I want to personally thank each of you who voted for Valley’s own Paul Roberts. The senior quarterback from Gulfport was named the Heritage Sports Radio Network National Player of the Week! We’re looking forward to another great performance by the Delta Devils during our Homecoming Game on Saturday. Please join us!

Be sure read more about Paul by going to the HSRN Web site.

While you are there, you can scroll to the lower right hand corner where you’ll read about another outstanding Valley athlete, Maura Moed of our volleyball team. Maura is a junior from San Antonio, Texas who plays for Coach Alyse Wells-Kilbert. Coach Kilbert tells me that she couldn’t be prouder of the Maura and the entire team as they won four times last week, including Valley’s own Jessie Harris Volleyball Classic Tournament!

The Valley defeated Alabama State, Alcorn State and Southern University to win the third annual classic. Maura was named Most Valuable Player. Her teammates, Kantessa Bryant, a senior from Grand Prairie, Texas and Shonese Evans, a junior from Schriever, Louisiana, were chosen on the All-Tournament Team. 

Coach tells me that Maura recorded 43 kills, 16 blocks, 14 service aces, and nine digs in helping the Devilettes win their matches. Maura, at the time of this writing, is ranked first in the SWAC in hitting percentage (.311) and service aces (0.55 per game), while ranking second in kills (2.79 per game).

I was pleased to hear that Coach Harris, a MVSU former head volleyball and women’s basketball coach for more than 20 years, was on hand to present the all-tournament awards to the student-athletes.

The MVSU ladies secured their second conference victory of the season by defeating Alabama State on Sunday. Congratulations to the entire team who sport a 2-0 conference record at the moment.

Also, I want to personally congratulate two of our Canadian players who recently were named as SWAC players of the week, along with Maura.

Kudos to Valley’s Lonnie Hoff of Standard, Alberta. She was named SWAC Newcomer of the Week. During the tourney, Lonnie Hoff had 34 kills, 17 digs, seven blocks, and three service aces. Way to go!

During the week of Sept. 9, April Brown, a freshman from Yorkton, Saskatchewan, was named Newcomer of the Week. Congrats, April!

You can read more about all Valley sports on the MVSU Web site and by going to the SWAC official Web site.

For those of you who support The Valley in so many ways, we thank you! Here’s another opportunity to support The Valley just with the click of your mouse!

Valley’s own quarterback, Paul Roberts, has been nominated for the Heritage Sports Radio Network player of the week. You can help Paul receive this deserving recognition by going to www. www.hsrn.com and cast your vote for Paul. By the way, Paul was the Offensive Most Valuable Player of the 2009 Chicago Football Classic!

As of 2 p.m., Paul was the forerunner thanks to so many wonderful fans and alumni. The deadline for voting is 5 p.m. TODAY, Sept. 29. Wouldn’t it just add more to our Homecoming Festivities this week to say that we had the Heritage Sports Player of the Week?

Our Sports Information Director tells me that Paul, a 6’2, 196 lb. senior from Gulfport, -SR-QB/Gulfport, completed 20 of 34 passes for 210 yards and one touchdown.  He also rushed for 17 yards, giving him 227 yards of total offense.

In a future post, I will be telling you how you can support our Mean Green Marching Machine in the upcoming Honda Battle of the Bands! Let’s all support The Valley!

The Valley won its first win of the season 10-3 against Alabama State in the Chicago Classic. Congratulations to the team and the coaches for an outstanding job! It was a very exciting game and kept everyone engaged from the beginning to the very end.

Our cheerleaders looked great in their new uniforms, The Satin dolls and the Mean Green Marching Machine represented us extremely well. We are looking forward to continued success from all of our student groups!

The Chicago trip was chocked full of activities. On Thursday night, Alabama State President William Harris and I were honored at a reception hosted by the Chicago Classic sponsors. 

On Friday, Christ Universal Temple continued its tradition of supporting The Valley by reaffirming their commitment to send 10 new students each year. They also pledged to increase their recruitment efforts – we thank them so much! We are grateful for this partnership under the leadership of Dr. Walter Robinson.

