News

JCSU closed out Black History Month this year with a performance and discussion at a Lyceum event on leap day. 

The event in Sara Gambrell Auditorium in Biddle Hall brought back several talented alumni who came to entertain and educate JCSU students. 

Johnson C. Smith University has been a meeting ground for several lifelong friends, spouses and business partners. But for Frank and La Keisha Johnson, it was where they formed their love for not only one another but also their love for HBCU marching bands. In 2018, the couple decided to tackle a cause that was important to both of them: providing monies for scholarships for HBCU band students and athletes through their HBCU Culture Legacy Foundation. 

The Division of Student Affairs and Enrollment Management kicked off Homecoming week with the unveiling of the newly renovated Bull Pen, a student hangout space in the Mary Joyce Taylor Crisp Student Union.

An $80,000 grant was awarded to JCSU in April after the University placed third in The Home Depot’s 2023 Retool Your School contest.  

In August, HBCU Living Legends, an initiative aimed at uplifting historically Black colleges and Universities in North Carolina, hosted a gala celebrating the 2023 Class of HBCU Living Legends.
This year’s Johnson C. Smith University class includes civil rights pioneer Dorothy Counts-Scoggins ’64, former Bennett College president Dr. Phyllis Dawkins ’75 and radio host Larry Mims ’00.

The pews were packed in the Jane M. Smith Memorial Church Thursday as Johnson C. Smith University kicked off its inaugural Lyceum Engagement Series with a public address from Dr. Valerie Kinloch, the 15th president of JCSU.

Kinloch shared her strategic vision for the University with the crowd, which was comprised of faculty, staff, alumni, community members and student groups, including the entire IIOS Marching Band and Golden Bulls Football team.

James ’78 and Valerie ’80 Vanderhall met on the campus of Johnson C. Smith University as undergraduate students. They focused on their academics, graduated, married and started their careers. Decades later, the couple found themselves and their business, V&D Corporation, back on campus assisting in the renovations of the residence halls they stayed in as students. 

Johnson C. Smith University’s Board of Trustees announced today the selection of Dr. Valerie Kinloch as the university's 15th president, effective Aug. 1, 2023.

JCSU alumnus Andrew Smith and the Network and Chill Foundation will host a networking and mentorship event featuring a pitch competition in celebration of Juneteenth on June 17, 2023, beginning at 2 p.m. at the Charlotte Arts League.

Two-hundred students, 20 of whom earned their Master of Social Work degrees, crossed the stage at Bojangles Coliseum on Sunday, May 21, 2023, to receive their degrees from Johnson C. Smith University.

The keynote speaker was Grammy®-Award-winning multiplatinum singer, songwriter, producer, author and actor Anthony C. Hamilton, who delivered an empowering speech to graduates urging them to answer those who ask “what are you doing here,” with “I am here to give you the best of me.”

Yamani Smith-Murrell ’11 was a smart kid, but admits he didn’t always apply himself. But a chance meeting with a Johnson C. Smith University admissions counselor on a “You Can” college tour was the catalyst that would change his life forever.