It Appears There Is Only One African American Among the 85 Recipients of the Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers
Last month the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy announced the names of 85 winners of Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE). Winners are selected based on two criteria: pursuit of innovative research on the frontiers of science or technology and a dedication to community service. Grant awards are for five years and they may be valued as high as $1 million. Several federal departments and agencies including the Department of Defense, the National Science Foundation, and the National Institutes of Health nominate scholars for these awards.
While the race of recipients is not disclosed by the government, it appears from JBHE research that only one of this year’s 85 winners is an African American.
Edward A. Botchwey, an associate professor of biomedical engineering and orthopaedic surgery at the University of Virginia, was nominated for a PECASE award by the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Botchwey, who earned a Ph.D. in bioengineering from the University of Pennsylvania in 2002, conducts research on tissue engineering to repair, replace, preserve, or enhance tissue function in the human body.
In 2009 JBHE research identified seven African Americans among the 100 PECASE awards.
UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA
Director, Advanced Pediatric Dental Clinic
The School of Dentistry in collaboration with the new University of Minnesota Amplatz Children’s Hospital and the University of Minnesota Physicians (UMP) invite applications for a newly created position as Director of the Advanced Pediatric Dental Clinic. The Director will have the opportunity to develop and direct this clinic associated with the new children’s hospital (www.uofmchildrenshospital.org/). This state-of-the-art clinic will provide treatment for a multicultural population of medically-compromised, developmentally-disabled, and well children.
Major responsibilities will include direct patient care, clinic administration, and supervision of Pediatric and General Practice dental residents. The director will provide care, supervise residents, and, when appropriate, complete treatment of patients in the operating room.
Requirements include a DDS or DMD or equivalent degree, completion of an ADA accredited advanced education program in pediatric dentistry, Board Certification by the American Board of Pediatric Dentistry, and eligibility for licensure in Minnesota. Previous experience in hospital-based pediatric dentistry, dental clinic administration, and dental education is preferred. In order to promote this new clinic within the University and the professional community the successful candidate must have excellent interpersonal and communication skills.
This is a full-time clinical or tenured appointment. Compensation will be competitive, benefits are generous, and there is an opportunity for intramural faculty practice. Rank and salary will be commensurate with qualifications and credentials. The search committee will begin reviewing applications immediately and the position will remain open until filled.
Only electronic applications will be accepted. For more information and to view the job posting and to apply online, please visit “Featured Employment Opportunities” at the School of Dentistry Website: www.dentistry.umn.edu. Questions may be directed to Ms. Sue Jackson (sjackson@umn.edu).
The Higher Education of the New Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick recently appointed Roderick L. Ireland to serve as chief justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. He has been serving as senior associate justice of the court. He will be the first African American in state history to serve as chief justice. When he was named to the court in 1997, he was the first African American to serve as a Supreme Court justice in the court’s 300-year history.
A native of Springfield, Massachusetts, Dr. Ireland is a 1966 graduate of Lincoln University in Pennsylvania. He earned his law degree at Columbia University. He later earned a master of law degree from Harvard Law School and a Ph.D. in law, policy, and society from Northeastern University.
Next Month the University of Georgia Will Commemorate the 50th Anniversary of Its Racial Integration
This January the University of Georgia is planning a weeklong series of events to commemorate the racial integration of the university. In January 1961, Hamilton Holmes and Charlayne Hunter-Gault were the first African Americans to enroll at the university. Two days later, on the first day of classes for the spring semester, a riot occurred outside Hunter-Gault’s dormitory. Both Holmes and Hunter-Gault weathered the storm and graduated in the spring of 1963.
Hamilton Holmes died in 1995. But in mid-January Hunter-Gault is returning to the Athens campus for several events including receptions, a lecture, a screening of a documentary, and several panel discussions.
Historically Black South Carolina State University Teams Up With the Peace Corps
Historically black South Carolina State University in Orangeburg is the newest institution participating in the Peace Corps Master’s International program. The program allows qualified students to combine volunteer service in the course of studying for an MBA. The program typically has students study for one year in the United States before going abroad to participate in Peace Corps programs. Typically, students in the Peace Corps Master’s International program receive scholarships or reduced tuition at the participating educational institution.
