January 2014

January 2014

HBCU DIGEST

50

Top 50 HBCU Moments of 2013

HBCU Digest

January 2014

CONTENTS

Publisher Jarrett L. Carter, Sr. Editor Autumn A. Arnett

5 Letter from the Editor 7 Publisher’s Note 9 HBCU Digest Opinions Counseling Centers Key to Student Experience

by Dr. La Keita Carter

10 A MATTER OF CHOICE

Contributors Mirasha Brown La Keita Carter Cherise Lesesne Elizabeth Montgomery Tangie Newborn Shana Pinnock Isiah Reese Brittany Sommerville Pearl Stewart Christina Sturdivant

Top Black students choosing HBCUs over elite TWIs.

By Pearl Stewart

12 FIGHT THE POWER

HBCU student advocates go against the grain to affect change.

By Tangie Newborn

14 GLOBAL COMPETITION

HBCUs positioning students for an international stage.

By Isiah Reese

16 COLLECTIVE EXCELLENCE

Collaboration, common objectives needed to revive HBCU experience.

By Cherise Lesesne

18 NO COUNTRY FOR GAY GREEKS

LGBT students in traditional Black sororities and fraternities struggle to find acceptance.

By Shana Pinnock HBCU Digest is published monthly by Carter Media Enterprises, LLC. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited. HBCU Digest and the HBCU Digest logo are protected through registered trademark.

For advertising and subscription information, contact carter@hbcudigest.com.

22 DIGEST 50

Moments that defined HBCU culture in 2013.

27 GENESIS SCHOLARS 28 Dr. Katrice Albert 29 Dr. Sandra Barnes 30 Dr. Craig Cameron 31 Dr. Nikky Finney 32 Dr. James Johnson 33 Dr. James L. Moore III 34 Dr. Leonard Moore 35 Dr. Isiah Warner 36 Dr. Allyson Watson 37 Dr. Carolyn Wooten

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Robert Poole, M.F.A. ’02 Filmmaker

Crystal de Gregory, Ph.D. ’03 Founder & Executive Editor HBCUStory, Inc.

Anna Wilkins Presidential Scholar Political Science Major

FISK is...

SCHOLARS. LEADERS. INNOVATORS.

Brooke Davies SGA President Chemistry Honors Student

1000 17TH AVENUE NORTH NASHVILLE, TN 37208

“Cultivating Scholars & Leaders One by One”

www.fisk.edu

6153298500

John Rigeuer, Ph.D. ’03 Scientist, Commissariat a L’Energie et aux Energies Alternative (CEA) Grenoble, FRANCE

HBCU Digest

January 2014

Letter from the Editor Dear Reader, In this issue, we decided to tackle the idea of re-defining HBCU value in the twenty-first century. As the debates over our institutions’ relevance in an integrated society rage on, and as pundits and experts continue to point to some of our challenges as reasons to say we are less excellent and less relevant, it was important that we presented the idea of HBCUs as collectively excellent.

In the features of this magazine, you will find accounts of students who had their pick of Ivy League educations but chose HBCUs -- negating the idea that we only educate bottom-of-the-barrel students no one else wants. You will find a retrospective look at HBCU advocacy in 2013 and throughout history to counter the notion that our students are apathetic and uninspired. There is a discussion of schools expanding their missions to include a more global focus to compete in a global society.

The truth is: HBCUs are not a monolith. Just like the people they serve, the schools have different histories and different backgrounds and cater to different populations in different environments. So the idea that 105 schools could be broadly painted as either failing or thriving seems absurd. It is our hope that we have succeeded in showcasing some of the excellence in some of our schools in this January issue.

I look forward to the opportunity to continue to serve as editor of this dynamic publication and to be a resource for the entire HBCU family.

Most sincerely,

Autumn A. Arnett Editor HBCU Digest

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Because potential lives in every community.

The future of technology lives in your neighborhood. And we are there to support programs and nonproďŹ ts that provide access to technology so people everywhere can reach their full potential. At Microsoft, we believe that together, we can make communities stronger. One person at a time. youatmicrosoft.com

HBCU Digest

January 2014

Publisher’s Note Dear Reader, Since its founding as an online news aggregation site in 2010, the HBCU Digest has always counted on the support and vision of our institutional and corporate partners for the delivery of timely news and commentary from historically black colleges and universities nationwide. Today, that support manifests in a new chapter, as we proudly present the first edition of our monthly print magazine.

