WILBERFORCE UNIVERSITY — Established in 1856, Wilberforce University is the nation’s oldest privately owned historical black university.
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As reported on News Center 7 at 6:00 p.m., Wilberforce University in Greene County is highlighting its history, while looking to the future.
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Latonya Branham, a Wilberforce Graduate, said that while growing up in Dayton she remembered hearing about the school’s rich history.
“I didn’t have any complaints. I had a wonderful experience,” Branham said.
She jumped at the opportunity to come back and help out her fellow bulldogs.
“Everybody has aspirations to do something in a positive way, to help a student graduate. That’s my hashtag,” Branham said.
The University president, Dr. Vann NewKirk said that when the university was established it served as more than just an education center.
“Our institutions have always been safe havens. They’ve been places that students can get education with students that look just like them,” NeKirk said.
Wilberforce University takes pride in enrolling students from low-income backgrounds and showing them how to be positive role models in society after they graduate.
“Actually pull students, to nurture students to places that they’ve never been before. Making sure that we’re turning lumps of coal into diamonds, and we’re doing that with our instructors,” NewKirk said.
Part of the colleges historic alumni are the likes of Charity Adams Early, James H. McGee, Nina Comer Du Bois and even entertainers.
“Elizabeth Louise Austin, who was the first opera singer who sang with Leontyne Price. They were roommates here at the university,” NewKirk said.
NewKirk told News Center 7′s Malik Patterson that the university is planning to bring back some degree programs that went away, as well as introduce a new program that brought Dayton its claim to fame.
“We’re going in aviation science. We plan to go into the skies. We plan to send folks there, our students, who can go out and become leaders in that area,” NewKirk said.
The university plans to have a drone piloting camp this summer, and the aviation science program will be introduced in Fall of 2026.
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