University of Detroit Mercy Names Its First Lay President
The board of trustees of the University of Detroit Mercy has announced that Antoine M. Garibaldi will become president of the educational institution in July 2011. Dr. Garibaldi will be the first lay president of the Catholic educational institution, which is affiliated with the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) and the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas.
The university has three campuses in the Detroit metropolitan area. It has total enrollments of about 5,600 students. Approximately 19 percent of the 3,200 undergraduate students are black.
Dr. Garibaldi currently serves as president of Gannon University in Erie, Pennsylvania. A native of New Orleans, in 1973 Garibaldi earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Howard University. He holds a doctorate in educational psychology from the University of Minnesota.
Prior to assuming the presidency of Gannon University in 2001, Dr. Garibaldi worked for the Educational Testing Service. He has taught and held administrative positions at Howard University and Xavier University of Louisiana.
EMERSON COLLEGE
Faculty Positions, 2011-12 Academic Year
Emerson College is seeking to fill the following faculty positions. All appointments are for the 2011-12 academic year beginning September 1, 2011. Please visit our Emerson College employment page to view this and other faculty positions for the full position descriptions and application procedures and contact information before applying: www2.emerson.edu/hr/employment.cfm
• Assistant or Associate Professor in Speech-Language Pathology
• Scholar-in-Residence: Race, Ethnicity and Culture
• Assistant, Associate, or Full Professors in Marketing Communications:
• Consumer Behavior
• Public Relations or Corporate Communications
• Business Management
• Media Studies
• Full Professor and Department Chair Designee
Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders
• Lecturer in the First-Year Writing Program
African-American Professor at Carnegie Mellon University Wins National Book Award
Terrance Hayes, professor of English at Carnegie Mellon University, won the National Book Award in the poetry category for his collection entitled Lighthead.
Lighthead is Professor Hayes’ fourth book of poetry. His previous work, Wind in a Box, was named one of the best 100 books of the year by Publishers Weekly. An earlier work, Hip Logic, was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Award.
Hayes is a native of Columbia, South Carolina. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Coker College in Hartsville, South Carolina, and a master of fine arts degree in creative writing from the University of Pittsburgh. In recognition of the National Book Award, this past Tuesday was designated as "Terrance Hayes Day" in the city of Pittsburgh.
Race Relations on Campus Database
Periodically, JBHE Weekly Bulletin will publish a selection of racial incidents that have occurred on the campuses of colleges and universities. Here are the latest incidents:
• A group of African Americans attacked and robbed a group of Asian students on the campus of Indiana University in Bloomington. The African Americans reportedly used racial slurs during the attack. (Associated Press, 10-31-10)
• Racist messages were spray-painted in the Free Expression Tunnel on the campus of North Carolina State University in Raleigh. The tunnel, which goes under railroad tracks on campus, has been used for the past half-century as a place where students can express their ideas. The graffiti included racially charged obscenities and a drawing of President Obama. (Raleigh News & Observer, 11-5-10)
• The president of the local chapter of the NAACP on the campus of St. Louis University in Missouri reported that someone yelled “nigger” at her as she walked to her parked car on campus. The woman stated that previously a group of men pounded on her dormitory room door shouting the same racial epithet. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 11-5-10)
• A racial slur was found carved into a door on the campus of Curry College in Milton, Massachusetts. Swastikas were found written on the walls of two dormitories.
Blacks are about 8 percent of the student body at Curry College. (Bostonist, 11-5-10)
• The automobiles of three black students at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater were vandalized. The tires on the cars were slashed and the letters “KKK” were spray-painted on the doors and hoods of the vehicles. (Associated Press, 11-12-10)
• The U.S. Justice Department agreed to settle a complaint filed against the University of South Carolina in Columbia concerning its policies dealing with incidents of harassment and discrimination on campus. The university agreed to enhance its programs to address and respond to race-related incidents and to train administrators, faculty, and students to deal with such incidents.
