Monthly Archives: April 2021
Report Finds De Facto Racial Segregation in Virginia’s Public Universities
At the University of Virginia, just 13 percent of undergraduates identified as Black or Hispanic; that share is 60 percent lower than the state’s population ages 18 to 24. The College of William & Mary and Christopher Newport University are near large Black population centers but each of their student bodies is just 7 percent Black.
A Trio of Black Scholars Who Have Been Appointed to Dean Positions
Fortune Mhlanga was named the founding dean of the School of Applied Computational Sciences at Meharry Medical College in Nashville. Debra J. Barksdale will be the next dean of the School of Nursing at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and Roger A. Fairfax, Jr. has been named dean of the College of Law at American University in Washington, D.C.
Four Black Scholars Taking on New Faculty Assignments at Universities
Taking on new positions or titles are Grace Musila at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, Herman Beavers at the University of Pennsylvania, Dianah Wynter at Arizona State University, and Sekou Cooke at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.
Meharry Medical College Launches Its School of Applied Computational Sciences
The School of Applied Computational Sciences will be focused on creating impactful academic research programming that will enhance health care and technology communities and solve complex problems in health care — especially those that impact underserved populations. The first students are expected to enroll this fall.
Five Universities That Have Announced the Appointments of Black Administrators
Taking on new administrative roles are Donica Thomas Varner at Cornell University in New York, Godlove Fonjweng at Prairie View A&M University in Texas, Lawrencina Mason Oramalu at Texas Woman's University, Gerald Lewis Jr. at the University of Connecticut, and Alicia Dorn at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff.
Xavier University of Louisiana Offers Pathway for Students to Earn Master’s Degrees in Management
Historically Black Xavier University in New Orleans has entered into a partnership with Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, that will enable students to earn a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in management in five years.
Nicole Fleetwood of Rutgers University Wins National Book Critics Circle Award
Dr. Fleetwod's book - Marking Time: Art in the Age of Mass Incarceration - which took nine years to complete, is based on scores of interviews with incarcerated people and their families, prison staff, activists, and other observers. It explores the importance of people in prison creating art as a means to survive incarceration.
Johnson C. Smith University Enters Partnership With Central Piedmont Community College
Under the JCSU Connect program, students will complete an associate degree in psychology at Central Piedmont and a bachelor’s degree at JCSU. Students who remain eligible during their time at Central Piedmont and successfully submit their applications to Johnson C. Smith University will receive an $8,000 annual scholarship
A Trio of African Americans Who Have Been Named to Diversity Posts in Higher Education
Shirley J. Everett was named senior adviser to the provost on equity and inclusion at Stanford University. Emmanuel Adero is the new deputy chief officer for the Office of Equity and Inclusion at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and Torsheika Maddox was named chief of staff for the chief diversity officer at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Three African American Faculty Members Receive Promotions at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania
Nina Johnson was promoted to associate professor of sociology at Swarthmore College. Joseph Derrick Nelson was promoted to associate professor of educational studies and Ron Tarver was promoted to associate professor of photography.
Online Articles That May Be of Interest to JBHE Readers
Each week, JBHE will provide links to online articles that may be of interest to our readers. Here are this week’s selections.
Blacks Make Up 18 Percent of Admitted Students at Harvard University
Harvard College accepted 3.43 percent of applicants to the Class of 2025. Blacks or African Americans make up 18 percent of all admitted students.
Higher Education Grants or Gifts of Interest to African Americans in Higher Education
Here is this week’s news of grants or gifts to historically Black colleges and universities or for programs of particular interest to African Americans in higher education.
Recent Books of Interest to African American Scholars
The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education regularly publishes a list of new books that may be of interest to our readers. The books included are on a wide variety of subjects and present many different points of view.
Western Carolina University Produces a Digital Archive of a Black Oral History Project
The special collections unit of the library at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, North Carolina, has digitized a collection of oral history interviews conducted between 1986 and 1989 with Black residents from Western North Carolina, all of whom were older than 69 at the time.
Racist Graffiti Found on the Campuses of Northern Kentucky and Kent State Universities
A mural on a rock at Northern Kentucky University that contained support for Black student organizations was vandalized with the logo of the Patriot Front, a White supremacist group, and the N-word was founded scrawled on a plague at Kent State University in Ohio.
School Integration Was Not Always a Good Thing for Black Educational Attainment, Study Finds
A new study by economists at Washington and Lee University, the New School, and Duke University finds that Black adults who attended racially balanced high schools in the mid-20th century completed significantly less schooling than those who attended either predominantly Black or predominantly White schools.
Asa J. Lee Has Been Appointed President of the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary
Dr. Lee currently serves as vice president for campus administration, associate dean for community life, and director of African American studies at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C. He will become president of the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary on June 7.