This edition is special in a number of ways. We reflect on the top 50 moments in HBCU culture over the last year and examine complex perspectives on academic achievement, sexuality and cultural advancement within the HBCU community. It is the beginning of what we hope you will find to be a must-have resource on a monthly basis, while we continue to deliver real-time coverage of HBCU news and culture on a daily basis via hbcudigest.com.

This work is not possible without your support. We count on your willingness to share great stories, to partner in branding and awareness campaigns and to share the publication with your respective networks to ensure that the HBCU legacy is accurately and thoroughly communicated to the next generation of students and leaders. Like the community we serve, the Digest has come long way from humble beginnings.

a

And we are excited and honored to embark on the road ahead knowing that we will travel together as mutual partners in advocacy in the years to come. Happy New Year, and thank you for your continued support.

Yours in Advocacy,

Jarrett Carter Sr. Founding Editor HBCU Digest

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HBCU Digest

January 2014

HBCU Digest Opinions

Counseling Centers Key to Student Experience

By Dr. La Keita Carter

I

t’s no secret that people of color have a hard time going to see a psychologist. We would rather get advice from our pastor or deacon, momma or friend, co-worker or partner. Unfortunately, none of these people are trained to diagnose and treat mental health disorders. Additionally, most of these well-intentioned loved ones are too close to us to provide the genuine, unbiased, unfiltered intervention that may be necessary. College counseling centers need to take a more active approach to marketing their services. Simply put, they have to get out of the counseling center.

If counseling center staff continues to wait for students to come into the counseling center, they will be significantly under-used. From the research on mental health issues in communities of color, we know that the under-utilization of the counseling center is not due to the lack of mental health issues in the community. In fact, the Surgeon General’s report in 2001 reported that African-Americans are equally at risk for mental illness as whites; however, they are less likely to receive treatment and more likely to have limited access to quality healthcare.

The only way to de-stigmatize the mental health field is to make it more relatable to people. It’s the counseling center’s job to debunk the myth that you have to be crazy in order to be in treatment. Actually, some might argue that the sanest people are those who recognize that they don’t have enough coping skills to handle a life problem and seek external help from a professional.

Like Greek-letter organizations, counseling centers on

HBCU campuses should be woven into the fabric of campus life. They should be sponsoring activities in the middle of the academic quad. They should be making appearances at faculty meetings to educate the faculty about how to spot a student who may be dealing with mental health concerns. They should be partnering with the campus safety to conduct active shooter drills, a sad but necessary practice in the 21st century.

They should be asking professors to include the counseling center in-class lectures. For example, a biology professor could make room during lecture to have the counseling center present information on the effects of illicit drugs on the brain and body. In another example, a math instructor could invite the counseling center staff to class to present information on the impact of too little sleep on academic functions like concentration and cognitive flexibility.

Take an informal poll of your campus by stopping random students and asking, “Excuse me, can you point me into the direction of the counseling center?” If a student’s response is, “We have a counseling center?” you know you have a problem.

Counseling centers are the campus safety departments of mental health on your campus. Therefore, college presidents should have a close relationship both departments. Some of our students come from abusive or neglectful families.

Some of our students have a history of trauma, be it physical, sexual or psychological. Some students come to college on the cusp of addiction. We owe it to our students to invest in their whole well-being, not just their academic growth.

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HBCU Digest

January 2014

A Matter of Choice Top Black students choosing HBCUs over elite TWIs

By Pearl Stewart

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illiam Kendall Jones and Tony D. Hansberry had their choice of top universities, but chose to fulfill lifelong goals of graduating from an HBCU. Both of them had outstanding GPAs and test scores in high school and passed up numerous opportunities to attend Ivy League and other top tier institutions because they preferred an HBCU experience.

