Monthly Archives: January 2021
Two African American College Presidents Announce They Are Stepping Down
Alabama A&M University President Andrew Hugine, Jr., announced his retirement, effective December 31, 2021, and Emerson College in Boston announced that President Lee Pelton would step down in June to lead the Boston Foundation.
The Year in Review: Notable Research on African Americans in Higher Education in 2020
Over the course of 2020, JBHE has published a large number of posts highlighting research on African Americans in higher education. In case readers missed some of these posts, here are links to some of the items published over the past year.
DeAnna R. Burt-Nanna Will Be the Next President of Monroe Community College in New York
Dr. Burt-Nanna has been serving as vice president of student and academic affairs for South Central College, which has campuses in Faribault and North Mankato, Minnesota. Earlier, she served in various faculty and administrative roles at Baker College in Muskegon, Michigan.
Academic Disciplines Where African Americans Received Few or No Doctorates in 2019
In 2019 there were 2,512 African Americans who earned doctorates. They made up 7.1 percent of all doctorates awarded to U.S. citizens or permanent residents in the U.S. But there are many fields where Blacks earned only a tiny percentage of all doctorates. For example, African Americans earned only one percent of physics doctorates.
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.
Robin Carter Appointed Dean at Sacramento State University in California
Dr. Carter joined the faculty at Sacramento State in the late 1980s as a professor of social work. She also served as director of the graduate program, project manager of a child welfare-training grant, and associate dean of the college.
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.
The Racial Gap in Attendance and Absenteeism in Public Schools
New data from the California Department of Education shows that prior to the pandemic Black students missed an average of 13.2 days of school each year. White students were absent, on average for 9.1 school days. For Black students, 52.7 percent of all absences were unexcused compared to 29.4 percent for White students.
Thomas Stith III Named President of the North Carolina Community College System
Stith has been serving as district director of the U.S. Small Business Administration. Earlier, Stith served as chief of staff to former North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory from 2013 to 2017 and was a three-term city council member in Durham from 1999 to 2007.
John Dabiri to Receive the 2020 Alan T. Waterman Award From the National Science Foundation
Waterman awardees each receive $1 million over five years for research in their chosen field of science. Dabiri says the funding will allow him to pursue research into some of the ways climate change challenges and threatens modern life.
Three Black Scholars Taking on New Positions at Colleges and Universities
Syd Carpenter was appointed to an endowed chair at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania. Tiffany Murphy, an associate professor at the University of Arkansas School of Law was named associate dean, and Oghenovo A. Obrimah is a new assistant professor of business administration at Fisk University in Nashville.
Albany State University Enters Into a Partnership With Oconee Fall Line Technical College
The agreement between ASU and OFTC will provide educational advancement opportunities for OFTC students in the associate of applied science program to continue their education towards a bachelor’s degree at Albany State University.
Cornell’s Derrick Spires Wins First Book Award From the Modern Language Association
In the book, Dr. Spires, an associate professor of English in the College of Arts and Sciences at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, examines the parallel development of early Black print culture and legal and cultural understandings of U.S. citizenship between 1787 and 1861.
Central State University Aims to Increase Extension Outreach and Research
Historically Black Central State University in Wilberforce, Ohio, has entered into an agreement with Hocking College in Nelsonville, Ohio, Edison State Community College in Piqua, Ohio, and Stark State College in North Canton, Ohio, that will implement extension outreach and research-based programs at each college.
University of Chicago Appoints Five Black Scholars to Named Professorships
Twenty-three University of Chicago faculty members have received named professorships or have been appointed distinguished service professors. Five of these appointments went to Black scholars: Melissa L. Gilliam, Selwyn O. Rogers, Salikoko S. Mufwene, Margaret Beale Spencer, and Herschella G. Conyers.
North Carolina A&T State University Debuts New Scholarship Program
The new February One Scholars program is named for the day in 1960 that four North Carolina A&T students energized a national sit-in movement by refusing to leave a segregated lunch counter in downtown Greensboro without being served.
In Memoriam: Jacqueline E. Fuller Certion, 1972-2020
Jacqueline Certion was the assistant director of the Foundations for Academic Success Track, or FASTrack, in the College of Liberal Arts at the University of Mississippi. In her position, Certion served as an adviser and mentor for thousands of students over the past 19 years.
