On Saturday, March 27, 2010, Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc., Lambda Zeta Chapter, will host its 13th Annual Evening of Brilliant Jewels at the Crown Plaza Hotel, 8686 Kirby Drive. The Reception begins at 6:00pm with Program and Dinner to follow at 7:00 pm.

The purpose of this banquet is to honor outstanding individuals for their significant contributions to the community. This year’s honorees are: Roland Martin, award-winning and multifaceted journalist; Harry Johnson, President and CEO of the Martin Luther King Memorial Foundation, Washington, DC.; Debra Blacklook-Sloan, Historical Research Director of the Rutherford B.H. Yates Museum and member of the Harris County Historical Commission; Cindy Barclay, Author and CEO of Quality Dialysis; and Rev. Theodore L. Deaver, Founder and Pastor of the New Hope Baptist Church.

Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Incorporated was founded on January 16, 1920.  The sorority’s mission is to further the cause of education by encouraging the highest standards of scholarship among college women, uplifting worthwhile projects within communities — furthering the spirit of sisterly love while promoting the ideals of finer womanhood.

Tickets to the banquet cost $60.00 and are going fast.  Persons interested in attending should contact Joyce Parker at 713-748-1873 or jp4zeta@yahoo.com.

New York, NY – (March 21, 2010) – The Wings Club, recognized as the premier aviation club in the world, will honor the Tuskegee Airmen with the new Outstanding Aviator Award.

The Outstanding Aviator Award has been created this year by the Wings Club in partnership with IAWA (the International Association of Women in Aviation). The mission of the award is to recognize airmen and airwomen whose actions have made major contributions to aviation and/or security and serve as leadership role models.

The presentation of this first Award will take place at The Wings Club’s Annual Meeting, to be held on the evening of Tuesday, March 23, 2010 at The Yale Club in New York City. Dave Barger, President of The Wings Club and Ken Gazzola, past president and Chairman of the Historical and Educational Committee will present the Award to Patt Terrelongue, President of the Claude B. Govan Tri-State Chapter of the Tuskegee Airmen, and six select decorated members of the Tuskegee Airmen, who will be in attendance: Captain Roscoe C. Brown, Jr., Ph.D., Commanding Officer of the 100th Fighter Squadron, Combat Fighter Pilot; First Sergeant Samuel Wesley Henderson, 99th Fighter Squadron; Combat Technical Sergeant Wilfred R. DeFour, Sr., 96th Service Group, 366th Air Service Group and 332nd Fighter Service Group, Lieutenant Colonel Clayton F. Lawrence, Navigator-Bombardier, 477th Bomb Group; Major Victor Terrelonge, Combat Fighter Pilot, 302nd Fighter Squadron and Lieutenant William M. Wheeler, Combat Fighter Pilot, 302nd Fighter Squadron.

The Tuskegee Airmen are a group of African American pilots who fought in World War II as the 332nd Fighter Group of the US Army Air Corps. They were the first African American military aviators to serve in the US Armed Forces, flying with distinction despite racial discrimination both within and outside the Army. From 1941 to 1946, a total of 994 pilots were trained in the Tuskegee program and approximately 445 of those deployed overseas. Their impressive combat record and remarkable success in missions as bomber escorts in Europe earned the Airmen Multiple Distinguished Unit Citations (DUCs), several Silver Stars, 150 Distinguished Flying Crosses, 8 Purple Hearts, 14 Bronze Stars and 744 Air Medals. In 2007, The Tuskegee Airmen were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, presented by President George W. Bush. Nicknamed the “Red Tails” or “Red Tail Angels” due to the distinctive crimson paint on the tails of their aircraft, the distinguished Tuskegee Airmen played an important role in paving the way for equal rights and the end of racial segregation in Armed Forces.

The Wings Club, founded in 1942, is the premiere aviation club in the world. Dedicated to preserve the history and traditions of aviation, the Club provides a forum for discussion and debate on aeronautical and aviation issues. The Wings Club serves nearly 1,100 members including industry leaders, pilots, professionals in related service organizations and students of aviation.

Left to right: Marcus Davis prepared to receive the Texas Southern
University Nationa Alumni Association’s gavel from outgoing president
Chris LeBlanc.


