Central State University celebrates 136 years of academic excellence

March 8, 2023 — Central State University inducted 10 alumni into its Alumni Achievement Hall of Fame during an uplifting ceremony for the 136th annual Charter Day Convocation on Tuesday, March 7, in the Paul Robeson Cultural and Performing Arts Center Auditorium. 

Charter Day celebrates the 1887 establishment of the Combined Normal and Industrial Department at Wilberforce University, which later became Central State University. Tuesday’s keynote speaker was Willie “Prince Roc” Round, a 2014 CSU graduate. 

Image

Round is an actor, community activist, Emmy award-winning playwright, hip-hop artist, songwriter and videographer. As a hip-hop artist, Round has performed across the nation and was the opening act for Grammy Award-winning artist Lil Wayne and Gucci Man. He also opened for Grammy-nominated artist Ralph Colbert. 

Round’s play Broke Down Drone — written when he was homeless — was produced in Collaboration’s 2019 Peacebook Broadway at the Chain Theatre’s One-Act Festival in July 2021, in which Round also performed. In January 2022, Round starred in his first short film, an adaptation of his play directed by Emmy Award-winning director Marquis Simmons. In December 2022, he won an Emmy Award for co-creating and co-producing “The Lost Story of Emmett Till: Trial in the Delta” for Collaboration and NBC. 

With a resounding theme of the importance of mentorship, Round explained how his mentors changed the trajectory of his life, enabling him to leave the west side of Chicago, a region with high rates of violence and low household incomes, to attend Central State. 

Image

Following the Charter Day address, the 2023 Alumni Achievement Hall of Fame inductees were recognized. Pictured from left:  Willie Round '14 Keynote Speaker; James Hill, III representing his deceased father James Hill, Jr. '64; Anthony E. Gardner '92 NAA President; Malva A. Alexander '84 Honoree; Brandon Hayes '94 Honoree; Phillip D. Ayers '72 Honoree; Dr. Jack Thomas, President; Dwayne M. Daniel '86 Honoree; Angela K. Davis '95 Honoree; Keith Aaron Perkins '82 Alumni Director/Honoree; Joyce Eldridge-Howard '65 Honoree; Tiffiney R. Gray, Vice President Institutional Advancement; Pamela M. Hodge '90 Honoree; and, Edwin H. Lloyd '78 Honoree.