David Harris inducted as Black Alumni Inc. president

David Harris, director of equity programs and associate human resources director at Marshall, has been inducted as president of Black Alumni Inc. Harris is a graduate of Marshall with a bachelor in business degree and a master of arts degree in history.

"Black Alumni has three major goals," said Harris. "For one, we want to finish the Nate Ruffin Initiative. Our goal is to raise $50,000 to ensure the naming of an area in the new Erickson Alumni Center in Ruffin’s honor. We are 88 percent into our goal, and plan to encourage alumni to further support this project."

Ruffin was a member of the 1970 Marshall football team. Because an injury kept him from making the trip to Greenville, N.C., for Marshall’s game with East Carolina on Nov. 14, 1970, he was not aboard the plane that crashed near Tri-State Airport on the return trip, killing 75 people, including 37 players. Ruffin passed away several years ago from leukemia.

"The second goal is to get more alumni interested in Marshall," said Harris. "One way to achieve this is to have various speakers at Homecoming, our primary time to meet. Now we draw from 200 to 300 members to our Homecoming events. We would like to increase this even more."

"The third goal," said Harris, "is to assist students with their needs. We have five areas in place to help students, most of whom are of African descent."

These areas are:

1. financial, including a book loan program where students receive money for textbooks, sell them at the end of the term and return the money to the coffer;

2. academic, by letting students know where resources are on campus to help them with their experience on campus;

3. social, by encouraging students to be active in Greek events, social events, etc.;

4. future involvement, by encouraging membership in Black Alumni, which also makes them a member of the MU Alumni Association; and

5. recruitment, by bringing more students to Marshall University.

Other officers of Black Alumni are:
        Alex Brown, vice president
        Cortney White, treasurer
        Edna Dawson, secretary

For more information about Black Alumni, visit Black Alumni Inc.