Sunday Gazette-Mail, February 12, 20174J

Courtesy photo

Burnis Morris announced the creation of the Dr. Carter G. Woodson Lyceum at Marshall University onJan. 20. One of the first things the lyceum will do is help teach educators in West Virginia about howto teach Black History Month.

By Jake JarvisStaff writer

Marshall University is mak-ing new efforts at trying toshine a spotlight on Carter G.Woodson, credited as the fatherof Black History Month.

The school recently launchedthe Dr. Carter G. WoodsonLyceum, a group that has thegoal of addressing “disparitiesand other challenges in educa-tion, provide a dialogue forsolving social problems andsupport free speech,” accordingto a news release.

The first official action of thelyceum will be to sponsor ahumanities workshop over thesummer to help teachers betterteach their students aboutBlack History Month.

“We couldn’t find anywherewhere there is a concerted ef-fort to train teachers about howto teach black history,” saidBurnis Morris, the leader of thelyceum. “Most people agreethat black history should beincluded in the history books,but not many people explain toteachers how they’re supposedto do it.”

From June 6 through 9, 20teachers from across the statewill gather at Marshall Univer-sity for three days of classroomsessions, followed by a tour ofregional black history sites,according to the release. Teach-ers who are accepted to theprogram will receive a $500stipend as well as three hoursof graduate credits for no extracost.

At the end of the program,

teachers will be able to producea series of lesson plans to teachabout Black History Month.

“Woodson created a BlackHistory kit, and he would sendthem out to school systemsaround the country — not justblack schools, but white schoolsthat were interested, too,” Mor-ris said. “What we’re doing isexpanding on that concept.”

Morris said the goal is forteachers in West Virginia todevelop “methodical” ways toteach students about the histo-ry and contributions of blackpeople.

Morris has been the CarterG. Woodson Professor of Jour-nalism and Mass Communica-tions at the university since2003.

In 2011, Morris was namedthe school’s John DeaverDrinko Distinguished Fellow, aprogram that gives professorsfrom multiple academic depart-ments money explore ways toenhance a “broad, multidisci-plinary perspective” of society,according to the program’swebsite. During the fellowship,professors have reduced teach-ing loads.

“I decided to use the fellow-ship to research a topic of myinterest. I wanted to do moreresearch on Carter G. Wood-son, and I proposed a projectto learn more about Woodson’srelationship with the blackpress.”

Morris has a book comingout this summer about thatresearch. The book concludesthat Woodson used black pressto popularize black history,

beginning in 1926 when Wood-son established the first “NegroHistory Week.” Morris alsostudied Woodson’s relationshipwith West Virginia.

Woodson’s father, a formerslave, helped complete theChesapeake and Ohio Railwayfor Collis P. Huntington. Thecity of Huntington was namedin honor of him. After the rail-road was completed, Wood-son’s family returned home toVirginia only to move back toHuntington after Woodson wasborn.

“They returned to Hunting-ton in the 1890s, and therewere very few high schoolswhere blacks could attend inSouthern states, including WestVirginia,” Morris said. “Butthere was a relatively new highschool called a Frederick Dou-glass High School in Hunting-ton, and his parents wantedhim to attend there.”

After Woodson graduatedwith a diploma, he returned tobe the principal of the schoolin 1900, Morris said.

The deadline to apply for thesummer program is Wednes-day. Interested teachers shouldemail Morris at morrisb@mar-shall.edu. The conference isfunded by a more than $40,000grant from the West VirginiaHumanities Council, which in-cludes about $20,000 in cashwith the rest coming from in-kind contributions.

Reach Jake Jarvis at304-348-7939,

jake.jarvis@wvgazettemail.com,Facebook.com/newsroomjake or follow

@NewsroomJake on Twitter.

MU professor seeks to shine lighton local origins of Black History Month

By Jake JarvisStaff writer

Jerry McCarthy never ex-pected to go to college.

After serving 20 years in themilitary, he came home andstarted to think about what hislife would be like as a civilian.One day a counselor con-vinced him to enroll in classesat West Virginia University.