ASSOCIATION OF SOCIAL AND BEHAVIORAL SCIENTISTS
76th Annual Conference Jackson, Mississippi March 9-12, 2011
Conference Theme: "Embracing the Challenges of the 21st Century: Sustaining Black Social, Educational, Political, and Economic Institutions"
The Association of Social and Behavioral Scientists (ASBS) encourages social scientists to join ASBS, and specifically to submit proposals to present papers during its forth-coming 76th Annual Conference. ASBS will meet from March 9-12, 2011 at the Regency Hotel, 400 Greymont Avenue, in Jackson Mississippi. Sessions and papers related to the conference theme, "Embracing the Challenges of the 21st Century: Sustaining Black Social, Educational, Political, and Economic Institutions," are now being accepted. This theme is reflective of the Association’s rich tradition of sponsoring action-oriented research and grassroots civic activities aimed at improving the quality of life for Americans. The Association has a national tradition of promoting the growth and development of future academicians and grassroots civic leaders.
ASBS strongly encourages conference attendance and seeks sessions and individual proposals from professionals who are associated with all aspects of the social and behavioral sciences. Sessions are not limited to agriculture, anthropology, business, economics, education, history, social work, sociology, philosophy, political science, and psychology.
Proposals should include:
1. Author(s) name with affiliation and contact information
2. Abstract of 250 words or less with title of paper
3. Indication of technology needs (ex. overhead or LCD projectors, screen, etc.)
Electronic submissions are encouraged, but hard copies will also be accepted. Send proposals to Dr. Jacquelyn C. Franklin at Jacquelyn.c.franklin@jsums.edu by JANUARY 15, 2011. Hard copies may be sent to:
Dr. Jacquelyn C. Franklin
Social Science Education
P.O. Box17175
Department of Educational Leadership
Jackson State University
1400 John R. Lynch Street
Jackson, Mississippi 39217
Telephone: 601-979-1736
ASBS will also hold its 1st Annual DRAW DOWN during the 76th Conference. Tickets are $100 each.
Honors and Awards
• Toni Morrison, the winner of the 1993 Nobel Prize in literature and professor emerita at Princeton University, received the French Legion of Honour. The award, created in 1802 by Napoleon Bonaparte, honors those who have made significant contributions to French culture or society.
• Michael D. Jones, a partner with the law firm Kirkland and Ellis, received the Paul R. Dean Award for leadership contributions to the legal profession from the Georgetown University Law Center.
Jones is a graduate of Dillard University and earned his law degree from Georgetown in 1985.
• Robert Belton, professor emeritus at the Vanderbilt Law School, was honored recently by the unveiling of his portrait at the school. Professor Belton joined the law school’s faculty in 1975. He was the first African American to earn tenure and is the first African-American faculty member to have a portrait displayed at the law school.
Professor Belton is a graduate of the University of Connecticut and the Boston University School of Law. Before joining the Vanderbilt faculty, he served as assistant counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund.
• Edith P. Mitchell, clinical professor of oncology and associate director of diversity programs at the Kimmel Cancer Center at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, was named Physician of the Year by CancerCare, a national nonprofit organization that offers support services to cancer patients and caregivers.
• Historically black Winston-Salem State University in North Carolina has established an endowed scholarship fund to honor Lorraine Hairston Morton. A 1938 graduate of the university, Morton spent most of her career as a schoolteacher. She then served for 16 years as mayor of Evanston, Illinois. Morton retired in 2009 at the age of 90.
High-Ranking Liberal Arts Colleges That Made the Most Progress in Increasing Black Freshman Enrollments in 2010
Last week JBHE unveiled the results of our annual survey on black freshman students at the nation’s leading liberal arts colleges. The survey showed that for the fourth year in a row Amherst College in western Massachusetts had the highest percentage of black freshmen among the 30 highest-ranked liberal arts colleges.
