Michael Drake Gets an Extension of His Contract as President of Ohio State University
In June 2014, Michael V. Drake became the 15th president of Ohio State University. He is the first African American to be president of Ohio State. Now the board of trustees has extended his contract through June 2021.
Mark Smith Appointed Dean of the Graduate School at the University of Texas at...
Dr. Smith was a member of the 1980 and 1984 U.S. Olympic team in the sport of fencing. He currently serves as dean of the Graduate School at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. He has held that post since 2009.
Leadership Shakeup at Morehouse College in Atlanta
John S. Wilson Jr., who earlier had been informed that his contract would not be renewed past June 30, was removed as president of Morehouse College. William Taggart, a former insurance executive, who has been serving as chief operating officer, was named interim president.
J. Keith Motley to Step Down as Chancellor of the University of Massachusetts-Boston
Dr. Motley's resignation comes at a time when the university is experiencing declining enrollment and has accumulated $30 million in debt. Protesters held a rally in front of the State House on Beacon Hill in Boston in support of Dr. Motley.
The Next Dean of the Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego
Joan R.M. Bullock has been serving as associate dean for academic affairs at the College of Law of Florida A&M University in Orlando, Florida. Earlier, in her career, Professor Bullock taught at the law schools of the University of Toledo in Ohio and Georgia State University in Atlanta.
Three Black Scholars Named to American Council of Learned Societies Fellowships
The three Black Scholars named to Frederick Burkhardt Residential Fellowships are Kareem Khalifa of Middlebury College, Naaborko Sackeyfio-Lenoch of Dartmouth College, and Andrea N. Williams of Ohio State University.
The New Dean of the College of Education at the University of South Florida...
Allyson Leggett Watson is assistant dean for the College of Education at Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. She also holds an endowed chair in urban education, outreach and research. She will begin her new job as dean at the University of South Florida - St. Petersburg on July 1.
African American Community Leaders Eager to Take on Educational Reform
A new report from the Frederick D. Patterson Research Institute finds that only 3 percent of Black leaders believe the public schools are doing an adequate job of preparing Black students to attend and graduate from college.
Fisk University in Nashville Announces the Selection of Its Sixteenth President
Currently, Dr. Kevin Rome is president of Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Missouri. Before taking on this role in 2013, Dr. Rome was vice chancellor for student affairs and enrollment management at North Carolina Central University in Durham.
Roderick Ferguson to Lead the American Studies Association
Roderick Ferguson is a professor of African American studies and professor of gender and women's studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Beginning in July, he will serve as president-elect for a year before becoming president of the organization in July 2018.
Marcilynn Burke Named the Next Dean of the University of Oregon School of Law
She currently serves as associate dean and associate professor of law at the University of Houston Law Center. In 2009, Burke was named deputy director for programs and policy at the Bureau of Land Management of the U.S. Department of the Interior.
M. Christopher Brown Appointed President of Kentucky State University
Dr. Brown has been serving as provost and executive vice president for academic affairs for the Southern University System in Louisiana. He is the former president of Alcorn State University in Mississippi. He stepped down from that position in December 2013.
Ellen Smiley Appointed Provost at Grambling State University in Louisiana
Ellen Smiley has served as provost and vice president for academic affairs at Grambling State University on an interim basis since August 2016. Dr. Smiley joined the staff at Grambling State University in 1990 and has served in many administrative positions.
The University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth Names Its Next Chancellor
Since 2010, Robert E. Johnson has been president of Becker College in Worcester, Massachusetts. When he takes office, he will become the first African American to lead the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth campus.
The Racial Gap in College Graduation Rates
If we look at all four-year educational institutions, we find that 39.5 percent of African Americans who entered these institutions in 2009 seeking a bachelor's degree earned their degree within six years. For Whites seeking bachelor's degrees, the graduation rate was 59.4 percent.
The First African American Editor-in-Chief of the South Carolina Law Review
Chelsea Evans, a second-year student at the University of South Carolina School of Law, is the first African American to be elected editor-in-chief in the 69-year history of the legal publication.
Three Black Scholars Elected Members of the National Academy of Engineering
The National Academy of Engineering recently announced the election of 84 new members. The academy does not disclose the racial makeup of its membership, but it appears that there are three Black engineers among the 84 new members.
Gary May Appointed the Seventh Chancellor of the University of California, Davis
Dr. May currently serves as dean of the College of Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. He was appointed to this post in July 2011. He also is a professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Georgia Tech.
