Event: Living Legends: Irwin Holmes, Jr. First African American Undergraduate Alumni at NC State
Tuesday, October 28, 2014
6:00 – 8:00 p.m.
Washington Sankofa Room 126, Witherspoon Student Center
See: Event program
The N.C. State African American Cultural Center’s annual Living Legends presentation will feature, Irwin Holmes, the first African-American to receive an undergraduate degree from the university.
The cultural center lifts up and reflects on the journey of Irwin Holmes, Jr. through its theme for the year, “Brown v. Board of Education: 60 Years Later – Educational Empowerment: Replicating the Systematic Practices that Work.”
The Nubian Message’s Editor-in-Chief Chris Hart-Williams, Managing Editor Nia Doaks and Vice Provost for Student Diversity Dr. Tracey Ray will moderate the presentation.
“He went on to earn a master’s degree in electrical engineering from Drexel University. After graduation from NC State, Holmes worked for several companies before taking a position with IBM, where he worked for 19 years until his retirement. As a senior manager of computer development at IBM, he earned two patents and was a key member of the task force that led to the development of the IBM PC product line. Holmes has also been an entrepreneur and he developed a shopping center in Durham, NC, started a gourmet restaurant, and developed other real estate ventures. As one of a handful of African-American students who took those first bold steps to desegregate universities in the South, Holmes helped open the doors to generations of students to come and ensure that they had access to higher education. Holmes was a scholar and had high academic achievement. He was inducted into the electrical engineering honor society, Eta Kappa Nu, in his junior year. He was also an athlete and ran track, played intramural basketball and varsity tennis. Holmes was the first athlete to integrate the Atlantic Coast Conference and in his senior year he was made co-captain of the tennis team,” African American Cultural Center website.