Now we examine which liberal arts colleges posted the biggest gains this year compared to a year ago. In 2010 there are 36 black freshmen at Colby College in Maine. This is double the number from a year ago. In 2008 there were only eight black freshmen at Colby. Over the past two years the percentage of blacks in the entering class at Colby has increased from 1.7 percent to 7.3 percent.
Oberlin College in Ohio also made impressive progress. This fall there are 67 black freshmen at Oberlin compared to 39 a year ago. Harvey Mudd College, Amherst College, and Colgate University also posted gains greater than 50 percent in black freshmen this year.
The largest percentage decline in black freshmen was at Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. There are 31 blacks in the entering class at Bucknell this fall compared to 43 a year ago.
New Fiction Showcases Zora Neale Hurston as a Young Detective
Zora Neale Hurston, the Columbia University scholar and iconic writer of the Harlem Renaissance, is being reintroduced to the younger generation of Americans in a new novel, Zora and Me. In the book, Hurston is a fourth-grade student in Eatonville, Florida, the all-black town in which the real Zora Neale Hurston was raised. In the novel, Zora and her friends set out to solve a mystery surrounding the discovery of a headless body near the town’s railroad tracks.
Zora and Me is the first book not written by Hurston that has the endorsement of the Zora Neale Hurston Trust, which oversees the rights to the publication of the author’s works. The novel is authored by Tanya Simon, a literary agent, and Victoria Bond, a lecturer in composition and classics at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City.
UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA WILMINGTON
Tenure-Track Assistant Professor, Department of Environmental Studies
Tenure-track position at the Assistant Professor level in environmental sustainability. Additional expertise in environmental geographic information systems (GIS) and remote sensing is preferred. Start date is August 2011. The position will be responsible for developing and teaching graduate and undergraduate courses in sustainability and related areas, as well as supporting the current environmental studies curriculum, including introductory GIS. The ideal candidate will relate his or her teaching and research to broad issues of sustainability, such as environmental protection, green building, sustainable development, renewable energy and energy efficiency, and/or green business/entrepreneurship development. We therefore invite applications from those focused on the intersection of economy, policy and environment as they relate to sustainability. Candidates from various disciplines, particularly those with both practical and academic expertise in environmental sustainability, are encouraged to apply. A Ph.D. or equivalent in a sustainability-related field is required. Candidates should have a defined research agenda and a strong commitment to teaching. Further, candidates should be committed to working in an interdisciplinary academic context.
UNCW is located five miles from the Atlantic Ocean on a beautiful 656-acre campus in the historic port city of Wilmington on the Cape Fear River. The University currently enrolls more than 12,000 students. Further information about UNCW and the Department of Environmental Studies can be accessed at http://www.uncw.edu/evs.
To apply please visit the Web at http://consensus.uncw.edu. A letter of interest, curriculum vitae and contact information must be attached to the online application system – not e-mailed, mailed or faxed. Adobe PDF or Word format documents are required. Priority consideration will be given to applications received by January 31, 2011 but they will be accepted until the position is filled. Positions start August, 2011. EEO/AA Employer.
Scholarship Honors Jackson State University Alumnus
The Miller/Coors Brewing Company has established a scholarship fund at Jackson State University in honor of Louis Bullard, who was a standout football player at Jackson State University. He played in the National Football League for the Seattle Seahawks and the Cleveland Browns. After retiring from football in 1985, Bullard became an executive sales manager for the brewer in Tennessee. Bullard died earlier this year at the age of 53.
The Status of Blacks in Administrative and Coaching Positions in Major College Football
A new report from the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport at the College of Business Administration at the University of Central Florida finds that this season there were 13 African Americans among the 120 head coaches for the 120 colleges and universities in the NCAA’s Bowl Championship Series division. These schools operate the nation’s most prestigious football programs. Blacks make up more than 51 percent of the football players in this division. (Earlier this week Randy Shannon, an African American, was dismissed as the head football coach at the University of Miami.)
At these 120 schools, nine had African Americans serving as director of athletics. They were the University of Buffalo, the University of Central Florida, Eastern Michigan University, the University of Maryland College Park, New Mexico State University, Ohio State University, Syracuse University, Vanderbilt University, and the University of Virginia.
