Tennessee State University News September 16, 2010 TSU Partners with ABC's "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" to Rebuild Lighthouse Preschool<http://tnstatenewsroom.com/2010/09/tennessee-state-university-partners-with-abc%e2%80%99s-%e2%80%9cextreme-makeover-home-edition%e2%80%9d-to-rebuild-lighthouse-preschool-and-transform-the-lives-of-two-children-with-college-scholarship/> TSU Transform Lives of Two Children with College Scholarship Packages Valued at $80,000 Tennessee State University (TSU), Nashville has partnered with ABC's "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition to rebuild the Lighthouse Preschool destroyed during the Nashville floods. Founded in 1979, the school was completely washed down Mill Creek and onto Interstate 24 during the devastating May 2010 floods that affected many lives in the city. As part of this partnership, Tennessee State University, which was also affected by the floods, is granting College scholarship packages valued at $80,000 to two children of a Nashville family who were not only affected by the floods, but also provided assistance to others. The children, Alexandra Sweatt and Kobe Sweatt, aged 7 and 9 respectively, will utilize the scholarships to obtain a four-year degree at the University. At an ABC news conference held today at the Lighthouse Preschool, TSU President Melvin Johnson remarked that the partnership with ABC's "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" is consistent with the University's mission of service to the community. At the height of the floods, Tennessee State University partnered with the Small Business Administration (SBA) to launch the first Business Recovery Center for small businesses in the region affected by the floods, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to serve as the operational center for disaster relief assistance in North Nashville. SBA loans to small businesses in Tennessee affected by the May floods today stand at more than $100 million. The University's commitment to service has garnered it national recognitions, including selection as the only university in Tennessee to be included on the President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll (with Distinction) and the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities' Peter McGrath Regional Award for Community Engagement. The University was recently ranked 28th among 100 National Universities listed by the Washington Monthly in its 2010 College Rankings for contributions to the public good. Tennessee State University is Nashville's only public university and the only state- supported Carnegie-classified Doctoral/Research institution serving the capital and mid-state region. TSU is a land-grant historically black college/university (HBCU), and remains committed to the democratic principle of accepting all qualified applicants, regardless of socio-economic status or educational background. SANDRA M. PHOENIX Program Director HBCU Library Alliance sphoenix@hbculibraries.org<mailto:sphoenix@hbculibraries.org> www.hbculibraries.org<http://www.hbculibraries.org/> 404.592.4820 1438 West Peachtree Street NW Suite 200 Atlanta, GA 30309 Toll Free: 1.800.999.8558 (Lyrasis) Fax: 404.892.7879 www.lyrasis.org<http://www.lyrasis.org/> Honor the ancestors, honor the children. Register now http://www.hbculibraries.org/html/meeting-form.html for the October 24-26, 2010 HBCU Library Alliance 4th Membership Meeting and the "Conference on Advocacy" pre-conference in Montgomery, AL. The Pre-Conference and Membership meeting are open to directors and other librarians.