Monthly Archives: February 2019
Georgetown Students Will Vote on Fee to Aid Descendants of Slaves Sold by the University
The $27.20 per semester fee, which would be added to students' tuition, would contribute to a fund to benefit the descendant community of the 272 enslaved individuals who were sold to pay off Georgetown's debt in 1838.
Michigan State University Establishes a Department of African-American and African Studies
A major goal of the new department is to establish an undergraduate major within the next five years. It is hoped that the new department will help re-establish the African-American and African studies Ph.D. program as a national and international leader in the field.
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.
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.
Cornell University Asks Public to Help Build Digital Database of Ads That Sought Fugitive Slaves
The insights the ads provide on the experiences of enslaved Africans and African-Americans are especially valuable because so little information about these individuals has been preserved.
Texas Southern University Launches New Student-Run Online Radio Station
The radio station will run a 24-hour operation. It will feature music geared toward current students as well as hourly news, sports updates, and public affairs programs highlighting the university and the surrounding Houston area.
In Memoriam: Josephus Olufemi Richards, 1942-2019
In 1971, Dr. Richards began his career at the University of Massachusetts as an associate professor in the W.E.B. Du Bois Department of Afro-American Studies. He retired in 2002.
Women Now Hold A Majority of All Faculty Posts Held by Blacks But Trail in Full Professorships
Unlike every other racial and ethnic group in the United States, Black women hold more faculty posts than Black men. In 2017, White women made up 46.5 percent of all White faculty members. But that year, Black women were 57.2 percent of all Black faculty.
Marcheta Evans Will Be the First African American President of Bloomfield College in New Jersey
Dr. Evans serves as provost and vice president for academic affairs at Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio, Texas. Earlier in her career, she served as associate dean and department chair at the University of Texas at San Antonio.
Study Finds Race of Messenger Affects How Users Interact With Posts on Twitter
Using eye-tracking devices, researchers found that young White Americans looked longer at messages from White Twitter users about Colin Kaepernick and his national anthem protests. But when questioned, the participants stated that that they would be more likely to engage with Black Twitter users.
Bennett College Loses Accreditation Appeal, But Vows to Fight On
Despite the fact that Bennett College raised $8 million in a short period, the Appeals Committee of the College Delegate Assembly of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges upheld the decision to revoke the college's accreditation. The college is challenging that decision in court.
African Americans Are Five Times As Likely as Whites to Have Extremely High Blood Pressure
A new study has found that African Americans in inner-cities are five times as likely as Whites to experience hypertensive emergency, which is defined as extremely high blood pressure that can lead to stroke, heart attacks, and acute kidney damage.
Some Headway in Efforts to Diversify the Staffs of American Art Museums
Over the past several years, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has funded several initiatives to increase diversity within American art museum staffs. These efforts have begun to pay off. A recent survey found that the percentage of African-American curators across the country doubled from 2 percent in 2015 to 4 percent in 2018.
Bethel University’s Claudia May Wins Award for Christian Children’s Book
The award-winning book is the first in a series that follows the story of a young Black girl named Winnie, whose relationship with the God she calls Papa empowers her to live with remarkable love, curiosity, and bravery.
HBCU Partners With Local Community Colleges to Establish Pipeline for Aviation Students
Historically Black Elizabeth City State University in North Carolina has partnered with three North Carolina community colleges to establish a pipeline program that will bring community college transfer students to ECSU's signature aviation science program.
New Assignments for Three African American Scholars
Taking on new roles are Channing L. Moreland who has joined the faculty at the University of Pittsburgh, Emmanuel K. Asiamah, who has been appointed assistant professor of animal science at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, and Omari H. Swinton of Howard University who is the new president of the National Economic Association.
Southern University Aims to Boost the Number of Male Teachers From Underrepresented Groups
The School of Education at Southern University recently hosted a week-long residency program for high school students with the goal of interesting these students in careers as teachers in the public schools.