African Americans Are Making Progress in Degree Attainments But the Racial Equity Gap Remains
A new study from the Center for American Progress finds that for the first time in American history, half of the young adults in the United States have earned a college degree. However, there hasn’t been a great deal of progress in closing the large and persistent racial equity gap.
North Carolina Central University Names Its Next Provost
David H. Jackson Jr. has been appointed provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs at North Carolina Central University.
Excess Deaths Due to the Pandemic Have Been the Highest in the African American Community
More than a quarter of the excess deaths during the pandemic were not from the virus itself but the result of not seeking or finding adequate care in an emergency such as a heart attack, experiencing fatal complications from a chronic disease such as diabetes, or facing a behavioral health crisis that led to suicide or drug overdose.
Two African Americans Who Have Been Appointed to University Dean Positions
Dana A. Williams was named dean of the Graduate School at Howard University in Washington, D.C., and Leon Jones was named dean for medical education and professor of psychiatry at Georgetown’s School of Medicine in Washington, D.C.
Five African American Faculty Members Who Are Taking on New Roles
The five Black scholars taking on new roles at Ijeoma Opara at the Yale School of Public Health, Walter Greason at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota, John Brooks Slaughter at the University of Southern California, Crystal Wilkerson, of the University of Kentucky, and Timothy Adams Jr. at the University of Georgia.
A Potential Financial Windfall for Historically Black Tennessee State University
In 1913, the state legislature stipulated that Tennessee State should receive 25 percent of the federal land grant funds allocated to the state. But from 1957 to 2007, the historically Black university did not receive land grant allocations. A state legislative committee said that Tennessee State is entitled to between $150 million and $544 million.
A Quartet of African Americans Named to Administrative Posts in Higher Education
Takin on new administrative roles are Adriel A. Hilton at Southern University New Orleans, Jacqueline Gill Powell at Virginia Community Colleges, Aarika Dorsey at River Parishes Community College in Gonzales, Louisiana, and Cleo D. Rucker at Vanderbilt University in Nashville.
Three HBCUs Partner With United Airlines to Increase the Pipeline of Black Commercial Pilots
Flight education students at the three HBCUs will have the opportunity to interview with admission officials of United Airlines’ Aviate Academy. If selected, they will be among the thousands of pilots United will train over the next decade. These Aviate Academy students will also be guaranteed a job with United.
CalTech’s Ibrahim Cissé Awarded the Vilcek Prize in Biomedical Science
The $100,000 prize is awarded annually to young immigrant scientists living and working in the United States "whose early-career work exemplifies outstanding scientific accomplishment, and presents a significant contribution to their field of study."
Education Department Wipes Out $1.6 Billion in HBCU Debt
Since 1994, the HBCU Capital Financing Program has provided HBCUs with access to capital financing or refinancing for the repair, renovation, and construction of classrooms, libraries, laboratories, dormitories, instructional equipment, and research instrumentation. Debts incurred under the program have now been forgiven.
Three African American Women Taking on New University Diversity Assignments
Laura Jack will be acting chief diversity officer at Colgate University in Hamilton, New York. Brandi Elliott is taking on a diversity role at the University of Cincinnati and Kerri Thompson Tillett has been named associate vice chancellor for equal opportunity at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
In Memoriam: Larry E. Davis, 1946-2021
Larry E. Davis was dean of the School of Social Work at the University of Pittsburgh from 2001-2018. He was also the founding director of the Center on Race and Social Problems at the university.
Recent Books of Interest to African American Scholars
The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education regularly publishes a list of new books that may be of interest to our readers. The books included are on a wide variety of subjects and present many different points of view.
Online Articles That May Be of Interest to JBHE Readers
Each week, JBHE will provide links to online articles that may be of interest to our readers. Here are this week’s selections.
Library of Congress Changes Subject Heading of the Tulsa Race Riot to the Tulsa Race Massacre
The impetus for the Library of Congress Subject Heading Change Proposal Task Force was the members’ shared belief that naming matters: the words used to describe people and events affect perceptions and, in turn, those perceptions have concrete implications for social justice.
Higher Education Grants or Gifts of Interest to African Americans
Here is this week’s news of grants or gifts to historically Black colleges and universities or for programs of particular interest to African Americans in higher education.
PepsiCo Foundation Commits $40 Million to Support Higher Education for Blacks and Hispanics
The new program funded by the PepsiCo Foundation is comprised of two types of scholarships – Uplift Scholarships for students seeking two-year associate degrees or trade certificates and S.M.I.L.E (Success Matters in Life & Education) scholarships for community college graduates transitioning to four-year colleges.
In Memoriam: Edward Leon Robinson Jr., 1970-2021
Edward L. Robinson Jr. was a lecturer in African American studies in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at California State University, Fullerton. He had taught at the university since 2011.
