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Hampton university notable alumni9/3/2023 ![]() In between he took a degree in business administration and parlayed it, rather improbably, into a long career as the stage manager - and frequent deadpan comedic foil - on David Letterman’s late-night TV talk show. ![]() Henderson, a graduate of then-Hampton Institute, made frequent appearances on-air with Letterman as a deadpan comedic foil. We still maintain strong friendships with our Eagle Heights family.Stage manager Biff Henderson flashes a "thumbs-up" to David Letterman during the TV host's last "Late Show" broadcast in 2015, while the Foo Fighters play. Then there was Eagle Heights, where my wife, children and I resided for three years and established some great relationships with friends from around the world. And it was professor Marianne Bloch and the faculty and administration of the UW-Madison School of Education who supported the efforts of a friend of mine and I to start the SHAPE tutorial program in the School of Education. It was students of the Civil Rights Defense Coalition who supported my push to establish pre college programs as a vehicle to increase the preparation of students of color for admission to UW-Madison, and graduate students such as Peter Young, Eric Grotsky, Matt Candler, and Matthew (last name?) who inspired me to run for the school board and supported my candidacy. It was students in the School of Education who encouraged me to run for student government (Associated Students of Madison) and elected me in 1996. Students on campus were huge champions of mine and contributors to my development. The friendships I established were equally as rewarding and enriching. I decided to stay, enlisted the support of four great professors to help guide my study in urban education (Gloria Ladson-Billings, Michael Fultz, William Bill Tate, Michael Olneck, and Michael Apple). They also expressed a sincere interest in my abilities. It was Associate Dean John Kean who stopped me from transferring, and instead he and a counselor there (cant remember her name) encouraged me to consider completing an Individualized Major in Education (IME) so that I could focus on my interests and maintain a part of the UW-Madison campus. Feeling I could not get what I needed at UW-Madison, I began talking with my school of education counselor about transferring to UW-Milwaukee to take advantage of their Urban Education Program. However, after completing my first semester of classes in Broad Field Sciences, I felt I was not learning enough about the political and social dynamics affecting urban education. I also enrolled in the Broad Field Science program in the School of Education. I spent countless hours at the Memorial and College Libraries, the School of Education LMC Library, and the State Historical Society. I spent the next two years attending special lectures and reading and researching everything I could on the education of Blacks, Latinos/Chicanos, and Native Americans that I could get my hands on. The university's commitment to service and its openness to taking chances that other institutions shy away from, made it possible for us to move, work and serve in ways that have had a real and lasting impact on the lives of others. In the midst of it all, wed have two more little ones, raising our young family in Eagle Heights perhaps the most perfect place on the planet for kids while working, studying, managing our lives and making inroads in the ways we could to leave the community better than we found it. We took turns completing our studies, and I would even go on to complete a Masters Degree in Education and to begin doctoral studies. Our two years became four years four years became six and six would ultimately stretch to eight years, the majority of which for me were spent either studying or working on campus. We estimated that it would take two years for the both of us to complete undergrad, after which wed readily head back to the east coast. Though he was born and raised in Madison, my husband had no special interest in remaining in his hometown. My husband and I came to the university with a simple plan to complete our degrees and leave. And herein, perhaps, lies the impact of the great UW on my life.
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