Fort Valley State University Names Its Next President
Ivelaw Lloyd Griffith has been serving as provost and senior vice president at York College, a campus of the City University of New York system. He has served in that post since 2007. He also is a tenured professor of political science.
Key Section of the Voting Rights Act Ruled Unconstitutional
The Supreme Court ruled Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act unconstitutional. As a result, it appears that no local jurisdictions will be required to preclear changes in their election laws unless Congress passes a new updated formula to determine which jurisdictions should fall under the preclearance provisions.
Supreme Court Does Not Strike Down Affirmative Action in Higher Education Admissions
The good news for proponents of race-sensitive admissions is that after the decision affirmative action lives to see another day. The bad news for proponents of affirmative action is that universities are placed on notice that they must provide detailed justification for any affirmative action admissions program based on race.
The Changing Face of the United States
The U.S. Census Bureau announced that for at least the first time in more than a century, in the year ending June 30, 2012, the number of non-Hispanic White births in the United States was lower than the number of deaths among non-Hispanic Whites.
Bridget Terry Long Named Academic Dean at the Harvard Graduate School of Education
Dr. Long joined the faculty at the school in 2000 as an assistant professor and was promoted to full professor in 2009. Her research deals with the transition from high school to college focusing on college access, financial aid, and academic preparation.
Roslyn Clark Artis to Lead Florida Memorial University
The proposed interim president spent 10 years at the now closed Mountain State University in West Virginia, where she served as chief academic officer. She holds a law degree from West Virginia University and an educational doctorate from Vanderbilt University.
Natasha Trethewey Appointed to a Second Term as Poet Laureate of the United States
She is the Robert W. Woodruff Professor of English and Creative Writing at Emory University in Atlanta. In addition to a second one-year term as Poet Laureate of the United States, she is also serving a four-year term as the poet laureate of the state of Mississippi.
Public Support for Affirmative Action in College Admissions Appears to Be Slipping
A new poll finds that more than three-quarters of American adults believe race should not be considered in the college admissions process. And there was little racial division in opposition to the practice. Black, Whites, Republicans, and Democrats all opposed race-sensitive admissions.
HBCUs Hit Hard by NCAA Sanctions
Eighteen teams were penalized for the poor academic performance of their student athletes by being declared ineligible for postseason competition in the 2013-14 academic year. Of these 18 teams, 15 were teams at historically Black colleges and universities.
The New President of Wayne State University
M. Roy Wilson has been selected as the 12th president of Wayne State University in Detroit. He will take office on August 1. Dr. Wilson has been serving as deputy director for strategic scientific planning and program coordination at the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities.
Ricardo Brown Named to a Dean Position at Jackson State University
Brown has been serving as assistant vice chancellor for academic affairs for the University of Maryland system. Earlier in his career, he held faculty positions at Howard University, Morgan State University, and Wayne State University.
New Data on the Racial Gap in Degree Attainments
African Americans make up about 14 percent of all students enrolled in higher education but they are a far lower percentage of all degree earners. In the 2011-12 academic year, African Americans earned 10.1 percent of all degrees earned at four-year institutions.
The End of the Line for St. Paul’s College?
St. Paul's College, the historically Black college in Lawrenceville, Virginia, held its 125th commencement last month. Now we learn that it may well be its last. The college has informed the Southeastern Association of Colleges and Schools that is will cease operations as of June 30.
Charles Becton to Lead Elizabeth City State University
Charles L. Becton, the former judge for the North Carolina Court of Appeals, will serve as interim chancellor of Elizabeth City State University in North Carolina. Judge Becton is completing a 10-month assignment as interim chancellor of North Carolina Central University in Durham.
Valerie R. Roberson Appointed President of Roxbury Community College
Roxbury Community College in Massachusetts enrolls about 2,700 students in degree programs and Black students make up a large percentage of the student body. Dr. Roberson, who was vice president for academic affairs at Joliet Junior College in Illinois, will take office on July 22.
Shelton State Community College Names New Leader
Davis is the former interim chancellor of the Alabama Community College System. She also served as general counsel and vice chancellor for legal and human resources for the system.
First African American Dean of Harvard College to Step Down
Evelynn Hammonds, the first woman and first African American to serve as dean of Harvard College, has announced that she will step from her post on June 30. She will take a sabbatical and then return to the university to head up a new program on the Study of Race and Gender in Science and Medicine.
