Amber McGill ’16:
A Bennett Belle Doing it Well
The Bennett College Board
of Trustees approved a freeze in
tuition, fees, and room charges for
the academic year 2014-2015. New
and returning Bennett students will
pay $17,230 in tuition and fees next
year. President Rosalind Fuse-Hall
explained that the Board of Trustees
agreed, “Bennett College
understands the financial situation
facing our students and their
families. It is important that their
academic success is not stymied by
the cost of a college education.”
Total enrollment at Bennett
College is 629 students, and 98% of
these undergraduates receive some
form of financial aid. Students face
increasing challenges in meeting
their financial obligation to the
College due to Parent Plus Loan
restrictions; and reductions in
Federal and State student financial
assistance programs. The decision
to stabilize
tuition for the next two
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semesters should positively impact
the College’s student financial
planning process. “When you know
how much the tuition costs, then you
know how to save and meet that
obligation” said President Fuse-Hall.
The move by Bennett
College is an unusual one as
colleges in the Triad area and across
the country find it necessary to move
in the opposite direction. “While
other colleges and universities in
North Carolina and across the nation
are considering raising tuition,
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Bennett College students will get a
break as tuition is held stable for
2014-2015,” said Karen Green, Vice
President for enrollment
management. The current cost of
attendance for on-campus students is
$26,322. Next year, that figure will
increase by $192 in compliance with
a state tax on meal plans as well as
an increase in the health insurance.
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After hearing
the
announcement, Christina Evans, a
junior, International Business major
from Chattanooga, Tennessee, said
she is relieved. “As students, we
don’t have to worry about taking out
more loans to cover the difference
from the previous year. I welcome
the decision.”

8
Amber
P. McGill is an
entrepreneur,
visionary
leader, and
role model for
young women.
A Business
Administration
major,
Entrepreneurship minor from
Upper Marlboro, MD, McGill
noticed a need for programs to
empower young girls. She
formulated her empowerment team
and started making plans to create
change in her community. Project
Potential was created to empower
and motivate young women across
the world. McGill loves to make
appearances, speak, and empower
all types of people but has a special
passion for young women.
McGill is also a Foot
Locker Foundation/UNCF Scholar
who presented with poise and
professionalism at the Foot Locker
Foundation's 13th Annual, "On
Our Feet" Fundraising Gala in New
York. Just a month before that, she
attended the Anheuser-Bush
banquet in St. Louis, MO to
receive yet another UNCF
9
scholarship.
A third generation Belle,
McGill’s mother is Rhonda Slade
'92 and her grandmother is Audrey
Slade '70.

Bennett Receives $300,000 Mellon Foundation Grant
to Strengthen and Advance Global Awareness
Bennett College received a $300,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon
Foundation to strengthen and advance global awareness, one of the four strategic areas of the College. The grant
will support Bennett’s Global Citizenship Program in Salzburg, Austria (GCP); the Living and Learning
Community for Global Awareness and Service Learning; and the preparation for international careers through
lectures, workshops and research presentations.
Over the past several years, Bennett College has planned and developed a comprehensive global awareness
program to ensure students are competitive in the global market. The grant support allows Bennett to continue
recruiting faculty and students to enhance the school’s international programming and develop international
relationships that will augment the College’s academic and cultural offerings.
“We are honored that the Mellon Foundation embraces the College’s vision of global awareness and their
support ensures our students remain intellectually curious and globally astute,” said President Rosalind FuseHall.
The grant supported programs are designed to improve the global acumen of Bennett students by increasing
the number of students who study abroad; refining their ability to strategically connect local and global issues; and
equipping them to enter the international arena.
Bennett has previously received support from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for the development of
new curriculum, strategic planning, global education and its Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP).

