In Memoriam: James Russell Dumpson, 1909-2012
He was the former dean of the Graduate School of Social Science at Fordham University and was the oldest living alumnus of Cheyney University in Pennsylvania.
In Memoriam: Harrison DeWayne Whittington, 1931-2012
A founding member of the board of visitors at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, he also served as a visiting lecturer, Director of Field Experience, and an adviser to the university's Upward Bound program.
In Memoriam: James Edward Hawkins, 1949-2013
Dr. Hawkins joined the faculty at Florida A&M University in 1977 as an assistant professor of broadcast journalism. He served as dean of the journalism school from 2004 to his retirement in 2012.
In Memoriam: William Herbert Gray III, 1941-2013
The former congressman and former president of the United Negro College Fund was featured in an interview for the inaugural issue of The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education in 1992.
In Memoriam: Julius LeVonne Chambers, 1936-2013
Julius Chambers, a major figure in civil rights law, was the former chancellor of North Carolina Central University and the former director-counsel and president of the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund.
In Memoriam: Major Robert Odell Owens, 1936-2013
The former 12-term Congressman from New York was a major supporter of African American higher education and after leaving Washington, taught at Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn.
In Memoriam: John Calvin Berry, 1925-2013
Berry came to the University of Southern Mississippi as associate director of Title IV programs. In 1970 he was hired as an instructor, the first African American faculty member in university history.
In Memoriam: William M. Spann, 1927-2013
Spann joined the faculty at Shaw University in 1957. He was the founder of the university's program in kinesiology, coached women's basketball, and served as chair of the department of allied health and as athletics director.
In Memoriam: Lonnie E. Duncan, 1967-2013
Dr. Duncan was an associate professor of counseling education and counseling psychology at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo. He also served as the co-training director of the university's counseling psychology doctoral program.
In Memoriam: Hazo W. Carter Jr., 1946-2014
Dr. Carter served as president of West Virginia State University for 25 years from 1987 to 2012. He was the longest serving president in the university's history.
In Memoriam: Najee E. Muhammad, 1944-2014
Dr. Muhammad joined the faculty at Ohio University in 1996 and taught in the department of educational studies. He served for one year as interim chair of the department of African American studies.
In Memoriam: CherRhonda Smith-Hollins, 1980-2014
At Prairie View A&M, Dr. Smith-Hollins worked in the areas of student retention and recruitment. She coordinated the engineering school's summer programs and was adviser to the university's chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers.
In Memoriam: Anna Lee Cooke, 1923-2014
Anna L. Cooke, who served on the staff at Lane College, a historically Black educational institution in Jackson, Tennessee, for a quarter century, died on June 28 at the Jackson Madison County Hospital. She was 91 years old.
In Memoriam: Abdulalim A. Shabazz, 1927-2014
Abdulalim Shabazz was a Distinguish Professor of Mathematics at Grambling State University in Louisiana. In September 2000, President Clinton presented Dr. Shabazz with a Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring.
In Memoriam: Tritobia Hayes Benjamin, 1944-2014
Dr. Benjamin served for 44 years on the faculty at Howard University in Washington, D.C. She was an accomplished art historian whose research focused on the works of African American women.
In Memorian: Haskell S. Bingham, 1930-2014
Dr. Bingham, the former provost at Virginia State University, traced his roots to a Virginia slave in 1703. He also was a descendant of the slave Gabriel, who was executed in 1800 for planning a slave rebellion in Richmond.
In Memorian: Wilbert Augustus Cheatham, 1942-2014
Gus Cheatham was the longest-serving vice president in the history of Loma Linda University in California. He also served as deputy assistant secretary and deputy director of the Office for Civil Rights in what was then the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare.
In Memoriam: Dorothy James Orr, 1920-2015
Dorothy James Orr taught at Fordham University in The Bronx, New York and was vice chair of the African American Leadership Forum for Education Policy at Pace University in New York.
In Memoriam: Verdelle B. Bellamy, 1927-2015
In 1963, Verdelle Bellamy received a master's degree in nursing from Emory University. She was one of two Black students to earn a degree that day, the first African Americans to earn degrees from the university.
