Monthly Archives: March 2013
In Memoriam: Chinua Achebe, 1930-2013
Since 2009, the noted Nigerian author and educator, has served as the David and Marianna Fisher University Professor and professor of Africana studies at Brown University.
Quinnipiac Students Get the Opportunity to Study the Bones of a Slave
A slave whose bones were preserved by his slaveowner will be studied by students before he is given a Christian burial in Waterbury, CT.
Hampton University School of Pharmacy Opens a Drug Information Center
The questions will be answered by students in the last year of the doctor of pharmacy program. Their answers will be reviewed by a faculty member before the answer is given to the consumer.
New Film Recreates Black History at the University of Virginia in the 1970s
The film project was co-created by Kevin Jerome Everson, professor in the department of art and Claudrena Harold an associate professor of history at the university.
Southern University Seeks to Boost Enrollments
Historically Black Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, has seen its enrollment drop from 9,500 students to about 6,600 students over the past several years since new, tougher admissions standards were introduced seven years ago.
Jennifer Joe Named to an Endowed Chair at the University of Delaware
Currently, she is an associate professor of accounting at the J. Mack Robinson College of Business at Georgia State University. She previously taught at the Carroll School of Management at Boston College.
Tuskegee University Faculty Member Wins UNCF/Mellon Faculty Residency Fellowship
Dr. Eleanor Blount will spend the fall semester studying the Alice Walker papers at Emory University. She is conducting research on the effects of racism and sexism on African American women writers.
Three African Americans in New Administrative Roles in Higher Education
Deloris Pettis is a new vice president at Northeastern University in Boston. Rodney Irvin was named director of employee relations at Virginia Tech and Samuel Sullivan was appointed interim provost at Paine College in Augusta, Georgia.
Spelman College Graduate to Become President of York College in Pennsylvania
Since 2006, Dr. Gunter-Smith has been provost and academic vice president at Drew University in Madison, New Jersey. Previously, she was the Porter Professor of Physiology at Spelman College in Atlanta.
Carolyn Callahan Selected to Lead the College of Business at the University of Louisville
She is currently the KPMG Distinguished Professor of Accounting and director of the School of Accountancy at the University of Memphis in Tennessee. She will be the first woman and first African American dean of the University of Louisville business school.
James Earl Lyons to Lead the University of the District of Columbia
Dr. Lyons, who will be interim president, has served as president of Bowie State University, Jackson State University, and California State University Dominguez Hills. From 2007 to 2010 he was secretary of the Maryland Higher Education Commission.
In Memoriam: Wilbert Frazier Jordan Jr., 1950-2013
An environmental attorney, he was the first African American to receive an athletic scholarship at the University of Southern Mississippi.
Online Articles That May Be of Interest to JBHE Readers
From time to time, The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education will provide links to online articles that may be of interest to our readers. Here are this week's selections.
Recent Books That May Be of Interest to African American Scholars
The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education regularly publishes a list of new books that may be of interest to our readers. Here are the latest selections.
The Gender Gap in African American Medical School Enrollments
Nationwide, women make up 47.2 percent of all medical school students in the United States. But for African Americans, the gender gap is significantly in favor of women.
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.
George Mason University Students Recreate Some of the Iconic Photographs of Black History
The students found actors who resembled the historical figures and secured costumes and designed sets to recreate the original scenes in old photographs.
Marjorie Thomas Named Dean of Students at the College of William and Mary
Currently, she is associate vice president for student affairs at the College of Charleston in South Carolina. Before joining the staff at Charleston in 2007, she held a number of administrative positions at the University of Miami.
CalTech Astrophysicist Wins Teaching Award
John A. Johnson, an assistant professor of planetary astronomy at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, received the Richard P. Feynman Prize for Excellence in Teaching.
Elizabeth City State University Opens a New Art Gallery
One section of the gallery will display pieces from the university's permanent collection of African and African American art. The other part of the gallery will exhibit a rotating selection or a visiting collection.
Craig Cameron Named to an Endowed Chair at Penn State
Professor Cameron joined the Penn State faculty in 1997. His research focuses on the development of strategies to treat or to prevent infections by RNA viruses.
Science Internships in High School Can Influence Career Plans of Gifted Black Youth
A study by researchers at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore has found that mentoring Black students in the sciences in high school can have a major impact in influencing gifted students to pursue degree programs in STEM fields.
Jackson State University Proposes to Build a 50,000-Seat Domed Stadium
"We don’t see it as a stadium just for Jackson State University,” said David Hoard, vice president for institutional advancement at Jackson State University. “We see it as an investment for the city and the region."
The New Director of the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African Americans
David J. Johns has been serving as a senior education policy advisor to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. He is a former elementary school teacher in New York City and holds two degrees from Columbia University.
New Report From the EEOC Finds Blacks Face Many Obstacles in Gaining Federal Employment
According to the new report by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commissions, educational inequalities and insufficient training are among the obstacles mentioned as being significant barriers to fuller participation in the federal work force by African Americans.
Duke University Study Finds Racial Slurs Remain Common in American Workplaces
The study found that many White men are reluctant to object to racist slurs used by other members of their racial group. The authors of the study state that those who failed to speak up when confronted with racial slurs tended to believe in their own group's social dominance.
University of Virginia Acquires Historial Documents of a Black-Owned Bank
The First State Bank in Danville, the last of the Jim-Crow era Black-owned banks in the state of Virginia, recently donated a large collection of its historical records to the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library at the University of Virginia.
Xavier University Partners With the Chicago School of Professional Psychology
The partnership between the historically Black university and the Chicago School of Professional Psychology will explore the creation of graduate programs in psychology in the New Orleans area.
No Respect for Black Law Schools in Latest Rankings
Of the six law schools at historically Black universities, Howard University ranked the highest. Howard was rated as the 126th best law school among the 194 accredited schools.
New Book Tells the Story of the Successful Call Me MISTER Program
The program, established at Clemson University in South Carolina, has been a factor in increasing the number of Black teachers in South Carolina public schools by 40 percent. The program has been expanded into several other states.
Jackson State University President a Victim of Cyberstalking
A 20-year-old man, who is not a student at the university, was charged with making threats against Jackson State University President Carolyn Meyers on Facebook.
Honors for Three Black Scholars
The honorees are Archie Wade, a retired professor of kinesiology at the University of Alabama, Adriel Hilton of Grand Valley State University, and John Idowu of New Mexico State University.
University of Tennessee Names Its First Building After an African American
The Fred D. Brown Jr. Residence Hall, the first new dormitory built on the Knoxville campus in 43 years, is named after the founder of the Office of Diversity Programs in the College of Engineering.
Two African American Women in New Administrative Roles
Kenya Mann Faulkner was named vice president for legal affairs and general counsel at the University of Cincinnati and Cassandra Dillon was appointed director of the ShaleNET Western Hub at Navarro College in Corsicana, Texas.
Two African American Scholars Assume New Teaching Posts
Lisa Bowleg is a new associate professor of psychology at George Washington University and William Jelani Cobb has joined the history department faculty at the University of Connecticut as an associate professor.
SMU Students Spend Spring Break on a Civil Rights Pilgrimage
The students will travel by bus to visit many of the most famous locations of the civil rights movement including Little Rock Central High School, the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, and the site of Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination.
