Five Black Scholars Taking on New Faculty Roles at Colleges and Universities

LaKami Baker has been named interim executive director of the Government and Economic Development Institute at Auburn University in Alabama. She is an associate professor of management and the managing director of the Lowder Center for Family Business and Entrepreneurship in Auburn’s Harbert College of Business.

Dr. Baker is a graduate of Prairie View A&M University in Texas, where she majored in electrical engineering. She holds a master’s degree in technology commercialization from the University of Texas at Austin and a Ph.D. in management from the University of Texas at San Antonio.

Ikemefuna (Ike) Agbanusi was appointed an assistant professor of mathematics and computer science at Colorado College. He was a visiting assistant professor of mathematics at Colgate University in Hamilton, New York.

Dr. Agbanusi is a magna cum laude graduate of the New Jersey Institute of Technology, where he majored in applied mathematics. He holds a Ph.D. in mathematics from Boston University.

Sheryl Kennedy Haydel was appointed assistant professor in the Manship School of Mass Communication at Louisiana State University. She previously taught at Xavier University in New Orleans and was director of communications and marketing at Dillard University in New  Orleans.

Dr. Haydel is a graduate of Clark Atlanta Univerity, where she majored in print journalism. She holds a master’s degree in public affairs from the University of Maryland and a master’s degree in marketing from the University of Wisconsin. Dr. Haydel earned her Ph.D. in mass communication and journalism from the University of Southern Mississippi.

Anthony Troy Adams was appointed director of the Atwood Institute at Kentucky State University. He was dean and professor of sociology at Alabama State University in Montgomery.

Dr. Adams is a graduate of Eastern Michigan University, where he majored in criminal justice and criminology. He earned a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in sociology at the University of Michigan.

January O’Neil has been named the John and Renee Grisham Writer in Residence at the University of Mississippi for the 2019-2020 academic year. She is an acclaimed poet and author of Rewilding (CavanKerry Press, 2018), Misery Islands (CavanKerry Press, 2014), and Underlife (CavanKerry Press, 2009). She also served as director of the Massachusetts Poetry Festival from 2012 to 2018.

O’Neil is a graduate of Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia. She holds a master of fine arts degree from New York University.

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Get the JBHE Weekly Bulletin

Receive our weekly email newsletter delivered to your inbox

Latest News

In Memoriam: Clifton Wharton, Jr., 1926-2024

Dr. Wharton was the first Black president of Michigan State University, the first Black chancellor of the State University of New York, and the first Black CEO of a Fortune 500 company.

Huge Surge in American Students Studying Abroad in Sub-Saharan Africa

According to the latest Open Doors report from the Institute on International Education, there were 9,163 Americans studying in sub-Saharan Africa in the 2022-23 academic year, up 98.6 percent from the previous year. Nearly 39 percent of these students attended universities in the Republic of South Africa.

Kimo Ah Yun Named First Black President of Marquette University

“My top priority is ensuring we continue to provide a transformational education for our students so that our graduates are problem-solvers and agents of change,” said Dr. Ah Yun, the first Black president of Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Young Black Women Are Significantly Outpacing Black Men in Educational Attainment

The race-gender gap in degree attainment among Black Americans is surging. Today, Black women are 14 percentage points more likely to hold an undergraduate degree than their male peers.

Featured Jobs