University of Virginia Honors Its First African American Doctoral Graduate
In 1953, Walter N. Ridley earned a doctorate from the Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia. Dr. Ridley holds the distinction of being the first African American to earn a doctoral degree from a historically white university in the South.
Beryl McEwen Honored by the Association for Business Teaching and Research
Dr. McEwen was named interim provost at North Carolina A&T State Univerity in 2017 and provost in 2018. Earlier, she had been serving as dean of the College of Business at the university and vice provost for strategic planning and institutional effectiveness. Dr. McEwen joined the faculty at the university in 1995.
Michelle Samuel-Foo Is the First African American to Win a Major Entomological Award
Michelle Samuel-Foo, an assistant professor at Alabama State University, has been selected to receive the Founders Memorial Recognition, one of the highest nationwide honors given by the Entomological Society of America.
Rion Amilcar Scott Wins the Towson University Prize for Literature
The Towson University Prize for Literature is awarded annually for a single book or book-length manuscript of fiction, poetry, drama, or imaginative nonfiction. Scott teaches creative writing at the University of Maryland, College Park.
University of Wisconsin Historian Wins Book Prize
Jacqueline-Bethel Mougoué, an assistant professor of African cultural studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has been awarded the 2020 Frances Richardson Keller-Sierra Prize from the Western Association of Women Historians.
Saint Louis University Honors a Pioneeering Black Faculty Member
Saint Louis University has announced annual scholarships in honor of longtime St. Louis community leader, civil rights pioneer, and publisher Donald M. Suggs. Dr. Suggs was the first African-American to be appointed an associate clinical professor of oral surgery at the Saint Louis University Dental School.
Two African American Historians to Receive Lillian Smith Book Awards
Jelani M. Favors, an associate professor of history at Clayton State University in Morrow, Georgia, and Brandon K. Winford, an associate professor of history at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, were honored for the books on social justice topics.
Vanderbilt University Scholar Named a Dreyfus Foundation Teacher-Scholar
Steven D. Townsend is an assistant professor of chemistry at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. He is the only African American among the 14 Dreyfus Foundation Teacher Scholars for 2020. Each scholar receives a $100,000 unrestricted research grant.
Emory University’s Jericho Brown Wins the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry
In selecting Professor Brown's collection of poetry for this honor, the Pulitzer board called it “a collection of masterful lyrics that combine delicacy with historical urgency in their loving evocation of bodies vulnerable to hostility and violence.”
Melvin Terrell Honored by NASPA – Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education
Melvin C. Terrell, vice president emeritus at Northeastern Illinois University, was selected as the recipient of the 2020 Bobby E. Leach Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Award presented by NASPA. The award is named in honor of the first person of color to serve as NASPA president.
University of Massachusetts Names Its Fine Arts Center After a Former Chancellor
Dr. Randolph Bromery first came to the University of Massachusetts as a professor of geology in 1967. At the time he was one of only seven Black faculty members out of a total faculty of about 1,000. There were only 36 African American students on campus out of a total student body of 14,000.
Geneive Henry of Susquehanna University Honored by the Council on Undergraduate Research
Geneive Henry is the Charles B. Degenstein Professor of Chemistry at Susquehanna University in Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania. She has been awarded the Outstanding Mentorship Award from the Chemistry Division of the Council on Undergraduate Research.
Cynthia Dillard Wins Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Foundations of Education
Each year, the award is presented by the American Educational Studies Association to an individual "who has published significantly influential works, excels in mentorship, provides leadership and growth to the academic field and has a reputation in educational foundations."
Danielle Conway Honored by the George Washington University Law School
Danielle M. Conway, dean of the Dickinson Law School at Pennsylvania State University, was named the 2020 recipient of the Belva Ann Lockwood Award from George Washington University Law School. The award recognizes the accomplishments and pioneering spirit of women leaders in the legal profession.
Talladega College Recognizes Its President by Naming a New Building in His Honor
The board of trustees of historically Black Talladega College in Alabama voted to name the newly constructed 47,000-square-foot student center/arena in honor of the college’s 20th and current president, Billy C. Hawkins. Dr. Hawkins has led the college since 2008.
Ann Brothers Smith Honored by the American Association of University Administrators
Dr. Smith, a retired public school administrator, has served as a member of the West Virginia State University Board of Governors since 2011, serving as chair, vice chair, and chair of several board committees. She is the former associate superintendent for school leadership for the Detroit public school system.
Fatimah Jackson to Receive the Charles R. Darwin Lifetime Achievement Award
Fatimah Jackson is a professor of biology and the director of the W. Montague Cobb Research Laboratory at Howard University in Washington, D.C. She is the first woman of African descent to receive this prestigious award from the American Association of Physical Anthropologists.
Three Black Women Named Winners of National Book Critics Circle Awards
Each year, the National Book Critics Circle presents awards for the finest books published in English in six categories: Fiction, Nonfiction, Biography, Autobiography, Poetry, and Criticism. Three of the six winning authors this year are Black women. Each has some ties to higher education.
