The Graduate School of Education at Harvard University has announced that two members of the university’s Faculty of Arts & Sciences will hold joint appointments as professors of education. Both of these Black scholars have won so-called “Genius Awards” from the MacArthur Foundation.
Danielle Allen joined the Harvard faculty this fall as a professor in the department of government. She is also the director of the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics at the university. Since 2007, Dr. Allen was the UPS Foundation Professor in the School of Social Science at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. Dr. Allen was the first African American to be appointed to the permanent faculty in the 77-year history of the Institute.
Professor Allen is a summa cum laude graduate of Princeton University where she majored in the classics. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in the classics from Cambridge University. In addition, she has a master’s degree and Ph.D. in political science from Harvard University. Dr. Allen is the author of several books including Our Declaration: A Reading of the Declaration of Independence in Defense of Equality (Liveright, 2014).
Roland G. Fryer Jr., the Henry Lee Professor of Economics at Harvard University, will also hold a joint appointment as a professor in the Graduate School of Education. Professor Fryer, who at age 30 was the youngest African American scholar to be awarded tenure at Harvard, is the founder and faculty director of the Educational Innovation Laboratory at Harvard. He has been on the faculty at Harvard since 2006.
A magna cum laude graduate of the University of Texas at Arlington, Professor Fryer holds a Ph.D. from Pennsylvania State University.
Wow. I am utterly amazed that whenever someone who belongs to the Black community is awarded with a lofty position or title at White America’s best institution, it’s viewed and described as if the collective Black benefit. Nothing could be the truth if one review Dr. Roland Fryer’s work in reference to HBCUs. His work in my view is akin to “Jencks and Riesman” only in Blackface in the 21st century.
Let’s be honest for a moment, do we think for one iota that neither Dr. Fryer (i.e., the neoliberal) along with Dr. Allen will substantively address the Harvard University administration about the disparate treatment Black students, faculty, and staff endure everyday.