The report also showed that at these 120 colleges and universities, blacks made up 12.4 percent of the offensive and defensive coordinators and 33 percent of all assistant coaches.
Huge Increase in Black First-Year Enrollments at the University of Oregon
The University of Oregon reports record enrollments of 23,389 students. This is an increase of 4.5 percent from a year ago. Enrollments gained due to a large group of freshmen and transfer students and the highest freshman retention rate — 85.9 percent — in school history.
Also, a significant factor in the rise of freshman enrollments is attributed to a 39.6 percent increase in black first-year students. In the fall of 2009, blacks made up 2 percent of undergraduate enrollments on the Eugene campus.
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY
Faculty Positions, Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development
The Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development at New York University advances knowledge, creativity, and innovation at the critical crossroads of human learning, culture, development, and well-being. Through rigorous research and education, both within and across disciplines, the School's faculty and students evaluate and redefine processes, practices, and policies in their respective fields, and from a global as well as community perspective lead in an ever-changing world.
The Steinhardt School is recruiting for positions in the areas listed below for the upcoming academic year. Complete faculty position descriptions and applications can be found on our website at:
The Steinhardt School anticipates continuing our recruitment activities in future years in these areas as well as in the Visual and Performing Arts, Education, Applied Psychology, Health Programs. Our School is comprised of eleven departments: Administration, Leadership, and Technology; Applied Psychology; Art and Art Professions; Communicative Sciences and Disorders; Humanities and the Social Sciences in the Professions; Media, Culture, and Communication; Music and Performing Arts Professions; Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health; Occupational Therapy; Physical Therapy; Teaching and Learning.
ADMINISTRATION, LEADERSHIP AND TECHNOLOGY
Educational Leadership
-Assistant Professor, Tenure-Track
Higher and Postsecondary Education
-Full Professor, Tenured
APPLIED PSYCHOLOGY
Counseling Psychology
-Assistant Professor, Tenure-Track
ART AND ART PROFESSIONS
Art History, Criticism, and Praxis
-Clinical Assistant Professor, Non-Tenure Track
COMMUNICATIVE SCIENCES AND DISORDERS
Speech Pathology
-Assistant Professor, Tenure-Track
MEDIA, CULTURE, AND COMMUNICATION
Global/East Asian Media
-Assistant Professor, Tenure-Track
MUSIC AND PERFORMING ARTS PROFESSIONS
Music Education
-Assistant Professor, Tenure-Track
Sasha Gorodnitzki Faculty Chair in Piano Studies
-Full-Time, Tenured Professor OR
Music Professor (Non-Tenured)
NUTRITION, FOOD STUDIES, AND PUBLIC HEALTH
Clinical Nutrition
-Assistant Professor, Tenure-Track
TEACHING AND LEARNING
Childhood Education
-Associate/Full Professor, Tenured
NYU is an Equal Opportunity Employer and is committed to building a culturally diverse educational environment.
In Memoriam
Kenneth Earl Henry Sr. (1932-2010)
Kenneth Earl Henry Sr., who taught church history at the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta for more than 30 years, has died after a battle with cancer. He was 77 years old.
The Reverend Henry grew up in Palestine, Texas. He graduated from Jarvis Christian College in Hawkins, Texas, before enrolling at the Yale Divinity School. He was an associate professor of church history at ITC for three decades until his retirement in 2003. He was awarded emeritus status earlier this year.
Rufus L. McGee (1926-2010)
Rufus L. McGee, longtime professor of anatomy at Texas Southern University in Houston, died last month after a lengthy illness. He was 84 years old.
McGee was a native of Fairfield, Texas. He earned a bachelor’s degree in 1953 at what is now Clark Atlanta University. He later earned a master’s degree in biology at Texas Southern University.
McGee taught biology at Wiley College before joining the faculty at Texas Southern. After 30 years on the faculty at TSU, he retired from teaching in the early 1990s.
