Ohio Wesleyan’s Student Union on Black Awareness Inducts 9 Into Hall of Fame
OWU’s Terree Stevenson congratulates 1985 alumnus Craig Luke, one of nine people inducted recently into the Student Union on Black Awareness (SUBA) Hall of Fame. (Photo by Steve Leibrand)
DELAWARE, Ohio – Nine people were inducted into the Hall of Fame of the Student Union on Black Awareness at Ohio Wesleyan University during a ceremony held as part of the university’s 2012 Homecoming Weekend.
The Student Union on Black Awareness (SUBA) was founded in 1968 to support African American students attending Ohio Wesleyan and to enrich the cultural understanding of all students on the university campus. The SUBA Hall of Fame was created in 1998 to “highlight and celebrate the personal and professional accomplishments of notable alumni, faculty, staff, and community members,” said Terree L. Stevenson, director of Ohio Wesleyan’s Office of Multicultural Student Affairs.
“The SUBA Hall of Fame is an as an opportunity to acknowledge those individuals who have strived to make a positive impact on the community while challenging the systems that are oppressive or breed intolerance,” said Stevenson, a 1995 Ohio Wesleyan graduate and 2008 SUBA Hall of Fame inductee. “Whether it is through community service involvement, contributions of time and resources to improve the quality of life for others, and/or trailblazing roads not taken thus creating a path for others, we wish to proudly recognize the struggle and hard work of those who have become pioneers.”
Those being inducted into the SUBA Hall of Fame’s Class of 2012, in alphabetical order, are:
The Rev. Orlando Chaffee, superintendent of the North Coast District of the United Methodist Church in the Cleveland, Ohio, area. He graduated from Ohio Wesleyan in 1978. Doreen Delaney-Crawley, vice president – chief human resources officer and community relations for Grange Insurance. She graduated from Ohio Wesleyan in 1991. Craig Luke, senior examiner with the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta and president of the university’s OWU Alumni Board. Luke graduated from Ohio Wesleyan in 1985. Dr. Myron McCoy, president of Saint Paul School of Theology in Kansas City, Mo. He graduated from Ohio Wesleyan in 1977. The Rev. F. Douglas Powe Jr., the E. Stanley Jones Associate Professor of Evangelism and associate professor of Black Church Studies for Saint Paul School of Theology. He graduated from Ohio Wesleyan in 1987. Sonnetta Sturkey, chief operations officer for the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services and co-president, with her husband, Dan, of the Columbus chapter of the OWU Black Alumni Network. Sonnetta Sturkey graduated from Ohio Wesleyan in 1983 and Dan Sturkey in 1984. Dr. Emmanuel Twesigye, the Aden S. and Mollie Wollam Benedicts Professor of Christian Studies at Ohio Wesleyan and president of the newly formed Developing Education (DevEd) for Africa organization, based in Geneva, Switzerland. Twesigye lived and worked in Uganda until 1977, when he fled to the United States to escape the regime of President Idi Amin. Beverly White-Seals, president and CEO of the Columbia Foundation, which raises, manages, and distributes funds to support nonprofit organizations in Howard County, Md. She graduated from Ohio Wesleyan in 1972. Abram Wilson, acclaimed jazz trumpeter and vocalist and music teacher. Wilson, deceased, graduated from Ohio Wesleyan in 1995, and later earned his master’s degree from the world-renowned Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y.Founded in 1842, Ohio Wesleyan University is one of the nation’s premier small, private universities. Ohio Wesleyan offers more than 90 undergraduate majors, sequences, and courses of study, and 23 NCAA Division III varsity sports. OWU combines an internationally focused curriculum with off-campus learning and leadership opportunities that connect classroom theory with real-world practice. Located in Delaware, Ohio, OWU’s 1,850 students represent 41 states and 45 countries. The university is featured in the book “Colleges That Change Lives,” listed on the 2012 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll with distinction, and included on the “best colleges” lists of U.S. News & World Report and The Princeton Review. Learn more at www.owu.edu.