In Memoriam

Amadou Cisse (1978-2007)

Amadou Cisse, a native of Dakar, Senegal, and a doctoral candidate at the University of Chicago, was shot and killed during an armed robbery on a street adjacent to the campus. He was 28 years old. A week after the slaying, police arrested a 16-year-old youth and charged him as an adult with first-degree murder. A second youth was also arrested in connection with the case.

Just days before this tragedy, Cisse had successfully defended his doctoral dissertation which was entitled, “Photodegradation of Poly (Methyl-Methacrylate) and Applications in Surface Science and Diffusion Studies.”

Cisse was a 2001 graduate of Bates College. At a memorial page on the Bates College Web site, one of his colleagues said that Cisse “was the brightest chemistry student I have ever met.”

As a graduate teaching assistant at the University of Chicago, Cisse was extremely popular among both students and faculty. An avid weightlifter, Cisse loved African music and literature. He was fluent in several languages.

Tomorrow, he will be posthumously awarded his Ph.D. degree in chemistry from the University of Chicago.

Charles Brady Hauser (1917-2007)

Charles B. Hauser, a civil rights pioneer and long-time professor of education at Winston-Salem State University, died last month from complications of pneumonia at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center. He was 90 years old.

C.B. Hauser was arrested in 1947 for failing to move to the back of a Greyhound bus when instructed to do so by the driver. The charges were later dismissed and Hauser won a $2,000 settlement from Greyhound. He used the money to buy a car and never had to take the bus again.

Hauser was born in Yadkinville, North Carolina, the third of 13 children. He was a graduate of Winston-Salem State University and earned a master’s degree and doctorate in education from the University of Pennsylvania. He joined the faculty at Winston-Salem State University in 1956 and remained there until his retirement in 1977.

Copyright © 2007. The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education. All rights reserved.