Monthly Archives: April 2022

The Pandemic’s Huge and Lingering Impact on Black Educational Attainment

The vaccine rollout in the spring of 2021 cut the share of students who planned to cancel their postsecondary education by more than half across all racial and ethnic groups. Fewer students of all races canceled their educational plans, but the racial gaps in educational disruption persisted. Inability to pay was the most cited reason for educational disruptions.

Wayne A.I. Frederick to Step Down as President of Howard University by June 2024

Dr. Frederick, who had been serving as provost, was named interim president of Howard University in 2013 and assumed the permanent position in 2014. He has spent 34 years at Howard as a student, faculty member, administrator, and president.

Vast Majority of Blacks Believe Their Racial Identity Is Extremely or Very Important to Their Self-Image

A new study by the Pew Research Center finds that the vast majority of Black Americans say being Black is extremely or very important to how they think about themselves. This is true across all income levels and educational backgrounds.

Kiki Baker Barnes Named Commissioner of the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference

Since 2006, Dr. Barnes has served as athletic director at Dillard University in New Orleans. Founded in 1981, the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference competes in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics. It is a league entirely comprised of historically Black colleges and universities from Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Texas.

How COVID-19 Took a Disparate Impact on Black America

The study was produced by the Black Coalition Against COVID, a group that consists of several organizations and businesses including the four historically Black health science centers: Meharry Medical College; Howard University College of Medicine; Morehouse School of Medicine, and Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science.

A Pair of African Americans Appointed to Dean Positions

Michèle Alexandre was named dean of Loyola University of Chicago’s School of Law and Tevis D. Bryant has been appointed vice president for student life and dean of students at Allegheny College in Meadville, Pennsylvania.

Three Black Scholars Who Have Been Assigned to New Positions or Duties

Ralph Etienne-Cummings, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Johns Hopkins University, has been given the added duties as vice provost for faculty. Ruth Simmons, who is stepping down as president of Prairie View A&M University in Texas, will take a faculty post, and Major Jackson, a professor of English and director of the creative writing program at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, was named to an endowed chair.

Morehouse College Wins the Honda Campus All-Star Challenge

Since the competition was founded in 1989, Morehouse College has qualified to participate every year and has won the championship five times. This year, Morehouse defeated the team from Kentucky State University in the final round. Teams from Oakwood University and Tuskegee University, both in Alabama, were semifinalists in the competition.

A Quartet of African Americans Who Have Been Named to Administrative Posts in Higher Education

Taking on new administrative roles are James Aaron L. Pierre, Jr. at Miles College in Fairfield, Alabama, Xeturah Woodley at Dona Ana Community College in Las Cruces, New Mexico, Arnold N. Gordon-Bray at Fayetteville State University in North Carolina, and Sheila Washington at Auburn University in Alabama.

New Network of Historically Black and Predominantly Black Community Colleges

A new organization has been established to advocate for the nation's historically Black and predominantly Black community colleges. The nonprofit organization Complete College America has created a national network of 22 historically Black and predominantly Black community colleges across eight states.

Four Scholars Honored for Their Book on Educating African American Children

George Johnson of South Carolina State University, Gloria Boutte of the University of South Carolina, Joyce King of Georgia State University, and Lagarrett King of the University at Buffalo are being honored by the Society of Professors of Education.

Three State-Operated HBCUs in North Carolina Can Now Admit More Out-of-State Students

State universities in North Carolina are restricted in the number of students they can enroll who live outside the state. The general limit is to cap out-of-state enrollment at 18 percent. North Carolina A&T State University and North Carolina Central University can now admit 35 percent of students from outside North Carolina. The threshold for Elizabeth City State University was raised to 50 percent.

A Trio of Black Scholars Who Have Been Appointed to Diversity Positions

Salome Nnoromele was appointed interim vice president for diversity and inclusion at Ohio University. DeQuan Smith was named the inaugural assistant dean of inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility at the Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta and Jacqueline M. Gatson was named assistant vice president of advancement for diversity, inclusion and belonging at the Purdue for Life Foundation.

In Memoriam: Doris Adelaide Derby, 1939-2022

Dr. Derby, a noted photographer of the civil rights era, went on to teach African-American studies and anthropology at the University of Illinois, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and the College of Charleston in South Carolina.

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.

New Scholarship Honors the First Black Woman Graduate of Yale Divinity School

A new scholarship at Yale Divinity School honors Rena Karefa-Smart, the first Black woman to graduate from the school. Dr. Karefa-Smart was also the first Black woman to earn a theology doctorate from Harvard Divinity School and the first female professor to earn tenure at the Howard University School of Divinity.

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 Arkansas Honors the First Black Graduate of Its School of Architecture and Design

The Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design at the University of Arkansas recently honored the school's first African American graduate, Wallace "Wali" Caradine Jr. The university has named the east entrance of Vol Walker Hall the Wallace Reed Caradine Memorial Entry.