Ms. Dallas Reed served on a panel during the church’s Project Achieve Program that addressed the topic, “The Continued Relevance of HBCUs.”  She represented The Valley with excellence.

I was so honored to be recognized as Christ Universal Temple’s 2009 Classic Jewel and I will treasure the platinum jeweled charm bracelet as well as the citation signed by the mayor of Chicago. Afterwards, the Gala Concert featuring recording artist Terisa Griffin was outstanding!

I met many Chicago alumni who pledged their continued support of the Valley. We appreciate you and need you so much!

A hearty thank you goes to all Valley alumni, faculty, staff and students who traveled to Chicago to support our team and band. We appreciate each of you!

The celebration of my inauguration and this University has transcended in a flurry of activities in recent days. The Valley is deeply appreciative of Mississippi House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee Chairman Percy Watson of Hattiesburg.

Mississippi House of Representative member Ferr Smith, one of Valley's outstanding alumni, was among legislators on campus to hear more about The Valley's need for a new health and wellness center.

Truly, he is a man of his word. Rep. Watson promised us during his commencement speech at The Valley on May 9 that he would return with colleagues to see what are Valley’s facility needs, specifically a health and wellness center. This building would also include a new gymnasium for our men’s and women’s basketball teams and serve as an auditorium that would accommodate the large crowds that gather for commencement and other activities.

Rep. Watson was joined by six representatives on Friday and they toured the campus and listened ardently to our specific needs. Joining Rep. Watson (District 103) were Valley alumnus Ferr Smith of Carthage (District 27); Leflore County’s own Willie Perkins of Greenwood (District 32), Rep. Bobby Howell of Kilmichael (District 46), Rep. Kelvin Buck of Jackson (District 72); and Rep. Willie Bailey of Greenville (District 49).

We appreciate the members of the Mississippi House of Representatives who joined members of the MVSU Executive Cabinet for a meeting on campus. They include, from bottom right hand corner moving left, Dr. Anna Hammond, Rep. Kelvin Burk, Rep. Ferr Smith, Mr. Andre Curry, Rep. Bobby Howell, Archie Tucker, Dr. Moses Newsome, Derrick Bell, Johnny Jones, Donald Ray Sims, Rep. Percy Watson, Rep. Willie Perkins, and not shown, Rep. Willie Bailey, and Dr. Zachary Fasion.

It is important that this new facility come to fruition on our campus. As you can see by the photographs, our gymnasium is overflowing during commencement. Our graduates work hard to attain their degrees and oftentimes families make great sacrifices in order for their loved ones to attend college. Our students and their families deserve to witness the historic milestone and sadly, we have to turn people away from the R.W. Harrison HPER Complex. While we have satellite viewing at the Social Science Building and at Carpenter, these buildings also are often maxed out in occupancy.

If you have attended a basketball game when we play our rival SWAC school, Jackson State, among others, you have seen the elbow to elbow capacity and students and fans standing alongside the walls at the entrances. We must provide quality academic programs and facilities, quality student housing, and yes, quality venues for our athletic teams.

The new facility will double the number of academic classrooms we now have in the Harrison Heath Physical Education and Recreation Complex. So the building is also needed for much deserved classroom space.

I want to personally thank each of the representatives for spending Sept. 18 with us. We look forward to working with you as we move The Valley forward.

Thank you! Thank you to the MVSU faculty, staff and students for a successful inaugural weekend.  Thank you, Dr. Anna Hammond, chairperson, the entire steering committee, all subcommittees, the foundation, alumni, all sponsors, and the honorary chairs for your dedication, hard work and the beautiful events.

It was a special moment when the University medallion was placed around my neck by Commissioner of Higher Education Hank Bounds and IHL Board of Trustees Vice President Bettye Neely.

As I said in my inaugural speech on Saturday, I am inspired by your charge and I accept it with the deepest humility and commitment to give my very best to lead this university with dignity, integrity, and transparency. My selection to serve remains a singular honor, opportunity and privilege.

You can see photographs of the inauguration.