The Next Chancellor of the Berks Campus of Pennsylvania State University in Reading
Dr. George Grant Jr. has been serving as professor and dean of the College of Community and Public Service at Grand Valley State University in Michigan. Prior to becoming dean, Dr. Grant was director of the university's School of Social Work.
Parneshia Jones Appointed Director of Northwestern University Press
An Evanston native and a published poet, Jones joined the Northwestern University Press in 2003 as marketing assistant and served in several progressively more responsible positions. She will be only the second Black woman to lead a university press in the United States.
University of Chicago English Department to Only Accept Grad Students Focused on Black Studies
The department announced that "for the 2020-2021 graduate admissions cycle, the University of Chicago English department is accepting only applicants interested in working in and with Black Studies.” The department is planning to admit five new Ph.D. students.
Howard University School of Business Names Two Black Women to Assistant Dean Posts
The Howard University School of Business announced the appointment of two African American women to assistant dean positions. Yuvay Meyers Ferguson will serve as assistant dean of impact and engagement and Allison Morgan Bryant will serve as assistant dean of innovation and administration.
The First African American to Be Promoted to Full Professor at Ithaca College
Dr. Cynthia Henderson joined the faculty at Ithaca College in 2000. In 2007, she was the first African-American woman to earn tenure at the college. Now she is the first African American who has been promoted to the rank of full professor in the 128-year history of Ithaca College.
Christen Crouch Named the Next Dean of Graduate Studies at Bard College in New...
Dr. Crouch has been an associate professor of history and director of American studies at Bard College since 2014. Her work focuses on the histories of the early modern Atlantic, comparative slavery, American material culture, and Native American and Indigenous Studies.
Brandon Logan to Lead the Center for the Study of Race & Politics in...
Brandon Logan has been serving as chief executive officer of Urban Capital Partners in San Antonio, Texas. He is a graduate of Grambling State University, where he majored in business management.
Kendrick Brown Will Be the Next Provost at Morehouse College in Atlanta
Dr. Brown has been serving as dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Redlands in Redlands, California. Prior to his five-year tenure at Redlands, Dr. Brown served as a senior administrator at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Bunmi Olatunji to Lead the Graduate School at Vanderbilt University in Nashville
Bunmi Olatunji, the Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Professor of Psychology, was appointed interim dean of the Graduate School at Vanderbilt University. Dr. Olatunji had been serving as associate dean of academic affairs.
The New Director of the Center for Excellence in Teaching, Learning and Assessment at...
Before joining the Howard University community, Dr. Morris Thomas was an associate professor and the inaugural director for the Center for the Advancement of Learning at the University of the District of Columbia.
The First African American Woman to Chair a Department at Johns Hopkins Medical School
Namandjé Bumpus was appointed chair of the department of pharmacology and molecular sciences. She is the first African American woman to chair an academic department at the medical school and the only African American woman currently chairing a pharmacology department at any medical school in the nation.
Archie Holmes to Lead Academic Affairs for the University of Texas System
In his new post, Dr. Holmes will work with the presidents and the academic leadership of all eight University of Texas academic institutions to help them achieve strategic goals to advance their institutions. He will also be a tenured professor of engineering at the University of Texas at Austin.
Two African American Woman Appointed to Dean Positions at Universities
Evelyn L. Ashley has been named dean of students at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and Henrietta Williams Pichon, an associate professor of educational leadership and administration, was appointed interim dean of the College of Education at New Mexico State University.
Carlos R. Clark Selected as the Fifteenth President of Arkansas Baptist College
Dr. Clark has been serving as provost and executive vice president at Arkansas Baptist. He joined the staff at the educational institution in 2018. Earlier, he held senior-level positions at Wilberforce University in Ohio, Prairie View A&M University in Texas, and Alabama A&M University.
Terrell Strayhorn Appointed Provost at Virginia Union University in Richmond
Dr. Strayhorn joined the faculty at Virginia Union earlier this year as a tenured professor in the Evelyn Reid Syphax School of Education and director of the Center for the Study of HBCUs. He has taught at the University of Tennessee, Ohio State University, and Le Moyne-Owen College in Memphis.
Three African Americans Who Have Been Appointed to Dean Positions at Universities
Manica Finch is the new dean of enrollment management at Harris Stow-State University. Martin Smith is the new dean of academic affairs for Trinity College at Duke University and Tresmaine R. Grimes was appointed dean of the School of Arts and Sciences and the School of Education at Pace University.
A Sudden Change in Leadership at Fisk University in Nashville
Kevin D. Rome Sr., president of Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, was placed on leave after a man filed a restraining order against him. The Fisk University board of trustees immediately appointed Vann Newkirk, provost at Fisk, as acting president.
Jon Cawthorne Is the New Leader of the Association of College and Research Libraries
Dr. Cawthorne became dean of the Wayne State University Library System in 2017. Earlier in his career, he was dean of libraries at West Virginia University, associate dean for public services and assessment at Florida State University Libraries, and dean of the San Diego State University Library.
