Google engineer ‘in residence’ to spend fall semester at Alabama HBCU

By Sheyla Fairley

Google software engineer Joon Lee is a Google in Residence participant who will spend the fall 2023 semester teaching an introductory Computer Science class at Alabama A&M University, Huntsville, AL.

According to an article, the Google in Residence program aims to “support increased diversity in the tech industry through partnerships with computer science departments at Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Hispanic Serving Institutions to ensure students can gain the skills needed to succeed in tech post-graduation.”

“I’m immensely proud that we have positively impacted more than 8,000 HBCU and HSI students through our Google in Residence program over the last decade,” said Google Chief Diversity Officer Melonie Parker. “We’re passionately working to build equity for HBCU and HSI students to ensure they have the skills they need to succeed in tech when they graduate and to support greater diversity in the tech industry.”

For more information, read the full article here.

Tuskegee University and the NFL form partnership to design stadium

By Sheyla Fairley

Tuskegee University’s Robert R. Taylor School of Architecture and Construction Science, Tuskegee, AL, is partnering with the National Football League (NFL) to design a fictional football stadium.

According to an article, the students will focus specifically on “designing better, safer, more equitable, resilient, and sustainable built environments and will practice design as a collaborative, inclusive, creative, and empathetic enterprise with other disciplines, the communities they serve, and the clients for whom they work.”

“Partnering with organizations like the NFL prepares our students for real-world problem-solving that allows them to use the skills they’ve learned in the classroom in meaningful ways,” said Dr. Charlotte P. Morris, president of Tuskegee. “I am proud to know that our programs continue to garner the respect and attention of organizations like the NFL in ways that our students see a direct benefit. I am looking forward to seeing what they develop.”

For more details, read the full article here.

Students at South Carolina HBCUs named HBCU ambassadors for sickle cell by Red Cross

By Sheyla Fairley

Allen University, Columbia, SC, sophomore Kaiyah Robinson and South Carolina State University, Orangeburg, SC, junior Kashif Alston will join Claflin University, Orangeburg, SC, senior Dwight Priest Jr. in the American Red Cross’ HBCU Ambassador Leadership Program to raise awareness for sickle cell disease.

The program is a collegiate leadership and advocacy training program that identifies student leaders to serve as blood program leaders for the HBCU campuses.

As stated in a release, the students will “organize blood drives at their universities along with ambassadors in HBCUs across the country” and will lead “outreach efforts to inform students and the community about sickle cell disease — which primarily affects Black and Latino individuals — and the importance of donating blood.”

“I believe that when we’re touching (students) a lot earlier, it creates or increases the chance of us having more education in our communities, as well as creating lifelong donors,” said Vesha Jamison, the sickle cell account manager at the Red Cross.

Black-owned trucking academy partners with Arkansas Baptist College to recruit students for employment

By Sheyla Fairley

Gladys Godley and her husband Gary, owners of the WorldLink Truck Driving Academy, are partnering up with Arkansas Baptist College’s, Little Rock, AR, Adult Education program to provide employment opportunities for Black students in the trucking industry.

The Godleys intend to provide students with an alternative option should they forgo the two- or four-year college pathway.

“I saw after their first year, a lot of them didn’t actually graduate, so we’re picking up that slack for those who thought they wanted to go to a four-year college or wanted to make that commitment,” said Gladys, a former high school teacher.

Read the full article, here.