Two Universities Appoint African American Scholars to Dean Positions

Darryl Scriven has been appointed dean of the  School of Arts & Sciences at Clarkson University in Potsdam, New York, and Taléa Drummer-Ferrell is the new dean of students at Kent State University in Ohio.

Towuanna Porter Brannon is the New President of Thomas Nelson Community College in Virginia

Since 2016, Dr. Brannon has served as vice president for student services at Mitchell Community College in Statesville, North Carolina. Earlier she held administrative positions at several colleges in the New York metropolitan area.

Julia Chinyere Oparah Will Be the Next Provost at the University of San Francisco

Dr. Oparah has served on the faculty at Mills College in Oakland, California, for more than 20 years. In 2017, she was named provost and dean of the faculty at Mills College. She will assume her new duties at the University of San Francisco on July 12.

Rutgers University Names Campus Directors for the Institute for the Study of Global Racial...

The directors, who will lead the institute’s work at Rutgers University-New Brunswick, Rutgers University-Newark and Rutgers University-Camden, will use humanistic theories, methods and approaches to study global issues of race and social justice.

Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, Appoints its First Black President

In 2016, Dr. Hemphill became the seventh president of Radford University in Virginia. Earlier, he served from 2012 to 2016 as the 10th president of West Virginia State University, a historically Black educational institution near Charleston.

Deborah Archer Elected President of the National Board of the American Civil Liberties Union

Deborah Archer is a tenured professor of clinical law and director of the Civil Rights Clinic at New York University School of Law, and co-faculty director of the Center on Race, Inequality, and the Law at NYU Law. She will be the first African American woman to lead the ACLU.

C. Andrew McGadney Named the 20th President of Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois

Dr. McGadney currently serves as vice president and dean of student advancement at Colby College in Waterville, Maine. Prior to coming to Colby, Dr. McGadney was vice president for university advancement at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts.

Darrell Allison Appointed Chancellor of Fayetteville State University in North Carolina

Darrell Allison has been serving as vice president of governmental affairs and state teams at the American Federation for Children. He is a former member of the University of North Carolina Board of Governors and former trustee at North Carolina Central University.

Vincent Rougeau Will Be the First African American President of the College of the...

Vincent Rougeau has been dean of the Boston College Law School since 2011. Prior to his role at Boston College, Rougeau was a tenured professor of law at Notre Dame Law School and served as their associate dean for academic affairs from 1999-2002.

Three African American Men Who Have Been Appointed Deans

Larry Webster Jr. was named the dean of the Division of Career and Technical Education at Coahoma Community College in Clarksdale, Mississippi. Jerell B. Hill is the new dean of the School of Education at Pacific Oaks College in California and Zackeus Johnson was named dean of University College at Southern University in Louisiana.

Loren Blanchard Appointed the Seventh President of the University of Houston-Downtown

Dr. Blanchard has been serving as executive vice chancellor for academic and student affairs for the California State University System. Earlier, he was provost and senior vice president of academic affairs at Xavier University in New Orleans.

Larry Johnson Will Be the Next President of Guttman Community College in New York...

Since 2018, Dr. Johnson has been serving as the first African American president of Phoenix College, a public community college in Maricopa County, Arizona. He will become president of Guttman Community College in Manhattan on July 1.

Tiffany Hunter is the New Provost at Clark State Community College in Springfield, Ohio

Prior to coming to Clark State Community College in 2019, Dr. Hunter served at Florida State College-Jacksonville as the dean of education and human services and as a faculty member for more than seven years. Earlier, she worked for Catawba College in Salisbury, North Carolina.

Veteran Journalist Named to Lead the School of Communication at American University

Sam Fulwood III was appointed dean of the School of Communication at American University in Washington, D.C., effective May 15. He has been serving as a senior fellow and vice president of race and equity at the Center for American Progress.

Judith Gay Will Be the First Leader of the New Erie County Community College...

Dr. Gay has been serving as vice president for strategic initiatives and chief of staff for the Community College of Philadelphia and was interim president during the 2013-14 academic year. Dr. Gay had planned to retire at the end of January.

Alfred Tatum Appointed Provost at Metropolitan State University of Denver

Dr. Tatum was dean of the College of Education at the University of Illinois at Chicago from 2013-20. He joined the faculty at the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2007 after teaching at Northern Illinois University, the University of Maryland, and Buffalo State College.

Linda Green Will Be the Inaugural Dean of the College of Law at Michigan...

Professor Greene serves on the faculty at the University of Wisconsin–Madison School of Law. She first joined the faculty there in 1989 and holds the Evjue-Bascom Professorship. From 1999 to 2004 she was the inaugural vice chancellor of equity, diversity, and inclusion at the University of California, San Diego.

Better Late Than Never: American Psychiatric Association Apologizes for Its Racist Past

Prevailing Black stereotypes in psychiatry included fallacies that patients were hostile, unmotivated for treatment, had primitive character structure, and were child-like. The diagnosis of Drapetomania was centered around the idea that Black Americans who did not want to be slaves were mentally ill.

