Florida HBCU students to receive free heart screenings
By Sheyla Fairley
Nonprofit health care organization Caresource and Who We Play For, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating preventable sudden cardiac death in the young through affordable heart screenings, are teaming up to provide free heart screenings to students at historically Black colleges and universities in Florida.
“We understand the importance, especially in the African American community, of sudden cardiac arrest and its effects on athletes,” said Dr. David Williams, executive vice president and chief medical officer of CareSource, in a release. “ECG screenings improve the detection rate from 5 to 25% up to about 80%. That alone is very significant in screening these student-athletes, and then when some abnormalities are identified, they’ll have the resources to refer them to who they need to see.”
Howard professor to teach the first space law class offered at an HBCU law school
By Sheyla Fairley
Howard University School of Law (HUSL), Washington, DC, professor AJ Link is teaching the first space law class to be offered at an HBCU law school. Space law is described as the body of law governing space-related activities, but it is not widely taught in U.S. law schools.
As stated in a release, Link’s goal is for “HUSL to lead a movement toward there being more Black space lawyers and legal professionals as well as more in the space community as a whole.”
“Howard has the chance to be the premier space law institution in the country and should not miss the opportunity to grow its space law class offering into a full space law program that can prepare its students and graduates to fully explain that yes– space law is a real thing,” Link said.
Meharry Medical College and pharmaceutical companies to launch genetics project
By Sheyla Fairley
Meharry Medical College, Nashville, TN, along with leading pharmaceutical companies Regeneron Genetics Center, AstraZeneca, Novo Nordisk and Roche, decided to launch an initiative to better understand the genetic variants that affect Black people, named the Together for Changing Healthcare for People of African Ancestry through an InterNational Genomics & Equity (Together for CHANGE).
According to an article, the Together for Change initiative, which plans to last for ten years, “seeks to collect genetic material from 500,000 people of African descent” with the hope that the material will “end up helping create new medicines or diagnostic exams while also reducing health disparities.”
The 10-year initiative also involves “creating a grant program designed to support research and education in genomics and other related fields at Meharry as well as STEM programs for grade-school students in diverse communities” with each of the pharmaceutical companies expected to contribute “$20 million for the genetic and educational components of the partnership.”
For more information, read the full article here.
‘The Chi’ actor Jason Weaver to teach entertainment industry masterclass at SC State
By Sheyla Fairley
From October 30 — November 1, 2023, actor and singer Jason Weaver, best known for his role as Marcus Henderson in The WB tv series “Smart Guy” and Rahsaad “Shaad” Marshall in the Showtime tv series “The Chi,” will be teaching an entertainment industry masterclass at South Carolina State University, Orangeburg, SC.
According to an article, the three-day workshop is designed to “educate and prepare future trailblazers about the business of entertainment, as well as how to establish and build a lifelong career in the film and television industry.”
“Our goal is to empower students to establish and nurture a lifelong career in the dynamic world of film and television by offering valuable insights into how the film industry actually works and creating an experience for aspiring actors and allowing them to dissect and perform scenes and get feedback and constructive critique,” Weaver said.
Read the full article, here.
HBCU Out Loud Day celebrates Black queer students on HBCU campuses
By Sheyla Fairley
According to an article, the Human Rights Campaign, alongside its Historically Black Colleges and Universities program, orchestrates the HBCU Out Loud Day to create “a space for Black LGBTQ+ students at HBCUs” on the third Wednesday of October, which marks LGBTQ+ History Month.
“We established HBCU Out Loud Day, and it was a day that we wanted people to be out loud in their own way on campus,” Leslie Hall, the founder of HBCU Out Loud Day and HRC’s HBCU program director. “We would rely heavily on the campuses themselves to post or, plan, post and organize events for their own community. We didn’t want it to be such a lift where we were planning the events on their campuses.”
“We want campuses to roll out the welcome mat for their LGBTQ students,” Halls added. “If it’s HBCU Out Loud Day, then that’s another way that students can really see themselves represented on the campus.”
For more details, read the full article here.
