Monthly Archives: March 2020
In Memorial: Don Alden Crewell, 1952-2020
Crewell joined the California Institute of Technology as director of financial aid in 2007, a position he maintained until November 2019. Earlier, he served on the staff at the California College of the Arts, the California School of Professional Psychology, and Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
University of Lynchburg to Launch an Africana Studies Major This Coming Fall
Students in the program will explore race-related questions and study the lives of Africans and people in the African diaspora. Africana studies combines a core intro class and a capstone project with existing courses from a variety of disciplines, including history, English, sociology, psychology, and music.
Racial Differences in the Gender Wage Gap
A new report from the Center for America Progress finds that White women earn 79 percent of what is earned by White men. But African American women earn only 62 cents to the dollar compared to the earnings of White men.
Myron Floyd Appointed Dean of the College of Natural Resources at North Carolina State
Dr. Floyd has been serving as interim dean. He first joined the college in 2005 as a professor in the department of parks, recreation and tourism management. In 2010, he was appointed to serve as director of graduate programs for the department, and in 2014 he became department head.
How Racism Impacts African Americans’ Decisions to Seek Self-Employment
Two sociologists at Rice University in Houston, Texas, found that working Black adults with “racial capital,” or high awareness of the systemic nature of racism, were seven times more likely to pursue self-employment than those with low awareness.
Black Colleges Are Concerned About Their Financial Future Amid COVID-19 Pandemic
Historically Black colleges and universities, which, in some cases, have been previously dealing with low enrollment, now must face what will happen if the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbates an already tenuous financial future.
Na’ilah Suad Nasir Elected to Lead the American Educational Research Association
Since 2017, Dr. Nasir has been president of the Spencer Foundation, which has been a leading funder of education research since 1971. Earlier, she held the Birgeneau Chair in Educational Disparities and was vice-chancellor of equity and inclusion at the University of California, Berkeley.
Academic Study Finds a Growing Racial Divide in Autism Disorders
While autism disorders in wealthy counties of California have decreased since 2000, the study found incidence among Blacks has increased rapidly across California, marking the highest rates among any ethnic or racial group.
Eddith Dashiell to Lead the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University
Dashiell joined the Ohio University faculty in 1992 and currently serves as an associate professor and associate director of undergraduate programs for the journalism school. Earlier, she taught at Middle Tennessee State University and Indiana University while pursuing her graduate degrees.
In Memoriam: Joseph Echols Lowery, 1921-2020
Joseph Lowery, often referred to as the "Dean of the Civil Rights Movement," held a doctorate from the Chicago Ecumenical Institute. In 2002, the Joseph E. Lowery Institute for Justice & Human Rights was founded at Clark Atlanta University.
HBCUs Not Forgotten in the Giant Coronavirus Stimulus Package
The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act provides emergency Title III and Title V aid to HBCUs, predominantly Black institutions and other minority-serving institutions. The act also authorizes the Department of Education to loosen the restrictions on currently appropriated Title III funds.
North Carolina A&T State University to Offer a New Master’s Degree in Health Psychology
The degree is a two-year program designed to provide the foundational knowledge and skills for students to work in the health psychology field. The first students are expected to enroll in the program during the Fall 2021 semester.
William Kisaalita Named a University Professor at the University of Georgia
William Kisaalita, the Georgia Athletic Association Distinguished Professor of Engineering, has been named a University Professor at the University of Georgia. He has served as chair of biological engineering and as associate director of the Center for Undergraduate Research Opportunities.
Prairie View A&M University Alumnae Develop My HBCU Box
Subscribers to the service receive a package each quarter that contains merchandise valued at $100 or more. The items in the box pertain to HBCU culture and to the subscriber's particular HBCU.
Ann Brothers Smith Honored by the American Association of University Administrators
Dr. Smith, a retired public school administrator, has served as a member of the West Virginia State University Board of Governors since 2011, serving as chair, vice chair, and chair of several board committees. She is the former associate superintendent for school leadership for the Detroit public school system.
Hampton University Museum Hires a New Curator of Collections
Turner, a native of Newport News, Va., comes to Hampton University after recently working at the Freer Gallery of Art & Arthur M. Sackler Gallery in Washington, D.C. He is a graduate of Christopher Newport University in Newport News, Virginia.
A Pair of African American Women Appointed to Administrative Posts at HBCUs
Valora Richardson was named director of Hampton University Online and Sonya Audria Miller was appointed counsel at Florida Memorial University in Miami Gardens.
