Tag: Yale University
Five African American Faculty Members Given New Assignments
The faculty members taking on new roles are Dineo Khabele at the University of Kansas Health System, Cullen Buie at MIT, Ingrid M. Nembhard at Yale University, Cherlon Ussery at Carleton College in Minnesota, and Kami Chavis at Wake Forest University in North Carolina.
Two Major Black Scholars Retiring From High-Ranking Universities
Willie Ruff, a professor at the Yale School of Music, is retiring after teaching at the university since 1971. Also retiring is Darlene Clark Hine, a professor of history and professor of African American studies at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.
New Community Engagement Awards Honor Early Black Student at Yale
Yale University has announced the first cohort of 20 high school juniors who are the winners of the Bassett Award for Community Engagement. Bassett took classes at Yale in the 1850s and later was the first African American to be named a U.S. diplomat.
Wendell Pritchett Appointed Provost at the University of Pennsylvania
Wendell Pritchett currently serves as the Presidential Professor of Law and Education at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. He served as interim dean of the law school during the 2014-15 academic year and is the former chancellor of the Camden campus of Rutgers University in New Jersey.
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.
Study Shows Racial Gap in Medical Honor Society Membership
A new study led by researchers at the Yale School of Medicine finds that White medical school students were nearly six times as likely as Black students to be chosen as members of Alpha Omega Alpha.
In Memoriam: Howard Clifton Blue, 1957-2017
Dr. Howard Blue was an assistant professor of psychiatry at Yale Medical School and the deputy director of mental health and counseling at Yale Health.
Yale Students Enlisted to Help Guide Low-Income Students Through the College Application Process
Yale University is expanding its partnership with Matriculate, a nonprofit organization that uses students at high-ranking universities to provide online college advising services to high school students from low-income families.
Yale University Removes Name of Slavery Defender From Residential College
In 1932 a residential college at Yale University was named for John C. Calhoun, a former vice president of the United States, Yale alumnus, and proponent of slavery. The university has now decided to remove his name from the college.
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.
A New Home for Yale University’s African Art Collection
The Laura and James J. Ross Gallery of African Art includes more than 250 items spanning more than 3,000 years of African history. Items include sculptures, ceramics, masks, ivory carvings, and metal works.
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.
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."
New Faculty Roles at Major Universities for Three Black Scholars
Sherine O. Obare, professor of chemistry at Western Michigan University was given a new administrative post. Professor Jay Hoggard was awarded tenure at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, and Tarell Alvin McCraney was appointed chair of the department of playwriting at the Yale School of Drama.
Complaints Skyrocket at the Office for Civil Rights of the U.S. Department of Education
In the 2016 fiscal year, there were 542 complaints involving allegations of racial harassment filed with the Office for Civil Rights of the U.S. Department of Education. Of these, 198 involved complaints related to racial harassment at colleges and universities.
Yale’s Jackson Institute Offers New Fellowships for African Students
The Jackson Institute currently enrolls about 25 students in its master's degree program in global affairs. About half of these students are from outside the United States. Two new fellowships will be available for African students or others who have shown an interest in studying Africa.
The Progress of the Ivy League in Admitting Black Students
A decade ago, there were 1,110 Black students in the entering classes at the eight Ivy League schools. In 2016, there are 1,503, a 35 percent increase. Four of the eight Ivy League schools have an entering class that is more than 11 percent Black. A decade ago, the leader stood at 9.6 percent.
Jonathan Holloway to Be the Next Provost at Northwestern University
Dr. Holloway is dean of Yale College and the Edmund S. Morgan Professor of African American Studies, History and American Studies. He will begin his new duties as provost at Northwestern University in the summer of 2017.
Yale University Discovers a Rare Catalogue of Slavery in Its Archives
Researchers at the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Yale University recently discovered a pamphlet in the university's collections that had not been catalogued previously. The pamphlet is entitled Catalogue of Negroes, Mules, Carts, Wagons & C.
New Roles for Two Black Faculty Members at Major Universities
Kelechi C. Ogbonna, an assistant professor in the School of Pharmacy at Virginia Commonwealth University, was named associate dean for admissions and student services and Jennifer Richeson was appointed the Philip R. Allen Professor of Psychology at Yale University.
