Monthly Archives: September 2013
Blacks Are More Likely to Be Enrolled in School Than Whites
New data from the U.S. Census Bureau shows that in October 2012 there were 11,918,000 African Americans enrolled in school at all levels of education. This was 31.4 percent of the entire Black population over the age of 3.
Princeton University Study Finds That Poverty Impedes Cognitive Functions
A study led by researchers at Princeton University finds that poverty and its related stresses puts such a burden on people's mental state that they have less brainpower to deal with other aspects of life.
Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Is Now Accepting Applicants for Its Newest Scholarships
The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation offers a wide range of generous scholarship programs for college and graduate students. Now the foundation is offering a new program for high-achieving, low-income high school seniors.
University Study Finds Constructive Criticism, Not Undeserved Praise, Is More Helpful to Black Students
A new study led by Davis S. Yeager, an assistant professor of developmental psychology at the University of Texas at Austin, finds that praising African American students for mediocre work in an effort to boost self-esteem can actually have just the opposite effect.
Lafayette College Mounts New Effort to Increase Student Diversity
Lafayette College, the highly rated liberal arts college in Easton, Pennsylvania, has announced a new partnership agreement with The Opportunity Network that will offer admission and financial aid support to a group of academically gifted, low-income students from the New York City public schools.
The Five New Fellows of the African Research Center at Penn State
The fellows are housed within departments in the College of the Liberal Arts at Penn State and conduct research on or related to Africa or the African diaspora. Each fellow is matched with a mentor on the Penn State faculty.
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.
Texas Christian University Mounts an Oral History Project of the Civil Rights Era
The Texas Communities Oral History project seeks to recover, preserve and make openly accessible the history of racial, ethnic, gender and economic groups traditionally underrepresented in historical archives.
University of Kansas Historian Wins Prestigious Book Prize
Randal Jelks, associate professor of American studies and African American studies at the University of Kansas, has been awarded the 2013 Lillian Smith Book Award for his biography of long-time Morehouse College president Benjamin Elijah Mays.
City College of New York Appoints Two African Americans to High-Level Positions
At City College of New York, Deidra Hill was appointed vice president for communication and marketing and Michele Baptiste was named dean of diversity, compliance, and faculty relations.
Eight African Americans in New Administrative Posts at Delaware State University
The new appointees at Delaware State University in Dover are Saundra F. DeLauder, Stacy L. Downing, Alankato D. Cobb, Marsha T. Horton, Ebony M. Ramsey, Michael A. boone, Erin Hill, and Pamela Adams.
An Endowed Scholarship Fund Honors Three Pioneering Emory Professors
The Candler School of Theology at Emory University in Atlanta has established an endowed scholarship program to provide financial aid for students in its Black Church Studies Program.
North Carolina A&T State University to Host the National Goat Conference
The School of Agriculture and Environmental Science at North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro will be hosting the National Goat Conference later this month at the Koury Convention Center. Conference organizers expect up to 600 agricultural professionals to attend the four-day event.
A Trio of Black Scholars in New Teaching Posts
Melody Howard-Clark joins the faculty at Lee University in Cleveland, Tennessee. Fred Walumbwa moves from Arizona State University to Florida International University and Derek S. Hicks was appointed assistant professor at the Wake Forest University School of Divinity.
Howard University Partners With the College of Southern Maryland
Under the terms of the agreement, College of Southern Maryland students who complete an associate's degree program and maintain a high grade point average will be eligible to transfer into a bachelor's degree program at Howard University.
Six African Americans Taking on New Roles in Higher Education
Those appointed to new positions are Nicole Roach at Webster University, Ronyelle Ricard at Southern University, Laurie Giles at Eastern Nazarene College, Marilyn Kershaw at the University of Cincinnati, Lason Hines at Prairie View A&M University, and Terrell L. Strayhorn at Ohio State University.
Mary Baldwin College Students Preparing a Documentary on Black History of Staunton, Virginia
Once the students began collecting stories they found that there as such a rich history of undocumented experiences that the effort has been expanded and will now include a documentary film.
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.