Valerie Sheares Ashby Will Be the Next President of the University of Maryland Baltimore County

Since 2015, Dr. Ashby has been dean of the Trinity College of Arts & Sciences at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. From 2003 to 2105, Dr. Ashby served on the faculty at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. There, she chaired the chemistry department from 2012 to 2015.

How Search Committee Chairs Impact Equity in the Faculty Hiring Process

Many search chairs felt that HR and EO departments were responsible for making sure searches were equitable and inclusive. However, a common theme in interviews was the lack of information and clarity from those departments when it came to the search chair’s role. Some chairs said they had no training on how to center diversity and equity, while others received very little.

Almesha Campbell of Jackson State University Named Chair-Elect of AUTM

AUTM is a global nonprofit organization whose members support the commercialization of academic research. AUTM has its roots in the Society of University Patent Administrators from the 1970s. Its name was later changed to the Association of University Technology Managers, but now only AUTM is used.

Stanford Study Finds That Closure of Majority Black Public Schools Leads to Gentrification

Researchers combined U.S. Census data with national statistics on school closures to investigate whether the closures affected patterns of gentrification, a phenomenon marked by an influx of relatively affluent residents in previously disinvested neighborhoods. School closures increased gentrification, the study found – but only in predominantly Black neighborhoods.

Three Universities Have Named African Americans to Provost Positions

Rondall E. Allen has been named provost and vice president for academic affairs at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore. Mignon Jacobs is the new vice president of academic affairs and provost at Virginia Union University and Marie Chisholm-Burns was appointed executive vice president and provost of Oregon Health & Science University.

Black Students Experiencing Racism on Campus Lack Mental Health Support

College campuses are having trouble recruiting enough therapists to meet the mental health needs of students overall. And few predominantly white colleges employ counselors and mental health professionals who are representative of the racial, ethnic, and cultural diversity of the students.

Four Black Scholars Who Have Been Appointed to Dean Positions

The four Black scholars appointed to dean posts are C. Debra M. Furr-Holden at New York University, Charles W. Richardson, Jr. at Alabama A&M University, Kimberly R. Moffitt at the University of Maryland Baltimore County, and Richard L. Moss at the University of Arkansas Pulaski Technical College.

E. Patrick Johnson Has Received the Frederick Douglass Medal From the University of Rochester

The Frederick Douglass Medal is a joint initiative of the Office of the President and the Frederick Douglass Institute established in 2008 at the University of Rochester to honor individuals of outstanding achievement whose scholarship and community engagement honor the legacy of Frederick Douglass. Dr. Johnson teaches at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.

Morgan State University Aims to Establish a Satellite Campus in East Baltimore

Under the agreement, the university will purchase an approximately 59-acre parcel that includes the former Lake Clifton High School and another 14 acres of adjacent property south and east of the school. Morgan State aims to redevelop the property over a 15-to-20-year period, with a projected total minimum investment of $200 million.

Three Black Legal Scholars Are Joining the Faculty at Boston College Law School

Thomas W. Mitchell and Lisa T. Alexander come to Boston College Law from Texas A&M University School of Law, where they co-founded and co-direct the Program in Real Estate and Community Development Law. Jenna Cobb comes to Boston College Law from the Special Litigation Division of the Public Defender Service.

Tennesseee State University to Expand Its Online Digital Literacy Education Project in Africa

Tennessee State University has been operating an online program for students in South Africa and Liberia. The program is part of a STEM literacy partnership with the African Methodist Episcopal Church that gives students digital resources to develop their technology skills. Now students from four additional nations will be able to participate.

Carnegie Mellon Univerity Professor Honored for Lifetime Achievement in Academic Engineering

Shawn Blanton, professor of electrical and computer engineering at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, received the Golden Torch Award for Lifetime Achievement in Academia from the National Society of Black Engineers. He is the founder and director of the Advanced Chip Test Laboratory at the university.

New $10 Million Initiative Aims to Establish Public Charter Schools on HBCU Campuses

Bloomberg Philanthropies in conjunction with the United Negro College Fund recently announced a new $10 million effort to work with historically Black colleges and universities to start new public charter schools in the South

Four African Americans Who Have Been Named to New Admnistrative Posts in Higher Education

Taking on new duties are LaNiece R. Tyree at Howard University in Washington, D.C., Sonel Y. Shropshire at Delaware State University, Amikaeyla Gaston at the California Jazz Conservatory in Berkeley, and Angela B. Abraham at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

UCLA Aims to Become a Leader in the Study of Hip-Hop Culture

The Hip Hop Initiative at UCLA will include artist residencies, community engagement programs, a book series, an oral history and digital archive project, postdoctoral fellowships, and more.

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.

For the First Time, Students at Michigan State Can Major in African American Studies

For students at Michigan State who choose to major in African American Studies, three concentrations are offered: Communities in Action; Creative Expression, Culture, and Performance; and Black Institutions, Sustainability, and Statecraft.

Name Change for the African American Studies Building at Virginia Commonwealth University

The building will now be known as Gabriel's House, named for the enslaved man in Richmond who, in 1800, organized an unsuccessful but historically significant slave revolt.

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