Monthly Archives: February 2018
MIT Scholar Finds Racial Bias in Commercial Facial Analysis Programs
The study found that commercially available face analysis programs had a very low error rate when determining the gender of light-skinned men. For women who had the darkest skin, the systems failed to accurately determine their gender nearly half the time.
Clark Atlanta University Appoints a Dean for Its School of Business Administration
Silvanus J. Udoka currently serves as a professor and chair of the department of management at North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro. He holds a joint appointment in the department of industrial and systems engineering.
Three African American Men Honored With Prestigious Awards
The honorees are Ernest E. Jeffries, associate dean of students at Davidson College, Robert Smith, a graduate of Tougaloo College who was a major figure in the civil rights movement, and Roscoe Mitchell of Mills College.
New Virginia Union University President Is Sued by His Former Employer
Hakim Lucas, the new president of Virginia Union University, is being accused by his former employer of taking a bribe to rig a contract for a private developer to build two 600-student dormitories at Bethune-Cookman University.
Loan Forgiveness for Four HBCUs Devastated by Hurricane Katrina
The recent budget deal that ended the brief government shutdown included an important provision for four historically Black colleges and universities that suffered considerable damage from Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
North Carolina Central Joins the Triangle Universities Nuclear Laboratory
North Carolina Central University is the first historically Black college or university to be a member of a U.S. Department of Energy Center of Excellence.
Texas Southern University Earns the First National HBCU Debate Championship
This past October, Wiley College in Marshall, Texas was awarded a grant from the Charles Koch Foundation to establish a Historically Black Colleges and Universities Speech and Debate League. The Team from Texas Southern University is the first champion.
In Memoriam: Grace Victoria Edmondson Harris, 1933-2018
Dr. Harris was the first African American women to serve as a chief academic officer at a four-year public university in Virginia. She served on the faculty at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond for 48 years.
Online Articles That May Be of Interest to JBHE Readers
Each week, JBHE will provide links to online articles that may be of interest to our readers. Here are this week’s selections.
Recent Books 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. The books included are on a wide variety of subjects and present many different points of view.
University of Virginia to Form a Commission to Examine Its Role in Racial Segregation
In 2013, the University of Virginia formed a commission that investigated the university’s historical relationship with slavery. Now the university has announced the formation of the President's Commission on the University in the Age of Segregation.
In Memoriam: Saul T. Wilson Jr., 1928-2018
Saul T. Wilson, Jr. was a member of the first pre-veterinary medicine class at what was then the Tuskegee Institute. He was a member of the second class of the College of Veterinary Medicine at Tuskegee and later served on the faculty.
Higher Education Grants or Gifts of Interest to African Americans
Here is this week’s news of grants or gifts to historically Black colleges and universities or for programs of particular interest to African Americans in higher education.
New Historical Marker Honors First Black Student to Apply to the University of Southern Mississippi
Clyde Kennard applied for admission to what was then Mississippi Southern College in 1955 and was denied. In 1959, he applied again and was rejected. For challenging the rules of Jim Crow, he was framed and sentenced to seven years in state prison.
Berkeley’s First Tenured Black Scholar Has a Building Named in His Honor
Dr. David Blackwell, an accomplished statistician, joined the mathematics department at Berkeley in 1954 and stayed on the faculty there until retiring in 1988. In 1965, he was the first African American to be inducted into the National Academy of Sciences.
In Memoriam: Leon Ndugu Chancler, 1952-2018
Leon Chancler was an accomplished drummer who worked with some of the biggest names in the music business and taught for 23 years in the jazz and popular music programs at Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.
Two African American University Administrators Announce Their Retirements
Gaddis Faulcon recently retired from his post as vice president at Saint Augustine's University in Raleigh, North Carolina and Phail Wynn, a vice president at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, announced he will retire in June.
New Research Verifies Glass Was Manufactured in Africa Before the Arrival of Europeans
Abidemi Babatunde Babalola, a visiting fellow at Harvard University with a Ph.D. in anthropology from Rice University in Houston, finds that that glass was being produced in sub-Saharan Africa as early as the 11th century, well before the arrival of Europeans.
