What is Spelman College?
1.
Spelman College is a four-year liberal arts women's college located in Atlanta, Georgia. The college is part of the Atlanta University Center academic consortium in Atlanta. Spelman holds the distinction of being America's oldest historically black college for women.
Spelman has amassed an endowment fund of over $291 million, and is ranked currently at 75 in the 2008 U.S. News and World Report ranking of all U.S. liberal arts colleges. The 2008 U.S. News and World Report also ranked Spelman first among Historically Black Colleges and/or Universitiesmpus: A historic campus of 32 acres, dating back to 1883, five minutes west of downtown Atlanta. There are 25 buildings, including Sisters Chapel, Giles Hall, Packard Hall, Rockefeller Hall and Reynolds Cottage. The Camille O. Hanks Cosby Academic Center was dedicated in 1996, and a new state-of-the-art Science Center houses classrooms and labs.
Student Body: More than 2,100 students from 41 states and 15 foreign countries.
Ranking: As a result of the dedication of its faculty and staff, Spelman College has gained an excellent national reputation and consistently high rankings in the media’s annual college guides.Faculty: More than 84 percent of full-time faculty hold Ph.Ds or other terminal degrees. Student-faculty ratio is 11:1.
Women's Research and Resource Center: The first of its kind on a Black college campus devoted to curriculum in women's studies.
Special Provisions: Spelman College admits qualified student candidates regardless of race, color, national or ethnic origin, or physical challenge.
Basically, Spelman College is an outstanding historically Black college for women, Spelman promotes academic excellence in the liberal arts, and develops the intellectual, ethical, and leadership potential of its students. Spelman seeks to empower the total person who appreciates the many cultures of the world and commits to positive social change.
Spelman College in popular culture:
"A Different World"
According to the Museum of Broadcast Communications, when Debbie Allen became the director-producer of Bill Cosby's NBC television show, A Different World (which ran for six seasons and dealt with the life of students at the fictional historically Black college, Hillman College) she drew from her college experiences in an effort to accurately reflect in the show the social and political life on black campuses. Allen, "a graduate of historically black Howard University, instituted a yearly spring trip to Atlanta where series writers visited two of the nation's leading black colleges, Morehouse and Spelman. During these visits, ideas for several of the episodes emerged from meetings with students and faculty."
"The Oprah Winfrey Show"
Oprah Winfrey included a panel of seven women from Spelman College via satellite on her Hip Hop Town Hall show. They had previously protested a scheduled performance by rapper Nelly at their school. At the time, students said they were upset at how the women were portrayed in his 2003 video "Tip Drill". Special guests on-stage included Russell Simmons, conscientious rapper Common, Dr. Benjamin Chavis of Simmon's Hip-Hop Summit Action Network, and Kevin Liles, executive vice president at Warner Music. Seated in the audience were Stanley Crouch of the New York Daily News and Bruce Gordon of CBS, former NAACP head.
ATL
In the movie ATL Lauren London's character, New New/Erin, wanted to attend Spelman College instead of her father's choice, Brinton. Later in the end of the movie it shows her attending Spelman with her dad helping her move into her dorm.
Notable Alumnae and Famous Spelman Women:
Marian Wright Edelman-founder of the Children's Defense Fund
Aurelia Brazeal-U.S. ambassador to Ethiopia
Ruth A. Davis-director general of the U.S. Foreign Service
Pearl Cleage-novelist, playwright, poet, essayist, and journalist
Mattiwilda Dobbs-opera singer
Marcelite J. Harris-first African-American female to obtain the rank of General in the U.S. Air Force
Varnette Honeywood-creator of the Little Bill character
Virginia Davis Floyd-Vice President of PROMETRA International and Executive Director of PROMETRA USA
Beverly Guy-Sheftall-author, feminist scholar, founder of Women's Research and Resource Center at Spelman College
Danica Tisdale-Miss Georgia 2004 (first African-American to hold the title)
Alice Walker (attended)-Pulitzer Prize winning novelist
Rolonda Watts-journalist, actor, writer, former talk show host
Nikki Lee-Weldon-Educator
Alberta Williams King(high school)- mother of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Audrey F. Manley-president emerita of Spelman College and former Acting Surgeon General
Kathleen McGee-Anderson-television producer and playwright (Soul Food, Touched By An Angel, Any Day Now)
Deborah Prothrow-Stith-physician; first woman to head the Department of Public Health in Massachusetts, in 1987; Associate Dean for Faculty Development and Director at Harvard School of Public Health
Keshia Knight Pulliam-Actress (The Cosby Show)
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