2001 Western Region Brother of the Year
Norman E. W.
Towels, Ph.D.
- Local Endeavors
- Regional Achievements
- National Success
- Professional Accomplishments
- Community Activist and Family Man
- Summary
Norman E. W. Towels. Once again he has served capably in
numerous capacities. Brother Towels serves on many levels within the
fraternity.
On the local level Brother Towels recently completed his tenth
term as Chapter Parliamentarian and he has recently been elected to serve as
President of the Eta Pi Lambda Alumni Chapter, Pasadena California. He also
served as the keynote speaker for the chapter Founder’s Day Program.
Additionally, Brother Towels sponsored Rev. Emerson Jefferson’s intake into the
Fraternity.
Norman E. W. Towels. Once again he has served capably in
numerous capacities. Brother Towels serves on many levels within the
fraternity.
On the local level Brother Towels recently completed his tenth
term as Chapter Parliamentarian and he has recently been elected to serve as
President of the Eta Pi Lambda Alumni Chapter, Pasadena California. He also
served as the keynote speaker for the chapter Founder’s Day Program.
Additionally, Brother Towels sponsored Rev. Emerson Jefferson’s intake into the
Fraternity.
At the Regional level Brother Towels, working in coordination
with his chapter brothers and Iota Psi college chapter, has unearthed pictures
of our earliest Regional Chapter, Alpha Delta – University of Southern
California 1921. In doing so, Brother Towels also discovered early college
day’s photos of Brother Arthur and Clifford Prince who were instrumental in the
founding of his Alumni chapter, Eta Pi Lambda. Brother Towels serves as the
Western Region Historian, and in that capacity, has uncovered many historical
gems that few brothers have been aware. Of national significance was the
landmark discovery of Alpha Phi Alpha at Colby College (1910), which gave us an
enhanced sense of historical perspective regarding the power of the founders in
preparing the future success of the organization by incorporating in 1908. This
important discovery was chronicled in the “Sphinx” magazine. The uncovering of
several heretofore-unmentioned records and photographs of the early founders and
builders of the fraternity during their college days at Cornell helped propel
his thirst and love for the fraternity into ever far reaching avenues to uncover
fraternal gems including his latest discovery; the dust jacket for the 1st
edition of the Alpha Phi Alpha History book. At the Regional Convention Brother
Towels assisted in the training and ritual for the 65 new inductees to the
Fraternity and conducted the Regional Scholars Bowl. Brother Towels has been
selected to serve as delegate to the New Orleans Convention.
originally nominated by President Adrian Wallace has recently
been re-appointed by brother President Harry Johnson to continue to serve as
Dean for the year 2001, and continues to serve as one of the seven (7) national
Deans. Dr. Towels, in his first term (2000) completed the first stage of the
Alpha Phi Alpha Curriculum Guide corresponding to the college. Additionally,
Dr. Towels has presented workshops in the past year at both the Western and
Midwestern Regions of our fraternity focusing on the awards process. Dr. Towels
also presented at our National Convention in Atlanta and will conduct two
workshops at our national Convention in New Orleans. Additionally, Brother
Towels presented a workshop on leadership and training at the Inauguration in
Houston. Brother Towels has been appointed by Brother Skip Mason, Historical
Committee Chair to serve as a member of that commission. In his capacity as
Dean of Alpha University, Dr. Towels also put on a seven (7) case display at the
National Convention in Atlanta as a tribute to out going General President
Adrian Wallace which covered many heretofore unknown aspects of Alpha Phi Alpha
in its infancy. Additionally, Dr. Towels reiterated our ritual commitment by
putting on display items of our Pan Hellenic friends as well.
Dr. Towels’ personal African American memorabilia collection has
grown to over 50,000 items and includes specialty sub-sections on African
American fraternities and sororities, African Americans in the performing arts,
African American research material, slavery, African American baseball, African
Americans in the military, African American comic books, African American
ephemera, films, audio books, records, stamps, posters, rare and signed books by
and about African Americans and other items too numerous to list. Dr. Towels is
often sought out by organizations to provide displays or lectures in the area of
African American studies and has prepared displays for K-12 schools, museums,
colleges and universities. Recently he was contacted by the head of the Dr.
Martin Luther King Papers Project housed at Stanford University and was
privileged to donate a rare copy of a Dr. Martin Luther King comic book to that
project. Highlights of his collection include; 17 of the 18 editions of the
Alpha History Book (missing the 11th edition), a first edition (1929)
of the History of Alpha Phi Alpha with dust jacket, as well as a 1942 5th
edition signed by Brother Dr. Charles H. Wesley, Vol. 1 #1 Ebony Magazine, a
signed W.E.B. Dubois book (from his personal collection), All Negro Comics #1
(1947) and an extensive collection of College Yearbooks from Cornell University
@ 1904-1935, as well as numerous other college yearbooks related to current
research regarding African Americans and particularly Alpha member attendance at
American Colleges and Universities prior to 1935.
Professionally, the year 2000 has been a banner year for Dr.