A Trio of African Americans in Higher Education Who Have Received Honors or Awards
The honorees are Brian Culp, a professor in College of Health and Human Services at Kennesaw State University in Georgia, Keith Berry, dean of academic affairs of the Ybor City campus of Hillsborough Community College in Florida, and Mary E. Silas, former president of Kentucky State University.
Morgan State University Announces Partnership With The Wall Street Journal
The partnership will involve an exchange of classroom instruction, mentoring and newsroom visits for a selection of students and faculty, both in New York and on Morgan’s campus in Baltimore. One faculty member will be embedded in the newsroom during the summer.
Six African Americans Who Have Been Assigned New Administrative Duties in Higher Education
Here is this week’s roundup of African Americans who have been appointed to new administrative positions at colleges and universities throughout the United States.
Black Doll Found Hanging From a Shower Rod in a Residence Hall at Eastern Michigan University
The student who hung the doll insisted that it was merely "a prank." The president of the university called the incident "a racist act" and turned over the results of the university's investigation to local prosecutors.
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.
New Residence Hall at James Madison University Will Honor Paul Jennings Who Was Enslaved
Jennings was the personal "manservant" for James Madison on his estate in Virginia and also in Washington, D.C. After Madison's death, Jennings secured his freedom and worked in the U.S. Pension Office.
Four Academic Powerhouses Join Forces to Study Racial Issues in the Humanities
Academic centers at four leading universities have entered into a partnership to investigate the connections between the study of race and racism and academic fields in the humanities. The four participating institutions are Yale University, Stanford University, Brown University and the University of Chicago.
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.
University of Minnesota Partners With the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences
Under the agreement, University of Minnesota faculty members and graduate students will travel to Africa to serve as lecturers and to mentor students. Officials hope that the new partnership will funnel African students to graduate programs in mathematics at the University of Minnesota.
Five African Americans Who Are Stepping Down From Their Current Posts in Academia
Those stepping down from their posts are Nicole Prudent at the Boston University School of Medicine, Blake D. Morant, dean of the law school at George Washington University, Frankie Jeffries at LeMoyne-Owen College in Memphis, Michael Adewumi at Pennsylvania State University, and Willie Hill Jr. at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
A Quartet of African Americans Scholars Who Are Taking on New Roles
The African American scholars who are taking on new assignments are Leelannee Malin of Howard University in Washington, D.C., Chris Lebron of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, John Gates at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, and Monica Baskin of the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Avis Proctor Named President of William Rainey Harper College in Palatine, Illinois
Currently, Dr. Proctor serves a president of the North Campus of Broward College in Coconut Creek, Florida. She has 25 years of experience working in multicultural environments as an mathematics educator and academic administrator.
Blacks Making Only Snail-Like Progress in Closing the Racial Gap in Faculty Posts
In 2017, Blacks made up 5.5 percent of all instructional faculty members in U.S. higher education. Eight years earlier in 2009, Blacks were 5.4 percent of all instructional faculty. In 2017, Blacks were only 3.8 percent of all full professors.
Linda Darling-Hammond Appointed President of the California State Board of Education
Dr. Darling-Hammond is the Charles E. Ducommun Professor of Education, Emerita at Stanford University. She is a former president of the American Educational Research Association and a member of the National Academy of Education.
New Census Data Shows a Large Racial Gap in Attrition Rates in College Enrollments
In October 2017, there were 719,000 African American first-year students, 664,000 African Americans in their second year, 608,000 in their third year and 324,000 African Americans in their fourth year of college.
Warren Washington Wins the 2019 Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement
The award, administered by the University of Southern California, recognizes passionate environmental science dedication across a spectrum of environmental research fields. It is the premiere international award for environmental science and is often referred to as the "Nobel for the Environment."
New Report Offers a Wealth of Data on the Status of African Americans in Higher Education
The American Council on Education recently released a 336-page report on the status of underrepresented groups in higher education. Data on college and graduate student enrollments, persistence, graduation, student debt, faculty, and employment and earnings of college graduates is included in the report.
