Columbia University related articles

Six African American Faculty Members Taking on New Roles or Assignments

Six African American Faculty Members Taking on New Roles or Assignments

Taking on new roles are Cymone Fourshey at Bucknell University, David Emmanuel Goatley at Duke University, Michael K. Fauntroy at Howard University, Tiffany Gayle Chenault at Salem State University, Desmond Patton at Columbia University, and Patricia Williams Lessane at the College of Charleston.

Ben Vinson Is the New Chair of the National Humanities Center

Ben Vinson Is the New Chair of the National Humanities Center

The center, in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, is a nonprofit institute dedicated to advanced study in the humanities. Dr. Vinson is the provost and executive vice president of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio.

The First Cohort of Obama Foundation Scholars Comes to the University of Chicago

The First Cohort of Obama Foundation Scholars Comes to the University of Chicago

This class is made up of 25 emerging leaders from around the globe who are committed to finding practical solutions to global challenges such as climate change, education, and government transparency.

The New President of Kingsborough Community College in Brooklyn

The New President of Kingsborough Community College in Brooklyn

A native of St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands, Claudia V. Schrader was appointed president of Kingsborough Community College in Brooklyn, New York. Dr. Schrader has been serving as provost and senior vice president for academic and student success at Bronx Community College.

Harvard University Acquires the Family Papers of Professor Patricia J. Williams

Harvard University Acquires the Family Papers of Professor Patricia J. Williams

The Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University has acquired the archives of the family of Patricia J. Williams, the James L. Dohr Professor at the Columbia University School of Law. The archives include 65 boxes of family documents going back more than a century.

Two African Americans Inducted Into the American Academy of Arts and Letters

Two African Americans Inducted Into the American Academy of Arts and Letters

George E. Lewis is the Edwin H. Case Professor of American Music at Columbia University and Lynn Nottage, a Pulitzer Prize winning playwright and a screenwriter, is an associate professor in the theatre department at the Columbia School of the Arts.

Pomona College in California Appoints Avis Hinkson as Dean of Students

Pomona College in California Appoints Avis Hinkson as Dean of Students

Dr. Hinkson has been serving as dean of Barnard College in New York City. Earlier in her career, Dr. Hinkson was associate dean of admissions at Pomona College. She will begin her new job at Pomona College in Claremont, California, on August 1.

In Memoriam: Marcellus Blount

In Memoriam: Marcellus Blount

Marcellus Blount was an associate professor of English and comparative literature at Columbia University in New York City. He was the former director of the Institute for Research in African American Studies and the former director of the graduate program in African American studies at Columbia.

Shane McCrae to Receive the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award in Poetry

Shane McCrae to Receive the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award in Poetry

Shane McCrae is an assistant professor of writing in the School of the Arts at Columbia University in New York City. McCrae joined the faculty at Columbia University in 2017 after teaching for three years at Oberlin College in Ohio.

John L. Jackson Appointed Dean of School of Communication at the University of Pennsylvania

John L. Jackson Appointed Dean of School of Communication at the University of Pennsylvania

Dr. Jackson currently serves as the Richard Perry University Professor and dean of the School of Social Policy and Practice at the University of Pennsylvania. He has held that post since 2014. Professor Jackson joined the faculty at the university in 2006.

Poet Elizabeth Alexander Named President of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

Poet Elizabeth Alexander Named President of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

Elizabeth Alexander, a professor at Columbia University who was selected to write a poem and read it at President Obama’s first inauguration in 2009, has been appointed president of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation in New York.

In Memoriam: Joseph T. McMillan Jr., 1944-2017

In Memoriam: Joseph T. McMillan Jr., 1944-2017

Before becoming the fourth president of what is now Huston-Tillotson University in 1988, Dr. McMillan served for 18 years as director of the United Church of Christ’s ministry in higher education. He served for 12 years as president of the historically Black college in Austin, Texas, before retiring in 2000.

Harvard University Acquires Massive Drawing by Kara Walker

Harvard University Acquires Massive Drawing by Kara Walker

Harvard University has acquired a collage of drawings by contemporary artist Kara Walker entitled “U.S.A. Idioms.” The collage is the largest work in the more than 250,000 works held by Harvard University.

In Memoriam: Todd Jason McCallum

In Memoriam: Todd Jason McCallum

Todd McCallum was an associate professor in the department of psychological sciences at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. He joined the faculty there in 2002 and was promoted to associate professor in 2007.

Emory University Acquires a Collection of Letters Written by Barack Obama in His 20s

Emory University Acquires a Collection of Letters Written by Barack Obama in His 20s

Rosemary Magee, director of the Rose Library at Emory University, stated the letters “reveal the search of a young man for meaning and identity. While intimate in a philosophical way, they reflect primarily a college student coming to terms with himself and others.”

Law Professors Look to Narrow the Racial Gap in Broadband Internet Access

Law Professors Look to Narrow the Racial Gap in Broadband Internet Access

Olivier Sylvain, an associate professor of law at Fordham University in New York and Sheila Foster, a professor at the Georgetown University Law Center, are leading the legal team of a project that hopes to bring broadband internet access to low-income residents in Harlem.

Columbia University to Invest $100 Million in Faculty Diversity Programs

Columbia University to Invest $100 Million in Faculty Diversity Programs

Over the next five years, Columbia University will invest $100 million in the effort to support recruitment and career development for professors, doctoral, and postdoctoral students who have traditionally been underrepresented in higher education.

David A. Thomas Named the 12th President of Morehouse College

David A. Thomas Named the 12th President of Morehouse College

Dr. Thomas currently serves as the H. Naylor Fitzhugh Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. He is the former dean of the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University.

Higher Education Grants or Gifts of Interest to African Americans

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.

