Dec. 18, 2001 – The University of the Virgin Islands hopes to raise upwards of $30,000 in scholarship money when nationally syndicated radio talk show host Tom Joyner spotlights the school next May.
Joyner announced Tuesday on St. Thomas that he would spotlight UVI on "The Tom Joyner Morning Show" in May as part of his ongoing efforts to help raise scholarship money for institutions that have been designated Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Each month he picks a different school to benefit from fundraising on his show, in which donations are solicited from alumni and corporate sponsorship is directed toward the institution scholarship programs.
Joyner visited St. Thomas while on a cruise with his entourage aboard the Explorer of the Seas and announced his plans to help UVI. He has been on the island about 10 times, he said, and has twice beamed live radio shows from the territory.
His talk show is carried on more than 120 stations nationwide, including WWKS-FM 101.3 (Kiss-FM) locally. The program reaches about 7 million listeners, he said.
That means UVI will get some great exposure to many people who have probably never even heard of the small university, and that can only bode well for fundraising efforts, said Gwen-Marie Moolenaar, UVI's vice president for institutional advancement.
"This is a great birthday president for UVI," Moolenaar said, noting that next year will mark the university's 40th anniversary. "For the young people of the Virgin Islands, this is a great opportunity."
The funds raised through the Tom Joyner Foundation will go toward scholarships for deserving and needy students to attend UVI. The large majority will go to local young people, but some could help students from the mainland attend UVI, Moolenaar said, as the administration recognizes the benefits of diversifying the student body.
Joyner has been a long-time supporter of historically black universities, and for good reason: four generations of his own family attended those schools.
He himself went to Tuskegee University in his hometown of Tuskegee, Ala. One of his sons graduated from Howard University while the other went to Florida A&M. His dad went to the Florida school, soo, and his mother and grandmother went to Tennessee State. One of his grandfathers went to Meharry Medical School in Tennessee and the other also went to Tuskegee.
"Historically black colleges are really a part of me," Joyner said. "For us, there's nothing else. We're going to be there for students — and parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles who run out of money for college. We're going to help them out."
Moolenaar said the amount of money that raised for scholarships through Joyner's program has varied widely, as the older historically black universities have a much wider alumni base. Some of those schools have raised close to $500,000 when Joyner spotlighted them, she said, but the smaller and younger schools, such as UVI, would do well to raise $30,000 to $40,000.