The First African American Dean at Mississippi State University
Achille Messac was named dean of the James Worth Bagley College of Engineering at Mississippi State University. He has been serving as distinguished professor and chair of the department of mechanical and aerospace engineering at Syracuse University in New York.
Humboldt State University Study Analyses Hate Speech on Twitter
Students compared the number of hateful tweets to the population of a given county to show the level of hate in particular areas. Much of the eastern half of the country showed a a high level of racial hate.
Danita Brown Named Dean of Students at the University of Minnesota
Dr. Brown has been serving as the dean of students at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. She has been serving as the dean of students at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. She will assume her new post on July 31.
Willie Gilchrist Is Stepping Down as President of Elizabeth City State University
Dr. Gilchrist has served as president since March 2007. From 1994 to 2006 he was the superintendent of the Halifax County school system in North Carolina. His resignation comes on the heels of an investigation by state authorities of the campus police department.
Howard University Awards 96 Ph.D.s
This year, 16 Ph.D.s were awarded in engineering or the physical sciences. There were 31 Ph.D.s awarded in the arts and humanities, 25 in the biological and life sciences, and 24 in the social sciences.
Panel Recommends Major Changes at Coppin State University
The panel recommended that Coppin consider increasing standards for admission to the university, focus on attracting transfer students, and retaining those students who enroll.
St. Augustine’s University Calls Off Plan to Acquire Saint Paul’s College
Last November St. Augustine’s University in Raleigh, North Carolina, agreed to assume management of Saint Paul’s College in Lawrenceville, Virginia. Both HBCUs are affiliated with the Episcopal Church. Now St. Augustine's University has decided not to proceed with the acquisition.
The New Chancellor of the Mont Alto Campus of Pennsylvania State University
Francis K. Achampong is currently serving as chancellor at the Fayette campus of Pennsylvania State University. From 2002 to 2010 he was a tenured professor of business law and director of academic affairs at the Mont Alto campus.
Historically Black Bennett College Selects Its Next President
Rosalind Fuse-Hall is the former chief of staff to the president of Florida A&M University and previously was executive assistant to the chancellor of North Carolina Central University.
Courtney Louise Young Elected to Lead the American Library Association
Courtney Louise Young, head librarian at the Allegheny campus of Pennsylvania State University, will become president-elect of the oldest and largest library association in the world at the conclusion of the 2013 annual conference in Chicago. A year later, she will become president of the association.
Three African American Women Scholars Named AAAS Fellows
The Black women with ties to the academic world who recently were named as fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences are Paula Hammond of MIT, Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot of Harvard University, and Natasha Threthewey of Emory University.
Blacks Are Only a Tiny Percentage of U.S. Medical School Faculty
Of the 137,798 medical school faculty members in the United States in 2011, only 3,952, or 2.9 percent, were Black. Blacks were only 1.4 percent of the full professors at U.S. medical schools.
Gracie Lawson-Borders Named Dean of the School of Communications at Howard University
She is the former associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Wyoming, where she also was professor of communication and journalism. Earlier she was the director of the African American and Diaspora Studies program at the University of Wyoming.
Blacks Still Struggling Gaining Admittance to the University of California
The University of California has admitted 60,089 in-state students to its nine undergraduate campuses for the class entering in the fall of 2013. Of the total admits, 2,518 students, or 4.2 percent, are African Americans, down from 4.4 percent a year ago.
Professor Tricia Rose to Lead the Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity...
She is a professor of Africana studies at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, and the author of the award-winning book, Black Noise: Rap Music and Black Culture in Contemporary America.
HBCUs Showing the Biggest Improvements in Black Student Graduation Rates
In 1998 the Black student graduation rate at Howard University in Washington, D.C., was 47 percent. Today, the latest graduation rate figures shows that 64 percent of entering students at Howard earn their degree within six years. This is an impressive 17 percentage point gain.
Carl Wright Named Provost at the Pueblo Campus of Colorado State University
Dr. Wright joined Grambling State University in Louisiana in 2009 as dean of the College of Business. Previously, he was chair of the department of accounting and finance and vice president of business and finance at Virginia State University.
Thomas Elzey Named the 11th President of South Carolina State University
Elzey has been serving as executive vice president for finance, administration, and operations at The Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina. He is the former senior vice president for finance, chief financial officer, and treasurer at Drexel University in Philadelphia.
Black Scholar to Lead Largest School at George Washington University
Ben Vinson III currently serves as vice dean for centers, interdepartmental programs, and graduate programs and as the Herbert Baxter Adams Professor of Latin American History at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.