Cornell University’s Derrick Spires Wins the St. Louis Mercantile Library Prize
The award, given by the Bibliographical Society of America, honors research in the bibliography of American literature and history. Dr. Spires is an associate professor of English at Cornell University. He joined the faculty last fall after teaching at the University of Illinois.
A Trio of African American Men Receive Notable Honors and Awards
The honorees are J. Marshall Shepherd, the director of the atmospheric sciences program at the University of Georgia, H. Carl McCall, former chairman of the State University of New York Board of Trustees, and Linwood Whitten, director of diversity and international affairs at Alabama State University.
Texas Woman’s University Scholar to Be Honored by the Public Leadership Education Network
Mary Saunders, a retired major general of the U.S. Air Force and the founding executive director of the Jane Nelson Institute for Women’s Leadership at Texas Woman's University, has been selected to receive a lifetime achievement award from the Public Leadership Education Network.
Four African American Scholars Receive Notable Honors or Awards
The honorees are Paul Adams of the University of Arkansas, Constance Smith Hendricks of Tuskegee University in Alabama, Sakeena Everett of the University of Georgia, and the late Judge Damon Keith, a distinguished alumnus of Howard University School of Law.
University of Chicago Scholar Receives Book Award From the College Art Association
Darby English, the Carl Darling Buck Professor of Art History and the director of the Scherer Center for the Study of American Culture at the University of Chicago, was selected to receive the Frank Jewett Mather Award for Art Criticism from the College Art Association.
Four Black Faculty Members Receive Notable Honors and Awards
The honorees are Tressie McMillan Cottom of Virginia Commonwealth University, Mejai Bola Mike Avoseh of the University of South Dakota, Cle Cousins of the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, and Derek D. Bardell of Delgado Community College in New Orleans.
Suzanne L. Weekes Received Teaching Award From the Mathematical Association of America
Suzanne L. Weekes, a professor in the mathematical sciences department at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts, has received the prestigious Deborah and Franklin Tepper Haimo Award for Distinguished College or University Teaching of Mathematics.
Duke University School of Medicine Honors the Late Brenda Armstrong
Duke University commissioned a portrait of Dr. Brenda Armstrong, who was the second Black woman in the United States to become a board-certified pediatric cardiologist. She served as a professor of pediatrics, associate dean for admissions, and senior associate dean for student diversity, recruitment, and retention at the university's medical school.
David Williams II to Be Honored Posthumously by the National Collegiate Athletic Association
The late David Williams II, the former athletic director at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, is the 2020 winner of the NCAA president's Pat Summitt Award. The award honors an individual who has demonstrated devotion to the development of college athletes.
Kishauna Soljour Receives Dissertation Award From the Council of Graduate Schools
In 2019, Kishauna E. Soljour became the first Black woman to receive a Ph.D. in History from Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University in New York. Her doctorate dissertation was recently honored by the Council of Graduate Schools.
Former Tennessee State University Faculty Member Given Posthumous Honor
The Tennessean, the daily newspaper in Nashville, has named a conference room in its headquarters to honor the late Getahn Ward, a reporter for the paper and an alumnus and adjunct faculty member at historically Black Tennessee State University.
Hampton Honors Dean With More Than 50 Years of Service to the University
Jewel B. Long, dean of residence life at Hampton University in Virginia, is stepping down from her post. In recognition of her 54 years of continuous service to the educational institution, Hampton University is naming the lobby of a residence hall in her honor.
University of Georgia’s John Mativo Honored by the Society of Automotive Engineers
John M. Mativo, an associate professor in the department of career and information studies in the College of Education at the University of Georgia, was recognized as the Society of Automotive Engineers’ Outstanding Faculty Advisor.
Winston-Salem State University Honors Retiring Chief of Police
Patricia Norris stepped down as chief of campus police at Winston-Salem State University on December 31. Her husband, Robert Norris, made a secret donation to the university so that the police and public safety building on campus would be renamed in her honor.
University of Kansas Renames its Integrated Sciences Building for Bernadette Gray-Little
Dr. Gray-Little became the 17th chancellor of the University of Kansas in 2009. She is the only woman to serve in that role. Dr. Gray-Little stepped down as chancellor after the 2016-17 academic year.
Tulane University Honors Its First African American Students
In 1966 and 1967, Deidre Dumas Labat and Reynold T. Décou became the first African American undergraduates to earn degrees from Newcomb College and Tulane University, respectively. The university recently renamed a residence complex in their honor.
Rice University Lecturer Wins the 2019 Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence
The award has been given out for the past 13 years by Baton Rouge Area Foundation. It recognizes the work of African American fiction writers and honors the legacy of author Ernest J. Gaines who died last month.
Pamela Bracey Is Named Collegiate Teacher of the Year in Business Education
Pamela Bracey, an associate professor in the department of instructional systems and workforce development in the College of Education at Mississippi State University, was named Collegiate Teacher of the Year by the National Business Education Association.