Jones attended a predominantly White Alabama high school where he says he was one of three Black students in his honors classes and “really wanted to experience a Black campus.” He rattles off the list of universities that sent him recruitment material, including Brown, Princeton, the University of Chicago, Vanderbilt, Tulane and Georgia Tech.

Those schools sought him out. He chose Tuskegee University in Alabama, where he says he initiated the contact, prompted by his mother, Vivian Jones. He is now a junior computer science major and a Presidential Scholar with a full scholarship.

Hansberry followed a similar path to Florida A&M University, where he is now a sophomore. He received national publicity as a science prodigy while he attended a medical arts magnet high school. With a passion for medical research, ninth grade Hansberry developed an innovative

surgical suture technique for use during hysterectomies. He could have written his own ticket to any school in the country. He chose FAMU, where he is majoring in chemistry and plans to pursue a career in bio-medical engineering.

Like Jones, Hansberry says he was primarily interested in attending an HBCU because he wanted to be in a Black educational environment. He chose FAMU mainly because his father was an alumnus.

“I saw the camaraderie that my father shared with his friends [from FAMU] when he went back to Homecoming, and I really wanted that kind of experience in my undergraduate years,” Hansberry says.

Hansberry plans to use his summer internships to help him select a graduate program. Last summer he interned at Oregon Health and Science University, where he shadowed a trauma surgeon and participated in a medical research project.

Tuskegee and FAMU are among the top 10 HBCUs on the latest US News and World Report listing, and both were cited by the 2014 Princeton Review as being among the Best 378 Colleges and Universities in the nation. So the students knew their choices were academically sound. But they were looking for the social, cultural and historical experiences offered by HBCUs.

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HBCU Digest

January 2014

Jones and Hansberry are among a growing number of high-achieving scholars who are rejecting generous overtures from traditionally White schools in favor of historically Black ones. Many of these students have attended predominantly White high schools and are looking for a different atmosphere.

As a result, an invitation to apply to even the most elite universities, doesn’t necessarily mean an African-American student is lost to HBCU recruiters.

of whether affirmative action initiatives are declared illegal.

“I have boxes of letters from White schools, including Ivy League, inviting me to apply and offering me all kinds of opportunities,” Jones said, recalling his last two years of high school, “and I didn’t receive one invitation from an HBCU.” Hansberry says he “always wanted to go to an HBCU,” adding that he applied to Howard and FAMU, and chose FAMU because of a better financial package.

Reaching Out “My whole thought process was “We’re trying to be more proactive that undergraduate schools usually instead of reactive in our recruiting,” says offer the same training and same Dr. William Hudson, vice president for basic understanding. There may student affairs at FAMU. He says his ofbe more opportunities at the Ivy fice obtains lists of National Merit ScholLeague schools, but I really wanted ars and National Achievement Scholars to enjoy an HBCU.” for recruiting purposes. “And we like to He hopes to pursue his graduate have a personal touch in reaching out to work in medicine at Johns Hopkins the students. We try to make personal or a comparable institution. contact with each of the students, particJones plans to attend grad school ularly those in the bordering states and in computer engineering and says Florida A&M’s Tony Hansbury is among a growing trend of students rejecting offers from elite majority institutions our home state.” he is seeking a top program and in favor of the HBCU experience.

In addition, he said FAMU attracts a large summer internships that may influnumber of students from northern cities including Detroit ence his decision. and Chicago, where they dispatch the local alumni associaThe recent attacks on affirmative action programs have tions to meet with the prospects and put them in contact with the offered HBCUs the opportunity to compete for students university. who may previously have selected PWIs, but Johnny Taylor, Opal Moore, an associate professor of English and president and CEO of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, director of the honors program at the all-female Spelman doesn’t believe this is a cause for celebration.

College, says the school reaches out to high-achieving “I don’t’ think we should see these cases as a benefit for students with an abundance of information about the HBCUs,” Taylor says. “For example, if the University of benefits of attending Spelman, which perennially tops other Texas were to eliminate affirmative action, I don’t think that HBCUs on college rankings –small class size, travel abroad would be a benefit for Prairie View A&M.” and research opportunities, Fulbright and other prestigious Taylor says, “The very definition of affirmative action enfellowships, and of course the institution’s legendary list of visions that it is remedial and that it will not go on infinitely august alumnae. . . . I think there continues to be a need for affirmative acShe says that although “it may be difficult to compete tion, but we need for our students to have as many options with Ivy League schools, in terms of the availability of large as possible.” scholarships, we are able to point out that our students are “Yes, we’re going to end up with a larger pool for HBCUs inundated with so many opportunities.” if affirmative action policies are struck down,” Taylor says.

