Monthly Archives: January 2022
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.
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.
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.
California Higher Education Gets A Budget Increase in Exchange for Agreement on Equity Goals
The governor and the state's systems of higher education have developed multi-year compacts and a roadmap that will provide sustained state investments in exchange for clear commitments from each segment to expand student access, equity, and affordability.
National Endowment for the Humanities Funds Research Projects at HBCUs
The National Endowment for the Humanities has announced $24.7 million in grants for 208 humanities projects across the country. Several of these grants were awarded to faculty at historically Black colleges and universities.
The Teacher Workforce Is Becoming More Diverse But Is Not Keeping Up With Student Diversity
At the high school level, 52 percent of the students were White but 78.2 percent of all teachers were White. Blacks were 14.3 percent of all high school students but Blacks were just 7.8 percent of all high school teachers.
Marlon Hall Appointed to Lead Fresno City College in California
Before being named interim president at Fresno City College, Dr. Hall spent seven and a half years as superintendent/president at Lassen Community College, in Susanville, California. He retired from that post in December 2019.
Study Finds Black Students Are Underrepresented in Dual Enrollment Programs
Dual enrollment is an opportunity that allows high school students to take college courses for credit and can reduce the time and money needed to obtain a degree. But a study by The Education Trust-West finds that Black students are unlikely to be taking advantage of such programs.
Anthony Ponder Selected to Be the Next Provost at Sinclair Community College in Dayton, Ohio
Dr. Ponder has been serving as dean of the Science, Mathematics & Engineering Division at the college. He first started working at the college in 1991 as an instructor in the mathematics department. He earned tenure in 1996 and was promoted to the rank of full professor in 2005.
How School Choice Contributes to Persistent Racial Segregation
A new study by Chantal Hailey, an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Texas at Austin, finds that White, Asian and Latino parents in New York City all express strong racial/ethnic preferences in where to send their kids to high school.
Alena Allen Is the New Leader of the University of Arkansas School of Law
Alena Allen, associate dean for research and faculty development and professor of law, has been named interim dean of the law school. Before joining the Arkansas faculty in 2021, she taught for 10 years at at the Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law at the University of Memphis.
Four African American Scholars Who Have Been Appointed to New Positions
Taking on new assignments are Royel M. Johnson in the Rossier School of Education at the University of Southern California, Teresa L. Smallwood at the United Lutheran Seminary in Philadelphia, Charles DeSassure at Rose State College in Midwest City, Oklahoma, and Airea D. Matthews of Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania.
Gene Wade to Lead the Propel Center, a Hub for HBCU Innovation and Learning
Gene Wade most recently served as founder and CEO of Honors Pathway in Oakland, California, a social venture that enables low-income students to attend their first year of college at no cost while receiving over 500 hours of in-person coaching and mentoring.
Three African Americans Who Are Taking on New University Administrative Duties
Erick Harper is the new director of athletics at the University of Nevada Las Vegas. Demetrius D. Smith will be associate vice president for student affairs at the University of Georgia and Joanne L. Smiklewill will manage the Professional Leadership Program for Women at Towson University in Maryland.
Spelman College Announces a New Initiative to Prepare Students for the Workplace
The partnership with the nonprofit organization Braven will offer all Spelman sophomores a two-part career-accelerating experience. Students will take online courses on the Braven platform and then have access to mentorships in their chosen field.
Kimberlé Crenshaw Receives the Top Honor From the Association of American Law Schools
Kimberlé W. Crenshaw is the Promise Institute Professor of Human Rights at the School of Law at the University of California, Los Angeles and the Isidor and Seville Sulzbacher Professor of Law at Columbia University. She was honored by the Association of American Law Schools for her work on critical race theory and intersectionality."
Three HBCU Medical Schools Participate in Effort to Boost Diversity in Artificial Intelligence Research
Historically Black Meharry Medical College, the Morehouse School of Medicine, and Howard University have joined the Coordinating Center for the Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning Consortium to Advance Health Equity and Researcher Diversity (AIM-AHEAD) program.
Four African Americans Who Have Been Appointed to University Diversity Positions
Taking on new roles as diversity officers are Cindy Crusto at the Yale School of Medicine, Melvin Beavers at the University of Arkansas Little Rock, Krishauna Hines-Gaither at Mount Saint Mary's University in Los Angeles, and Sharon Perry-Fantini at Iowa State University.
