Monthly Archives: September 2014
New Audio Recordings of Ralph Ellison in 1953 Found at Harvard University
Earlier this year staffers at the Woodberry Poetry Room at Harvard University found audio tapes from a 1953 conference on the contemporary novel at Harvard Summer School. One of the participants in the conference was author Ralph Ellison.
“Whites Only” and “Colored” Signs Places on Water Coolers at Sweet Briar College
The Sweet Briar College campus in Virginia is located on the site of a former plantation where slaves had worked. Blacks make up about 9 percent of the student body at the college.
Three New Black Scholars at Brandeis University
Gregory Childs and Jasmine Johnson are new assistant professors at Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts, and Derron Wallace was appointed the Florence Levy Kay Fellow in education and African and Afro-American studies.
New Scholarship Program Looks to Help Auburn’s African American Students
The War Eagle Society, a group of Black alumni and faculty at Auburn University in Alabama, has established the War Eagle Society Endowment for PLUS Scholarships.
University of Nebraska Scholar Honored for Journalism Research
Dane Kiambi, an assistant professor of public relations at the University of Nebraska, received the Best Paper Award for Journalism Research from the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication.
Natasha Trethewey Archive to Be Housed at Emory University
Natasha Trethewey is the Robert W. Woodruff Professor of English and Creative Writing at Emory University in Atlanta. She served two terms as poet laureate of the United States and has won the Pulitzer Prize.
Interactive Teaching in College Science Classes Can Close the Racial Achievement Gap
A new study by researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of Washington finds that "active learning" techniques in science courses in college classrooms help all students, but have particular benefits for African Americans.
The New Chief Academic Officer at the Chicago School of Professional Psychology
Joseph Martin Stevenson is the new vice president for academic affairs and chief academic officer at the private graduate school devoted exclusively to the study of psychology and the behavioral sciences. He is the author or co-author of 13 books.
Brain Scan Study Finds Humans Are Not That Concerned About Inequity
In a study by scientists at Georgia State University, MRIs of the subjects' brains showed that subjects were strongly influenced by their self-interest and did not protest outcomes that were inherently unfair to other participants.
Marilyn Sutton-Haywood Named Dean of Arts and Sciences at Pfeiffer University
Dr. Sutton-Haywood was vice president for academic affairs and a professor of biology at Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina. Earlier, she held similar posts at Bethune-Cookman University in Daytona Beach, Florida, and Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, North Carolina.
New University Study Offers Hope for Children Suffering From Sickle Cell Disease
Sickle cell disease affects about 100,000 people in the United States and occurs most commonly in African-Americans. New research finds that monthly blood transfusions can reduce the incidence of strokes in children with sickle cell disease.
Kentucky State University Gets Serious With Students Who Hadn’t Paid Their Bills
Interim President Raymond Burse explained that the university faced a deficit of nearly $7 million, largely the result of students who hadn't paid their bills. After 645 students were dismissed, about 70 percent found ways to settle their accounts within a week.
Two African American Women Named to VP Posts at the College of New Rochelle
Betty Roberts is the new vice president for finance and administration and Elaine T. White was promoted to vice president of student affairs at the 4,000-student college in New York.
Cheyney University Opens Its New $23 Million Science Center
The 40,000-square-foot structure houses chemistry, biology, physics, and computer laboratories, seminar and lecture rooms, faculty offices, a planetarium, and an external greenhouse. It's the first new academic building on campus in 30 years.
Four Black Scholars Taking on New Teaching Assignments
Those taking on new teaching assignments are Kendrick Meek at Howard University, Tiffany Murphy at the University of Arkansas, Stacy Davis at St. Mary's College in Indiana, and Linton Kwesi Johnson at New York University.
Charter School Moves Its Operation to Johnson C. Smith University Campus
The charter school is affiliated with Elon Homes, which was established in 1907 as an orphanage and now is one of the region's largest foster care organizations. The charter school has now expanded to serve the entire community, but about 10 percent of the students enrolled at the school are in foster care.
Five African Americans to Assume New University Administrative Duties
Those taking on new administrative roles are Maria Mayberry at the University of Arkansas, Alexandrina Deschamps at the University of Massachusetts, Lindsey Horton at Jackson State University, Pamela L. Jennings at Winston-Salem State University, and Nell Russell at the University of Wyoming.
Norman Francis Announces He Will Retire From the Presidency of Xavier University
An icon of American higher education, Norman C. Francis is the longest-tenured serving university president in the United States with nearly 47 years as head of the nation's only HBCU affiliated with the Catholic Church.
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.
John Brooks Slaughter Is Honored by the National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering
Dr. Slaughter is professor of education and professor of engineering at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. He is the former president of NACME and was chancellor of the University of Maryland and president of Occidental College.
Vassar College Professor Wins the Saroyan Prize for International Writing
Kiese Laymon is an associate professor of English at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York. The Saroyan Prize is given every two years by the Stanford University Libraries and the William Soroyan Foundation.
Sojourner-Douglass College Partners With a University in Cameroon
Sojourner-Douglass College enrolls about 1,100 students and about 90 percent of the student body is Black. It is not designated a historically Black college because it was founded after 1964.
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.
In Memoriam: Bernard Williams, 1952-2014
Dr. Bernard Williams was the long-time director of the "Golden Voices" choir at Miles College in Fairfield, Alabama. In addition to leading the choir, he served as college organist and was a professor of education.
Survey Shows Black Faculty at the University of Missouri Are Less Satisfied Than Their White Peers
Only 57 percent of faculty of color said that they were "very satisfied" or "satisfied" with the jobs. Nearly one fifth of all faculty of color said they were "dissatisfied" or "very dissatisfied."
Hampton University’s Rodney Smith to Lead the College of the Bahamas
Rodney D. Smith has been chosen as the next president of the College of the Bahamas. Dr. Smith has been serving as vice president for administrative services at Hampton University in Virginia.
Does Racism Contribute to Higher Rates of Obesity Among Blacks?
A new study led by Luis Rivera, an experimental social psychologist at Rutgers University-Newark, finds that exposure to racial and ethnic stereotypes can hinder members of minority groups in their efforts to maintain a healthy lifestyle.
President Ronald Mason on the Way Out at Southern University
The Southern University Board of Supervisors voted to not extend the contract of system president Ronald Mason, which expires on June 30, 2015. Dr. Mason has served as system president since July 2010.
Parents’ Job Loss Can Increase Suicide Behaviors Among Black Adolescents and Teenagers
A study led by researchers at Duke University finds that when mass layoffs occur in the general population, there is a corresponding rise in suicide-related behaviors among African American adolescents and teenagers in the area where the layoffs occurred.
Shaw University Extends Contract of Acting President
Gaddis J. Faulcon has been serving as acting president of Shaw University since the beginning of the year. Now he has been named interim president and had his contract extended for a year.
University of Kansas Project Will Examine the Impact of Black Poetry on Social Change
The project, supported by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, will fund an institute on the University of Kansas campus next summer entitled "Black Poetry After the Black Arts Movement."
McKinley Boston Retiring as Athletics Director at New Mexico State University
Dr. Boston has served as athletics director at New Mexico State University for the past 10 years. Earlier in his academic career he was director of athletics at the University of Minnesota, where he also served as vice president for student affairs.
Tufts University Debuts the Consortium of Studies in Race, Colonialism and Diaspora
The cross-disciplinary program will become the academic home for the programs in Africana studies, Asian American studies, Latino studies and other related programs in the School of Arts and Sciences.