Taylor, Hudson and the others interviewed for this article “But I want our students to have all the options. I think that all expressed a common concern — that HBCUs need to ag- if our schools want the best and the brightest, we’ve got to gressively recruit the top African American students regardless get out there and compete for them.” www.hbcudigest.com

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HBCU Digest

January 2014

Fight the Power HBCU student activists go against the grain to affect change

By Tangie Newborn

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BCUs have long served as a launching pad for social change, educating students who would go on to change the world. From voter registration drives to organizing sit-ins and boycotts to advocating for equally adequate resources, students on HBCU campuses have had a hand in movements that have altered the course of history.

Dr. Crystal A. deGregory, executive editor of HBCUstory. com, says, ““The history of advocacy of HBCU campuses stretches back to the very founding of these institution.

Given the existence and persistence of the nation’s HBCU, it’s easy to forget that the education of Black Americans was a protest against the racial injustices so commonplace in American society.” deGregory says. HBCUs “are breeding grounds for political activism, because the very mission of each HBCU relates in some way or another to service — to family, community, the nation and world.”

This year, the nation watched as Grambling State University football players “went on strike” to protest facilities and equipment inadequacies. At Prairie View A&M, students fought for a polling place on campus. Elizabeth City State University senior Montravius King ran for and was elected to a seat on the city council. At the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, students recently petitioned administrators for wireless Internet in residence halls and improved equipment in the science department.

“Advocacy is a continuous process in order to grow our institution from excellence to eminence,” says UMES senior Laurel Hoffman. “Students need to get involved to make change, because one voice is not as productive as a multitude [of voices]. In order to invoke change within our colleges and universities, we need to stand as a student body for what is not only right, but what is a simple standard of other colleges and universities around the world.”

Student activists often have to battle oppostion from campus administrators or local authorities. In the 1960s, it was common for HBCU administrators to expel student protestors. When Alabama State College (now University) students participated in a sit-in of the Montgomery County (Ala.) Courthouse in 1960, their actions caused an uproar that disturbed not only the white community, but also state officials on the State Board of Education and the governor. Under pressure from the state, then-president Harper Councill Trenholm expelled the nine students involved.

“HBCU students are more prone to activism that affects the lives of those they love, their families and their communities,” she says. “Student advocates have a responsibility to leave their campuses better than they met them, to be their best selves on campus and in the world and to challenge the people and practices — and, in some cases, HBCU presidents — who impede their success,” she says.

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HBCU Digest

Challenging the Status Quo Activism, however, is not limited to campus issues. Student activists have realized they have power – more power than many may know. More students on the ground during political elections, local and national, working the grassroots to empower their counterparts to get out and vote. Whether it’s protesting on campus, going door-to-door to influence voters in a key gubernatorial election or organizing to end disenfranchisement of student voters, students activists are key to the framework of this nation.

“As the best and brightest of the Black community, HBCU students feel and assume a unique sense of duty for racial uplift which cannot be achieved without dismantling the socio-political systems supporting racial inequality,” deGregory says.

Following the 2012 presidential election, that is exactly what students at Praire View A&M University sought to do: dismantle socio-polical systems that led to voter disenfranchisement in the community. Student body president Priscilla Barbour led efforts to bring a polling place to campus to encourage student voting in local and national elections. and to end a history of disenfranchisement of Prairie View student voters, who make up a majority of the precinct’s pouplation.

“Voting and the right to be involved in the decision-making process has always been a major part of my life,” says Barbour. “One of the most exciting memories I have is turning 18 and casting my first ballot.”

Barbour recounts a conversation with State Rep. James White, also a PVAMU alum, in which they were discussing the student turnout in the 2012 presidential election.