Penn State Dickinson Law School Is Establishing an Antiracist Development Institute
The Pennsylvania State University Dickinson Law School in Carlisle is creating an Antiracist Development Institute, a program offering organizations across the country systems design-based approaches to implementing antiracist practices, processes, and policies.
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 Cornell University Fellowship for Students From Francophone Africa
Awards are for one year of study in the Cornell Law School LLM program or the Global Development program in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. The fellow receives a $20,000 stipend and a college tuition waiver. David Arnaud Ngam à Kibeng from Cameroon is the inaugural fellow.
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.
Yale University Acquires a Collection of Gordon Parks’ Photographs
Gordon Parks was a true renaissance man. In addition to a long career as a photographer, he was a composer, musician, author, and filmmaker.
Racial Differences in the Age of Doctoral Degree Recipients in the United States
On average, Whites who earned doctorates in 2020 were 31.6 years old when they received their doctoral degrees. For African Americans, the average age was 36.6. On average, Whites took 8.8 years to earn their degree from the time they graduated from college, compared to 12.1 years for African Americans.
The New Director of the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh
Before joining the faculty at Carnegie Mellon University this month, Matthew Johnson-Roberson was an associate professor of engineering in the department of naval architecture and marine engineering and the department of electrical engineering and computer science at the University of Michigan.
Black or African American? Labels Can Impact People’s Perceptions of Ideology
A new study led by researchers at Emory University in Atlanta, the University of Southern California, and Columbia Business School shows that White Americans associate the label “Blacks” with being targets of racial bias more than the label “African Americans.”
Levy Brown Is the New Chief Academic Officer for North Carolina State Community Colleges
Dr. Levy Brown has held several leadership roles with Vance-Granville Community College in Henderson, North Carolina, including vice president of learning, student engagement and success; vice president of academic affairs, and vice president of student services.
Study Finds Americans Are Less Likely to Respond to Emails If the Sender is Black
The researchers sent emails to a random list of 250,000 Americans. When the sender had a White-sounding name, they were 15 percent more likely to receive a response than emails where the sender had a Black-sounding name.
Brandon Gamble to Head the Black Resource Center at San Diego State University
Before coming to San Diego State University in 2021 as the Charles Bell Faculty Scholar, Dr. Gamble was a faculty member and dean of student success at Oakwood University in Alabama. Earlier, he was the school psychology program coordinator and instructor at California State University, Long Beach.
In Memoriam: Carol Lani Guinier, 1950-2022
Lani Guinier was the first woman of color to be a tenured professor at Harvard Law School. Earlier, she taught for 10 years at the law school of the University of Pennsylvania.
Several HBCUs Are Delaying Their Spring Semesters Due to COVID
As the Omicron variant of the COVID-19 virus spreads across the world, once again the pandemic is causing disruptions in American higher education. Several of the nation's historically Black colleges and universities are revising the start of their spring semesters.
Three Black Faculty Members Who Are Taking on New Roles at Major Univerities
Renee Cunningham-Williams is the inaugural Watts Endowed Professor of Social Work at Arizona State University. Professor Martell Teasley is serving as interim senior vice president for academic affairs at the University of Utah and Kevin Johnson has been named the David L. Cohen University Professor at the University of Pennsylvania.
Michigan’s Only HBCU Receives Authorization to Reopen
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer has signed legislation authorizing the former Lewis College of Business, which closed in 2013, to reopen as the Pensole Lewis College of Business and Design as an accredited educational corporation authorized by the State of Michigan.
Morgan State University’s Wayne Dawkins Honored by the News Leader Association
Wayne Dawkins, professor of professional practice in the School of Global Journalism & Communication at Morgan State University, is the 2021 recipient of the Barry Bingham Sr. Fellowship. The award, given in recognition of an educator’s outstanding efforts to encourage students of color in the field of journalism.
Large Group of HBCUs Receive Bomb Threats on the Same Day
On the afternoon and evening of January 4, at least seven historically Black colleges and universities received bomb threats, forcing the educational institutions to institute lockdown, evacuations, and police sweeps of campus buildings and facilities.