Marcus Davis plans to utilize his business savvy, community involvement and the degree he earned as a Public Affairs major at Texas Southern, to galvanize the alumni and former students of his alma mater to increase student and alumni enrollment, community outreach and giving.

Davis, who was elected president of the TSU National Alumni Association, is energized and anxious to get to work. He will officially assume his role as national president in January 2010.  The 1996 graduate of TSU says, “Being elected president of the national alumni association of one of the largest Historically Black College Universities (HBCU) in the country is exciting, challenging, and full of opportunities.”

“I know where the alumni association is; and I know where it has the potential to go,” Davis states. He plans to take advantage of the fact TSU sits in the third largest city in the U.S., and has a vast amount of resources available to raise awareness about TSU.  Davis will use all of the above and other advantages to raise money for scholarships and fellowships create mentoring programs and community outreach and partnerships.  Davis says he would like to undertake new initiatives and will start with acknowledging the graduates of TSU who are supportive of the university and who have been a mainstay through the university’s growing pains.  “We have got some graduates whose support for the university is unwavering.  We need to say thank you to them for remaining steadfast.  I think that’s a first step and a great place to begin.” He referenced the recent Distinguished Alumni Gala held last month by the university that honored 8 alumni and 11 chapters.  “We need to do more of that because the alumni, like other individuals have an innate desire to be recognized. I think the more the university does for the alumni, the more the alumni can and will do for the university.”

Davis, who is a long-time Houston businessman and owner of popular, The Breakfast Klub Restaurant, has a plan and that plan calls for painting a picture of a common goal for Texas Southern University and the Alumni Association.

“I plan to paint the picture of our common goal, which is to make Texas Southern the best university in the world. This picture will then compel alumni and former students to work toward that goal.  I hope to remind our graduates of the good fortune they have received by being a product of TSU, and to then encourage them to think about all they have to offer potential students.  As parents always want better for their children, we as TSU alumni should want better for our university,” Davis continued.

Davis doesn’t just talk the talk; he spends a lot of time on campus, at least two to three days a week.  “I love being on the campus.  I get inspired by walking the campus, talking to students and watching the physical changes, from the newly trimmed trees to the weekly conversations with students, it’s quite obvious that there is something different going on at TSU,” says Davis, who adds, “There is an apparent rush to ‘get it done’ attitude, and a good deal of hustling and bustling I see among the students to grasp knowledge and
get that education.”

When asked how he plans to include the alumni in his vision, Davis maintains, “I intend to ask the alumni to get involved in things that connect them to the school and to the students.  For instance, he plans to energize the on-campus career days by asking alumni to speak and mentor.  The first thing he wants to build upon is communicating what TSU has the potential to build and to become.  “I’m a firm believer in the old adage, `if you build it, they will come.’ If we build a better TSU, everyone will want to be a part of it.”

Davis says that, “The role of alumni has not caught on at TSU yet, but it wasn’t ingrained and instilled in me to give back until recent years.  Now I know that we (alumni and former students) have got to take care of TSU. The culture of giving back has to be created across the universe.  Other universities send that message of giving back loudly and clearly and we have got to do the same,” the new president stressed.

“Once we all see the vision,” Davis envisions a better alumni association and a better TSU.  He plans to link arms with the university and communicate regularly with former students about the university’s goals, vision, accomplishments and achievements.  “I am going to ask all alumni and former students of TSU to join forces with the university and continue to further its tradition of educating our youth.”

Davis feels, from where TSU sits, in the heart of an urban community, created for a special purpose, that TSU can be the greatest institution in the land.  “There should be a steady stream of students, from the feeder schools, matriculating seamlessly to TSU and graduating in four years into the wonderful world of work.  That’s the way it should be….let it be said, let it be done.  We’ve got work to do!”

Davis works everyday to help enhance his community and the lives of others.  Some of the recent awards and honors he has received include, the 2006 Pinnacle Award, which he received along with his brothers, given in honor of companies that spur growth and development; and just recently he participated in the 2009 Men of Style and the Iota Phi Lambda Sorority- Alpha Kappa Chapter, presented Davis with the business of the month award. Davis’ motto that he ends each and every show on Sunday Morning Live, where he serves as host is, “Whenever the opportunity to do well presents itself, why do anything else.”