City of Philadelphia to Honor Slain Educator and Civil Rights Activist, Octavius Catto
Catto graduated as the valedictorian of the Institute for Colored Youth, which today is Cheyney University of Pennsylvania. He later taught English literature, mathematics and classical languages at the institution. He was murdered in 1871 while trying to defend African Americans' right to vote.
Two African American Women Professors Honored With Major Awards
The honorees are Estella Atekwana, Regents Professor and director of the Boone Pickens School of Geology at Oklahoma State University, and Nikki Giovanni, University Distinguished Professor of English in the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences at Virginia Tech.
Endowed Scholarship Fund at Jackson State Honors Former Political Science Professor
Jackson State University in Mississippi has created an endowed scholarship fund in honor of Charles Holmes, the former professor and chair of the department of political science in the College of Liberal Arts.
MIT Debuts Excellence Through Adversity Award to Honor Robbin Chapman of Wellesley College
Robbin Chapman is the former manager of diversity recruiting at the School of Architecture and Planning at MIT and also served as the inaugural assistant associate provost for faculty equity at the university. She joined the administration of Wellesley College in suburban Boston in 2011.
Honors or Awards for Three African American Women at Major Universities
The honorees are Charlotte Baker of Florida A&M University, Shirley T. Frye of North Carolina A&T State University, and Karen Bankston of the College of Nursing at the University of Cincinnati.
Tufts University Names Residence Hall After Its First Black Tenure-Track Faculty Member
Bernard W. Harleston was hired as an assistant professor of psychology at Tufts University in 1965. He later held an endowed chair in psychology and served as dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at the university. In 1981, Dr. Harleston was named president of City College of New York.
Harvard University Honors Its First African American Graduate
Harvard University recently unveiled a portrait of Richard Theodore Greener that will hang in Annenberg Hall along with other luminaries of Harvard's past. Prior to 2005, only two of the university's approximately 750 portraits were of people of color.
Yale University Names a Residential College in Honor of Pauli Murray
Yale is keeping the name of slavery proponent John Calhoun for one of its residential colleges but a new college will be named for Pauli Murray, the civil rights pioneer who earned a doctorate at Yale Law School in 1965.
Third Sister From Same Family Named Valedictorian at Dillard University
Stephanie Akpapuna from Lagos, Nigeria, is the third member of her family to be named valedictorian at Dillard University in New Orleans. She will continue her education in the master of fine arts degree program in stage and production management at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.
Professor Anita Hill to Be Honored With the $10,000 Spendlove Prize
Professor Hill will be honored on October 24 by the University of California, Merced, 25 years after she testified before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, alleging sexual harassment by Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas.
Old Dominion University Honors Its First African American Rector
The board of visitors of Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, has voted to name the university's new residence hall after Hugo A. Owens, who led the university's board of visitors from 1992 to 1993.
Choreographer Bill T. Jones to Receive the International Humanities Medal
The award, administered by Washington University in St. Louis, recognizes the lifetime work of a noted scholar, writer, or artist who has made a significant and sustained contribution to the world of letters or arts. The award comes with a $25,000 prize.
Prestigious Honors for Black Scholars at Major Universities
The honorees are Adebayo A. Ogundipe, an assistant professor of engineering at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia, and Harvey L. White, professor in the School of Public Policy and Administration at the University of Delaware.
University of Colorado Honors Its First Black Faculty Member and First Black Librarian
The Charles and Mildred Nilon Scholarship will be offered to students who "are committed to advancing educational opportunities in under-resourced schools, especially those that serve African American communities."
A Tribute to the First African American Woman Graduate of the Yale School of...
Helen Eugenia Hagan was an accomplished concert pianist, composer, and educator who graduated from the Yale School of Music in 1912. She is buried in an unmarked grave in New Haven's Evergreen Cemetery. That is about to change.
Three African American Men in Higher Education Receive Prestigious Awards
The honorees are Walter Kimbrough, president of Dillard University in New Orleans, Joseph A. Johnson III, a retired professor of physics at Florida A&M University, and Isiah Warner, a professor of chemistry at Louisiana State University.
The First Portrait of a Person of Color in Harvard’s Faculty Room
Peter J. Gomes was pastor of Memorial Church at Harvard University for more than 40 years before his death in 2011. Among the nearly 40 notable figures from Harvard's past whose portraits now hang in the Faculty Room, Gomes is the first person of color among the esteemed group.
Orlando Patterson Honored for Lifetime Achievement by the Cleveland Foundation
Orlando Patterson, the John Cowles Professor of Sociology at Harvard University, will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award as part of the Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards that will be presented this September in Cleveland.