Poet Elizabeth Alexander Named President of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
Elizabeth Alexander, a professor at Columbia University who was selected to write a poem and read it at President Obama’s first inauguration in 2009, has been appointed president of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation in New York.
Study by Ohio State University Economists Shows Black Politicians Matter
A new National Bureau of Economic Research working paper by Trevon Logan, a professor of economics at Ohio State University, finds that when Blacks hold political power their economic status rises. But when they lose political power, their economic fortunes dwindle.
Morgan State University Extends President’s Contract for Five Years
Dr. Wilson became president of Morgan State in July 2010. In December 2012, the board of regents of Morgan State University voted not to renew his contract. After protests, he was kept on with a series of one-year deals. Now, he will be president until at least 2023.
Confronting the Problem of Teachers’ Low Expectations for Black Students
The results showed that mathematics teachers had lower expectations for children from underrepresented groups and for White girls. And the students who were not expected to do well by their teachers did not fare well academically.
The Next Provost at Iona College in New Rochelle, New York
Dr. Darrell P. Wheeler has been serving as professor and dean of the School of Social Welfare and vice provost for public engagement at the University at Albany of the State University of New York. He will begin his new job at Iona College on July 1.
New Faculty Roles for Three African American Scholars
Taking on new faculty roles are Christal N. Brown at Middlebury College in Vermont, Brenda Lee at the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York, and Neil Roberts at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts.
BestColleges.com Ranks the Nation’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities
The website’s methodology ranks HBCUs by taking into account "academic standards, affordability, outcomes, student support, and the breadth and depth of online learning opportunities." Florida A&M University was ranked as the best HBCU in these rankings.
Syracuse University’s Marcelle Haddix Wins Outstanding Book Award From AACTE
Dr. Haddix is being honored for her book Cultivating Racial and Linguistic Diversity in Literacy Teacher Education: Teachers Like Me. Dr. Haddix will be honored at the association's 70th annual meeting in Baltimore.
Saudi Arabians Flock to Tennessee State University
Officials at Tennessee State University report that 70 percent of the approximately 570 foreign students at the university come from Saudi Arabia. Over half of the engineering majors at Tennessee State are Saudi Arabian students.
Two African American Women in New Administrative Posts at Universities
Sabrina Johnson was appointed vice president for equity and access and chief diversity officer at the University of Mary Washington in Virginia and Teresa A. Miller was named senior vice chancellor for strategic initiatives for the State University of New York System.
Texas Southern University Establishes the Mathew Knowles Institute
The institute, named for music and entertainment industry mogul Mathew Knowles, will be operated by the Office of Continuing Education. It will offer certificates in management, sales, marketing, career development, human resources, entrepreneurship, and entertainment.
In Memoriam: Cheryl Lynn Allen
Dr. Allen joined the faculty of Morehouse College as an instructor in 1988 and rose to the rank of full professor. On two occasions she was named interim dean of the Business and Economics Division at Morehouse College, the first woman to serve as a dean in the division.
Online Articles That May Be of Interest to JBHE Readers
Each week, JBHE will provide links to online articles that may be of interest to our readers. Here are this week’s selections.
Recent Books 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. The books included are on a wide variety of subjects and present many different points of view.
John Jay College of Criminal Justice Debuts an Online Archive on Slavery in New York
The new online archive includes more than 35,000 records. The index includes census records, slave trade transactions, cemetery records, birth certifications, manumissions, ship inventories, newspaper accounts, private narratives, legal documents and many other sources.
Center for American Progress Addresses Racial Disparity in School Discipline
A new study that shows that in New York and Los Angeles - the nation's two largest school districts - students were expelled or suspended for a total of 47,558 days during the 2016-17 school year. These school districts are predominantly Black and Hispanic.
Higher Education Grants or Gifts of Interest to African Americans
Here is this week’s news of grants or gifts to historically Black colleges and universities or for programs of particular interest to African Americans in higher education.
Blacks Are Making Progress in Biomedical Research, But Not in Faculty Posts
The results showed that the diversions from developing a faculty career are found primarily at two clearly identifiable places, specifically during undergraduate education and in transition from postdoctoral fellowship to tenure-track faculty in the basic sciences at medical schools.
