FVSU News



December 18, 2007 - J.C. Forensics Society Holds Fall Speech & Drama Competition


“The Great Debaters,” a new movie starring Denzel Washington, spotlights the dynamism of debate clubs at Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Fort Valley State University’s J. C. Hill Forensic Society hopes to keep this tradition alive by reorganizing itself and hosting its Inaugural Fall Speech and Drama Competition recently held in the W.W.E. Blanchet CTM Building Auditorium. The contest was sponsored by the Office of Student Affairs.

The forensics society was started by late FVSU English professor J. C. Hill. According to Dr. Keith Murphy, associate dean for the College of Arts and Sciences, Hill broke ground in eliminating racial barriers in mainstream extracurricular activities.

“Hill was taking black speech and debate teams into mainstream colleges when no one else was,” said Murphy, who knew Hill personally. “I was hired to replace him, which was quite an honor.”

According to Dr. Andrew Lee, interim program coordinator for mass communications, the forensics society has 15 – 20 students participate each year. Each year, ten FVSU students compete in state championships and national tournaments. The organization, however, is currently in the rebuilding process and will follow the National Forensics Model.

Members competed and were awarded first, second and third place trophies in two categories: speech and drama. Students who earned the top three scores were awarded grand-prize monetary awards. The judges for the competition were President of the Faculty Senate Ms. Juone Brown-Johnson, Associate Professor of Fine Arts and Humanities Mr. Ricky Callaway and Interim Department Head for English and Foreign Languages Dr. Berlithia Pitts. Five very talented students walked away with prizes.

Speech Category:

First Place: Justin Lambert
Second Place: Michael Jordan
Third Place: Tiffany Arnold
Drama Category:
First Place: Serena Tucker
Second Place: Diamond Hazel
Grand Prizes:

First Place: Justin Lambert - $200
Second Place: Michael Jordan - $150
Third Place: Tiffany Arnold - $100

This message has been edited. Last edited by: THE DREAMER,

quote:

Originally posted by THE DREAMER:

Here is more good news for FVSU...

Construction will start any week now on upgrades to Wildcat Stadium. It will seat between 12-15,000 and will be ready for the fall season - weather permiting.

Student center renovations will begin over the summer.

Complete Web site redesign will be completed and rolled out soon.

Construction will start in a month on a new $16 million academic science center

Construction will start soon on a new 500-bed building for Wildcat Commons to be ready for fall occupancy.

FVSU is opening a full-time recruitment office in Atlanta, the first ever.

Enrollment for this semester is up, bringing enrollment to around 2,800.

The president is preparing for an enrollment of 4,000 students by fall semester. Applications are up dramatically and have far exceeded even those from this peroid last year, which led to a record freshman class of 600. Retention efforts are in high gear. If all holds up, FVSU would be among the fastest growing schools in the nation, shattering its record as the state's fastest growing last year.

Major, major new academic programs on the horizon, including a pharmacy program, nursing and expanded vet science and a cool CSI-like forensics program.

There is a lot more that is not ready for public release.

Stay tuned.

Now the whole world should know that Fort Valley State University is here to stay!!