Campus Racist Incidents Were a Hoax But Oberlin College Reiterates Its Outrage
After police said the series of racial incidents last spring were hoaxes, the college issued a statement that read in part, "These actions were real. The fear and disruption they caused in our community were real. We will not tolerate acts of hatred and threats of violence regardless of motivation."
Webster University to Open a Campus in Ghana
Ghana has a large and growing demand for higher education. In 1999 there were only two private colleges and universities in the African nation. Now there are 43. The University of Ghana enrolls less than 40 percent of the students seeking admission.
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.
The Most Selective University in the World?
About 25,000 students took the entrance examination to qualify for admission to the University of Liberia in West Africa. None of the students passed the examination.
The Huge Racial Gap in College Readiness
Only 5 percent of all African American ACT test takers showed that they were "college ready" in all four subject areas of English, reading, mathematics, and science. For Whites, one third of all students were deemed college ready in all four subject areas.
Stanford Study Finds That Sharing Cultural Experiences Can Reduce Intergroup Prejudice
Psychologists at Stanford University state that their findings could help policymakers, employers, school administrators and others interested in creating a more positive climate for people from diverse backgrounds.
Yasmin Delahoussaye Is the New Leader of Los Angeles Southwest College
Since 2010, Dr. Delahoussaye has been serving as vice chancellor of educational programs and institutional effectiveness for the Los Angeles Community College District. She has been an administrator for the district since 1988 and previously taught at the School of Education of UCLA.
Study Led by Duke Cardiologist Finds Racial Gap in Hospitalizations Following Heart Failure
After accounting for differences between patients relating to their health at the start of the study, researchers found that for patients who survived heart failure, Blacks were 58 percent more likely than Whites to be hospitalized for complications.
Ben Vinson III Is the New Dean of Columbian College at George Washington University
Dr. Vinson was the vice dean for centers, interdepartmental programs, and graduate programs of the School of Arts and Sciences at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. He also served as the Herbert Baxter Adams Professor of Latin American History at Johns Hopkins.
University-Developed Intervention Reduces Unprotected Sex Among Bisexual Black Men
The Men of African American Legacy Empowering Self (MAALES) program engaged Black men in small discussion groups on safe sex practices for men who had sex with both women and men. The discussions also included culturally relevant discussions that were centered upon Black men.
A Change in Leadership at Harris-Stowe State University in St. Louis
Harris-Stowe State University, the historically Black educational institution in St. Louis, has announced that President Albert Walker has decided to step down from his post. Executive vice president Constance Gully was named interim president.
Two Black Scientists Named Fellows of the American Chemical Society
The American Chemical Society recently named its new class of fellows for 2013. Of the 96 new fellows, it appears that only two are African Americans. They will be inducted as fellows at the ACS annual meeting in Indianapolis on September 9.
Dana Brooks Appointed to Third Term as Dean at West Virginia University
Dana D. Brooks was named interim dean of what is now the College of Physical Activity and Sports Sciences in 1992 and appointed dean a year later. He continues to teach both undergraduate and graduate courses at the university.
Two Mississippi HBCUs Using Local Hotels to Ease Housing Shortage
Mississippi Valley State University has leased spaced in two local hotels for the fall semester and Jackson State University has leased an entire 120-room hotel for the next nine months at a cost in excess of $800,000.
South African Scholar Is the First International Winner of the Spendlove Prize
Jonathan D. Jansen, vice chancellor of the University of the Free State, was named the recipient of the 2013 Alice and Clifford Spendlove Prize in Social Justice, Diplomacy and Tolerance, awarded by the University of California at Merced.
Team From Howard University College of Medicine Helps Out in Haiti
A team of students, faculty, and medical residents from the College of Medicine at Howard University recently spent 10 days in Haiti in the continuing effort to help the island nation recover from the devastating earthquake which struck in 2010.
Harvard-Trained Doctor Named to Head United Nations Effort on HIV/AIDS in Africa
Dr. Speciosa Wandira-Kasibwe is a senior adviser to the president of Uganda on population and health. From 1993 to 2004, she served as vice president of Uganda, the first woman in Africa to hold such a position.