Towels. Dr. Towels became the first person in his District and first in
Riverside County to ever win the honor of ACSA (Association of California School
Administrators) State Personnel Administrator of the Year. Additionally he won
the District’s Administrator of the Year Award. For 2001 Dr. Towels won the
Association of California School Administrator’s Region 12 Award for Pupil
Services Administrator of the Year, the first duo department recipient ever in
the County. Dr. Towels heads two divisions; Human Resources and Pupil
Services. In the Human Resources (Personnel) division he is responsible for the
recruiting and hiring of approximately 100 teachers and support staff each
year. In fact, even at this convention he will have material available for
Brothers seeking a teaching job in Southern California. He also serves as the
Chief Negotiator for several bargaining units; classified, certificated,
confidential, and administrative and has successfully completed contract
negotiations, which saw employees average a 12% raise in 2000. Additionally,
Dr. Towels is a problem solver, and is responsible for handling parent
complaints, civil rights and sexual harassment’s violations and claims, and
employee discipline. Currently the Val Verde School District has approximately
1,000 employees and just under 13,000 students. With regard to students; Dr.
Towels is responsible for all student expulsions and chairs the student
Expulsion Panel. He also heads the Student Accountability Review Board (SARB)
and coordinates training and development for all District Campus Supervisors.
He is also responsible for alternative education placement and programs and to
that end has established several intervention strategies to promote student
success. Dr. Towels is responsible for Inter-Intra District transfers and this
accounts for over 1,000 approvals or reviews per year. Finally, Dr. Towels also
visits classes, provides displays and talks to students and has given at least
one scholarship to a graduating senior vis-à-vis Eta Pi Lambda or Mu Xi Lambda
every year since 1991, a total of some $2,500 in scholarships awarded.
Dr. Towels serves as a part-time Counselor at Riverside Juvenile
Hall. This is his seventeenth year at the Hall. Dr. Towels averages 50 hours a
week at the school district and 40 hours a week at the Hall. At the Juvenile
Center, Dr. Towels has sponsored an honor party for deserving individuals each
week for the past 12 years. This effort involves buying pizza, sodas and other
incentive items and approximates $100.00 per week for an annual donation in
excess of $5000. Additionally every year he coordinates the Annual Christmas
Ice Cream Party. His Human Resources staff from Val Verde Unified School
District volunteer their time to set up a display of animated Christmas figures,
as well as serve ice cream and root beer to the juveniles confined during the
holiday season. He also compiles and types the Honor Rolls for the seven (7)
units and more than 250 residents and sponsors the Annual Christmas Film
Festival. More than 20 Counselors from the Hall have made the transition to
becoming teachers, nurses, counselors or psychologists in the Val Verde Unified
School District and Dr. Towels serves as a mentor to them; many of who
maintained a dual role in the year 2000 of teacher and counselor. One employee
has since been promoted to Assistant Principal, while another has been promoted
to Principal.
In terms of Community involvement; Dr. Towels continues to serve
on the Riverside City College Community Advisory Board, The Val Verde Unified
School District Superintendent Advisory Board, and The Black Infant Health Care
Program Planning Board and served as the MC for the monthly programs. Dr.
Towels also worked with the Dora B. Nelson African American Museum Board of
Directors, and the Dora B. Nelson African American Museum Foundation Board (fund
raising arm), serving also as curator or the Museum, charter member of the
Riverside (CA) African American Historical Society, the Inland Personnel
Council, The County Child Welfare and Attendance Council, and numerous other
Boards and Committees that meet sporadically. Dr. Towels continues to be in
demand as a speaker and or presenter for colleges, local groups, and schools in
both the personnel arenas as well as on African American topics.
Dr. Towels is married to Verna and has two children Tanya and
Jamala who both live in Atlanta with their husbands; he is also now a proud
grandfather.
Summarizing; in the year
2000-2001, Dr. Towels has:
1.
Assisted the fraternity at all levels from sponsoring a brother through
the Intake Process (Rev. Emerson Jefferson – an Assistant Principal in our
District), to being a speaker at the local level, to blazing new historical
paths at the Regional Level to serving as a Dean of the College of Effective
Implementation on the National Level. His efforts clearly demonstrate an
on-going commitment and love for Alpha Phi Alpha that parallels some of his
earlier efforts as National Chair of the Commission on College Brothers Affairs
or as National Chair of Racial Justice and Public Policy or even as Past
Regional Vice-president of our own illustrious Western Region.
2.
Professionally he has been recognized as the top Personnel Administrator
in the State of California and continues to serve for his thirty-first (31) year
in the District and seventh (7th) year as Assistant Superintendent of
the rapidly growing Val Verde Unified School District which had two schools and
under five hundred students when he started as a Riverside County Intern in 1970
and now has twelve (12) schools with just under 13,000 students and seven (7)
more schools on line for the next five years.
3.
Continues to develop a world-class collection of African American
ephemera.
4.
He serves on numerous community boards and speaks and displays material
throughout the community be it for churches or for museums and continues to
mentor teachers, students, and brothers to not be “mediocre”. Providing student
scholarships and youth incentives as well.
Therefore, because Dr. Towels epitomizes the ‘spirit” and the
foundation of Alpha Phi Alpha and the principles of manly deeds, scholarship and
love for all mankind it is felt that Dr. Norman E. W. Towels richly deserves the
2001 honor of National Alpha man of the Year and if chosen will ably represent
the Fraternity by deed and word.
