Three African American Faculty Members Win Awards

acoffViola L. Acoff, professor and chair of the department of metallurgical and materials engineering at the University of Alabama, has been selected to receive the inaugural Ellen Swallow Richards Diversity Award from the Minerals, Metals & Materials Society. The award honors an individual who has overcome personal or professional obstacles to achieve success in the field. Dr. Acoff will be presented with the award at the National Academies of Sciences in Washington this July.

Professor Acoff holds bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degree in materials engineering, all from the University of Alabama Birmingham.

dorinda-carter-andrews_lgDorinda Carter Andrews, associate professor of teacher education at Michigan State University, was chosen to receive the Scholars of Color in Education Early Career Award from the American Educational Research Association. She will be honored at the association’s annual meeting in Philadelphia on April 5.

Dr. Carter Andrews earned an educational doctorate at Harvard University. She is the co-editor and contributing author of Contesting the Myth of a ‘Post Racial Era’: The Continued Significance of Race in U. S. Education (Peter Lang Publishing, 2013).

burnhamMargaret A. Burnham, professor of law at Northeastern University in Boston, received the Living Legend Award from the Museum of African American History of Boston and Nantucket. The award “salutes extra­or­di­nary trail­blazers whose remark­able accom­plish­ments uphold the legacy of 18th– and 19th-​​century Black patriots and their col­leagues who dis­tin­guished them­selves on behalf of freedom and jus­tice.”

Professor Burnham joined the faculty at the law school in 2002. Earlier in her career, she was the first American American women to serve as a judge in Massachusetts. Professor Burnham is a graduate of Tougaloo College in Mississippi and the University of Pennsylvania Law School.

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Get the JBHE Weekly Bulletin

Receive our weekly email newsletter delivered to your inbox

Latest News

California State University Sacramento Launches Black Honors College

Officially launching for the fall 2024 semester, the Black Honors College will support students from all backgrounds who study Black history, life, and culture by providing them with a specialized curriculum and mentoring opportunities.

Higher Education Gifts or Grants of Interest to African Americans

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.

In Memoriam: Norman B. Anderson, 1955-2024

Dr. Anderson was the assistant vice president for research and academic affairs at Florida State University at the time of his death. He had an extensive career in clinical psychology, which led him to become the first African American chief executive officer of the American Psychological Association.

Georgia State University Launches Program to Support Black Women in Tech

While Black women account for roughly 29 percent of the Georgia State University undergradaute student body, they represent only 10 percent of the university's computer science majors and 18 percent of the computer information systems majors.

Featured Jobs