Monthly Archives: October 2022
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.
Altha Stewart to Receive the Humanitarian Prize in Mental Health
Altha J. Stewart, senior associate dean for community health engagement and associate professor of psychiatry in the College of Medicine of the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis, received the 2022 Pardes Humanitarian Prize in Mental Health from the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation.
In Memoriam: Leroy Morgan Jr., 1969-2022
Leroy Morgan Jr. served as chief of police at Paine College in Augusta, Georgia, from 2014 to the time of his death.
Black Medical Students Are Less Likely Than Their White Peers to Be Selected for Residency Programs
The study, led by scholars at the Yale School of Medicine, found that the least likely to be placed in graduate medical education residency programs were Black or African American and Hispanic male students. Black female students and Hispanic female students also had much higher rates of not placing compared to White students.
Melissa Holloway Will Lead the National Association of College and University Attorneys
Holloway joined the staff at North Carolina A&T State University in May 2019 after serving as deputy general counsel at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana, from October 2015 through April 2019. She will serve for one year as chair-elect at NACUA before taking over as chair in 2023.
Are State Licensing Exams Unfairly Keeping Blacks From the Teacher Workforce?
A new study by Alexander Cuenca, an associate professor in the School of Education at Indiana University, finds that the state licensing examination has the effect of shrinking the pool of nonwhite educators that enter the profession even as the K-12 student population grows more diverse.
Karlene Burrell-McRae Will Be the Next Dean of the Undergraduate College at Bryn Mawr
Dr. Burrell-McRae is dean of the college at Colby College in Waterville, Maine. Previously, she was associate dean of students and executive director of the Center for Identity + Inclusion at the University of Chicago. Dr. Burrell-McRae will begin her new job at Bryn Mawr College on July 1, 2023.
What Would Have Been the Most Effective Strategy for the COVID-19 Vaccination Rollout?
Using a supercomputer, researchers analyzed 2.9 million vaccination rollout strategies to determine what would have produced the lowest rates of infection and death. They found that prioritizing vaccine rollouts to people of color, particularly older African Americans may have been the best strategy.
A New Dean for the College of Business and Information Systems at South Carolina State
Matthew Waritay Guah has served as chair of the business administration and information systems department since 2014. His primary research focuses on business systems in healthcare organizations toward reforming healthcare delivery processes and performance evaluation.
Six Black Scholars Taking on New Assignments at Colleges and Universities
The faculty members in new roles are Cordara Harper at Grambling State University in Louisiana, Karen Cook-Bell at Bowie State University in Maryland, Joseph C. Phillips at Clark Atlanta University, Iheoma Nwachukwu at the Mississippi University for Women, Brittany A. Holloman at Talladega College in Alabama, and Lewatis McNeal at Ohio University.
A Major New Initiative Will Boost Genetics Research at Black Medical Schools
The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative recently announced a partnership with the nation’s four historically Black medical colleges to further support the cutting-edge scientific research they are leading to address significant gaps in genomics research, create new tools and methods to prevent and treat disease.
New Administrative Roles in Higher Education for Six African Americans
Taking on neww administrative duties are Brian L. Ragsdale at Walden University, Ava L. Ayers at South Carolina State University, Takama Statton-Brooks at the University of Arkansas, Andrew Coston at the College of Our Lady of the Elms in Chicopee, Massachusetts, Jamese Sims at Mississippi State University, and Rochelle A. Conley at Alabama A&M University.
Florida A&M University Working to Extract Nitrogen From Wastewater to Make Fertilizer
Historically Black Florida A&M University is a partner in a five-university consortium that will create and operate the Engineering Research Center for Advancing Sustainable and Distributed Fertilizer Production.
Anthea Butler Is Honored by the American Academy of Religion
Anthea Butler, Geraldine R. Segal Professor of American Social Thought at the University of Pennsylvania, has received the 2022 Martin E. Marty Award from the American Academy of Religion. The Marty Award is given annually to an individual whose work helps advance the public understanding of religion.
Howard University to Administer a New Fellowship Program for the Department of Agriculture
Historically Black Howard University in Washington, D.C. has announced a partnership with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) that will create a new fellowship program with the goal of increasing diversity in the FAS.
Three African American Women Who Have Been Appointed Chief Diversity Officers
The new chief diversity officers are Natalie Page at St. Xavier University in Chicago, Khalilah Shabazz at Butler University in Indianapolis, and Courtney Howard at the College of Charleston in South Carolina.
Shaw University President Outraged by Traffic Stop and Search of Bus Carrying Black Students
A bus carrying 18 students and two advisers from Shaw University in Raleigh, was stopped by officers on a highway in South Carolina. Officers boarded the bus while drug-sniffing dogs examined the luggage in bins underneath the coach.
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.
