The career accomplishments for Sylvia Rose began as an educator and administrator when she served as Instructor of Music and Humanities, Director of the esteemed A Cappella Chorus and Dean of Women at Southwestern Christian College in Terrell, Texas. Her love of teaching has taken her to every plateau of education as she has taught at the elementary, junior high and high school levels, (in addition to her college experience) in public, private and charter schools. She also served as Principal of Luckett Christian Academy in Taylor, MI and the administrator for the School of the Performing Arts at Southfield Lathrup High School in Southfield, MI. 

 

Although ever the teacher, her love of teaching has been matched by a love of music and her dedication to this discipline has allowed her to know many accomplishments and yielded her many accolades and awards. As a songwriter Sylvia has written hundreds of songs and produced recordings of groups in various states throughout the country. In 1985, she composed and published a hymnal, Songs of Faith, becoming, at the time, the only African American to do so. It was internationally accepted and copies were sold in Africa, Australia, Bahamas, Canada, China, England, Japan and Korea. This accomplishment and others garnered the attention of academicians who selected her to join other African American scholars to tour Cuba for 17 days in January of 1994 on an intellectual exchange. Prior to this trip, in 1989, she was commissioned by the Save Our Children non-profit organization and the Coca-Cola Corporation to write a memorial tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the result being “Long Live The Dream”, a musical drama which she also produced and staged at theatres in Ohio and Michigan. 

 

Sylvia’s achievements in songwriting have produced albums, cassettes and CDs by Southwestern Christian College, the Northside Church of Christ choirs and ensembles in Jacksonville, FL, and Seventh Heaven in Detroit, MI. Dozens of choirs and soloists in the Baptist Church, Church of Christ, Church of God, Catholic, Lutheran, Church of the Brethren and Mennonite churches, among others, have recorded her music as well. Her songs have been sung by other HBCUs that include Grambling University and Central State University as well as Wisconsin Lutheran College and the Mennonite Bible Schools. In a VH1 televised tribute to Brandy (Norwood) her song, “I’ve Finally Made it Home”, was featured. These songwriting accomplishments met the criteria of the highest esteem in being accepted as a voting member of NARAS, the National Academy (GRAMMY) of Recording Arts and Sciences, in which she maintained membership for nearly two decades. Her music is published by her two publishing companies, Srose Publishing Company, Inc. (BMI) and Great Heritage Publishing (ASCAP), which have licensed her songs for recordings by singers throughout the United States, Africa, Canada, the Bahamas, India, Guatemala, the Philippines, Spain and Mexico. In addition to music, she is a published author, having had two books published, A Guide to Effective Choral Singing and Rise Up – A Call to Leadership for African American Women. 

 

A lover of every gift and opportunity God has blessed her to know, her magnificent obsession, however, is ministry, a passion God rewarded with the vision of Great Heritage Ministries, a non-profit crisis responder that aids those whom God has called the least of these and are His most vulnerable: the homeless, bereaved, residents of hospice, nursing homes and senior living facilities, as well as the imprisoned and mentally ill. Her faithful service to the Lord since she was an early teen is now being manifested in her service to others through the various ministry opportunities that God and Great Heritage Ministries afford.

 

God has rewarded the faithful use of her gifts and talents so that they have been sited and honored by many. She is the recipient of the Alumnae of the Year awards by Southwestern Christian College for 1986 and 1989, and was as well its Image Award winner for music in 2001. In 2006, Sylvia was given the R. Vernon Boyd Diversity Lifetime Achievement Award and she was inducted into the Southwestern Christian College Hall of Fame in 2009. They selected her as their Distinguished Alumnus in the Arts in 2014 and she received their Golden Ram honor in 2021. Sylvia was honored with the first CAMA Rubal Lifetime Achievement Award in 1992 and in the same year was given the Pepperdine University Christian Service Award. A special distinction for which she was humbled was being deemed by the Harding School of Theology as being one of   seven African Americans who have made the most impactful contributions to the churches of Christ. A portrait was commissioned for this honor and replicas adorn the walls of various institutions. In 2023, Harding University selected her as their Most Distinguished Alumna in celebration of its centennial. In 2025, Sylvia was conferred an Honorary Doctorate by Southwestern Christian College. To God be the glory for all that He has done.  

 

Sylvia resides in Detroit, MI and can be reached by contacting her through Srose Publishing Company or by e-mail:  Srosepublishingco@gmail.com