Tagged: Wilberforce University

Reinvestment Fund's HBCU Brilliance Initiative aims to secure the future of HBCUs through strengthening their financial health. For its inaugural cohort, the initiative will provide $40,000 grants and up to $1 million in financing to support campus infrastructure improvements at 11 historically Black higher education institutions.

“This isn’t just about football,” said Wilberforce University President Vann Newkirk. “It’s about reclaiming a legacy, energizing our campus, and showing the world that Wilberforce is ready to lead again — on and off the field.”

Here is this week’s news of grants or gifts to historically Black colleges and universities or for programs of particular interest to African Americans in higher education.

The university, which recently joined the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference, will offer women's volleyball and women's soccer beginning this coming fall.

The Higher Learning Commission has placed Wilberforce University in Wilberforce, Ohio, "On Notice." The Commission took this action because it determined that the institution was at risk of being out of compliance with the Criteria for Accreditation. While On Notice, the institution remains accredited, and it has the opportunity to remedy the issues that led to the sanction.

Sophia B. Jones was accepted as an undergraduate at the University of Toronto in 1879. However, she was not admitted to the medical school, doubly damned by being both a woman and Black. She went on to earn a medical degree at the University of Michigan.

Those appointed to new administrative post are John Blackshear at the University of Rochester in New York, Chris Allen at the University of Southern California, Steven White at Wilberforce University in Ohio, Bettina Mozie at South Carolina State University, Michael Harper at Alcorn State University in Mississippi, and Thelma Ford Sojourner at Voorhees University in Denmark, South Carolina.

The faculty members in new roles are Brandon A. Owens, Sr. at Wilberforce University in Ohio, LaDaryl Watkins at Mississippi State University-Meridian, Lynda Gardner at the Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta, Patrick Otim at Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, and Gentry Patrick at the University of California San Diego.

Taking on new roles are Brandon A. Logan at Grambling State University in Louisiana, Melinda Spaulding Chevalier at Rice University in Houston, Jeremy Carter at Philander Smith University in Little Rock, Arkansas, Holly Rachel at Fisk University in Nashville, Marriel Hardy at Talladega College in Alabama, and Kenneth Elvis Jones at Wilberforce University in Ohio.

Dr. Newkirk has been serving as interim associate vice president at Alabama A&M University in Huntsville. Earlier, Dr. Newkirk was named provost and vice president for academic affairs at Fisk University in 2018 and became president in February 2021.

Dr. Irons, the second Black person to earn a doctorate at Harvard Business School, was the founding dean of the business school at Howard University in Washington, D.C. He later served as dean of the business school at Clark Atlanta University from 1990 to 1995.

Penn National Gaming, a company that operates more than 40 casinos, racetracks, and other hospitality venues, is dedicating more than $4 million over five years to at least three HBCUs in states where Penn National operates.

Appointed to new faculty posts are Frederick W. Gooding, Jr. at Texas Christian University, Tekla Ali Johnson at Clarkson University in Potsdam, New York, Virgil Goodwine at Wilberforce University in Ohio, Delali Kumavie at Syracuse University in New York, Patrese A. Robinson-Drummer at Haverford College in Pennsylvania, and Sierra Williams at Claremont McKenna College in California.

James McLeod was appointed chair of the department of music at Wilberforce University in Ohio. Phillis Isabella Sheppard was appointed the inaugural director of the James Lawson Institute for the Research and Study of Nonviolent Movements at Vanderbilt University and Kirsten T. Edwards was appointed associate professor of educational policy studies at Florida International University.

Here is this week’s roundup of African Americans who have been appointed to new administrative positions at colleges and universities throughout the United States.

Wilberforce University and Central State University, historically Black educational institutions in Ohio, will partner with the U.S. Small Business Administration to increase opportunities for students in the state’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Wilberforce University and Central State University in Ohio have announced that they are currently in discussion regarding a collaborative learning arrangement and shared services relationship. Both universities have faced budgetary issues in recent years. A cooperative arrangement could help the bottom lines of both HBCUs.

Shetina M. Jones has been appointed dean of students at Wilberforce University in Wilberforce, Ohio, and Juline E. Mills has been named dean of the College of Education, Health, and Human Services at Westfield State University in Massachusetts.

Students at Wilberforce University established a website entitled Surviving Year One that features podcasts targeting young African Americans to promote awareness of the causes and ways to reduce the infant mortality rate in the Black community.

One student at Tuskegee University in Alabama, Xavier University in New Orleans, Wilberforce University in Ohio, and Bethune-Cookman University in Dayton Beach, Florida, will receive a $25,000 scholarship for the 2018-19 academic year.