Philip Freelon was an educator, architect, and a key figure in the design of the National Museum of African American History and Culture. He served as a professor of practice at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
This year’s results are an improvement from recent years. JBHE’s analysis determined that in 2018, there were no African Americans among the 84 new members. In both 2016 and 2017, there was only one African American scholar among the new members.
Dr. Jackson was chair of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission from 1995 to 1999. She then left government service to take over as the 18th president of RPI in 1999. Dr. Jackson usually ranks at or near the top in rankings of the highest-paid college presidents in the country.
Dr. Gates, Ford Foundation Professor at Brown University, has been named to the presidential line of the American Physical Society, a nonprofit organization that represents more than 55,000 physicists worldwide. Dr. Gates will serve as vice president in 2019, president-elect in 2020, and president in 2021.
Kofi Annan was a career diplomat from Ghana who served as the seventh Secretary-General of the United Nations from January 1997 to December 2006. He earned a bachelor’s degree at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota, and master’s degree in management at MIT.
This partnership between historically Black Howard University and Carnegie Mellon University will cover a wide range of initiatives between the two institutions, including a dual-degree Ph.D. program that will allow students to earn a doctoral degree in engineering from both schools.
Chris Lebron, an associate professor of philosophy, is the winner of the award that recognizes “ascending” scholars whose are “devoted to the humanities and whose work shows extraordinary promise to have a significant impact on contemporary culture.”
In 2016, Blacks were 8.4 times more likely than Whites to be diagnosed with HIV, whereas in 2005 they were 7.9 times more likely. The number Black men diagnosed with HIV increased from 9,969 in 2005 to 12,890 in 2016.
Here is this week’s roundup of African Americans who have been appointed to new administrative positions at colleges and universities throughout the United States.
At present, the website offers more than 500 illustrations, photographs, and other archival material. An additional 2,500 items already collected by the MIT Black History Project will be included in the future.
The study found that commercially available face analysis programs had a very low error rate when determining the gender of light-skinned men. For women who had the darkest skin, the systems failed to accurately determine their gender nearly half the time.
The Dr. Janice A. Lumpkin Educator of the Year Award from the National Society of Black Engineers is given annually to a collegiate faculty member who demonstrates commitment to advancing education in engineering, science or mathematics.
Pamela Jackson, an associate professor and dean of the College of Business and Economics at Fayetteville State University in North Carolina was appointed interim provost. And Bryan Bryson will join the faculty at MIT as an assistant professor of biological engineering.
The School of Architecture and Planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has announced the appointment of five new faculty members. Three of the new hires are African Americans: Jason Jackson, Erica James, and Danielle Woods.
Here is this week’s roundup of Black scholars who have been hired or assigned new duties at colleges and universities throughout the United States.
The Black scholars assigned to new duties are Nadia Nurhussein at Johns Hopkins University, Sonja S. Watson at the University of Texas at Arlington, Danielle Wood at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Peggie R. Smith at Washington University in St. Louis.
This past May, Leo E. Morton, chancellor of the University of Missouri-Kansas City, announced that he would step down at the end of the 2017-18 academic year. Now Chancellor Morton has announced that he will leave the university in October.
Taking on new roles are Jessica Evans at Murray State University, Jacqueline Jackson at Harford Community College, Kirsten Boswell-Ford at MIT, Teresa L. Smallwood at Vanderbilt Divinity School, Renarde D. Earl at Fayetteville State University, and Sharon Taylor Burnett at Tuskegee University.
Ibrahim I. Cissé, the Class of 1922 Career Development Assistant Professor in physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, will receive $240,000 over the next four years from the Pew Charitable Trusts to support his research.
Rita Dove, Commonwealth Professor of English at the University of Virginia, was honored by the U.S. Presidential Scholars Foundation and DiOnetta Jones Crayton, associate dean for undergraduate education at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, received an award from the Women in Engineering Pro-Active Network.
Morton has led the university since December 2008. At that time, he was chair of the university’s board of trustees and agreed to lead the university as interim chancellor until a new leader could be found. But a few months later, the board asked him to take the job on a permanent basis.
The faculty members taking on new roles are Dineo Khabele at the University of Kansas Health System, Cullen Buie at MIT, Ingrid M. Nembhard at Yale University, Cherlon Ussery at Carleton College in Minnesota, and Kami Chavis at Wake Forest University in North Carolina.
Dr. Smith was a member of the 1980 and 1984 U.S. Olympic team in the sport of fencing. He currently serves as dean of the Graduate School at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. He has held that post since 2009.
The Global Initiative for Neuropsychiatric Genetics Education in Research Project (GINGER) has recruited 17 African scholars who will attend workshops in the United States and London over the next two years on epidemiology, bioinformatics, genetics, and grant writing.
The National Academy of Engineering recently announced the election of 84 new members. The academy does not disclose the racial makeup of its membership, but it appears that there are three Black engineers among the 84 new members.
The honorees are Wanda Spurlock of Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Carmen Robinson of the University of California, Santa Cruz, Alex Acholonu of Alcorn State University in Mississippi, and Joy Buolamwini of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The board of trustees of Morehouse College, the historically Black educational institution for men in Atlanta, has announced that it will not extend the contract of the college’s president John S. Wilson Jr. beyond June 30, 2017.
The Philip Freelon Fellowship Fund at the Harvard Graduate School of Design will be used to provide financial aid to African Americans and students from other underrepresented groups who are pursuing graduate degrees in design.
Taking on new teaching roles are Craig S. Wilder at MIT, Stacy-Ann January at the University of South Carolina, Wonder Drake at Vanderbilt University, Joseph Ravenell at New York University, and Marlon James at Macalester College in Minnesota.
My Sister’s Keeper, founded by Professor Helen Elaine Lee, seeks to support Black women students, with social, professional, and mentoring relationships. To meet this goal, the organization has created “sister circles,” small groups of five or six students, staff, and faculty united by common interests.
A study by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University, the University of Pittsburgh, Harvard University, MIT , Florida Atlantic University, and the University of Korea reports on a discovery that may help physicians treat those who suffer from sickle cell disease.
Here is this week’s news of grants to historically Black colleges and universities or for programs of particular interest to African Americans in higher education.
Glenn C. Loury, the Merton P. Stolz Professor of the social sciences and professor of economics at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, was named a Distinguished Fellow of the American Economic Association.
The appointees are Timothy Dunn at Trinity College in Connecticut, Eboney Hearn at MIT, Latonya Guillory at the University of Southern Mississippi, Tracy Dildy at Chicago State University, and Getchel L. Caldwell at Clark Atlanta University.
James E. Clark was named the 12th president of South Carolina State University. Clark, a successful businessman, has been a member of the board of trustees of South Carolina State University for the past year. He has also been chair of the University of South Carolina Research Foundation for the past three years.
John Urschel, an offensive guard for the Baltimore Ravens of the National Football League, recently completed his first semester in the mathematics Ph.D. program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He took four courses and had a 4.0 grade point average.
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