Appointments, Promotions, and Resignations
• Dwight A. McBride, who recently returned to Northwestern University after serving as dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Illinois at Chicago, was named the Daniel Hale Williams Professor at Northwestern.
Dr. McBride is a graduate of Princeton University and holds a Ph.D. from UCLA.
• Cleveland L. Sellers Jr., president of Voorhees College in Denmark, South Carolina, was elected chair of the Association of Episcopal Colleges of the U.S chapter of the Colleges and Universities of the Anglican Communion. The group represents 120 higher education institutions worldwide.
• Richard S. Baker was named provost and chief academic officer at the Charles Drew University of Medicine and Science in Los Angeles. He has been serving as an associate professor of ophthalmology at the university and at the Jules Stein Eye Institute at the UCLA Geffen School of Medicine.
Dr. Baker is a graduate of Stanford University and Harvard Medical School.
• Khalil Gibran Muhammad was named director of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, a division of the New York Public Library. He will assume the post in July 2011. Currently, Dr. Muhammad is an assistant professor of history at the University of Indiana.
Dr. Muhammad is a 1993 graduate of the University of Pennsylvania. In 2004 he earned a Ph.D. in American history from Rutgers University.
Grants and Gifts
• Wabash College in Crawfordsville, Indiana, received a $250,000 grant from the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations for programs to improve retention rates of minority students.
Blacks make up about 6 percent of the 900 students at the college.
• The University of Chicago received a $1 million grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation for programs aimed at reducing healthcare disparities between whites and minorities.
• Hampton University, the historically black educational institution in Virginia, received a $90,000 grant from the E.K. Sloane Fund of the Hampton Roads Community Foundation for the purchase of a Steinway concert grand piano. The nine-foot-long piano took nearly a year to build.
• Johnson C. Smith University, the historically black educational institution in Charlotte, North Carolina, received a three-year, $299,270 grant from the U.S. Department of Justice for a program to support victim services for the university’s Alliance Against Violence Toward Women project.
The program will be under the direction of Dezette Johnson, an assistant professor of social work at the university.
• Historically black Alcorn State University in Mississippi received a five-year, $599,138 grant from the National Science Foundation for plant genome research. The university’s research will examine genome structure and function of plants of economic importance including corn, cotton, rice, soybeans, and wheat.
Past Issues - JBHE Weekly Bulletin (select from menu below)
Edward A. Botchwey, an associate professor of biomedical engineering and orthopaedic surgery at the University of Virginia, was nominated for a PECASE award by the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Botchwey, who earned a Ph.D. in bioengineering from the University of Pennsylvania in 2002, conducts research on tissue engineering to repair, replace, preserve, or enhance tissue function in the human body.
Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick recently appointed Roderick L. Ireland to serve as chief justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. He has been serving as senior associate justice of the court. He will be the first African American in state history to serve as chief justice. When he was named to the court in 1997, he was the first African American to serve as a Supreme Court justice in the court’s 300-year history. 
This January the University of Georgia is planning a weeklong series of events to commemorate the racial integration of the university. In January 1961, Hamilton Holmes and Charlayne Hunter-Gault were the first African Americans to enroll at the university. Two days later, on the first day of classes for the spring semester, a riot occurred outside Hunter-Gault’s dormitory. Both Holmes and Hunter-Gault weathered the storm and graduated in the spring of 1963.
Historically black South Carolina State University in Orangeburg is the newest institution participating in the Peace Corps Master’s International program. The program allows qualified students to combine volunteer service in the course of studying for an MBA. The program typically has students study for one year in the United States before going abroad to participate in Peace Corps programs. Typically, students in the Peace Corps Master’s International program receive scholarships or reduced tuition at the participating educational institution.
The board of trustees of the University of Detroit Mercy has announced that Antoine M. Garibaldi will become president of the educational institution in July 2011. Dr. Garibaldi will be the first lay president of the Catholic educational institution, which is affiliated with the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) and the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas. 
Terrance Hayes, professor of English at Carnegie Mellon University, won the National Book Award in the poetry category for his collection entitled Lighthead.