New Administrative Posts in Higher Education for Three African Americans
Darin A. Latimore was appointed deputy dean for diversity and inclusion at the Yale School of Medicine. Joi Cunningham was promoted to assistant vice president for human resources at Oakland University and Taffye Benson Clayton was named vice president for inclusion and diversity at Auburn University.
Survey Finds Large Percentage of Graduate Students of Color at Yale Face Bias
The Graduate and Professional Student Senate at Yale University released a new survey that found that more than 70 percent of all Black graduate or professional students reported incidents of bias, harassment or discrimination.
A Long Overdue Tribute to the First Black Woman to Graduate from the Yale School of Music
Helen Eugenia Hagan graduated from the Yale School of Music in 1912. She went on to a long career as a concert pianist and an educator. She died in 1964 but until recently her remains were buried in an unmarked grave in New Haven's Evergreen Cemetery.
Yale University Honors Its First Black Student
James W.C. Pennington took classes at Yale Divinity School beginning in 1834. He was not allowed to enroll but could audit courses from the back of classrooms. Pennington could not participate in classroom discussions and he was not allowed to take out books from the library.
In Memoriam: Gloria Naylor, 1950-2016
Naylor, who taught creative writing at several universities, was best known for her her 1982 novel The Women of Brewster Place, for which she won the National Book Award for the best first novel.
In Memoriam: Benjamin Franklin Payton, 1932-2016
Dr. Payton served as president of Tuskegee University in Alabama from 1981 to 2010. Earlier in his career, Dr. Payton was president of Benedict College in Columbia, South Carolina.
Higher Education Grants of Interest to African Americans
Here is this week’s news of grants to historically Black colleges and universities or for programs of particular interest to African Americans in higher education.
Three Black Academics Awarded MacArthur Foundation Fellowships
Of this year’s 23 MacArthur Fellows, four are African Americans and three have current ties to the academic world.
Dining Hall at Yale’s Calhoun Residential College Named for an African American
The dining hall at Calhoun Residential College will be renamed to honor Roosevelt L. Thompson. A resident of Calhoun college, Thompson was killed in an automobile accident during his senior year at Yale, after he had been selected as a Rhodes Scholar.
Yale Worker Breaks Stained Glass Window That Depicted Slaves
A dishwasher at the Calhoun residential college at Yale University, used a broom handle to punch out a stained glass window that depicted slaves carrying cotton. Yale later said that the windows depicting scenes from the life of slavery defender John C. Calhoun would be removed.
JoAnne Epps Named Provost at Temple University in Philadelphia
Professor Epps joined the Temple faculty in 1985. She was named associate dean of academic affairs at the law school in 1989. She was promoted to full professor in 1994. Since 2008, she has served as dean of the university's Beasley School of Law.
In Memoriam: Austin Chesterfield Clarke, 1934-2016
Clarke was a native of Barbados. He came to Canada in 1955 to study at the University of Toronto. The author of 11 novels, he taught at Yale University, Duke University, and the University of Texas.
New Yale Award Program for High School Students Honors Ebenezer Bassett
Ebenezer Bassett was the first African American student to enroll at the Connecticut Normal School, which is now Central Connecticut State University. He taught at what is now Cheyney University and later became the first African American to serve as a diplomat for the United States.
University of Chicago Historian Thomas Holt Elected to the American Philosophical Society
Thomas C. Holt is the James Westfall Thompson Distinguished Service Professor of American and African American History at the University of Chicago. Other African Americans elected members of the society are Roger W. Ferguson of TIAA-CREF and Risa J. Lavizzo-Mourney of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Three Black Scholars Making News
Duane Lee Holland Jr. has been hired as the first hip-hop dance faculty member at the Boston Conservatory. Sydney Freeman Jr. of the University of Idaho is named a certified online instructor and Emily Greenwood was named chair of the department of classics at Yale University.
Black Americans in the 2016 Class of Truman Scholars
This year, 54 Truman scholars were selected from 775 candidates nominated by 305 colleges and universities. Of this year’s 54 Truman Scholars, it appears that nine, or 16.7 percent, are Black Americans.
