In Memoriam: T. Vaughn Walker, 1950-2019
Dr. Walker was senior professor of Black church studies at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. He was the first tenured African American faculty member in the 150-year history of the seminary. He was also the first African American full professor.
In Memoriam: Rodney Kelvin Sisco, 1964-2018
Sisco was a 1984 graduate of Wheaton College, earning a bachelor's degree in sociology and Christian education. He joined the staff at the college after graduation and remained a member of the Wheaton community for the rest of his life.
In Memoriam: Irene Leota Moore Wright, 1927-2019
Throughout her career, Dr. Wright held faculty positions as Atlanta University, Clark College, Spelman College, Tuskegee Institute, Albany State College, and Saint Louis University.
In Memoriam: Richard Payne, 1951-2019
Richard Payne was the Esther Colliflower Professor Emeritus of Medicine and Divinity at Duke Divinity School. Earlier in his career, he taught at the University of Texas and held the Anne Burnett Tandy Chair in Neurology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City.
In Memoriam: Lamin Sanneh, 1942-2019
Lamin Sanneh, the D. Willis James Professor of Missions and World Christianity at Yale Divinity School, passed away on January 6 from a stroke.
In Memoriam: Tasia Smith, 1986-2018
Tasia Smith was the Evergreen Assistant Professor of Counseling Psychology and Human Services at the University of Oregon. Only 32 years old at the time of her death, Dr. Smith had joined the faculty at the University of Oregon in 2016.
In Memoriam: Henry J. Durand Jr., 1948-2018
Dr. Durand began his career at the University at Buffalo in 1990. He held many positions throughout his tenure, ultimately becoming senior associate vice provost of academic affairs and executive director of Cora P. Maloney College.
In Memoriam: Leon J. “Stan” Lomax, 1923-2018
Throughout his 14 years as head coach, he led Fort Valley State University to four Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championships. In addition to his football tenure, Lomax served as assistant to the president of the university.
In Memoriam: Rita Smith-Wade-El, 1948-2018
Dr. Smith-Wade-El served as a professor of psychology and the director of the African Americans studies minor program at Millersville University in Pnnsylvania. She was also co-director of the Ethnic Studies Learning Community Freshman Experience at the university.
In Memoriam: Nadia Dominque Morgan, 1983-2018
Nadia Dominique Morgan, a rheumatologist and an instructor in medicine at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, died in a hit-and-run automobile accident in Baltimore County on December 15. She was 35 years old.
In Memoriam: Jerry M. Adams, 1959-2018
Jerry M. Adams was a former classroom technology instructor in university media services at the University of Delaware. He served on the satff at the university for five years.
In Memoriam: Olivia Juliette Hooker, 1915-2018
During World War II, Dr. Hooker became the first Black woman to serve on active duty with the United States Coast Guard. She used her G.I. benefits to fund her graduate education at Columbia University and the University of Rochester. Professor Hooker served on the faculty at Fordham University in New York from 1963 to 1985.
In Memoriam: Gladys Hope Franklin White, 1916-2018
After a long career in education, Dr. White retired from North Carolina A&T State University and founded Project CARE, an SAT/ACT Prep project in Elizabeth City, North Carolina.
In Memoriam: Ulysses S. Washington, 1920-2018
Washington began his career at then-Delaware State College in 1949 as an assistant professor of agriculture education and farm mechanics. He retired from his position as chair of the department of agriculture at Delaware State University in 1991.
In Memoriam: George Taliaferro, 1927-2018
George Taliaferro was the first African-American ever drafted by a National Football League team. After his football career was over, he served in many roles in higher education in Indiana and at Morgan State University in Baltimore.
In Memoriam: Ntozake Shange, 1948-2018
Shange was a professor of women's studies at the University of Florida from 2002 to 2006. She was the author of the 1975 Tony Award-nominated play "For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf."
In Memoriam: Sharon Tolbert-Glover, 1940-2018
When Sharon Tolbert-Glover was only 15 years old, she became a nun at the convent of the Servites of Mary in Illinois. When she was assigned to a parish in suburban Chicago, the all-White congregants refused to accept her, causing her to resign from the order. She later had a long career in higher education.