Sheilah Paul to Lead the New School of Education at Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn

Sheilah Paul to Lead the New School of Education at Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn

Medgar Evers College, a campus of the City University of New York, has announced the establishment of the School of Education. The college enrolls about 6,800 students. African Americans make up more than three quarters of the student body. Dr. Sheilah M. Paul was named founding dean.

Former Secretary of Education Is Now Teaching at the University of Maryland

Former Secretary of Education Is Now Teaching at the University of Maryland

John B. King Jr., the former secretary of the U.S. Department of Education, is a visiting professor in the College of Education at the University of Maryland, College Park. He is teaching a course on education policy.

Cornell University Historian Russell Rickford Wins the Hooks National Book Award

Cornell University Historian Russell Rickford Wins the Hooks National Book Award

The Benjamin L. Hooks Institute for Social Change at the University of Memphis has announced that Russell J. Rickford is the winner of the 2016 Hooks National Book Award. The award is given to an author of a book that “best advances an understanding of the American civil rights movement and its legacy.”

The First Black Chair of the Cardiovascular Disease Board of the American Board of Internal Medicine

The First Black Chair of the Cardiovascular Disease Board of the American Board of Internal Medicine

Olakunle Akinboboye is an associate professor of clinical medicine at the Weill Medical College of Cornell University in New York. Dr. Akinboboye is the first Black physician to head the board in its 81-year history.

Ernest Morrell Appointed to an Endowed Chair at the University of Notre Dame

Ernest Morrell Appointed to an Endowed Chair at the University of Notre Dame

Professor Morrell will also serve as the inaugural director of the Center for Literacy Education in the university’s Institute for Educational Initiatives. He will hold joint appointments in the Department of English and the Department of Africana Studies.

Dana Canedy Named Administrator of the Pulitzer Prizes

Dana Canedy Named Administrator of the Pulitzer Prizes

Lee Bollinger, president of Columbia University, has announced that Dana Canedy will be the new administrator of the Pulitzer Prizes. Canedy has worked at the New York Times since 1996, most recently as special adviser to the chief executive officer and executive editor.

New Assignments for Six African American Faculty Members

New Assignments for Six African American Faculty Members

Taking on new roles are Desmond Patton of Columbia University, Dana Rice at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Keisha M. Love at the University of Cincinnati, Regina Taylor at Fordham University, A. Todd Franklin at Hamilton College, and Christopher Lance Coleman at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center.

Frederick Harris Named Dean of Social Science at Columbia University

Frederick Harris Named Dean of Social Science at Columbia University

Dr. Harris is a professor of political science at Columbia University in New York City and is the director of Center on African American Politics and Society. Professor Harris joined the faculty at Columbia University in 2007.

Princeton's Tracy K. Smith Named the Next Poet Laureate of the United States

Princeton’s Tracy K. Smith Named the Next Poet Laureate of the United States

Tracy Smith is the Roger S. Berlind ’52 Professor in the Humanities at Princeton University, and director of the university’s Program in Creative Writing in the Lewis Center for the Arts. She joined the faculty at Princeton in 2005.

Ira Kincade Blake Selected as the Next President of the University of Houston-Clear Lake

Ira Kincade Blake Selected as the Next President of the University of Houston-Clear Lake

Since 2009, Dr. Blake has been serving as senior vice president for academic affairs and provost at Bloomsburg University in Pennsylvania. When she takes office on August 1, she will become the first woman to serve as president of the University of Houston-Clear Lake.

HBCU Fellowship Program Established by Columbia's School of Professional Studies

HBCU Fellowship Program Established by Columbia’s School of Professional Studies

Under Columbia University’s HBCU Fellowship program, high-performing students from a network of historically Black colleges and universities will be matched with sponsor companies to receive full scholarships to Columbia’s professional master’s degree programs.

Two African American Scholars Appointed to Named Professorships at Ivy League Universities

Two African American Scholars Appointed to Named Professorships at Ivy League Universities

Mark Anthony Gooden was named the Christian A. Johnson Endeavor Professor of Education Leadership at Teachers College of Columbia University and Risa Lavizzo-Mourey was appointed the 19th Penn Integrates Knowledge University Professor at the University of Pennsylvania.

Sharon Davies Named the Next Provost at Spelman College in Atlanta

Sharon Davies Named the Next Provost at Spelman College in Atlanta

In 2015, Professor Davies was named vice provost and chief diversity officer at Ohio State University. She has been on the faculty at the university’s Moritz College of Law for the past 22 years and holds the Gregory H. Williams Chair in Civil Rights & Civil Liberties.

Black Students' Loss of Trust in Their Teachers May Lead to Lower College Enrollment

Black Students’ Loss of Trust in Their Teachers May Lead to Lower College Enrollment

A new study finds that middle school students of color who lose trust in their teachers due to a perception of mistreatment or unfairness are less likely to go to college, even if they achieved good grades and test scores that qualified them for college admission.

Alondra Nelson Will Be the Next President of the Social Science Research Council

Alondra Nelson Will Be the Next President of the Social Science Research Council

Alondra Nelson, a professor of sociology and dean of social science at Columbia University in New York City, will serve as president of the Social Science Research Council for five years beginning in September.

Former Obama Cabinet Official to Lead The Education Trust

Former Obama Cabinet Official to Lead The Education Trust

John B. King, who served as Secretary of the U.S. Department of Education at the end of the Obama administration, has been appointed president of The Education Trust. Before joining the Department of Education in 2015, Dr. King was commissioner of education for the state of New York.

New Website Chronicles Columbia University's Ties to Slavery

New Website Chronicles Columbia University’s Ties to Slavery

Columbia University in New York City has debuted a new website that details not only the university’s involvement in slavery since its founding in as King’s College 1754 but also efforts by those at the university to abolish it.