Honors and Awards for Three African American Scholars
Filed in Honors & Awards on October 28, 2016
James M. Rosser, president emeritus of California State University, Los Angeles, will have a building in the Wallis Annenberg Integrated Sciences Complex named in his honor. Dr. Rosser served as president of the university for 34 years from 1979 to 2013.
Dr. Rosser holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in microbiology and a doctorate in health education, all from Southern Illinois University Carbondale. Prior to becoming president at CalState, Los Angeles, he was the vice chancellor of the Department of Education of the State of New Jersey. Earlier he served on the faculty at Southern Illinois University Carbondale and the University of Kansas.
Ntozake Shange, the noted African American playwright, poet, and novelist, has been selected as the winner of this year’s Langston Hughes Medal, presented by the City College of New York. Shange will be honored on the City College campus on November 17.
Shange is probably best known for her Obie-winning play “For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf.” A graduate of Barnard College in New York City, Shange earned a master’s degree in American studies at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.
Adriel A. Hilton, director of the Myrtle Beach Metropolitan Campus of Webster University, received the 2016 Hilda F. Owens Award for Contribution to Knowledge in the Field from the South Carolina College Personnel Association.
Dr. Hilton holds a bachelor’s degree in finance from Morehouse College in Atlanta and a master’s of applied social science (public administration) degree from Florida A&M University. He earned a Ph.D. in higher education from Morgan State University in Baltimore.
