42. Alabama A&M University has expanded the online degree offerings to include 5 degree programs that are fully online. Those programs are Bachelor of Science in Management, Bachelor of Science in Liberal Studies, Master of Education in Instructional Leadership, Master of Education in Early Childhood Education and Master of Science in Computer Science.
43. SACSCOC has fully approved the offering of the Bachelor of Arts in social work; Bachelor of Science in computer science; Bachelor of Science in criminal justice; Master of Social Work and the Master of Business Administration at the Birmingham Lawson Community College site.
44. The Master of Social Work (MSW) program is one of five accredited in Alabama. Both undergraduate and graduate programs are accredited by the Council of Social Work Education (CSWE).
45. Alabama A&M University, in partnership with Transcend, LLC, has launched the AAMU Leadership Program. The goal of the AAMU Leadership Program is to develop a culture of leadership throughout the University, develop operational excellence and enhance the University’s service excellence to all stakeholders at all levels.
46. Paddy Guggilla, an associate professor of physics, was selected from hundreds of nominations nationwide as one of the Emerging Scholars in Diverse Issues in Higher Education.
47. The Faculty Mentoring Program at Alabama A&M University is an initiative launched to help provide a personal support system for junior level faculty members in their quest to become effective teachers and leaders. The junior level faculty member is paired with a senior level faculty member who shares similar research interest and overall career goals and aspirations. To date, a total of 8 junior level faculty members are participating in the program.
48. The AAMU College of Business and Public Affairs’ Center for Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Economic Development (CEIED) provides information and resources to small business owners throughout the Tennessee Valley, and partners with numerous business-advocacy entities, including the Huntsville Madison County Chamber of Commerce.
49. Dr. Roper The Writing Center (now “The Write Place”), located in the Carver Complex North, offers several innovative workshops on writing, coordinated by Dr. Kem Roper, director.
50. The National Tenpin Coaches Association (NTCA) nominated AAMU Women’s Bowling Coach James Moore as one of five coaches for Division I Coach of the Year honors.
51. Tonya Davis, assistant professor in the Department of Social Work, Psychology and Counseling, was selected in 2020 as a Trusted CI (cyberinfrastructure) Fellow by the National Science Foundation.
52. Alabama A&M University’s Family and Consumer Sciences Professor Cynthia Smith is president of the 67-chapter, 92,000-member Alpha Kappa Mu National Honor Society. The African-American organization will celebrate its 83rd anniversary in November 2020.
53. Directed by Dr. Horace Carney, chair of the Department of Visual, Performing and Communication Arts, the world-renowned AAMU Concert Choir counts among its distinct events a performance at the Lincoln Center, marking the first such performance by a historically black college or university.
54. Bandmaster and alum Carlton Wright led the Marching Maroon and White to its fifth appearance in the Honda Battle of the Bands at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Ga., in 2018. The event was not held in 2019. The AAMU Marching Maroon and White Band was also the 1st HBCU band to perform at the Alabama Bandmasters Association All-State Concert a year earlier.
55. Accomplished litigator J. Mark Debro serves as the first African-American president of the Huntsville-Madison County Bar Association.
56. The Honorable Anthony Daniels, Alabama State Representative, became the first African American and youngest House Minority Leader. He also became the first recipient of the AAMU President’s Distinguished Service Award.
57. Alumni serving or having served as president of colleges and universities are: Dr. Carl Harris Marbury (only alumnus to serve as president of Alabama A&M University); Dr. Nathan Essex, Southwest Tennessee Community College; Dr. Jack Thomas, former English major and AAMU track star, Western Illinois University; Dr. Johnson O. Akinleye chancellor of North Carolina Central University; Norman Cephus, C.A. Fredd Technical College in Tuscaloosa, Ala.; and Dr. Patricia Sims, J.F. Drake State Community and Technical College.
58. AAMU produces governmental leaders: Kenneth Gulley, Mayor of Bessemer, Alabama and former Bessemer Mayor Edward May; James “Jay” Roberson, Birmingham City Council; John Hackett, Jr., and Susan Joe RembertParks, Fairfield City Council; State Senator Linda Coleman and State Representatives Laura Hall, Mary Moore and Anthony Daniels; James Perkins, former Mayor in Selma, Alabama; and Chris Carter and Michael Butler, Missouri General Assembly. Other local governmental leaders include Richard D. Showers, Sr., former Huntsville (Ala.) City Council president; Will Culver, Huntsville City Council; Alex Roberts, who served for more than 20 years as county commissioner for Monroe County (Ala.); JesHenry Malone, Madison County Commissioner, District Six; Fred Wilson, Calhoun County Commissioner; and Mandela Barnes, Wisconsin’s first African-American Lieutenant Governor.
59. AAMU produces leaders in public education, among them current and former superintendents of schools: Eugene White, Indianapolis Public Schools; the late Arlester McBride, Wilcox County Schools; Dee O. Fowler, Madison County Schools; Dr. Fred Primm, Jr., Bessemer City Schools; Woodie E. Pugh, Jr., Clarke County Schools; Allen Perkins, Madison County Schools; the late Dr. Robert Brown, first black superintendent of Greene County Schools in the 1970s (a middle school in Eutaw, Ala., was named in his honor); and Bernadeia Johnson, superintendent of Minneapolis, Minn., schools, 2010-15 (The Selma, Ala., clarinetist met her trombonist husband Robert in the band).