News

August 6, 2025, was a momentous day that echoed the bold spirit of August 7, 1867, the day of Johnson C. Smith University’s founding, originally the Freedmen’s College of North Carolina, later Biddle Memorial Institute, Biddle University, then Johnson C. Smith University. 

In 2025, the African drummers and the robed promenade of faculty, staff, students and dignitaries signaled back to the auspicious day 158 years prior.

Johnson C. Smith University (JCSU) is pleased to announce the appointment of Jewell Hoover to the College of Business and Professional Studies Dean’s Executive Advisory Board (DEAB), effective April 1, 2025.

Johnson C. Smith University sent five students—Holiness Mhlanga, Dejha Canty, Shaun Moore, Amauri Hampton and David Santos—along with staff advisor Jerrica Turner, to Austin in mid-March to compete in the 2025 HBCU Battle of the Brains.

Johnson C. Smith University faculty member and alumna, Shakoya Brown, is on a mission to raise awareness and funds for women’s heart health as a nominee for the American Heart Association’s (AHA) Woman of Impact campaign. As a stroke survivor, Brown is using her platform to educate, empower and advocate on behalf of women’s heart disease and stroke. 

In honor of Social Work Month, JCSU will spotlight a student from the Bachelor of Social Work and Master of Social Work programs each week in March. Today’s spotlight features Eliana Moultrie, an El Paso, Texas, native and a senior in JCSU’s Bachelor of Social Work program. 

Music Producer Michael Mauldin, father of hip-hop mogul Jermaine Dupri, hit the stage at JCSU as a Lyceum Engagement Series speaker in December 2024. Mauldin began the night with a sparkly video originally played in 2021, when the music maverick was inducted into the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame, alongside his son, Dupri.  

The JCSU Competing Members of the Debate Team – Kirksey Beaty, Ananasa Dobson Holiness Mhlanga, Shanitra Scott and Symphonie Whitted – had one of their best team performances in years at the 14th Annual North Carolina Independent Colleges and Universities (NCICU) Ethics Bowl in Raleigh.

Born in the Dominican Republic and raised in the Virgin Islands, Omar Sanchez struck gold in the USA, right here on Beatties Ford Road. As a sophomore international business major, Sanchez was able to acquire the Barings scholarship, securing a promised $10,000 per academic year that he is enrolled at Johnson C. Smith University.

Since early August, the Johnson C. Smith University Department of Veterans and Military Affairs, under the direction of Dr. Cheryl Harris Curtis, has undergone a remarkable transformation, experiencing exponential growth and significant changes. One significant change was the hiring of Veterans Services Coordinator Rikketta Franklin, M.Ed., on Aug. 19, 2024. After Franklin’s position, an additional four were granted through the Veterans Administration (VA). The department scaled from a single person to a team of six within one semester.