“With excitement, I showed him the pictures of the long line and how our students came out in large numbers, and I also shared with him how far we marched,” Barbour says. “To my surprise, he began to share with me that our numbers were great, but the fact we had to go through such great lengths just to cast our ballots was a form of

voter disenfranchisement.”

“The lines, the long wait, the long walk and lack of adequate facilities are all methods to discourage the students’ vote. That’s when I was compelled to change that,” Barbour says. As Student Government Association president, she organized her fellow students to petition the state Board of Governors and Texas Gov. Rick Perry to bring a polling place to campus. When the students prevailed, the gravity of the victory was “humbling” for Barbour.

Bigger than Just One “It is humbling to be apart of a movement that is greater than myself that generations of [Prairie View] students have fought for,” she says.

“Prairie View A&M students have dealt with voting issues for decades.

We’ve had students in the past who faced many obstacles for us to get where we are now. Our past students have marched, been falsely accused of voter fraud and even have been to the Supreme Court to fight this battle,” Barbour says.

“Our current victory would have been impossible without our past obstacles.

I’m grateful for those who paved the way for this moment. The most rewarding feeling came when I spoke to an alum from 35+ years ago, and he shared with me that he was also the SGA president and had to fight the exact same battle, and he thanked me for my boldness and tenacity.”

HBCU students have long felt the burdens of previous generations, because of the histories and missions of these institutions, deGregory says.

Ezban Morrissette, a senior at Alabama A&M, says students have a responsibility to challenge inadequacies and fight for improvement in all areas of their lives.

“These are our problems,” Morissette says. “They may not affect you now, but they will affect you in the future, possibly with your kids who may want to attend an HBCU. So we need to stand up and encourage change even if it means risking it all.”

January 2014

HBCU Student Advocacy Through the Years 1914 In 1914, Talladega College students went on strike to protest the paternalism and indifference of some of their white teachers. In 1917, students at Morehouse followed suit. By the early 1920s, similar protests broke out at HBCUs across the country, where students protested all-White leadership and faculty, feeling that in order to control their own futures, they needed to control their own educations. The following decades would yield significant gains in the relationship between HBCUs and Black chuches and civic organizations, and a surge in Black faculty and leadership.

1960 February 1, 1960 North Carolina A&T students Joseph McNeil, Franklin McCain, Ezell Blair, Jr. and David Richmond sat at the lunch counter of the Woolworth’s drug store in Greensboro, N.C. (left).

The next day, other A&T students and students from Bennett College joined the protests, which led to the eventual end to segregation in Woolworth’s stores.

1970

May 14, 1970, a group of Jackson State College (now University) students gathered to protest the U.S. invasion of Cambodia during the Vietnam War. Shortly after midnight that night, police officers opened fire at students, killing two and injuring 12. Coming in the wake of the Orangeburg Massacre — the1968 shooting of South Carolina State students protesting segregation — the event garnered national attention and sparked an FBI investigation, though no arrests were ever made.

2007

Students from HBCUs across the country boarded buses and organized local protests in response to unfair sentencing of Black students in Jena, La. following an altercation with white classmates.

While the Black students were charged as adults and facing the possibility of serious jail time, their counterparts went uncharged. HBCU students eventually sparked a petition to have the Jena prosecutor removed.

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Global Competition HBCUs Positioning Students for an International Stage

By Isiah Reese

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n today’s ever-changing global landscape, HBCU presidents and their leadership teams are evaluating their overall strategic plans to figure how to position themselves and their students as competitive domestically, while establishing a major institutional foot print internationally.

It is not only about positioning, but it is also about branding these institutions as clear destinations of higher learning that offer critical disciplines of studies needed to serve the world and the people in it.

Efforts are being made to at HBCUs large and small across the country. For example, Tuskegee University and Tougaloo College have created a cross-boundary collaboration with Jackson State University and the University of Mississippi for a program called the Jackson Heart Study. In the partnership, Tougaloo’s role is to serve as the Education and Training Program to prepare students for careers in public health and epidemiology related to cardiovascular diseases and Tuskegee works to enhance research capacity and competitiveness in the emerging interdisciplinary area of nano/bioscience and sensors.