University of South Carolina Partners With the National Park Service on Civil Rights History
Under a five-year agreement with the park service, the center will expand its existing work in civil rights education and scholarly research, including support for exhibits and programming at South Carolina sites in the African American Civil Rights Network.
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.
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.
Southern Flagship State Universities Launch Recruitment Initiative in Africa
Eight universities that are members of the Southeastern Conference are undertaking an effort to recruit students from Africa to come to the United States to pursue higher education. Samba Dieng of Louisiana State University, is leading a week-long recruitment trip with the senior international officers from the other seven universities.
University of Richmond Changes Name of Its Law School Due to Benefactor’s Ties to Slavery
The T.C. Williams School of Law will now be known as the University of Richmond School of Law. Williams was a student and later a trustee of the then-named Richmond College. He personally enslaved three individuals and his business enslaved dozens more.
How Introductory STEM Courses Weed Out Blacks and Other Underrepresented Students
Researchers found the association between low performance in an introductory STEM class and failure to obtain a STEM degree is stronger for Black and other underrepresented minority students than for other students, even after controlling for academic preparation in high school and intent to obtain a STEM degree.
John Carethers Will Lead All Health Sciences Entities at the University of California, San Diego
Dr. Carethers returns to the University of California, San Diego after a 13-year tenure at the University of Michigan, where he served as the C. Richard Boland Distinguished University Professor and the John G. Searle Professor and chair of the Department of Internal Medicine.
Public School Students With Teachers Educated at HBCUs Do Better at Mathematics
A new study by Lavar Edmonds, a graduate student in the economics of education at Stanford University, finds that both Black and White HBCU-trained teachers in North Carolina Public schools are more effective with Black students in mathematics than their same-race, non-HBCU peers.
Sylvia Trent-Adams Appointed President of the University of North Texas Health Science Center
Before joining the University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth in 2020, Dr. Trent-Adams was the first Black woman to serve as Deputy Surgeon General of the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps., then the first Black woman to rise to the level of Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health.
Racial Differences in How Recent College Graduates Fared During the Pandemic
For 2015-16 college graduates, 22.5 percent of African Americans reported that they had difficulty meeting essential expenses during the pandemic, compared to only 8.4 percent of Whites who graduated from college that year. Some 21 percent of African American college graduates said they delayed additional educational training due to the pandemic. This was more than double the rate for Whites.
Tonya Smith-Jackson Is the New Provost at North Carolina A&T State University
Dr. Smith-Jackson has worked for North Carolina A&T since 2013. She originally joined A&T as a professor and chair of the department of industrial and systems engineering and founder/director of the Human Factors Analytics Laboratory. She was later named senior vice provost for academic affairs.
Six HBCUs Team Up With the World Bank Group
The World Bank Group today signed a new agreement with the presidents of six historically Black colleges and universities that will promote the sharing of knowledge and talent between the development and learning institutions to advance more inclusive and sustainable social and economic development.
New Assignments for Five Black Faculty Members at Universities
Taking on new roles or duties are Brian Burt at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Kimberley McKinson at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Amber Wiley at the Stuart Weitzman School of Design of the University of Pennsylvania, Eljenette West at the Mississippi University for Women, and Chelsea Mikael Frazier at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.
New Initiative to Expand Opportunities in Classical Music for HBCU Students
Under the year-long Shared Voice program, students from Howard University, Fisk University, Morgan State University, and Morehouse College will form musical alliances with The Metropolitan Opera, faculty and students from The Juilliard School, Manhattan School of Music, Oberlin Conservatory of Music, and the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University.
Colleges and Universities Announce the Appointments of Six Black Administrators
Taking on new administrative roles are Kwesi Craig C. Brookins at Michigan State University, Jackie Taylor at Southwest Tennessee Community College in Memphis, Joseph Ballard II at the University of Michigan, Verna Orr at Benedict College in Columbia, South Carolina, Daniel Lumonya at the School for International Training in Vermont, and Kamesia M. House at Delaware State University.
Shaw University Enters Partnership With Wake Technical Community College
Shaw University, a historically Black educational institution in Raleigh, North Carolina, has entered into an agreement with Wake Technical Community College in Raleigh, that will allow for a smooth transition for Wake graduates who earn an associate's degree in computer science to transfer to Shaw University to complete a bachelor's degree.
Penn State’s Felecia Davis Honored for Her Work in Digital Design
Felecia Davis, an associate professor of architecture in the College of Arts and Architecture’s Stuckeman School at Pennsylvania State University, has been named the winner of the 2022 Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum National Design Award in the Digital Design category for her work that explores the use of computational textiles.
Three African Americans Who Have Been Name Chief Diversity Officers at Universities
Taking on the duties of chief diversity officer at their educational institutions are André L. Churchwell at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tiffany R. Hinton at Elizabeth City State University in North Carolina, and Kiwana McClung at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.
