Prairie View A and M University - Pantherland Yearbook (Prairie View, TX)

Page 11 text:

You are among the first PVAMU students to benefit from the higher academic standards. Our research opportunities and achievements keep increasing. Last fall President Reagan honored PVAMU, on behalf of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and the Department of Education, for our exemplary alliances with private companies, federal agencies, and national laboratories. PVAMU ranks fourth in research dollars per faculty and sixth in actual research dollars in Texas. This is indicative of several positive facts: we are providing good research opportunities for faculty and students, we are providing up-to-the-minute technical instruction, and financially we are more than carrying our own weight. We are proud of many things. With many colleges facing hard times, PVAMU announced an 8% enrollment increase for the spring 1987 over the same period last year. Our construction continues, with a new Engineering Technology Building opening soon, a new Library due in the summer of 1988, and ground-breaking soon to begin for Agricultural Research and Physical Education facilities. PVAMU students are outstanding: in 1986, the university had 138 Academic Scholars and six Talent Scholars enrolling as freshman. Our College of Engineering graduates more black engineers than any of the nation’s 307 colleges and universities offering engineering. President Pierre spoke to a large Sesquicentennial - celebrating crowd when this year's trail riders passed through Prairie View-heading for the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. Dr. Percy A. Pierre shakes hands with Mayor Ron I verett. Both distinguished men spoke at the '86 MI.K Pre- sentation. President and Mrs. Pierre congratulate the Alumni Associatior Homecoming Queen. Benjamin Banneker Honors College was the first honors college established on an historically black college or university campus, and it is one of 15 honors colleges in the nation. PVAMU students are achievers: to name only a few recent instances, this year our architecture students won awards for their models against national competition; 61 outstanding PVAMU students will be listed in the 1987 edition of Who’s Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges; accounting students won scholarships from the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants; the PVAMU Marching Band was invited to perform during the NBA Playoffs; the PVAMU Forensic Society won trophies at the Barbara Jordan Forensic Tournament and at Pi Kappa Delta’s national tournament in LaCrosse, Wisconsin; and last summer there were more PVAMU Engineering interns in national research laboratories than any other university in the nation. As you know, we also have successful alumni in all fields, whose ranks you will soon join. ' Thank you for carrying our heritage so well into a very bright future.

Page 10 text:

'p'uwi Ocvi 'P'te tcCevit As the second oldest institution of higher education in Texas, Prairie View A M University has an important heritage, which you the students continue to enhance. From the original eight students on opening day in 1878 to the 4,501 students who enrolled in the fall of 1986, there has been much change. The curriculum has expanded steadily as the university offered courses as a “Normal School” (1879), an Agricultural Experiment Station (1887), and a Land Grant College (Morrill Acts, 1862 and 1890), and then in Nursing (1918). We became a four-year college (1919), and later offered graduate studies (1937). The first administrative head of the new university was L. W. Minor, whose title was Principal. Over the next 70 years there would be eight principals in all, though E. B. Evans’ title was changed from Principal to Dean (1947) and then to President (1948). There have been three presidents since Evans (J. M. Drew, A. I. Thomas, and myself). During these administrations, the university has continued to develop its academic programs and improve its facilities. After years of insufficient funding, PVAMU in the early 1980’s was faced with a physical plant requiring extensive renovation and repair and a curriculum that needed updating. President Pierre and Donald Hense. Vice-President for Development, greet the members of the Texas Legislature that visited Prairie View on February 18. 1987. The recent renaissance at PVAMU is due in part to a belated recognition of the university’s important mission. This recognition came in several forms: with the amendment to the Texas Constitution in 1984, designating PVAMU to be an “institution of the first class;” with the access to the Permanent University Fund; and with the affirmation of the A M Regents that PVAMU become, an institution nationally recognized in its areas of education and research. We have begun a major construction program, providing long overdue modern facilities while transforming the campus into one of the most beautiful in the country. We have completely revised the curriculum, strengthened admissions standards, and recruited top-flight students and faculty. 6 Introduction Dr. and Mr . Pierre, as well as several other administrators. attended one of the Panther basketball games. Dr. Percy A. Pierre speaks to the citizens of Prairie View from the steps of City Hall, while Mayor Ron Leverett (immediate left) listens intently.

Page 12 text:

'p VKt“A “Forewords” 1917 “The anxiety which always attends the launching of a new project. no matter how insignificant or grand it may be. is ours. And so with certain hopes and fears and aims we present to the friends and well-wishers of Prairie View thus pioneer copy of The Prairie . In it we have given you a glimpse of our lives, something of the things that move us toward the high destiny which the founders of Prairie View have sought to make possible for us. We have placed into it something more and yet something which is unseen. It is the spirit of Prairie View, the spirit which has made it possible and which assures its perpetuity os the guiding spirit of the Negro youth of Texas. 1926 In the past few years we have carefully observed our fellow students in the routine of their scholastic duties and in the pleasures of their social life. Since it has fallen to our lot to serve as recorders of these observations, we have tried to make them as lasting as the rocks of ages. If in looking through these pages of this second volume of THE PRAIRIE, you are able to recall with pleasure the almost forgotten days spent at our dear old Prairie View, we, the Editors, consider that we have accomplished our purpose. Occi Stony .. . We share the anxiety of the editors and staff members that produced the first yearbook at Prairie View. There’s always pressure when your job is to put history, and emotion, into words and pictures. Capturing the unique spirit that does dwell in the entire university, is not an easy task. Although there are many more things to cover in this book, we have tried to touch on everything. We arc, today, challenged by the task of observing our fellow students. We couldn't capture everything, but we hope we have given a glimpse of all. In a sense we are pioneers of a new era — the Prairie View of tomorrow — built on so many yesterdays. We have given the record of PVAMU’s heritage a new name Pardus. This latin word means Panther. One that is at the peak of his maturity ready to dominate his future with power and pride ... and spirit. This, the fourth, name fits the new generation as the previous three fit theirs: THE PRAIRIE, THE PANTHER, and PAN-THERLAND. We are only able to attempt our task because of those forenames and all they represent of Prairie View's heritage. Therefore, we dedicate this issue to THE PRAIRIE, the beginning. — Angela Wilson t