Fast-forward about 15 yearsand McCarthy has three de-grees from the school, includ-ing a doctoral degree, and he’sworking on a fourth. He alsoserves as director of veteranaffairs at the school and workseach day to help veteransmake the transition like he did.

“Service members develop aclose bond where they rely oneach other for support andencouragement,” McCarthysaid. “They build a culture ofinterdependence. Veterans mustlearn to find new meaning anda new community with an en-tirely different value system.”

Because of these and otherchallenges, McCarthy saidcolleges and universitiesshould invest money into de-veloping programs that helpretain veterans and give themthe support they need.

WVU was named the 26thbest four-year college for vet-erans by Military Times. The

University of Charleston alsoappeared on the list, comingin at 96th.

McCarthy credits WVU’ssuccessful veterans programsto faculty and staff membersfrom across university depart-ments taking interest in help-ing the students.

Veteran students who mightbe experiencing post-traumat-ic stress disorder often windup talking to McCarthy beforeseeking help.

“In some instances you’vegot to play an active role,”McCarthy said. “Sometimes

you can’t just say, ‘Hey youcan get help over here,’ youhave to take them over thereand make sure you sign in.”

In addition to counseling,WVU partners with a groupcalled Hearts of Gold to trainservice dogs to help veteranstudents with PTSD.

For veteran students choos-ing to go back to school, Mc-Carthy advises them to makesure that the school they willattend offers tutoring andmentoring. Unlike other stu-dents who often come to col-lege directly after high school,service members who go tocollege often haven’t been inthe traditional classroom andmay need extra tutoring.

Before heading up WVU’sveterans department, he ad-vised undergraduate studentswho hadn’t yet chosen a major.He said that around the year2009, colleges and universitiesacross the country started fo-cusing more financial resourc-es into helping veteran stu-dents. He said many colleges,including WVU, began creatingjob positions to help veterans.

“It’s only been lately that in-stitutions have focused more onacademics in terms of what’sour graduation rate, how stu-dents matriculate through theirmajor and what we can do tohelp them,” he said.

Veterans going to collegecan find support at WVU

By Kate WhiteStaff writer

There’s a lot riding on yourcredit score.

It can make all the differ-ence in whether you’ll be ableto take out a loan to buy a car,get approved for a mortgageto purchase the house of yourdreams and, sometimes, evenwhether you’ll get hired for ajob depends on what numberscredit-reporting agencies pro-vide.

New research also suggeststhat bad credit could put yourlife at risk.

A paper published by theFederal Reserve Bank of At-lanta argues a person whoowns at least one severelydelinquent account has a 5

percent increased risk ofdeath in the following threemonths.

Researchers looked at anon-ymous credit information, in-cluding the balances and de-linquencies of people betweenthe ages of 25 and 90.

Another study by the Feder-al Reserve found that peoplewith higher credit scores weremost likely to have lengthycommitted relationships.

Relationships are most like-ly to end within the first fiveyears between couples withthe largest discrepancies intheir scores, the report pub-lished in 2015 states.

“This result arises, in part,because initial credit scoresand [how closely thosescores match] predict subse-

quent credit usage and finan-cial distress, which in turnare correlated with relation-ship dissolution,” the reportsaid.

To improve your creditscore, the Federal Trade Com-mission recommends trying tomake small changes like pay-ing your bills on time, trim theamount of debt you have andkeep in mind that applying fornew lines of credit could affectyour score negatively.

“Improving your score sig-nificantly is likely to takesome time, but it can bedone,” the FTC’s websitestates.

Reach Kate White atkate.white@wvgazettemail.com,

304-348-1723 or follow@KateLWhite on Twitter.

Bad credit has many negative consequences

“Service members

develop a close bond

where they rely on each

other for support and

encouragement. They

build a culture of

interdependence.

Veterans must learn to

find new meaning and

a new community with

an entirely different

value system.”_______

JERRY MCCARTHYDirector of veteran affairs at

West Virginia University

By Jonnelle MarteThe Washington Post

If saving were easy, wewould all be millionaires.