Yale University Commits to Expand the Study of African Linguistics
During a recent trip to Africa, before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Yale University President Peter Salovey announced that Yale will co-sponsor two upcoming meetings of the African Linguistics School, which is devoted to collaborative training and research on generative linguistics in Africa.
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.
The Higher Education of the Surgeon General of the United States
Each day when President Trump meets with reporters to give a daily briefing on the government's efforts to combat the COVID-19 virus, standing by his side is Jerome Adams, an African American man who serves as Surgeon General of the United States.
Harvard University Offers Online Course on the Selma Voting Rights March
Selma Online is an interactive program that is designed for middle or high school students. The platform uses scenes from Ava DuVernay's 2014 film Selma as a storyboard to bring the voting rights movement to life
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.
Active Learning Improves Academic Performance of Black Students in Undergraduate STEM Courses
The study found that the achievement gap between overrepresented and underrepresented students - in courses where active learning techniques were used - narrowed on exam scores by 33 percent and course passing rates by 45 percent.
Maryland Legislature Looks to End the 14-Year Litigation Filed by the State’s HBCUs
The bill provides $577 million over 10 years to the four universities. The provisions of the legislation will be enacted on December 1, if the lawsuit is not settled by that time.
Cornell University Study Finds Racial/Ethnic Differences in Perceptions of Environmental Issues
The survey found that there were, in fact, demographic differences in how people viewed environmental issues, with racial and ethnic minorities and lower-income people more likely to consider human factors such as racism and poverty as environmental issues.
Lance Collins Will Be the Inaugural Director of Virginia Tech’s Innovation Campus
Since 2010, Dr. Collins has served as the Joseph Silbert Dean of Engineering at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. He was a key member of the leadership team that successfully bid to partner with New York City to build Cornell Tech, which opened its Roosevelt Island campus in 2017.
University Study Finds Racial Bias in Selection of Patients for Cancer Clinical Trials
Examples of the stereotypes discovered in the interviews of medical school researchers included perceptions that African Americans were less knowledgeable about cancer research studies, less likely to participate out of altruism or simply less likely to complete all facets of the research study.
April White Pugh Appointed Provost at Southern Wesleyan University in Central, South Carolina
Dr. Pugh has been serving as interim provost since June 2019 and previously served Southern Wesleyan as vice provost for academic affairs and associate vice president for academic excellence. Earlier, Dr. Pugh served as assistant dean for academic affairs at Bainbridge State College in Donalsonville, Georgia.
Did North Carolina A&T State University Police Use Excessive Force Against Black Student?
Verdant Julius, the sophomore class president at North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro, was arrested by campus police while attempting to enter his residence hall to clear out his belongings as the university transitioned to all online instruction.
Fatimah Jackson to Receive the Charles R. Darwin Lifetime Achievement Award
Fatimah Jackson is a professor of biology and the director of the W. Montague Cobb Research Laboratory at Howard University in Washington, D.C. She is the first woman of African descent to receive this prestigious award from the American Association of Physical Anthropologists.
Howard University School of Business Enhances its MBA Degree Offerings
The Howard University School of Business in Washington, D.C., has announced a partnership with Noodle Partners, the nation's fastest-growing online program manager, to launch an online MBA degree program and invest in the growth of its online Executive MBA program.
Three Black Women Named Winners of National Book Critics Circle Awards
Each year, the National Book Critics Circle presents awards for the finest books published in English in six categories: Fiction, Nonfiction, Biography, Autobiography, Poetry, and Criticism. Three of the six winning authors this year are Black women. Each has some ties to higher education.
The Heman Sweatt Leadership Institute Is Established at Wiley College
In establishing the Sweatt Institute, Herman J. Felton, president of Wiley College, established four pillars as the foundation of the effort; servant leadership, expressing empathy, accountability, and repetition.
Michelle Samuel-Foo Elected President of the Southeastern Entomological Society of America
Dr. Samuel-Foo joined the faculty at Alabama State University in 2018. Earlier, she taught for 10 years at the Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences at the University of Florida. There, she conducted research on specialty crop pest management.
New Children’s Book Extols the Virtues of Historically Black Colleges and Universities
Yvette Manns, who grew up in Jamaica, New York, is a graduate of historically Black Clark Atlanta University in Georgia, where she majored in early childhood education. She is the author of the new children's book HBCU Proud.
