Retirement Reception
for Faye Burton
Friday, April 29
3:00 to 4:30
Gift Presentation 3:30
School of Music Lobby

"I started working for the University in February 1966. I am a native of Birmingham, Alabama and an alum from Miles College (HBC). I started as a Clerk Typist and am presently an Executive Secretary, to one of the Deans and a Professor of Voice in the School of Music.
39 years has afforded me the opportunity to survive BAM, the First Women of Color Conference and the dreary and long Winters here in Michigan.

I have met some fantastic and interesting people and have made many friends within the system. My supervisors through the years have been great and the work has been challenging. I will always look back at this time as a most rewarding experience and just what I needed as a Southern woman. Being a part of this system has enhanced my abilities, given opportunities that I thought would not happen and I have met some outstanding students. Farewell my friends and may your tenure at the U-M be as satisfying as mine has been through the years."

Faye Burton
Assistant to Daniel Washington
Dean, Minority Services and
Professor of Voice

2005 Applications

You may qualify for home ownership through Habitat for Humanity of Huron Valley!!

In order to qualify, you must be able to demonstate:
  *a need for simple, decent housing
  *a willingnes to partner with Habitat
  *the ability to pay

Application will be available on May 1, 2005 at the Habitat Office and Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti Public Libraries

The 2005 Application Period runs from
May 1 to May 31, 2005

Applicant must have been a Washtenaw County resident for the past 12 months at the time of application.

Applicant must either be a U.S. citizen or have permanent resdency status (green card)

If you family income fall within the guidelines below, and have a genuine need for decent housing, and are willing to work to a Habitat homeowner, you may qualify. Pick up an application a a local library or call Habitat office for more information.

For more inormation, Please Call:
Habitat for Humanity of Huron Valley
734-677-1558

Are YOU Interested in a Habitat Home??

If so, please join us
Saturday, April 30, 2005
starting at 9am for an Information Workshop in order to learn how to qualify.

The workshop will be held in
Room 275 of Liberal Arts & Science Building (LAS)
on the campus of Washtenaw Community College.
(Enter WCC campus for Clark Road, and Park in Lot A)

Applications will be available at this workshop, and from
May 1 - May 30, 2005
at public libraries in Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti and the Habitat for Humanity office (715 W. Ellsworth, Ann Arbor)

Questions call the Habitat for Humanity Office @
734-677-1558

Noliwe Rooks

In her new book, Noliwe Rooks examines the content, messages and impact of eight African-American women's magazines from the turn of the century. She found that some publications addressed topics such as gender politics and socioeconomic issues long before they appeared in the mainstream press.

Princeton NJ -- Noliwe Rooks has unearthed a trove of forgotten publications that reveal significant historical information on African-American women's issues long before the civil rights and feminist movements.

Rooks, the associate director of Princeton's Program in African-American Studies, has turned her findings of obscure but influential magazines from the late 1800s and early 1900s into a new book,

Ladies' Pages: African-American Women's Magazines and the Culture That Made Them.

It is a follow-up to Rooks' award-winning

Hair Raising: Beauty, Culture and African-American Women.

The 1996 book, regarded as the first academic work on how concepts of beauty among black women were related to racial identity, gender politics and social acceptance, established Rooks as a leading young scholar on African-American culture.

Rooks' latest book, published by Rutgers University Press, sheds light on the intra-racial conversations that took place among black women at the turn of the 20th century. The book also debunks the popularly held belief that the 35-year-old Essence was the first significant magazine for African-American women.

Before Ladies' Pages, there wasn't much historiography that indicated that black women were discussing the issues of sexuality, self-presentation, child care and other important women's issues, said Nell Irvin Painter, Princeton's Edwards Professor of American History and a leading historian of the United States. What this book shows is that black women were talking about these issues in print long before they were raised in the mainstream.

Rooks, who earned her Ph.D. in American studies from the University of Iowa, first came to Princeton in 1997 as a visiting postdoctoral lecturer and returned in 2000 to serve in her current position. Her research interests include the study of class and gender in African-American communities during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Recently, she has taught courses on Black Women's Studies and Migration and Urban Space. She also serves as a lecturer in the history department.

As a graduate student in the mid-1990s, Rooks realized that her scholarly interests were somewhat obscure, and research in these areas might become frustrating. But she committed herself to using creative and innovative methods to track down information and sources. Ladies Pages was the result of much persistence and a bit of detective work, she said.

While working on Hair Raising, Rooks had conducted extensive research on Madam C. J. Walker, an early 20th-century entrepreneur who became the nation's first African-American millionaire by inventing products that revolutionized hair care for black women. During that research, she stumbled across a reference to a publication called Woman's Voice in the Walker archives.

She discovered that Walker's company provided funding for the magazine to African-American hairdressers in Philadelphia, where it had been published from 1912 to 1927. A range of 1,500 to 4,000 copies were printed every month, however there were no copies in the archives.

In the world of magazine publishing and even by today's standards, that's a long life for a niche magazine, Rooks said. That meant it had to exist somewhere, because in the context of African-American publishing that was a good long period of time and a good number of magazines.

Annual Black Celebratory Program

Dear Colleague:

I am writing to again request your participation in the 11th Annual Black Celebratory Program on April 30, 2005. Your presence in the formal procession onto the stage of the Hill Auditorium will make a vivid statement about the importance of our students' accomplishments. In the past, some 2,000 students, families, faculty, and staff have participated in this event.

We want this year's celebration, with its theme "The Beautiful Struggle," to be equally memorable. The Black Celebratory Planning Committee has selected Dr. Kenya Ayers as this year's keynote speaker who is the Associate Vice Provost for Academic Services at Kettering University and a U of M Alum. As always, the Black Celebratory Program has been scheduled after all other commencement exercises are completed so that students can also attend the commencement ceremonies of their schools and colleges. The celebratory will start at 7:30 p.m., but I am asking that you come to the upper level of Hill Auditorium at 7:00 p.m. to line up for the processional.

Academic attire is appropriate for this occasion. I am making a limited number of bachelor, master, and doctorate gowns available for your use. Please contact Lisa Schulte at the Michigan Union Bookstore in the basement of the Michigan Union for assistance. Borrowed gowns can be returned to the Office of Academic Multicultural Initiatives (3009 SAB Building) or left at Hill Auditorium after the program.

I look forward to our collectively celebrating and honoring the achievements of our students.
Please RSVP to Theda Gibbs
(or John Matlock (matlock@umich.edu) at
936-1055 by Thursday March 31.

Your response by that date is important, as we would like to list participating faculty and staff in this year's program booklet.

Read More About the Black Celebratory @
Black Celeratory

LESTER P. MONTS
Senior Vice Provost for Academic Affairs Senior Counselor to the President for the Arts, Diversity, and Undergraduate Affairs Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Music (Musicology)