TBCU Musings - April 2004
Submitted by
John A. “Tony” Williams
The new millennium has brought with it new challenges for TBCU as well
as for the entire IR profession. Our sojourn to the Queen City of Cincinnati
“where pigs fly” was an appropriate setting for the 26th annual TBCU meeting.
Amidst a plethora of new faces, we were pleased that the Godfather, Charlie
Brown, was once again with us guiding us into the 21st century of business. One
of the new faces was that of Martin Fortner, newly appointed Director of
Institutional Research at Southern University at New Orleans. Martin was
pleasantly surprised to run into Tony Williams. The two were students at SUNO
in the mid 70’s. Closing out our stay in Cincinnati would not have been complete
without our annual “soul food outing”. This year’s occasion was held at
Kilimanjaro’s, an African-centered restaurant featuring authentic menu items
from the “motherland” and an atmosphere that included the most relaxing of music
and a pleasant staff and management who helped make our evening enjoyable.
Kudos to our new president, Marcia Conston, and many thanks to Myrtes
Dunn Green and Sam Baldwin for their recent stewardship. Sam wasn’t able to
join us in Cincinnati and was sorely missed. We are also deeply indebted to Cathy Tanner for her on-going role as our secretary-treasurer who manages to keep us informed and in fine financial shape.
All of TBCU joins to congratulate Mimi McDaniel Johnson who “jumped
the broom” in September. Best wishes, Mimi. Also congratulations go out to
TBCUers who were elected to SAIR offices, Cornelia Wills as member-at-large
and Mimi McDaniel who will serve on the Nominating Committee.
This summer (August 6th) marked the 80th birthday of our most
distinguished member, Dr. Charles I. Brown. Charlie was pleased and surprised
to receive birthday greetings from dozens of well-wishers including the AIR and
SAIR executive board members as well as AIR colleagues from across the
country. A special treat for him was a visit to Raleigh from Myrtes Dunn Green,
Tony Williams, Dorothy Cheagle, Chuck Beattie, and Don Reichard. Recently,
however, Charlie’s health has been failing and he has informed AIR, SAIR,
NCAIR and TBCU that he no longer plans to attend the annual forums and
conventions. But on a happier note, the Godfather informed us in September that
the AIR Board of Directors has voted to designate an annual NCES-NSF
dissertation fellowship in his honor which will be known as the Charles I. Brown
Fellowship Award. Again, congratulations to Charlie for continuing to make his
mark in IR. We extend best wishes to him in his “second retirement”.
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