In Memoriam: Janette Hoston Harris, 1939-2018
In 1960, Janette Hoston Harris was one of six Southern University students arrested for attempting to desegregate an all-White lunch counter. As a result of this, the governor of Louisiana ordered the expulsion of all six students from the university and prohibited them from attending any college in the state.
In Memoriam: Percy J. Vaughn, Jr., 1932-2018
Percy J. Vaughn, Jr. was the founding dean of Alabama State University's College of Business Administration. He joined the faculty at the university in 1975 and served as a professor of marketing until his retirement 35 years later in 2010.
In Memoriam: Roosevelt Wilson, 1940-2018
Wilson joined the staff at Florida A&M University in 1969 as the director of sports information. He held various roles during his tenure at the university including director of university publications, director of athletics, and professor in what is now the School of Journalism & Graphic Communication.
In Memoriam: Mildred Ollee, 1934-2018
Mildred Ollee served as president of Seattle Central Community College in Washington State from 2003 to 2010. She worked in higher education for over 40 years.
In Memoriam: Constance Bland, 1958-2018
Dr. Bland joined the faculty at Mississippi Valley State University in 1991 and was promoted to chair of the mathematics, computer, and information sciences department in 1999. She was named vice president of academic affairs in 2014.
In Memoriam: Brenda Armstrong, 1949-2018
Brenda Armstrong was a professor and the senior associate dean for student diversity, recruitment, and retention at Duke University School of Medicine. She was the second Black woman in the United Stated to become a board-certified pediatric cardiologist.
In Memoriam: Melvin Curtis Tyler (1956-2018)
Melvin Curtis Tyler served as vice chancellor of student affairs and enrollment management at the University of Missouri-Kansas City until just 10 days before his death.
In Memoriam: Robert Judson (1941-2018)
Dr. Judson began his career at Pasco-Hernando State College in Florida in 1972. He became the school's first instructor, first recruiter, and first financial aid coordinator. In 1976, he was promoted to dean of East Campus and in 1994 he became the school's second president.
In Memoriam: Linda Rae Daniels, 1953-2018
Linda R. Daniels worked for Ohio University for 18 years, most recently as director of multicultural programs. Earlier, she was on the staff at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown for 14 years.
In Memoriam: Paul J. Burgett, 1946-2018
Dr. Burgett held many different positions over his 54 years at the University of Rochester. He became dean of students at the Eastman School of Music in 1981 and dean of students for the entire university seven years later.
In Memoriam: Michelle R. Howard-Vital, 1953-2018
Dr. Howard-Vital became Cheyney University’s eleventh and first woman president in 2007. She served in that role until 2014.
In Memoriam: P. Sterling Stuckey, 1932-2018
Professor Stuckey was an expert on American slavery and African American history. He taught at Northwestern University before joining the faculty at the University of California, Riverside in 1989.
In Memoriam: Kofi Atta Annan, 1938-2018
Kofi Annan was a career diplomat from Ghana who served as the seventh Secretary-General of the United Nations from January 1997 to December 2006. He earned a bachelor's degree at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota, and master's degree in management at MIT.
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.
In Memoriam: Phail Wynn Jr., 1947-2018
Phail Wynn Jr. served for 28 years as president of Durham Technical Community College and then was a long-time administrator at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina.
In Memoriam: Roosevelt Ratliff Jr.
Roosevelt Ratliff Jr. was a professor of English and assistant vice president of academic affairs at Claflin University in Orangeburg, South Carolina.
In Memoriam: Jacqueline Williams Paddio, 1957-2018
Paddio served as vice president for student affairs at Talladega College in Alabama from 2008 to 2015. During her tenure, enrollment at the college quadrupled.
In Memoriam: Gina Carter-Simmers, 1968-2018
Gina Carter-Simmers, the general manager of the public radio station operated by Jackson State University in Mississippi, died late last month after a two-year battle with breast cancer. After her diagnosis of triple-negative breast cancer, Carter-Simmers became a staunch advocate for breast cancer survivors.
In Memoriam: Gladys Styles Johnston, 1938-2018
Dr. Johnston served as the second chancellor of the University of Nebraska-Kearney from 1993 to 2002. Previously, she was executive vice president and provost at DePaul University in Chicago.
