LeMoyne-Owen announces partnership with WGU Tennessee
Text-to-911 service to launch April 9
Ballet Memphis awarded for showing its metal
Duncan-Williams Inc. marks 50th anniversary
Briarcrest seeks permit for addition to elementary
LeMoyne-Owen announces partnership with WGU Tennessee
LeMoyne-Owen College announced Tuesday it has partnered with nonprofit online university, WGU Tennessee.
The partnership ensures LeMoyne-Owen College graduates and alumni have access to graduate degrees and programs through the online university, according to a release.
“Our mission is to expand access to affordable, quality degree programs to working adults in Tennessee,” Dr. Kimberly Estep, WGU Tennessee chancellor, said in a release. “Postgraduate degrees can open up new opportunities, even to those already in the workforce, and our partnership with LeMoyne-Owen provides a way for its graduates to continue their educations and achieve their career goals.”
Under the terms of the partnership, LeMoyne-Owen College graduates and alumni are eligible to receive a 5 percent tuition discount — for up to four academic terms — off WGU Tennessee’s flat-rate tuition of approximately $6,500 per year for most programs.
WGU offers more than 60 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in the high-demand career fields of business, K–12 teacher education, information technology, and health professions, like nursing.
-Natalie Martin
Text-to-911 service to launch April 9
The service to reach 911 by text will launch April 9 in Memphis, making the metro area the first in the state to have this capability, officials said.
The text-to-911 service is designed specifically for the hearing impaired, speech disabled or for someone in a dangerous situation where they can’t call 911.
People who have an emergency can text 911 followed by their location and a short description of their emergency. Videos, photos and group text are not allowed in the service, Raymond Chiozza, the director of Shelby County Tennessee 911 District said.
A launch ceremony is slated at 9:30 a.m. April 9 at the 911 Communications Center at 79 Flicker St. Officials from the city of Memphis, Memphis police and fire will be on hand for the event. The public is also invited to attend.
-Yolanda Jones
Ballet Memphis awarded for showing its metal
The Ballet Memphis headquarters building at Overton Square has received an award from the Metal Construction Association.
Free-standing walls of perforated zinc and cooper screen the two, street-facing sides of the Ballet Memphis building.
The Metal Construction Association awarded the building its 2018 Chairman’s Award in the institutional category for the design and use of metal.
The building designed by archimania houses rehearsal space for the professional company, a dance school for more than 200 children, and community dance and Pilates classes.
“Transparency, a major aspect of the Company’s mission, is expressed in the building’s use of metal – a material that’s not typically see-through but is transformed as such in this case by the perforation of the panels,” the association’s release states.
“The zinc and copper, which will age beautifully over time, were also key to staying on budget and within the aesthetic context of several houses in the neighborhood having copper elements,” the release states.
Steven Ginn of Steven Ginn Architects was one of three judges. “This project reinforces the street corridor and the relationships throughout the neighborhood,” Ginn wrote in his comments. “You don’t lose the identity of the street. The space between the copper and the steel creates another layer, a narrow street facade.”
-Tom Bailey
Duncan-Williams Inc. marks 50th anniversary
Investment banking firm Duncan-Williams Inc. has marked 50 years of serving the nation’s investors from its home in Memphis.
The firm, founded in 1969 by A. Duncan Williams, started as a "small regional municipal bond firm selling bonds for public projects to small-town banks and other fixed-income investors around the country," according to a release.
A. Duncan Williams’ wife, Carolyn Williams, took over Duncan-Williams after her husband's sudden death in 1989 and led it for 11 years. She still remains as the firm's major stockholder and board chairwoman, and her son, Duncan F. Williams, became the firm's CEO in 2000.
As CEO, Duncan F. Williams has leaned into his family’s commitment to the community, sponsoring countless community organizations and causes.
“Our business is complex, but our approach has always been simple,” Williams said in a release. “When our clients do well, our employees do well. And when our employees do well, our company does well. And because our company does well, we can do so much more to make sure Memphis does well.”
In 2010, Duncan-Williams had 170 employees and offices in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Charlotte, Seattle, Cleveland, Atlanta and other cities, and went on to spin off a highly successful private client business called Duncan Williams Asset Management.
-Natalie Martin
Briarcrest seeks permit for addition to elementary
Briarcrest Christian School applied for a building permit Thursday for the construction of a new one-story addition to its elementary school at 76 S. Houston Levee Road.
The addition will be 25,737 square feet, and is valued at $5.3 million, according to the permit.
Construction will begin most likely in June after students are out for the summer, but can change depending on the weather, according to Briarcrest Director of Business Affairs, Patricia Whitley.
-Natalie Martin