The American Psychological Association Apologizes for Its Past History of Racism
The apology began by stating that "the American Psychological Association failed in its role leading the discipline of psychology, was complicit in contributing to systemic inequities, and hurt many through racism, racial discrimination, and denigration of people of color."
The First African American President of Howard Community College in Columbia, Maryland
Dr. Daria Willis currently serves as president of Everett Community College in Washington. Earlier, Dr. Willis was the provost and senior vice president of academic affairs at Onondaga Community College of the State University of New York and dean of academic studies at Lee College in Baytown, Texas.
The First African Woman to Win the African Studies Association’s Distinguished Africanist Award
Oyèrónkẹ́ Oyěwùmí is a professor of sociology in the College of Arts and Sciences at Stony Brook University in New York. In the 38-year history of the honor, she is the first African woman to win the Distinguished Africanist Award. More than half the recipients have been White men.
Marcus Jones Is the First Black President of Northwestern State University in Louisiana
Before being named interim president in July 2021, Jones was executive vice president and chief operating officer for the University of Louisiana System. He was executive vice president for university and business affairs at Northwestern State from 2017 to 2020 and has been a faculty member since 1994.
Reginald DesRoches Will Be the Eighth President of Rice University in Houston
The will of oil tycoon William Marsh Rice stipulated that only White students would be allowed to enroll at the university bearing his name. From its founding in 1912 to 1965, no Black student was permitted to enroll at Rice University. Next summer, the university will install its first Black president.
The Next Chancellor of the North Orange County Community College District in California
Byron D. Clift Breland has been serving as chancellor of the San Jose – Evergreen Community College District located in Silicon Valley. From 2013 to 2018 he was president of San José City College. He will begin his new job on January 18.
The Chair-Elect of the National Association of College Admission Counseling’s Board of Directors
Since 2018, Vern Granger has been director of undergraduate admissions in the Division of Enrollment Planning & Management at the University of Connecticut. In each of the undergraduate admissions cycles since his appointment, the university has attracted record numbers of students of color as part of the incoming classes.
Janai Nelson Appointed President and Director-Counsel of the Legal Defense Fund
Janai Nelson has served as associate director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund for the past eight years. Earlier, she spent nearly 10 years in academia as a full professor and high-level administrator and dean at St. John’s University School of Law in New York.
Johns Silvanus Wilson Jr. Chosen to Lead the Millennium Leadership Initiative
A former president of Morehouse College in Atlanta, Dr. Wilson was executive director of the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities from 2009-2013. He will now serve as executive director of the Millennium Leadership Initiative at the American Association of State Colleges and Universities.
Thema Bryant-Davis Has Been Named President-Elect of the American Psychological Association
Dr. Bryant Davis, professor of psychology and director of the Culture and Trauma Research Lab at the Graduate School of Education and Psychology at Pepperdine University in Malibu, California, is the youngest person to be elected president of the association and the fourth Black woman to hold the post.
Hettie Williams Will Be the Next Leader of the African American Intellectual History Society
Dr. Williams is an associate professor of African American history in the department of history and anthropology at Monmouth University in West Long Branch, New Jersey. Her teaching and research interests include: African American intellectual history, gender in U.S. history, and race/ethnicity studies.
Tuskegee University Appoints S. Keith Hargrove as Its Next Provost
Dr. Hargrove has been serving as dean of the College of Engineering at Tennessee State University. He previously served as chairperson of the department of industrial, manufacturing & information engineering in the Clarence Mitchell, Jr. School of Engineering at Morgan State University in Baltimore.
James T. Minor Appointed Chancellor of Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
Minor most recently served as assistant vice chancellor and senior strategist in the Office of the Chancellor at California State University. Prior to his post at California State University, Dr. Minor served as deputy assistant secretary at the U.S. Department of Education. He will begin his new job on March 1.
East Carolina University Names Robin Coger as Provost/Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs
Dr. Coger is currently the dean of the College of Engineering and professor of mechanical engineering at North Carolina A&T State University. Earlier, she was a faculty member in the department of mechanical engineering and engineering science at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte from 1996 to 2011. She will take on her new job in July 2022.
Benjamin Talton Named Director of the Moorland-Spingarn Research Center at Howard University
The Moorland-Spingarn Research Center houses one of the most comprehensive collections of African-American, African, and Africana history and memorabilia found anywhere in the world. Its collections include hundreds of thousands of pamphlets, books, periodicals, photographs, personal papers, manuscripts, music, artifacts, and other materials.
Eric Pryor Chosen as the Next President of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine...
Founded in 1805, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts offers undergraduate and graduate programs in the fine arts, innovative exhibitions of historic and contemporary American art, and a world-class collection of American art. Since 2015, Pryor has served as president of the Harlem School of the Arts in New York City.
Two African American Women Who Have Been Appointed to Dean Positions
Jullet Davis Weaver will be the dean of the Blair College of Health at Queens University in Charlotte, North Carolina, effective March 1, 2022, and Evelyn Fields has been appointed acting dean of the College of Education, Humanities and Social Sciences at South Carolina State University.
Walter McCollum Named Chancellor of Ivy Tech Community College in Richmond, Indiana
Dr. McCollum recently served as vice president/senior associate vice provost for Miami Dade College Online. Earlier, Dr. McCollum served as dean of student affairs at Walden University.