“One of the main aims of the Jackson Heart Study is to build research capabilities in minority serving institutions,” says Tougaloo President Dr. Beverly Hogan. She says that, in addition to the academic benefit, students have had invaluable experiences, including publishing in scientific journals and being positioned to expand their professional networks.

“JHS Scholars have participated in summer research at many of the premier institutions in the United States and around the world in countries such as Iceland, China, Finland, and Thailand,” she says. “The students return

to campus more confident that they can compete and be scientifically productive anywhere, even if language, culture and customs may be barriers. However, the greater value is the confidence the students develop and how they return to campus with a renewed sense of self and an appreciation of the world.”

By working to prepare students in these cutting-edge disciplines, these institutions are positioning themselves to be not only relevant for today by having advanced programs to offer to students, but staying ahead of the curve and remaining ahead of the curve in preparing for tomorrow’s needs.

“There are many preconceived notions about the south and its people, especially African American students at HBCUs,” Hogan says. “In many instances, JHS students are the first interaction that these investigators/mentors have with African American students from the south. Most of the mentors who work with our students invite them back to their labs the following summer.”

As with anything, basic marketing principles of being able to offer prospective students the right product in the right place at the right price and with the right promotion will be key in continuing to position the institutions to be a global force.

At schools like Florida A&M University, integrating a global perspective into the fabric of the institutional philosophy has been key to promoting a more global student experience.

“It really takes a sincere effort to institutionalize those [cultural perspectives],” says FAMU President Larry Robinson. “By having that as a specific initiative in our strategic plan, we have to really institutionalize it, it’s not just a whim.

It is engrained in everything that we do.”

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HBCU Digest

January 2014

Without a full top-down buy-in on the importance of ethics to be successful.” including a global perspective, HBCUs will lose the benefit For Robinson, it is not only off-campus relationships of attracting students from around the world, current and that make a difference, but cross-cultural relationships that potential corporate donors and top faculty members to are making a difference in preparing students for a global PWIs, which will not only hurt the overall brand of HBCUs society. as a whole but devalue the fact that so many great students, “We just had the first class of graduates from the online faculty research awards, Rhodes Scholars, corporate leaders MBA program, and they decided to take the graduates to voices would never be heard.

Brazil,” to expose them to another culture in an emerging “We just saw an increase in actual student enrollment global market, Robinson says. He adds that the cross-culthrough our efforts,” Robinson says. “We’ve also seen other tural interactions between FAMU students and Brazilian [successes] in the types of grants we’ve been able to procure students have been mutually beneficial for both the governto allow our staff ment entities at both and students to countries, as well as for participate in, and the faculty, staff and stuan increase in the dents of the institution. positive recognition In addition to proour academic providing classes with a grams receive.” more global perspecSTEMB (Science, tive, schools will need Technology, Ento ensure they are able gineering, Math, to offer students comand Business) will petitive technology on continue to be a top par with the offerings at priority as we march Tougaloo College students have had an opportunity to work on the Jackson Heart Study, in addition to PWI counterparts. projects at the National Institutes of Health and other high-profile projects, preparing them for careers in towards President’s Says Jackson State science and medicine post-graduation.

Obama’s 2020 Goal University Vice Presiaround college graduate outputs. dent for Institutional Advancement David Hoard, “JSU is a Hogan, whose students at Tougaloo have had the opportechno-savvy campus, but our emphasis is on the quality of tunity to work on many STEM projects off campus, says what is being learned. Many of our students have all kinds that the collaborations are key to the total development of of tools, but we’ve been emphasizing how teachers incorpoher students. rate that technology into courses. So you have to leverage “It is always good for students to have a learning expethe technology with enhancing the learning experience. Do rience in another place. This allows [them]to leave their you change learning styles, pedagogical methods? In most comfort zone and function in a place that may not be as cases, the answer is yes.” ‘friendly or supportive’ as Tougaloo College. JHS students The world of technology changes every minute, however have to adjust quickly to the culture of the lab, the campus, the core background of making sure the campuses are upthe region, and/or the country. It builds character, self to-date will only enhance the long-term viability of HBCUs’ esteem, and encourages the students to rely on their work survival across the board.