The First Black Woman to Lead the Harvard Law Review
The first edition of the Harvard Law Review was published in 1887. It has the largest circulation of any law journal in the world. Now, for the first time in 131 years, a Black woman will serve as president of the law review.
Cornell University Chooses the Next Dean of Its School of Applied Economics and Management
Currently, Lynn Perry Wooten is senior associate dean for academic and student excellence and a clinical professor of strategy, management, and organizations at the University of Michigan. She will become dean on July 1.
New Data on African American Enrollments in Higher Education
A new report from the U.S. Department of Education reports that there were 20,389,307 students enrolled in degree granting institutions in the fall of 2015. Of these, 2,606,038 were African Americans.
The Heavyweight Champion of Black Doctoral Degree Awards
African Americans were awarded 682 doctoral degrees from Walden University between 2011 and 2015. This is almost double the number of doctoral degrees awarded by Howard University, which ranks in second place in doctoral degree awards to blacks from 2011 to 2015.
A Further Honor for a Giant in the Field of Sociology
William Julius Wilson, the Lewis P. and Linda L. Geyser University Professor at Harvard University, has been selected to receive the 2017 SAGE-CASBS Award from SAGE Publishing and the Center for Advanced Study in Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University.
Sharon Davies Named the Next Provost at Spelman College in Atlanta
In 2015, Professor Davies was named vice provost and chief diversity officer at Ohio State University. She has been on the faculty at the university’s Moritz College of Law for the past 22 years and holds the Gregory H. Williams Chair in Civil Rights & Civil Liberties.
Mohamed Camara to Chair the Department of Africana Studies at Howard University
Dr. Camara has been serving as associate vice president for academics, speaker of the Faculty Senate, and director of the McNair Scholars Program at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida.
The First African American President of the American Psychiatric Association
Altha Stewart, an associate professor of psychiatry and director of the Center for Health in Justice Involved Youth at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis, will serve one year as president elect and then lead the association for a year, beginning in May 2018.
Stephen Kolison Jr. Named Provost at the University of Indianapolis
Since 2008, Dr. Kolison has been serving as associate vice president for academic programs and educational innovation and governance for the University of Wisconsin System. Earlier in his career, he was on the faculty at Tuskegee University in Alabama.
The Nationwide Racial Gap in College Graduation Rates
African Americans had the lowest graduation rate of any racial or ethnic group at the nation's largest colleges and universities. Only 46 percent of all Black students who entered bachelor’s degree programs at these four-year institutions in 2009 earned their degree within six years.
Alondra Nelson Will Be the Next President of the Social Science Research Council
Alondra Nelson, a professor of sociology and dean of social science at Columbia University in New York City, will serve as president of the Social Science Research Council for five years beginning in September.
SUNY Appoints Wayne J. Riley as the Next President of Downstate Medical Center
Dr. Riley has been serving as a clinical professor of medicine at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. He is the immediate past president of the American College of Physicians. Earlier in his career, Dr. Riley was president, CEO, and professor at Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee.
Kim Hunter Reed Appointed to Lead the Colorado Department of Higher Education
Dr. Reed served as under secretary of education for postsecondary diversity and inclusion in the Obama administration. She also served as head of the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
Former Obama Cabinet Official to Lead The Education Trust
John B. King, who served as Secretary of the U.S. Department of Education at the end of the Obama administration, has been appointed president of The Education Trust. Before joining the Department of Education in 2015, Dr. King was commissioner of education for the state of New York.
New Website Chronicles Columbia University’s Ties to Slavery
Columbia University in New York City has debuted a new website that details not only the university's involvement in slavery since its founding in as King's College 1754 but also efforts by those at the university to abolish it.
The New Dean of Undergraduate Admissions at Southern Methodist University
Elena D. Hicks has been serving as dean of admission at Loyola University Maryland. Prior to her nine years at Loyola, Hicks was director of admission at Saint Mary's Hall, a college preparatory school in San Antonio.
Professor Carol Swain to Leave Her Faculty Post at Vanderbilt University
Carol M. Swain, a professor of political science at Vanderbilt University and a professor at the Vanderbilt Law School, has announced that she will leave the university in August. Professor Swain said "I will not miss what American universities have allowed themselves to become."
Morehouse College Announces It Will Change Its Leadership
The board of trustees of Morehouse College, the historically Black educational institution for men in Atlanta, has announced that it will not extend the contract of the college's president John S. Wilson Jr. beyond June 30, 2017.
