MURFREESBORO — Lauded as a “Renaissance
man” by the educator who established the honor, MTSU political science
professor Sekou Franklin was hailed Thursday as the 2014 recipient of the
university’s John Pleas Faculty Recognition Award for excellence in teaching,
research and service.
“It’s all about the shoulders
you’re standing on,” Pleas, an MTSU psychology professor emeritus, told
Franklin, pointing to previous award winners in the audience during the
afternoon ceremony in the university’s historic Tom Jackson Building.
“You have broad shoulders. I
expect you to fulfill their commitment.”
Franklin, who’s been a part of
MTSU’s Department of Political Science since 2003, also coordinates the Urban Studies
Minor Program at the university. He’s published works on urban politics, social
movements, juvenile justice, the death penalty, youth activism, Venezuelan
politics and state and local politics, but his work is not limited to writing.
The Nashville resident also coordinates
and participates in volunteer projects and events encouraging fairness and
equity in employment, education, housing, transportation, health care, and
social and criminal justice.
The John Pleas Faculty Recognition
Award, now in its 18th year, is presented to minority faculty members at MTSU during
Black History Month to celebrate their work in the classroom and community as
well as their academic research.
“He represents all that’s great
about our faculty at MTSU,” University Provost Brad Bartel said of Franklin.
“He’s an engineer who has an
incredible impact,” added Dr. Stephen Morris, chair of the political science
department. “He builds a bridge between the classroom and the real world. He
focuses on real issues. His passion is fueled by reason. There’s nothing so
admirable as someone who devotes himself to social justice.”
Franklin, who earned degrees from
Santa Clara University, San Francisco State University and Howard University,
has a lengthy association with social justice causes. He was trained as an
expert witness by the Southern Coalition for Social Justice’s Community Census
and Redistricting Institute, cofounded the Urban EpiCenter organization for
Nashville’s low-income communities and has worked with groups ranging from
Tennessee Citizen Action to the Workers’ Dignity Project to the Nashville Peace
and Justice Center to the Tennessee NAACP State Conference, to name only a
handful.
Dr. Robert Rucker, a retired
social work professor at MTSU who’s also a friend of Franklin’s and the
inaugural Pleas Award honoree in 1997, asked the crowd to grade the honoree’s
accomplishments, earning enthusiastic “A plus” ratings on his classroom
teaching skills, research and community service.
“For Dr. Franklin, a ‘community’
has no borders. His involvement in our communities made him an activist
scholar,” said Christie Williams, who worked with Franklin as a graduate
student at MTSU and now teaches English and works on institutional equity
issues for MTSU’s Women’s and Gender Studies Program.
Franklin edited a groundbreaking 2010
report, “The State of Blacks in Middle Tennessee,” published by The Urban
League of Middle Tennessee, that made clear that local African-Americans still
face racism as pervasive as it was in the 1960s in many areas. His latest book,
“After the Rebellion: Black Youth, Social Movement Activism, and the Post-Civil
Rights Generation,” will be published in July by NYU Press.
A former student of Franklin’s
praised the professor as an inspiration to the people in his classrooms.
“Many lose the passion they had
for shaping the minds of young people. Then there’s Dr. Franklin,” Micah
McClure said.
“He provides each of us with the
tools to fight for a better world. To be content with knowing more about
injustice was settling for less, for him. He clearly stated, class after class,
that we were capable of being the change we wished to see in the world, and he
challenged us – and that means he required
us — to use our knowledge outside the classroom.”
Franklin expressed his thanks to
the colleagues, students, friends and associates who have supported and
encouraged his work, making special note of his wife, nationally recognized
health advocate Tene Hamilton Franklin, and their young daughters, Sojourner
and Langston.
“I consider this award the highest
honor I could receive because any accomplishments I have, I owe to those who
support me,” the professor said, recalling words spoken at a training event by
the late theologian and civil rights activist Samuel DeWitt Proctor: “If you
give 100 percent to your work, you’ll get 100 percent back.”
The ceremony also included
recognition of the 17 previous winners of the Pleas Award, several of whom were
present to salute Franklin and pose for a photo with him during a reception.
You can watch a video from
Thursday’s event at http://youtu.be/jdE9NU9YW5E.
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