Crystal Williams Will Be the Eighteenth President of the Rhode Island School of Design
President-elect Williams has been serving as a professor of English and vice president and associate provost for community & inclusion at Boston University. She began her academic career at Reed College in Portland, Oregon. She later served as associate vice president for strategic initiatives at Bates College in Lewiston, Maine.
Roberta Waite Appointed Dean of the Georgetown University School of Nursing
Dr. Waite is a professor of nursing and executive director of Drexel University’s Stephen and Sandra Sheller 11th Street Family Health Services – a nurse-managed community-based organization that provides comprehensive care to thousands of individuals each year.
Tonya Smith-Jackson to Serve as Provost at North Carolina A&T State University
Dr. Smith Jackson has worked for North Carolina A&T since 2013, most recently as senior vice provost for academic affairs. She originally joined A&T as a professor and chair of the department of industrial and systems engineering. Earlier in her career she taught at Virginia Tech.
Jermaine Williams Appointed President of Montgomery College in Maryland
Since 2019, Dr. Williams has been serving as president of Nassau Community College in Garden City, New York. Earlier, he was vice president for student affairs at North Shore Community College in Danvers, Massachusetts. Before that, he held various administrative posts at Northeastern Illinois University.
Colette Pierce Burnette Is Stepping Down as President of Huston-Tillotson University in Texas
Dr. Pierce Burnette was named president in 2015. She is the first woman to hold the position since the 1952 merger of Tillotson College and Samuel Huston College. She will pass the baton of leadership on June 30.
Miles College President Gets a Vote of Confidence and a Contract Extension
The board of trustees of Miles College in Fairfield, Alabama, has voted to extend the contract of President Bobbie Knight through May 2024. Knight was originally selected to serve as interim president of the college beginning September 1, 2019. She was named permanent president of the college in March 2020.
Lena Walton to Serve as Provost at Alabama A&M University
Dr. Walton has served as dean of the College of Education, Humanities and Behavioral Sciences since 2017. Earlier, Dr. Walton served as assistant and associate dean in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of the District of Columbia. She served on the faculty there for 15 years.
Brandon Gamble to Head the Black Resource Center at San Diego State University
Before coming to San Diego State University in 2021 as the Charles Bell Faculty Scholar, Dr. Gamble was a faculty member and dean of student success at Oakwood University in Alabama. Earlier, he was the school psychology program coordinator and instructor at California State University, Long Beach.
Levy Brown Is the New Chief Academic Officer for North Carolina State Community Colleges
Dr. Levy Brown has held several leadership roles with Vance-Granville Community College in Henderson, North Carolina, including vice president of learning, student engagement and success; vice president of academic affairs, and vice president of student services.
The New Director of the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh
Before joining the faculty at Carnegie Mellon University this month, Matthew Johnson-Roberson was an associate professor of engineering in the department of naval architecture and marine engineering and the department of electrical engineering and computer science at the University of Michigan.
Alena Allen Is the New Leader of the University of Arkansas School of Law
Alena Allen, associate dean for research and faculty development and professor of law, has been named interim dean of the law school. Before joining the Arkansas faculty in 2021, she taught for 10 years at at the Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law at the University of Memphis.
Anthony Ponder Selected to Be the Next Provost at Sinclair Community College in Dayton,...
Dr. Ponder has been serving as dean of the Science, Mathematics & Engineering Division at the college. He first started working at the college in 1991 as an instructor in the mathematics department. He earned tenure in 1996 and was promoted to the rank of full professor in 2005.
Marlon Hall Appointed to Lead Fresno City College in California
Before being named interim president at Fresno City College, Dr. Hall spent seven and a half years as superintendent/president at Lassen Community College, in Susanville, California. He retired from that post in December 2019.
Yoshiko Harden Is the New Interim President of Seattle Central College in Washington State
Dr. Harden served as vice president for student services at Seattle Central College from 2016 to 2021. Prior to Seattle Central, she served as vice president for diversity at Bellevue College, and as director of multicultural services and student development at Highline College in Des Moines, Washington.
Two African American Women Who Are Taking on New Duties as Deans
Amy Tillerson-Brown, a professor of history, is the new dean of the Mary Baldwin College for Women at Mary Baldwin University in Staunton, Virginia, and Chandrika Johnson has been appointed as the interim dean of the College of Education at Fayetteville State University in North Carolina.
A Pair of Black Women Who Have Been Appointed to Provost Positions
Kathy Littles was named provost at the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) in San Francisco and Donna Bradley is the new provost at Lincoln College in Lincoln, Illinois.
Beronda L. Montgomery Will Be the Next Dean of Grinnell College in Iowa
Dr. Montgomery currently serves as a professor in the departments of biochemistry and molecular biology and microbiology and molecular genetics, as well as assistant vice president for research and innovation at Michigan State University. She will begin her new job on July 1.
The Inaugural Dean of Texas A&M University’s Intercollegiate School of Engineering Medicine
Roderic I. Pettigrew is the Robert A. Welch Professor in the Texas A&M University College of Medicine and professor of biomedical engineering in the College of Engineering. He will lead the new school that will allow graduates to receive both a doctorate of medicine and master’s degree in engineering in four years.
