Mayor Mark Stodola will be on campus along with several other guests, Aug. 3 – 4, to prepare for several games and events surrounding the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference’s Volleyball and Basketball 2012-2013 tournaments. Philander Smith College will be the host campus for this season’s tournaments.

Athletic directors, coaches, staff and conference personnel will be attending planning meetings and Mayor Stodola has been asked to formally welcome the conference members to the city, which will attract up to 5,000 guests for the conference events this fall and next spring.

Teams making up the conference include Philander Smith, Talladega College, Talladega, Ala., Tougaloo, Tougaloo, Miss., Fisk University, Nashville, Tenn., Dillard University, and Xavier, Southern University of New Orleans, all in New Orleans, La., and Edward Waters College, in Jacksonville, Fla.

The GCAC Volleyball Tournament is scheduled for Nov. 7-10, with a players’ celebration banquet scheduled for Nov. 7 at the Kendall Center on campus.

The GCC Men’s and Women’s Basketball Tournaments are scheduled for Feb. 28 – March 1 to be held at Barton Coliseum with a players’ banquet scheduled for Feb. 27 to be held at the Kendall Center.

For more information about the conference, go to www.gcacconf.com or contact, Coach Sam Weaver, at (501) 375-9845.

Philander Smith College was chosen “Non-Profit Organization of the Year” by the Arkansas Business Publishing Group during its 2012 Arkansas Business of the Year Awards ceremony held at the Statehouse Convention Center in Little Rock. The event was presented by Centennial Bank.

It was the 24th year for the annual event which honors businesses in three categories, business executives, nonprofit executives and nonprofit organizations in Arkansas.

The college was nominated by Board of Trustees President Bob Birch and received the title based on several criteria including our work in helping black males succeed in college. In 2007, the college was the first Arkansas college or university to give substantive energy to improve the rates of black men graduating. The college’s efforts have led to a black male graduation rate of 22 percent, up from 11 percent.

College President Walter Kimbrough said the work isn’t done. He hopes to escalate the graduation rate of black males to first or second place among colleges in Arkansas within three years.

Arkansas Business readers nominate businesses, executives and nonprofits for the awards, and an independent panel of judges determines the winners.