The Church School where I attend is planning to host a College Fair for prospective college students during the Fall 2002. The HBCUs which were founded and are currently supported by the AMEC represent the targeted schools which will be on display for these special high school students and their parents. Many of our young kids have little to no knowledge about AME-supported colleges. We, as adults, are primarily at fault and derelict in our duty for not raising their level of awareness. While I am not priviledged to claim an AME-supported college as my alma mater, I believe it is vitally important to support our institutions of higher learning and expand our sutdents choice set. Pages 608-09 of the 2000 Discipline provides the complete listing of our colleges. One of the colleges listed is Shorter College located in North Little Rock, AR. I am not familiar with this particular school. Is anyone else familiar with this college? I called the number to get some information but what is printed in the Discipline was not the correct number. Any creative ideas which my committee can use to plan for this important activity are greatly appreciated. QED

-- Anonymous, January 14, 2002

Answers

Contact:

The Richard Allen Office of College Recruitment First District Plaza 3801 Market Street - Suite 300 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104 Attention: Rev. Clarence Martin, Educational Administrator

-- Anonymous, January 14, 2002

Since Jerryl and Chuck do this better, and I have been known to get it wrong, I will post the link in two different formats. Hopefully you may copy and paste it if the hyperlink does not appear.

This link provides some information on Hot Springs, AR and Shorter College. http://hotsprings.dina.org/education/sc.html

Hot Springs/Shorter College

-- Anonymous, January 14, 2002

Bill when I was attending seminary, My daughter was a member of a black presbyterian church. And their Christian Education Department did a tour of our historically black colleges. This might be something to think about in the future. the church did fundraisers and chartered a bus. Also as you know our church is new to the denomination. We have one young lady who will be going to college in state. At the Women's Missionary meeting, some of the members were wondering if the Church School could work with them and plan a ceremony and banquet for this student and the WMS would provide a care package for the student and stay in touch with the student when she goes to college. Bill is there any precedent for this. What do you think. My daughter is our Superintendant and she likes the idea.

-- Anonymous, January 16, 2002

I am very familiar with Shorter because our seminary Jackson Theological Seminary is located on its campus. It is a very beautiful campus. It is only currently a two-year institution but it is very rich in tradition from what I understand. It is mostly supported by the 12th Episcopal District. Bishop Fredrick Talbot was an instructor there at one time. There are also some great things happening there. The interim president has cleared the past debts and opened some new programs. It also collaborates with the University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff, another HBCU school in Arkansas, by serving as it's North Little Rock site.

Jackson Theological Seminary is also housed on Shorter's campus in its own building. I attend there and the University of Arkansas- Little Rock concurrently to work on my Masters Degree. It is in the process of being fully accredited by the Association of Theological Schools and is already recognized by this agency and the state agencies. We have some dynamic professors many of whom graduated from schools such as Payne, Perkins, and Memphis Theoolical seminaries.

The other great news is that there are plenty of students at both schools which are both experiencing dynamic growth in enrollment. I hope this answers some questions about Shorter and Jackson Seminary. I did not know about either until I moved to Arkansas to attend college a few years ago but I have grown to love and support both of them wherever I am.

-- Anonymous, January 16, 2002