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.
Robbin Chapman is the former manager of diversity recruiting at the School of Architecture and Planning at MIT and also served as the inaugural assistant associate provost for faculty equity at the university. She joined the administration of Wellesley College in suburban Boston in 2011.
A new study by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Tufts University, and Georgia State University, finds that tablet computers loaded with literary applications and issued to students in low-income areas can produce dramatic results without any instruction whatsoever.
Appointed to new administrative positions are Judy Jackson at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Aramis Watson at the University of Kansas, Cameron J. Hall at Augustana College in Illinois and Dale R. Hendricks at the University of Massachusetts.
The National Book Critics Circle Awards are given out in six categories with five finalists in each category. Several of the finalists are African Americans who currently hold academic posts at American colleges and universities.
Dr. Achille Messac, educated at MIT, has been serving as dean of engineering and professor of aerospace engineering at Mississippi State University. Previously, he served on the faculties at Syracuse University and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
Cato T. Laurencin has been selected by President Obama as one of seven winners of the National Medal of Technology and Innovation. He is the only African American among the seven winners of the award this year.
Curtis B. Charles served as president of Tiffin University for only six months. The board of trustees stated that Dr. Charles’ resignation was due to “a difference in views on strategic vision.”
President Obama has chosen nine individuals to receive the National Medal of Science at a White House ceremony early in 2016. Among the nine winners, one is an African American.
Scientists at the University of Connecticut, Yale University, Harvard University, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have developed a new method of detecting sickle cell disease that can be used in remote areas that do not have advanced medical technology.
Ta-Nehisi Coates won the National Book Award in the nonfiction category. He has taught at MIT and the City University of New York. Robin Coste Lewis, a Provost’s Fellow in the creative writing and literature doctoral program at the University of Southern California, won the National Book Award in the poetry category.
Purdue University has initiated the new Diversity Transformation Award program that will enlist current faculty and staff members to come up with strategies to further increase the diversity of the faculty and the student body.
Latanya Sweeney was appointed editor-in-chief of Technology Science, a new journal published by the Data Privacy Lab at Harvard University. During 2014, she served as the chief technology officer for the Federal Trade Commission.
Taking on new faculty roles are Yosvany Terry at Harvard University, Darrick Hamilton at The New School, Paula T. Hammond at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Eugene T. Parker III at the University of Kansas.
Marcus Thompson was given the title of Institute Professor at MIT. Alana Gunn was appointed an assistant professor of social work at Binghamton University, and Damion Waymer was named associate professor of communication at the University of Cincinnati.
The four Black women in new faculty posts are Nomsa E. Geleta at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, Sheridan Wigginton at California Lutheran University, Sharon A. Brangman at the Sunny Upstate Medical University, and Helen Elaine Lee at MIT.
Melissa Nobles was named as the next dean of the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She has been a member of the MIT faculty since 1995 and holds an endowed chair in political science.
Since 2012, C. Reynold Verret has served as provost and chief academic officer at Savannah State University in Georgia. On July 1, he will replace Norman C. Francis who has led Xavier University since 1968.
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