NoViolet Bulawayo Wins Two Awards for Her Debut Novel
Bulawayo, a Wallace Stegner Fellow at Stanford University, is a native of Zimbabwe. She won the Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award and the Etisalat Prize for her book We Need New Names.
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Wins National Book Critics Circle Award
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a summa cum laude graduate of Eastern Connecticut State University and holds master's degrees from Johns Hopkins University and Yale University.
James Haywood Rolling Jr. Named Art Educator of the Year
Dr. Rolling is an associate professor in the School of Education and the College of Visual and Performing Arts at Syracuse University in New York.
Three African American Faculty Members Win Awards
The honorees are Viola L. Acoff of the University of Alabama, Dorinda Carter Andrews of Michigan State University and Margaret A. Burnham of the Northeastern University School of Law.
University of Georgia to Honor Its First Black Applicant
The University of Georgia, which more than 60 years ago did not consider Horace Ward's application for admission because of his race, has decided to award him an honorary doctor of laws degree.
Boston College Professor Named Child Advocate of the Year
Ruth G. McRoy, the Donahue and DiFelice Professor of Social Work at Boston College, has been selected to receive the Child Advocate of the Year Award from the North American Council on Adoptable Children.
Three Black Scholars Honored With Prestigious Awards
The honorees are Kennard Brown of the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Velma McBride Murry of Vanderbilt University, and Gregory H. Robinson of the University of Georgia.
Brandeis University Decides Not to Award an Honorary Degree to Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Ali is a Somalian-born women's rights activist who once held a seat in the Dutch parliament. Some faculty and students at Brandeis objected to her past statements about Islam.
Two Black Scholars Win Awards
Adebayo Oyebade, a professor of history at Tennessee State University in Nashville, and Derrick Harriell, an assistant professor of English and African American studies at the University of Mississippi, have been honored.
Three African American Women Scholars Earn Notable Awards
The honorees are Mable Morrison of Delaware State University, Keisha N. Blain of Princeton University, and Stephanie Luster-Teasley of North Carolina A&T State University.
Claudia Rankine of Pomona College Wins the 2014 Jackson Poetry Prize
The judges for the Jackson Poetry Prize stated that "the moral vision of Claudia Rankine's poetry is astounding. . . . In both vision and voice she has distinguished herself as a singular perspective, a consummate talent, and a courageous spirit."
Tuskegee Flight Instructor Honored on U.S. Postage Stamp
Charles Alfred Anderson, the chief flight instructor of the aviation school of Tuskegee Institute in Alabama during World War II who died in 1996, has been honored with a U.S. postage stamp bearing his image.
Two African American Women Selected for Notable Awards
Allison Joseph of Southern Illinois University received the Paladin Award from the literary journal Rhino Poetry and Velma McBride Murry of Vanderbilt University was honored by the Society of Prevention Research.
Two African American Professors Are the Recipients of Notable Awards
Patrice Jackson-Ayotunde received the Invention of the Year Award from the Office of Technology Commercialization at the University of Maryland and Shontavia Johnson of Drake Law School was honored by the International Trademark Association.
Mary Frances Berry Honored by the Organization of American Historians
Mary Frances Berry, the Geraldine R. Segal Professor of American Social Thought and professor of history at the University of Pennsylvania was honored for "significantly enriched our understanding and appreciation of American history."
Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences Names an Award for a Black Scholar
Janice Joseph is a Distinguished Professor of Criminal Justice at the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey. She is the first person of African descent and the first foreign-born individual to serve as president of the ACJS.
Jewell Parker Rhodes Wins the Jane Addams Children’s Book Award
Dr. Rhodes holds the Piper Endowed Chair and is a professor of English and the founding director of the Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative Writing at Arizona State University. She was honored for her novel Sugar.
Beverly Daniel Tatum Elected to the American Philosophical Society
The American Philosophical Society was founded in 1743 by Benjamin Franklin. This year 33 new members were elected to the society. Of the 33 new members, it appears that only one is an African American.
Nathaniel Mackey Honored by the Poetry Foundation
Nathaniel Mackey, professor emeritus of literature at the University of California, Santa Cruz, has been named the winner of the 2014 Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize. The prize comes with a $100,000 award.