Bennett College hosted the
reception honoring Denise
Turner Roth, Greensboro’s
former City Manager.
1. The Planning Committee for the
reception greets Denise Turner Roth.
(L to R) April Harris, Shirley Frye,
Roth, Michelle Gethers Clark, and
President Rosalind Fuse-Hall
2. Guests at the reception included
(L to R) Dr. Rachel Obie-Winstead,
Annie Tyson Jett, Yvonne Johnson,
Deborah Hooper and David Marshall.
1
The event sponsors were Joseph M. Bryan
Foundation, Community Foundation of
Greater Greensboro, Weaver Foundation,
Lorillard, Greensboro Partnership, City of
Greensboro, Bennett College, Sodexo and
Premium Wines
2
Bennett Student Releases
Her First Novel
Senior India Wilkins
has released her first novel,
Enamored.
Enamored is loosely
Bennett Welcomes Pakistani Students
Bennett College is pleased to welcome three
international students from Pakistan, Jessica Anum
Shahid, Zara Khan Durrani, and Fareeha Ambar. Their
semester at Bennett is made possible through the U.S.
Department of State’s Global undergraduate Exchange
Program in Pakistan also known as Global UGRADPakistan
The Global UGRAD-Pakistan program builds
diverse youth leaders from underserved Pakistani
populations. Students are exposed to U.S.-based
training and practical experiences in leadership
positions, community engagement, and in their
professional fields. They gain the skills vital to
implementing long-term civic and economic changes in
their communities, building stability through increased
local capacity as well as an increased cross-cultural
understanding.
“My expectations were very high and
everything is exactly the way I expected it to be. I am
very pleased to get this opportunity to study here at
Bennett as well. When I go back, I not only want to
take memories with me but also leave some memories
here so my Belle sisters always remember me,” says
Jessica Anum Shahid.
“We are pleased that we have had such a longterm relationship with the Global UGRAD program
and we look forward to continuing to work with it,”
said Gwendolyn M. Bookman, Esq., Director, Center
for Global Studies and External Partnerships and
Associate Professor of Political Science. “The fellows
that have been placed at Bennett have made
outstanding contributions to our community and have
significantly added to the success of our global
education initiative.”

based on the lives of two
characters from the popular
FOX drama Glee. The novel
was originally a shorter
piece of fan fiction but
eventually evolved into
something more. “It [the
novel] was supposed to be for fun but it turned into
something that I really wanted to write so I continued
to write it,” Wilkins says.
Enamored was self-published through
PublishAmerica, a Maryland publishing company in
existence since 1999. Wilkins researched ways to get
the book published and went with PublishAmerica after
hearing about it from a family friend. The company
asked for a manuscript and wanted to publish it after
reading it. Wilkins says, “Everything was done through
e-mail and it actually took a while to complete the
entire process. I wrote the book in 2012; it was
published in August 2013 and released to Amazon in
October 2013.”
Audiences have responded well to the book.
But, Wilkins has also gained critics of her novel’s
content. One person told Wilkins that he wouldn’t read
Enamored because of the relationship between the two
main characters. Wilkins says, “I had to explain to him
that it wasn’t necessarily about being gay; she [the
protagonist] was trying to better herself and the person
she fell in love with just happened to be a woman too.”
There’s more to come. Wilkins, a senior, social
work major from Washington, DC, has completed the
manuscript for the sequel of Enamored and is in the
process of preparing it to be sent for publishing. In
addition, she is writing the third installment of the
series.
Enamored is available for purchase online
through PublishAmerica, Amazon, Barnes & Noble
and as an e-book through the Kindle app.

Members of the Bennett
College Pre-Alumnae
Council attended the 2014
National UNCF Alumni/PreAlumni Conference in
Memphis, TN along with the
other 36 member UNCF
institutions. In addition to
attending the corporate
luncheon where the Senior
Vice President for Human
Resources Shannon Brown
spoke (photo), the seniors
were inducted into the
National Alumni Council and
became the inaugural class
in Project STAY, an initiative
to encourage students to
become active alumni with
their respective schools.
Adera Toye ‘16 serves as Miss Pre-Alumni Council
and Jalen Lawson ‘15 serves as Miss Bennett College UNCF.
Bennett College also received first place in the scrapbook competition.
BENNETT COLLEGE
OFFICE OF INSTITUTIONAL ADVANCEMENT
900 East Washington Street
Greensboro, North Carolina 27401
Bennett College is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, 1866 Southern Lane, Decatur, GA 30033, 404-679-4500, www.sacscoc.org;
the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE); and the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE). Bennett College, a United
Methodist Church-related institution, prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, disability, sexual orientation, gender
identity or expression, age or status as a disabled veteran in admission, access to, treatment of, or employment in its programs or activities.