![\"Colleagues](\"http:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Sommerville-by-Christine-Wasserman.jpg\")
<\/a>Colleagues and friends recently attended the Association of Black Faculty and Staff meeting during which its annual scholarship was renamed in honor of Dr. Joseph Sommerville, professor emeritus of education.<\/p><\/div>During his tenure, Sommerville was chairman of the Department of Education and served on numerous UT committees. Additionally, as a superannuate professor, he taught courses in administration until 1997. <\/p>\n
Several months ago, when the Association of Black Faculty and Staff sought to rename its annual student scholarship, it decided to forgo dedicating it to a nationally known African-American leader. Explained Dr. Anthony Quinn, current association president and assistant dean in the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, \u201cWe realized we didn\u2019t need to go out of town to find a hero. Instead, we are renaming the Association of Black Faculty and Staff scholarship in recognition of Dr. Joseph Sommerville.\u201d<\/p>\n
During tributes, former students praised Sommerville for his approachability, consummate professionalism and gentlemanly demeanor. Stated one, Paul Raczkowski, \u201cDr. Sommerville gave us practical lessons to use as educators, not just concepts to apply in the classroom. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe really appreciated what we faced every day \u2014 \u2018hormones walking in tennis shoes,\u2019\u201d Raczkowski said jokingly referring to teenage students. \u201cHe preached to do only what\u2019s best for students. Period. That\u2019s something a lot of people today should still remember.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dr. Crystal Ellis, former superintendent of Toledo Public Schools, said, \u201cJoe Sommerville will live on and on and on in the lives he\u2019s touched. I\u2019m just glad we\u2019re honoring him while he\u2019s still with us.\u201d<\/p>\n
In addition to Sommerville having the association\u2019s annual scholarship named in his honor, Toledo Councilwoman Cecelia Adams also presented him with a special resolution from the city. Further, the pastor of Sommerville\u2019s church, the Rev. James Willis, declared that Sommerville\u2019s ongoing contributions give credence to the old adage, \u201cI\u2019d rather see a sermon any day than hear one.\u201d <\/p>\n
Indeed, since retirement, Sommerville actively continues community, fraternal and educational service, despite declining health. He has served on the Toledo-Lucas County Public Library Board of Trustees, and also was the first president of AARP Ohio for nearly six years. More recently, when UT launched Brothers on the Rise to help at-risk African-American and Latino students, Sommerville was among the first in the community to answer the call for mentors. He also continues to be a Sunday school teacher, as well as chairman emeritus of the Deacon Board of St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church.<\/p>\n
Sommerville is a graduate of Morehouse College in Atlanta \u2014 where he was an undergraduate student when the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. also was enrolled \u2014 and the University of Michigan. He recounted in a recent video that documents his life \u2014 recorded with Dr. Willie McKether, vice president for diversity and inclusion \u2014 that when he lived in the South, he saw much violence over civil rights issues, such as houses being fire-bombed when homeowners were known supporters of African Americans. <\/p>\n
Witnessing such hate crimes during his youth, Sommerville has dedicated his life to the success of students, especially underrepresented students, which also is the mission of the Association of Black Faculty and Staff.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The UT Association of Black Faculty and Staff has named its scholarship in honor of Dr. Joseph C. Sommerville, professor emeritus in the Judith Herb College of Education.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":828,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53,1,7],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42511"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/828"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42511"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42511\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42515,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42511\/revisions\/42515"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}