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.
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.
Curtis B. Charles currently serves as senior associate vice chancellor for institutional transformation at Fayetteville State University in North Carolina. He will begin his duties as Tiffin University president on July 1.
Emery N. Brown, the Taplin Professor of Medical Engineering and Computational Neuroscience at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was recently elected to the National Academy of Engineering.
The authors compared U.S. infant mortality rates to those in two European countries. They found that the reason infant mortality is lower in Europe is simply because these countries take better care of their low-income citizens than is the case in the United States.
Michael Carbin will be joining the electrical engineering faculty at MIT. Constance Iloh will join the School of Education faculty at the University of California, Irvine, and Nana Amoah was promoted to associate professor of accounting at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia.
In 1892 Robert Robinson Taylor was the first Black graduate of MIT. He spent most of his career at what is now Tuskegee University and designed more than 20 buildings on its Alabama campus.
While people of any race can have the sickle-cell trait, the disease is far more common among African Americans than it is among Whites. A new device may be able to notify doctors when painful incidents brought about by sickle cells being trapped in blood vessels are likely to occur.
The four Black scholars in new teaching positions are Samory Kpotufe at Princeton University, Nadine Finigan-Carr at the University of Maryland-Baltimore, Kami Chavis Simmons at Wake Forest University’s School of Law, and Charlotte Braithwaite at MIT.
Evelynn M. Hammonds, who holds an endowed professorship at Harvard University, was appointed by President Obama to the President’s Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for African Americans.
The study by scholars at MIT, Columbia, and Northwestern found that homogenous groups may produce an artificially low level of conflict, not a normal level of conflict. The authors state that homogeneity reduces the likelihood that people recognize differences of opinion that exist.
Dr. Reid has been serving as senior vice president of research, innovation, and member college engagement for the United Negro College Fund. Earlier he was associate dean for undergraduate education at MIT.
While the academy does not release data on the race or ethnicity of its members, after an analysis of the list of 84 new members by JBHE, it appears that only one of the new members is an African American.
Currently, Dr. Francisco is the William E. Moore Distinguished Professor of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences and Chemistry at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. He will take on his new duties on July 1.
The faculty members taking on new assignments are Ibrahim Cisse at MIT, Mellonee V. Burnim at Indiana University, Creola Johnson at Ohio State University, and Brian Purnell at Bowdoin College.
Craig S. Wilder, a professor of history at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is the author of a fascinating new book that details the relationships of American colleges and universities with the institution of slavery.
Daniel Hastings, a professor of aeronautics and astronautics at MIT, was named director of the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART). He will serve a three-year term, beginning on January 1, 2014.
Gregory H. Robinson was named the UGA Foundation Distinguished Professor in Chemistry at the University of Georgia, Donna-Dale Marcano was named director of the Human Rights Program at Trinity College and Melissa Nobles was named chair of the political science department at MIT.
Achille Messac was named dean of the James Worth Bagley College of Engineering at Mississippi State University. He has been serving as distinguished professor and chair of the department of mechanical and aerospace engineering at Syracuse University in New York.
The Black women with ties to the academic world who recently were named as fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences are Paula Hammond of MIT, Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot of Harvard University, and Natasha Threthewey of Emory University.
A study by Charles Stewart III, a professor of political science at MIT, finds that on average in 2012 Blacks had to wait longer than Whites to vote. Particularly in instances where a Black candidate is not on the ticket, this time difference may tend to reduce the overall Black voter turnout rate.
David Moinina Sengeh escaped with his family from Sierra Leone during the country’s brutal civil war. At MIT he is working to develop higher quality, inexpensive prosthetic limbs to be used by the victims of the war.
Since its creation in 1991, the Martin Luther King Jr. Visiting Professors and Scholars Program has brought more than 90 scholars to campus. This year there are six new MLK professors and scholars on campus. Four of the six are African Americans.
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.
He has been selected to receive the 2012 President’s Award from the National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers.
Through an analysis of the list of new fellows conducted by JBHE, it appears that 10 of the 220 new members are Black. Thus, African Americans make up 4.5 percent of the new members.
Erica Caple James will use the $25,000 cash prize to conduct research for a book on charitable giving by Muslim Americans in the War on Terror era.
Yaw D. Yeboah is currently a professor of engineering at Penn State. From 1975 to 1979, he earned four degrees in four years at MIT.
Jackee Budesta Batanda will also work with journalists at two major American newspapers during her seven-month fellowship.
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