Amilcar Shabazz, professor of African American studies and faculty adviser to the chancellor at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, has received the Common Ground Award from UnityFirst.com. He is being honored for “leadership, excellence, and role model example for generations to come.” He is the author of Advancing Democracy: African Americans and the Struggle for Access and Equity in Higher Education in Texas (University of North Carolina Press, 2004).
Dr. Shabazz is a graduate of the University of Texas. He earned a master’s degree from Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas, and a Ph.D. in history from the University of Houston.
John E. Pierce, the associate vice president for affirmative action and diversity outreach at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska, received the 2013 African American Leadership Award in Education from the Urban League of Nebraska.
Pierce has worked at Creighton University for the past 35 years and has served in his current post for 25 years.