• Toni Morrison, the winner of the 1993 Nobel Prize in literature and professor emerita at Princeton University, received the French Legion of Honour. The award, created in 1802 by Napoleon Bonaparte, honors those who have made significant contributions to French culture or society.
• Michael D. Jones, a partner with the law firm Kirkland and Ellis, received the Paul R. Dean Award for leadership contributions to the legal profession from the Georgetown University Law Center.
• Robert Belton, professor emeritus at the Vanderbilt Law School, was honored recently by the unveiling of his portrait at the school. Professor Belton joined the law school’s faculty in 1975. He was the first African American to earn tenure and is the first African-American faculty member to have a portrait displayed at the law school.
• Edith P. Mitchell, clinical professor of oncology and associate director of diversity programs at the Kimmel Cancer Center at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, was named Physician of the Year by CancerCare, a national nonprofit organization that offers support services to cancer patients and caregivers.
• Historically black Winston-Salem State University in North Carolina has established an endowed scholarship fund to honor Lorraine Hairston Morton. A 1938 graduate of the university, Morton spent most of her career as a schoolteacher. She then served for 16 years as mayor of Evanston, Illinois. Morton retired in 2009 at the age of 90.
Zora Neale Hurston, the Columbia University scholar and iconic writer of the Harlem Renaissance, is being reintroduced to the younger generation of Americans in a new novel, Zora and Me. In the book, Hurston is a fourth-grade student in Eatonville, Florida, the all-black town in which the real Zora Neale Hurston was raised. In the novel, Zora and her friends set out to solve a mystery surrounding the discovery of a headless body near the town’s railroad tracks.
The Miller/Coors Brewing Company has established a scholarship fund at Jackson State University in honor of Louis Bullard, who was a standout football player at Jackson State University. He played in the National Football League for the Seattle Seahawks and the Cleveland Browns. After retiring from football in 1985, Bullard became an executive sales manager for the brewer in Tennessee. Bullard died earlier this year at the age of 53. 
A new report from the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport at the College of Business Administration at the University of Central Florida finds that this season there were 13 African Americans among the 120 head coaches for the 120 colleges and universities in the NCAA’s Bowl Championship Series division. These schools operate the nation’s most prestigious football programs. Blacks make up more than 51 percent of the football players in this division. (Earlier this week 
The University of Oregon reports record enrollments of 23,389 students. This is an increase of 4.5 percent from a year ago. Enrollments gained due to a large group of freshmen and transfer students and the highest freshman retention rate — 85.9 percent — in school history.
Rufus L. McGee, longtime professor of anatomy at Texas Southern University in Houston, died last month after a lengthy illness. He was 84 years old.
• Dwight A. McBride, who recently returned to Northwestern University after serving as dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Illinois at Chicago, was named the Daniel Hale Williams Professor at Northwestern.
• Cleveland L. Sellers Jr., president of Voorhees College in Denmark, South Carolina, was elected chair of the Association of Episcopal Colleges of the U.S chapter of the Colleges and Universities of the Anglican Communion. The group represents 120 higher education institutions worldwide.
• Richard S. Baker was named provost and chief academic officer at the Charles Drew University of Medicine and Science in Los Angeles. He has been serving as an associate professor of ophthalmology at the university and at the Jules Stein Eye Institute at the UCLA Geffen School of Medicine. 
• Khalil Gibran Muhammad was named director of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, a division of the New York Public Library. He will assume the post in July 2011. Currently, Dr. Muhammad is an assistant professor of history at the University of Indiana.
• Hampton University, the historically black educational institution in Virginia, received a $90,000 grant from the E.K. Sloane Fund of the Hampton Roads Community Foundation for the purchase of a Steinway concert grand piano. The nine-foot-long piano took nearly a year to build.
• Johnson C. Smith University, the historically black educational institution in Charlotte, North Carolina, received a three-year, $299,270 grant from the U.S. Department of Justice for a program to support victim services for the university’s Alliance Against Violence Toward Women project. 