Two Blacks Scholars in the Twelfth Class of Jefferson Science Fellows
Barrett S. Caldwell is a professor of industrial engineering at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, and Oladele Ogunseitan is a professor of social ecology at the University of California, Irvine.
Two African American Academics Win National Book Critic Circle Awards
This year, two of the six winners of the National Book Critics Circle Awards are African Americans with current academic affiliations. They are Ross Gay who teaches in the creative writing program at Indiana University and Margo Jefferson who teaches at Columbia University and The New School.
Valerie Montgomery Rice Honored by Georgia-Pacific Corporation
Valerie Montgomery Rice is president and dean of the Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta. She was honored by Georgia-Pacific Corporation for being strong and resilient in a traditional male occupation.
Prestigious Honors Bestowed on Two Black Scholars
Patricia Green-Powell of Florida A&M University won an award from the National Association of Student Affairs Professionals and Yemane Asmeron of the University of New Mexico was honored by the Geochemical Society and the European Association of Geochemistry.
Two African Americans Are Among the 11 New Members of the National Academy of...
William F. Tate is the Edward Mallinckrodt Distinguished University Professor in Arts and Sciences and Carol Camp Yeakey is the Marshall S. Snow Professor in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis.
A Trio of Black Scholars Selected for Prestigious Awards
The winners of notable awards are Akil Khalfani of Essex County College in Newark, New Jersey, Angele Kingue of Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, and James L. Moore III of Ohio State University.
Distinguished Honors for Two African American Scholars
The honorees are Adriel A. Hilton, executive assistant and chief of staff for the president of Grambling State University in Louisiana and Otelia Cromwell, the first African American to graduate from Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts.
Duke University to Further Honor the Black Man Who Designed Much of Its Campus
Duke University has announced that the main quadrangle with the university's initial academic and residential buildings will be named Abele Quad. An African American architect, Julian Francis Abele, designed many of the buildings on the quadrangle.
Notable Honors and Awards for Five Black Scholars
The honorees are Stephan Moore of the University of the Virgin Islands, Sharon Draper, an author and retired educator, Alfred Whitesides Jr., former chair of the board at the University of North Carolina Asheville, Tanure Ojaide of the University of North Carolina Charlotte, and Airea D. Matthews of the University of Michigan.
Ross Gay to Be Presented With the 2016 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award
The award, which comes with a $100,000 prize, is given annually to a mid-career poet. Ross Gay teaches in the creative writing program at Indiana University and for the low-residency master of fine arts degree program in poetry at Drew University in New Jersey.
University of Scranton Recognizes Its First Black Graduate by Renaming a Building in His...
Louis Stanley Brown was born in 1902 in Scranton. At the age of 17 he earned a commercial degree from what was then St. Thomas College, later renamed the University of Scranton. Recently, the university renamed a campus building in honor of Louis Stanley Brown.
Four Black Scholars Selected to Receive Notable Awards
The honorees are JoAnne Epps, dean of the law school at Temple University in Philadelphia, Virginia Caples of Alabama A&M University, Julia Bryan of Pennsylvania State University, and Charles A. Watson of the University of Rhode Island.
Spalding University Honors Its First Black Graduates
The new Patricia Lauderdale and Barbara Miller Endowed Scholarship honors the first two African Americans who graduated from what was then Nazareth College in 1951.
Walden University Names Its School of Social Work in Honor of Barbara Solomon
Dr. Solomon played a major role in the development of the social work program at Walden University. Earlier in her career, she was professor, vice provost, and dean of the Graduate School at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.
Three Black Scholars Honored With Prestigious Awards
The honorees are Nina Caldwell of Maryville University in St. Louis, Wondwossen Gebreyes of the College of Veterinary Medicine at Ohio State University, and Aldon Morris of Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.
Professor Kimberlé Crenshaw Honored by the American Bar Foundation
Kimberlé W. Crenshaw, a professor of law at Columbia University and a professor of law at the University of California, Los Angeles, will receive the Outstanding Scholar Award from the Fellows of the American Bar Foundation.
Three African American Men Among the Finalists for the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award
Claremont Graduate University in California has announced five finalists for the $100,000 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award. Three of the five finalists are African American men.
Fielding Graduate University Names New Center for Marie Fielder
Fielding Graduate University in Santa Barbara, California, has announced the establishment of the Marie Fielder Center for Democracy, Leadership, and Education, a multidisciplinary research and advocacy center aimed at advancing diversity and inclusion throughout society.