Raheem Beyah Is the New Dean of the College of Engineering at Georgia Tech

Dr. Beyah is the Motorola Foundation Professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Georgia Tech. He has been serving as vice president for interdisciplinary research and executive director of the online master's degree program in cybersecurity.

Felicia Blow of Hampton University to Lead the Public Relations Society of America

Felicia Blow, vice president for development at Hampton University in Virginia, has worked in fields including manufacturing, waste management, environmental services, telecommunications, and higher education. Before coming to Hampton University, she served as director of public affairs for Cox Communications.

Miami Dade College Appoints Malou C. Harrison as Its New Provost

Miami Dade College is one of the largest educational institutions in the country with enrollments of more than 51,000 students. Dr. Harrison has served as president of the North Campus of Miami Dade College since 2013 after being the dean of students at North Campus for over a decade.

Leonard Adams Is the New Leader of Historically Black Knoxville College

At its peak in the 1960s, Knoxville College enrollments reached 1,200 students. The college lost its accreditation in 1997. By 2015, there were only 11 students enrolled for the spring semester and it suspended all classes for the next academic year. In 2018, the college once again began to offer classes, but only online.

The New Dean of the Business School at Historically Black Benedict College in South...

Tracey H. Dunn has been serving as interim dean for the past three years. She has served on the faculty at Benedict College for 18 years. Previously, she worked in the corporate sector for IBM and AT&T.

Trevor Bates Is the New President of Wilmington College in Ohio

Dr. Trevor Bates was the vice president of academic affairs, dean of faculty, and professor of health sciences at Mercy College of Ohio, which has campuses in Toledo and Youngstown. He is the nineteenth president in the 150-year history of Wilmington College.

The New Dean of the Graduate School at Vanderbilt University in Nashville

Dr. Christie-Mizell is a professor of sociology and had been serving as dean for undergraduate education in the College of Arts and Science at the university. He joined the faculty in 2010. Previously, he taught at the University of South Carolina, the University of Akron, and Kent State University.

Ronnie Hopkins Is the New Leader of Voorhees College in Denmark, South Carolina

Dr. Hopkins has served as the institution’s provost and vice president for academic affairs, accreditation liaison, and is a tenured professor of English. Before coming to Voorhees College, Dr. Hopkins served in several positions at Benedict College in Columbia, South Carolina.

DeAnna R. Burt-Nanna Will Be the Next President of Monroe Community College in...

Dr. Burt-Nanna has been serving as vice president of student and academic affairs for South Central College, which has campuses in Faribault and North Mankato, Minnesota. Earlier, she served in various faculty and administrative roles at Baker College in Muskegon, Michigan.

Robin Carter Appointed Dean at Sacramento State University in California

Dr. Carter joined the faculty at Sacramento State in the late 1980s as a professor of social work. She also served as director of the graduate program, project manager of a child welfare-training grant, and associate dean of the college.

Thomas Stith III Named President of the North Carolina Community College System

Stith has been serving as district director of the U.S. Small Business Administration. Earlier, Stith served as chief of staff to former North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory from 2013 to 2017 and was a three-term city council member in Durham from 1999 to 2007.

Vernell Bennett-Fairs Named the Thirteenth President of LeMoyne-Owen College in Memphis

Since 2016, Dr. Bennett-Fairs has been serving as vice president for student affairs at Delta State University in Cleveland, Mississippi. Earlier, she was vice president for student affairs at Kentucky State University.

The Next Dean of the School of Social Work at the University of Alabama

Dr. Schnavia Smith Hatcher has been serving as director of the School of Social Work at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Earlier, Dr. Hatcher was the founding director of the Center for African American Studies at the University of Texas at Arlington from 2012 to 2016.

Johnny Moore Appointed Chancellor of Arkansas State University-Newport

Dr. Moore returns home to Arkansas after spending the last four years as president of Pierpont Community & Technical College in Fairmont, West Virginia. A native of Old Washington, Arkansas, he was president and CEO of Philander Smith College in Little Rock from 2012 to 2014.

Christmas Comes Early for a Large Groups of HBCUs

MacKenzie Scott, a novelist and ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, has announced donations of nearly $4.2 billion to 384 organizations. Among those receiving funds are at least 17 historically Black colleges and universities. Prairie View A& M University received the largest donation of $50 million.

Hampton University President William R. Harvey to Step Down in 2022

During President Harvey's 43-year tenure, he has presided over immense change on campus including the initiation of 92 new academic degrees, erecting 29 new buildings, and increasing the endowment from $29 million to over $300 million.

The New Dean of the Business School at Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Debora Jackson has been serving as the director of operations for All Girls Allowed, Inc., a nonprofit organization focused on educating and empowering women and girls and engaging partners to realize global impact.

L. Song Richardson Will Be the Next President of Colorado College

Richardson, who is of African American and Korean descent, currently is the dean and chancellor’s professor of law at the University of California, Irvine School of Law. When she was appointed to that post in January 2018, she was the only woman of color to lead a top-30 law school.

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