In Memoriam: Franklin Jerome Anderson, 1954-2015
Franklin J. Anderson was a lecturer in African American studies and director of the Challenger Program at the University of Houston. The Challenger Program is a TRIO program for student support services, funded by the U.S. Department of Education.
In Memoriam: Wallace T. Dooley Jr. 1947-2015
Wallace Dooley served as an athletics administrator at several historically Black colleges and universities. In 2001, Dooley was appointed the media relations director and assistant commissioner for the Southwest Athletic Conference.
In Memoriam: Sybil C. Mobley, 1925-2015
Dr. Mobley was named chair of the business department at Florida A&M University in 1970 and in 1974 became the founding dean of the School of Business and Industry. She served in that role until her retirement in 2003.
In Memoriam: Blanche Macdonald Francis, 1925-2015
A former instructor of modern dance at two universities, Blanche Macdonald Francis was the "First Lady" of Xavier University in New Orleans for more than 45 years.
In Memoriam: Bill T. Ridgeway, 1926-2015
When Dr. Ridgeway joined the faculty at Eastern Illinois University in 1966, he was one of very few African Americans on the faculty. He taught at Eastern Illinois University for many years. retiring in the 1980s.
In Memoriam: William Alexander Darity Sr., 1924-2015
Williams Alexander Darity Sr. was professor emeritus of public health and the founding dean of the School of Health Sciences at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
In Memoriam: Cynthia V. Clemons
Cynthia V. Clemons was a professor and director of the Center for Entrepreneurship Studies at Bennett College in Greensboro, North Carolina. She had also served as dean of the Division of Social Sciences and Education at the college.
In Memoriam: Russell G. Hamilton, 1934-2016
Dr. Hamilton, professor emeritus of Spanish and Portuguese at Vanderbilt University, joined the faculty at the university in 1984 as dean for graduate studies and research. He was the first African American to serve as a dean of a Vanderbilt school or college.
In Memoriam: Crawford Joseph Mims, 1922-2016
During his long career in higher education, Dr. Sims taught at Rust College, Shorter College, and Philander Smith College. He was provost at Philander Smith College and on three occasions served as interim president of the historically Black educational institution.
In Memoriam: David Nganga Mburu, 1965-2016
A native of Kenya, Dr. Mburu taught courses in the language of Kiswahili and popular culture in East Africa at the University of Kansas. Earlier, he taught at California State University, Sacramento.
In Memoriam: Jewell Plummer Cobb, 1924-2017
In 1981, Professor Cobb was appointed president of California State University, Fullerton. She was the first African American women to lead a major university west of the Mississippi River.
In Memoriam: Julia Blanche Anderson, 1951-2017
Julia B. Anderson was the founding director of the Institute for Racial and Ethnic Health Studies at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Later, she was a special assistant to the deputy director of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.
In Memoriam: Charles Lyons Jr., 1926-2017
Dr. Lyons became chancellor of Fayetteville State University in 1969. He served in that role for 18 years before resigning in 1987.
In Memoriam: Jacqueline Bolden Beck, 1931-2017
Dr. Beck started her career at Florida A&M University in 1958 as an instructor of nursing. She retired in 2000 after serving as the leader of the School of Allied Health Sciences at the university for 18 years.
In Memoriam: Leon Ndugu Chancler, 1952-2018
Leon Chancler was an accomplished drummer who worked with some of the biggest names in the music business and taught for 23 years in the jazz and popular music programs at Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.
In Memoriam: David G. Carter, 1942-2018
David G. Carter was the former chancellor of the Connecticut State University System and former president of Eastern Connecticut State University. He was the first African American to serve as president of a four-year institution of higher education in Connecticut.
In Memoriam: John Kenneth Lee, 1923-2018
J. Kenneth Lee, was a prominent civil rights attorney who was one of five African American students who in 1951 enrolled at the University of North Carolina School of Law. Earlier he had taught at North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro.