A Vote of Confidence for the President of Edward Waters College in Jacksonville, Florida
The board of trustees of Edward Waters College in Jacksonville, Florida, has voted to extend the contract of the college's president A. Zachary Faison Jr. until 2025. Faison became the college's 30th president in 2018 after serving as general counsel at Tuskegee University in Alabama.
Brenda Allen Is Back at the Helm of Lincoln University of Pennsylvania
On July 10, the board of trustees of historically Black Lincoln University in Pennsylvania voted not to renew the contract of the university’s president Brenda Allen. President Allen sued and the courts agreed that the vote not to renew her contract was illegal. Now the board has agreed to keep her as president.
Two African American Women Named to Provost Positions at Midwestern Universities
LaTonia Collins Smith was appointed provost and vice president of academic affairs at Harris-Stowe State University in St. Louis, Missouri, and Susan M. Collins was appointed provost at the University of Michigan. Both had been serving as interim provost.
Jervette R. Ward Chosen to Lead the College Language Association
Jervette R. Ward is an associate professor of English at Mississippi State University. Founded in 1937, the College Language Association is comprised of English and world language educators and publishes scholarly books of critical essays and bibliographical references.
Two African American Woman Appointed to University Dean Positions
Loury Ollison Floyd has been named dean of the School of Education at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke and Carmenita D. Higginbotham, an art historian, has been named dean of the Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts.
Howard Spearman Named the First African American President of Rock Valley College
Most recently, Dr. Spearman served as the vice president of student affairs and chief student services officer for Madison Area Technical College in Madison, Wisconsin. From 2011-2019, Dr. Spearman served in several administrative roles at Rock Valley College.
Arlie Petters to Become Provost at the Abu Dhabi Campus of New York University
Dr. Petters has been serving as Benjamin Powell Distinguished Professor of Mathematics at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. He is the former dean of academic affairs for the Trinity College of Arts and Sciences at Duke. He will begin his new duties on September 1.
Lesley-Ann L. Dupigny-Giroux Elected President of the American Association of State Climatologists
Lesley-Ann L. Dupigny-Giroux is a professor of geography at the University of Vermont. Dr. Dupigny-Giroux's research focuses on hydroclimatic natural hazards and climate literacy as well as the use of remote sensing and geographic information systems in the fields of spatial climate and land-surface processes.
Keith Whitfield Will Be the First Black President of the University of Nevada, Las...
Dr. Whitfield has been serving as provost and senior vice president of academic affairs and a professor of psychology at Wayne State University in Detroit. Earlier, Professor Whitfield was vice provost for academic affairs and a professor at Duke University in Durham North Carolina.
African Americans Appointed to Dean Positions at Three Universities
Earnstein Dukes was announced as the new dean of the University Library at Texas Tech University. Oscar Barton was appointed dean of the School of Engineering at Morgan State University and Jacqueline Hill was appointed dean of the School of Education at Florida Memorial University.
General Ronnie D. Hawkins Chosen to Lead Angelo State University in Texas
When General Hawkins takes office on August 14, Hawkins will be the first African American to serve as president of Angelo State University in its 92-year history. A retired three-star Air Force general, he is the former director of the Defense Information Systems Agency at Fort Meade, Maryland.
The New President of St. Augustine’s University in Raleigh, North Carolina
Dr. Irving Pressley McPhail was previously the sixth president and CEO at the National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering, founding chancellor at the Community College of Baltimore County, president of St. Louis Community College at Florissant Valley, and president of Lemoyne-Owen College in Memphis.
The New Leader of the Data Science Initiative of the Atlanta University Center Consortium
Talitha Washington, formerly of Howard University, will lead the effort that will work to increase the number of highly-skilled underrepresented minorities with skills in data science and to advance data science research, especially as it impacts minority communities.
Four African American Women Appointed to Dean Positions in Higher Education
The new deans are Taléa R. Drummer-Ferrell at Kent State University in Ohio, Dorie J. Gilbert at Prairie View A&M University in Texas, Cheryl Anderson at the University of California, San Diego, and Aarika Camp at Goucher College in Baltimore, Maryland.
In Memoriam: John Robert Lewis, 1940-2020
Congressman Lewis was one of the original Freedom Riders. He chaired the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and was the youngest speaker at the March on Washington in 1963. In 1965 he was beaten on the Edmond Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama on Bloody Sunday.
The First Black President in the 152-Year History of the University of California System
Dr. Drake, who had served as the first Black president of Ohio State University since June 2014, announced last fall that he would step down as president at the end of the 2019-20 academic year. Before being named president at Ohio State, Dr. Drake was chancellor of the University of California, Irvine.
Alexander Okwonna Has Been Appointed Provost at San Jacinto College in Houston, Texas
Dr. Okwonna has been in higher education for more than 15 years. During his tenure at San Jacinto College, he has served as pharmacy technology professor, program director, and department chair. For the past seven years, he has been dean of Health and Natural Science at the college's South Campus.
Dorothy Mosby Appointed Dean of the Faculty at Mount Holyoke College
Dr. Mosby joined the Mount Holyoke community in 2003. She was professor of Spanish and was appointed associate dean of faculty in 2016. She has also served as a deputy coordinator for the Title IX compliance programs.
