In Memoriam: Robert Bertrand France, 1960-2015
Dr. France was a professor of computer science at Colorado State University. A native of Guyana, Dr. France received a Ph.D. at Massey University in New Zealand.
In Memoriam: Waymon T. Webster, 1927-2015
Professor Webster joined the faculty at Prairie View in 1967. During his years on the faculty, he served as chair of the department of counselor education and the department of psychology. He also served as dean of the Graduate School.
In Memoriam: Felicia Janette Jones-Haskins, 1962-2015
Felicia Jones-Haskins was an assistant professor and chair of the Allied Health Program at Wilmington University in Delaware. She recently defended her doctoral dissertation at Widener University.
In Memoriam: Nancy Randolph Davis, 1926-2015
In 1949 Nancy Randolph Davis was the first African American student to enroll at what is now Oklahoma State University in Stillwater. Due to rigid rules of Jim Crow, she was initially required to sit in the hallway outside of the classroom.
In Memoriam: Paul Jeffrey, 1933-2015
An exclaimed tenor saxophonist, Paul Jeffrey came to Duke in 1983 and directed the jazz studies program for 20 years until his retirement in 2003.
In Memoriam: Floretta Dukes McKenzie, 1935-2015
Floretta D. McKenzie served from 1981 to 1988 as superintendent of the Washington, D.C., public school system. Dr. McKenzie served on the board of trustees at Howard University for more than 20 years.
In Memoriam: Arthur R. Berry, 1923-2015
During his long career in education, Berry taught at Alabama A&M University, Florida A&M University, and Albany State University in Georgia, where he chaired the art department.
In Memoriam: Levi Watkins Jr., 1945-2015
Dr. Watkins was the first African American graduate of the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. The long-time Johns Hopkins University faculty member also was the first doctor to implant an automatic heart defibrillator in a patient.
In Memoriam: Suzan Maria Armstrong-West, 1948-2015
Professor Armstrong-West had served on the faculty at Edward Waters College since 2008. Earlier, she was assistant dean of students at the University of Texas at Austin and dean of academic programs at Rutgers University.
In Memoriam: Clarence H. Fielder, 1927-2015
Clarence Fielder taught in the Las Cruces, New Mexico, public schools for 32 years and taught African American history at New Mexico State University from 1970 to 2010.
In Memoriam: Jesse Thomas Moore Jr., 1933-2015
Dr. Moore joined the department of history at the University of Rochester in 1970. He later served as associate dean. Professor Moore served as Grand Marshall at many of the university's ceremonial events.
In Memoriam: Charles Ullman Smith, 1926-2015
C.U. Smith was a civil rights leader and a long-time faculty member at Florida A&M University in Tallahassee. During his nearly half century at Florida A&M, Dr. Smith served as chair of the department of sociology and dean of graduate studies.
In Memoriam: Melissa Elizabeth Exum, 1960-2015
Until February 2015, Dr. Exum was vice provost for academic affairs at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond. Earlier she held high level posts at Ohio University, Purdue University, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
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: Wallace Maryland Jr., 1933-2015
Professor Maryland began his tenure on the Alabama State University faculty in 1963 as an instructor of mathematics. He served as chair of the department of mathematics and physical sciences at the university from 1974 to his retirement in 2009.
In Memoriam: A. Melvin Miller, 1931-2015
A. Melvin Miller served on the board of trustees of Saint Augustine's University in Raleigh, North Carolina, for nearly 35 years. In 1999, he was the interim president of the university.
In Memoriam: Derrick Griffith, 1973-2015
Derrick Griffith, dean of student affairs at Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn, New York, was one of eight victims in a horrific railroad accident in Philadelphia on May 12.
In Memoriam: Lorenza G. Patrick, 1946-2015
For the past 20 years, Lorenza Patrick served as director of the Small Business Development Center at Alabama State University in Montgomery.
In Memoriam: Dolores Margaret Richard Spikes, 1936-2015
She served as president of the University of Maryland Eastern Shore and as chancellor of the Southern University System in Louisiana. Dr. Spikes was the first African American woman to earn a Ph.D. in mathematics at Louisiana State University.
In Memoriam: Marcus Belgrave, 1936-2015
Marcus Belgrave, an accomplished trumpet player, taught at the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music in Ohio from 2001 to 2010. Earlier, he launched the jazz program at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan.
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: Ray Floyd Wilson, 1926-2015
Ray F. Wilson taught chemistry at Texas Southern University in Houston for 42 years. In 1953, he was the first African American to earn a Ph.D. in chemistry at the University of Texas at Austin.
In Memoriam: Freddie T. Vaughns, 1950-2015
Dr. Vaughns joined the staff at Bowie State University in Maryland in 2003 and later became a tenured faculty member. He was appointed assistant vice president in 2008.
In Memoriam: John Alfred Williams, 1925-2015
John Williams, longtime university educator and noted novelist, died on July 3 at a veteran's home in Paramus, New Jersey. Williams taught at Rutgers University from 1979 until his retirement in 1994.
In Memoriam: Marva Delores Knight Collins, 1936-2015
Marva Collins was a graduate of Clark Atlanta University and worked as an educator, consultant, and community organizer for over 40 years. Her legacy and what it meant for African American children is one that should not be forgotten.
In Memoriam: Ella Lee Kelley, 1948-2015
Dr. Kelley joined the faculty at Southern University in 1983. She served as chair of the chemistry department at the university and most recently was associate vice chancellor for academic affairs and dean of the Dolores Margaret Richard Spikes Honors College.
In Memoriam: Ancio Ostane, 1978-2015
Ancio Ostane, a former adjunct professor of mathematics at Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn and a teacher in the New York City public school system, was killed in a fiery automobile crash that police say was caused by a drunk driver.
In Memoriam: George E. Cooper, 1947-2015
George Cooper was the executive director of the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities and the former president of South Carolina State University in Orangeburg.
In Memoriam: Delores M. Andy, 1936-2015
Professor Andy joined the staff at Temple University in 1974 as director of the Joint Recreation Resources Project. Three years later, she joined the faculty. She taught at Temple for 30 years.
In Memoriam: Silas Norman Jr. 1941-2015
Silas Norman Jr. was associate dean of admissions, diversity and inclusion at the Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit. Until 2014, he also served as chair of the board of trustees of his alma mater, Paine College in Augusta, Georgia.
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: Claudia Alexander, 1959-2015
Dr. Alexander joined the staff at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in 1986. She was the project manager for the Galileo mission to Jupiter, the Cassini mission to Saturn, and the lead U.S. scientist on the European Space Agency's Rosetta mission to rendezvous with a comet.
In Memoriam: Ronell Lavar Blizzard, 1978-2015
Dr. Blizzard had served as an assistant professor of sports management at Newbury College in Brookline, Massachusetts, and Lyndon State College in Vermont. He was also a consultant for Post University in Waterbury, Connecticut.
In Memoriam: Barbara Guillory Thompson, 1936-2015
Barbara Guillory Thompson was the first African American women student to live in a dormitory on the Louisiana State University campus. Dr. Thompson later served on the Dillard University faculty for 42 years.
In Memoriam: Joseph T. Skerrett, 1943-2015
Joseph T. Skerrett was a professor emeritus of English at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. He joined the faculty at the university in 1973 and taught there until his retirement in 2009.
In Memoriam: Horace Julian Bond, 1940-2015
Julian Bond, a legendary civil rights leader, legislator, and longtime professor at the University of Virginia, died on August 15 in Fort Walton Beach, Florida. He was 75 years old.