But the reality is that formany households, the monthlypaycheck is barely enough tocover the bills. Nearly 60 per-cent of consumers surveyedthis month by Bankrate.comsaid they didn’t have enoughcash to cover unexpectedcosts, such as a $500 auto re-pair bill.

Needless to say, saving forsomething as far off as retire-ment or accomplishing otherfinancial goals can feel out ofreach. Still, if you’re living pay-check-to-paycheck, there aresmall steps you can take tostabilize your finances andreach a point where you cansave for the long term.

Here are a few moves thatmight help:

Change due dates for billsSometimes you have enough

money coming in to pay all ofyour monthly expenses, butyour paychecks don’t match upwith the due dates for yourbills, said Rachel Schneider,co-author of the “FinancialDiaries,” a book to be pub-lished in March about the de-tailed money habits of 235households. Try asking yourcreditors to see if they’ll changeyour due date so that it will fallcloser to your payday, Schnei-der said. Say you get paid twicea month, but your biggest bills,such as your rent and car pay-ment, are both due at the be-ginning of the month. Somecredit card companies, utilityproviders or other creditorsmay be willing to let youchange your due date or billingcycle to give your wallet somebreathing room.

Negotiate for better dealsChances are that your wire-

less provider or your cablecompany are not going to callyou up when they have lowerrates available, said Sue Rogan,director of financial educationfor the Maryland CASH Cam-paign, a group that works tohelp people become financiallystable. “You need to reach outto them,” she said. Call yourcable, internet or cellphoneprovider roughly once a yearto make sure you’re getting thebest rate possible, especially ifyou notice that your monthlybill increased. Do some re-search on what competitors arecharging and ask if they willmatch those rates for you. Ifthey decline, you would at leastknow that there are other com-panies offering better deals.

Treat yourself — yes,you read that right

Budgeting can be a lot likedieting — if you deprive your-self too much, you may betempted to binge and undo alot of your progress, financialexperts say. It may be easier tostick to your saving goals if youwork in treats and splurgesthat are important to you, saysJonathan Morduch, co-authorof the “Financial Diaries.” Thatmight be a monthly dinner withfriends, a trip to the movietheater with the kids or theoccasional happy hour. If youbudget for splurges, the sacri-fices you make everyday —such as having a sad desksalad for lunch — can feel a lotless painful.

Set modest savings goalsIf the traditional financial

advice of saving enough tocover three to six monthsworth of expenses feels impos-sible, you should set a moremodest goal. “One month ofsavings, just one month, can bereally really powerful,” Mor-duch said. Having enoughsavings to cover roughly one

month of expenses can stillhelp families avoid costs suchas overdraft fees and paydayloans when emergencies arise,Morduch said.

And even if that goal seemstoo out of reach, start by savingwhat you think you can afford,Schneider said. For some peo-ple, that may mean saving only$1 a day. “Don’t get overlyfixated on the benchmark, justdo it,” she said. Some peoplemay want to look into appssuch as Digit or Acorns thatcan help automate the savingprocess. It can also help to setaside cash when a large wind-fall comes in, such as your taxrefund to help with your sav-ings goals, Morduch said.

Track your spendingThe word “budget” can

make a lot of people cringe,said Carlos Moreno, a financialspecialist at EMPath, a groupin Boston that helps peoplefind a way out of poverty. Butit becomes easier to manageyour money once you knowwhere your cash is going, hesaid. Many consumers thinkthey know how much they’respending on regular expensessuch as groceries, but they areoften surprised after they tracktheir costs more closely, Rogansaid.

Some third-party websitessuch as Mint.com can help youtrack your cash flow. Somepeople might prefer to sit downonce a week and do the maththemselves by reviewing theironline statements. No matterthe method, the point is to scanyour spending to make sure itlines up with your expectations.Also, look for any areas youmay be able to cut back, Rogansaid.

Jonnelle Marte is a reportercovering personal finance.

She was previously a writer for Market-Watch and the Wall Street Journal.

Follow @jonnelle on Twitter.

5 ways to boost your finances if you’re broke

Spring Campus Visitationfsuforme.com/beirst

#beFirst

(304) 367-4010March 25, 2017

MaroonWhite Day