Notable Honors and Awards Relating to Blacks in Higher Education
Rosie Phillips Bingham of the University of Memphis had an award named in her honor. Cristal Truscott of Prairie View A&M University, Elias S. Siraj of Temple University, and the Africana studies program at Indiana University/Purdue University Indianapolis were also honored.
New Prize to Honor African Poetry
The Glenna Luschei Prizewill be awarded annually to a collection of poetry published in the previous year by an African poet. The judge for this year's competition is Nigerian novelist and poet Chris Abani.
Georgia Tech to Honor Zimbabwe Human Rights Attorney Beatrice Mtetwa With $100,000 Prize
The Ivan Allen Jr. Prize for Social Courage recognizes "individuals who, by standing up for clear moral principles in the social arena, have positively affected public discourse at the risk of their own careers, livelihoods and even their lives."
Oregon State Names Its Newest Dormitory in Honor of Its First Black Male Graduate
William Tebeau enrolled at what was then Oregon State College in 1943. He was not permitted to live on campus. He took a job tending the furnace at a fraternity house in return for a small room in the basement. He earned a degree in chemical engineering in 1948.
Anita Allen Honored by the Electronic Privacy Information Center
Dr. Allen is vice provost for faculty at the University of Pennsylvania and the Henry R. Silverman Professor of Law and Professor of Philosophy at the university's law school. She received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the EPIC.
University of California, Riverside Scholar Earns Major Literary Award
Nalo Hopkinson, associate professor of creative writing at the University of California, Riverside, is the recipient of the Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy from the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America.
Michael Drake Awarded the University of California’s Presidential Medal
Michael V. Drake, the outgoing chancellor of the University of California, Irvine, was awarded the Presidential Medal from University of California system's president Janet Napolitano. He will soon become president of Ohio State University.
Alva Ferdinand Wins Outstanding Dissertation Award
The assistant professor of public health at Texas A&M University, received the Outstanding Dissertation Award from AcademyHealth, the academic professional association for health services and health policy researchers.
Three HBCU Executives Honored With Awards
The honorees are Julie D. Goodwin, general counsel at Morgan State University, William R. Harvey, president of Hampton University, and Glenda Baskin Glover, president of Tennessee State University.
Ohio University Pays Tribute to Its African American President
The board of trustees of Ohio University in Athens produced a video tribute to President Roderick J. McDavis to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of his appointment as president of the university.
Isaac Crumbley to Be Honored by the Geological Society of America
Isaac J. Crumbley, associate vice president at Fort Valley State University in Georgia, will be honored for his efforts to open the geological sciences to minority students.
Howard University’s William Spriggs Earns Honor From the NAACP
Dr. Spriggs is a professor of economics at Howard and also serves as chief economist for the AFL-CIO. He is the former assistant secretary for policy at the U.S. Department of Labor.
University of Delaware Scholar Honored by the American Institute of Chemical Engineers
Babatunda A. Ogunnaike, dean of engineering at the University of Delaware, has been selected to receive the 2014 Eminent Chemical Engineer Award from the Minority Affairs Council of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers.
Hampton University Professor Wins National Award for the Teaching of Science
Edison R. Fowlks, a professor of biology and director of the Biotechnology Laboratory at Hampton University in Virginia, will be honored this December by the American Society of Cell Biology.
University of Colorado Professor Wins PEN Open Book Award
Professor Ruth Ellen Kocher was honored for her collection of poems, domina Un/blued (Tupelo Press, 2013). She will receive the award, and a $5,000 cash prize, at a ceremony in New York City on September 29.
Victor R. McCrary Jr. Named a Fellow of the American Chemical Society
Dr. McCrary is vice president for research and economic development at Morgan State University. He is being honored for his research at AT&T Bell Laboratories, the National Institute of Standards, and the Applied Physics Laboratory at Johns Hopkins University.
University of Kentucky Scholar Named Rhetorician of the Year
Adam J. Banks, professor in the department of writing, rhetoric, and digital studies in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Kentucky, was named the 2014 Rhetorician of the Year by the The Young Rhetoricians Conference.
