Fisk University

According to the school, founded in 1866, Fisk University is coeducational, private, and one of America’s premier Historically Black Universities. The first Black college to be granted a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society, Fisk serves a diverse student body with students from 40 states and 6 foreign countries. There are residence halls for men and women. The focal point of the 40-acre campus and architectural symbol of the university is Jubilee Hall, the first permanent building for the education of Blacks in the South, named for the internationally renowned Fisk Jubilee Singers, who continue their tradition of singing and sharing classic Negro spirituals along with other genres of music from African, Brazil, African American and other diverse cultures. From its earliest days, Fisk faculty and alumni have been among America’s intellectual leaders providing leadership in several fields including medicine, science, art, humanities, religion, literature, sociology and philosophy. Fisk Alumni include Dr. W. E. B. Du Bois, the first black Ph.D. from Harvard, great social critic and co-founder of the NAACP; Nikki Giovanni, poet/writer; Dr. John Hope Franklin, historian/scholar; Dr. David L. Lewis, professor/two-time Pulitzer Prize winning author; Hazel O’Leary, Esq., Fisk President and former U.S. Secretary of Energy; John Lewis, U.S. Representative (GA)/civil rights movement leader; Judith Jamison, artistic director of the Alvin Ailey Dance Company; Margo M. McKay, Esq., U.S. Department of Agriculture Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights; Alonzo L. Fulgham, Chief Operating Officer U.S. Agency for International Development; Dr. Bradley Sheares, President of U.S. Human Health at Merck & Company, Inc., Milele Coggs, Esq., Alderwoman Milwaukee, WI Sixth District; The Honorable Paulette J. Delk, Judge U. S. Bankruptcy Court, TN Western District; Rel Dowdell, filmmaker; Mandisa Hundley, recording artist/‘American Idol’ finalist; Dr. Carol R. Johnson, superintendent Boston public schools; Dr. Alton B. Pollard, III, Dean of the Howard University School of Divinity; John F. Harris, Esq., assistant general counsel Ford Motor Company; and Ruth E. Anderson, Esq., senior counsel Nissan North America, Inc.; Dr. Charlene D. Portee, President American Academy of Physical Therapy, and Dr. Johnetta B. Cole, director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art/former President of Bennett and Spelman Colleges.\r\n