Building Lasting Partnerships

The cost of tuition continues to rise, and even as HBCUs continue to be faced with high percentages of financial aid-dependent students, funding for faculty research should continue to be a top priority on every presidential advancement team’s main objective. However, key to the process of getting major corporate donors is being able to tout what value you can offer the corporation in exchange. It is more than just saying you will be able to provide a diverse talent pool. With the influx of students from around the world coming to this country and entering the workforce, being recognized as a good corporate citizen isn’t enough motivation; HBCUs have to be able to explain how the partnership can help grow the corporation’s bottom line.

Things to remember about building corporate partnerships: 1) Building corporate partnerships is not a one-way street. It is a joint effort that should be walked together towards the common goals of both parties.

2) Bring something to the table. You must be able to tell a potential corporate partner what you can offer above another institution. What is the value in the company’s choosing to donate to your school? What type of return can the company expect on the investment provided?

3) It isn’t a one-time hit. Partnerships are about building a lasting relationship, one that you never want to end. You must understand that with any relationship, communication and flexibility are key to the success of the partnership. www.hbcudigest.com

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Collaboration, Common Objectives Needed to Revive HBCU Excellence

By Cherise Lesesne

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ften cast as barely surviving with low operating budgets and a mission to graduate predominantly lower-income students, HBCUs have suffered some backlash recently over their collective ability to weather the changing demands of the higher education landscape.

While each institution has unique sets of difficulties, the community has been challenged recently to come together to promote a sense of “collective excellence” to combat the attacks on their relevance and sustainability in the current climate. As a result, many higher education experts are urging black schools to put more effort into collaborating and striving towards said collective excellence.

“Going forward, the ‘on my own’ mindset is even more problematic,” Dr. Phillip Clay, a trustee of the Kresge Foundation, says. “What is new is the growing necessity to collaborate in order to survive and be successful. Collaboration is now best practice.”

Dr. Clay advocates for grouping schools by peer sets, lumping schools with similar missions, sizes, environments, and so on, together to further the effectiveness of each individual institution. Within each peer set, schools would work together to modernize their missions, create more competition within their own cohorts, and share resources.

Already, HBCUs maintain a strong value in “normalizing Black success,” a value that several PWIs have trouble providing to Black and other minority students, Clay says. A large majority of students attending HBCUs hail from urban cities, primarily in the South, where high school graduation rates and the percent of college-bound students are significantly lower.

By attending an HBCU, those same students enter into an environment that promotes success among Black women

and men. Scholars like Dr. Clay believe that such an environment inspires Black students to achieve high levels of success to become productive members of thriving communities.

Photo Courtesy of The Front Page Firm

Collective Excellence

Building a Competitive Advantage While HBCUs have established value as a realm of Black success, education leaders like exiting Alcorn State University President M. Christopher Brown II suggest that HBCUs fine-tune and redirect their value. According to Brown, HBCUs should work strategically to build a better “finished product” when educating their students.

“We used to produce a finished product that was able to immediately go into” the workforce, Brown says, adding that HBCUs “have to make sure we haven’t lost sight of that value proposition, and that is the edge and the advantage that we’ve provided our students. A number of HBCUs have lost their focus on producing a finished product.”

The demand for high-performing Black students has significantly increased, as HBCUs compete with not only just each other, but other institutions to attract and retain these students. In many cases, HBCUs are losing out on top talent to schools with larger budgets and more resources and, assumingly, more to offer.

“Unfortunately, as the federal government and the courts have mandated majority institutions to admit Black students, the state and federal governments, foundations, the corporate community and private philanthropy have not appropriately invested in the [HBCUs] to make them competitive with other institutions in attracting a sufficient cadre of the best students,” says Dr. Earl S. Richardson, president emeritus of Morgan State University.

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HBCU Digest

January 2014

One hundred five HBCUs are competing with over 2,000 benefit from cooperative strategies. One of which is a Brazil schools all vying for the same pool of talented Black stu– HBCU alliance that runs together about 25 institutions.” dents, some HBCUs have been forced to lower their admisThe Brazil-HBCU alliance, an effort to allow students sions standards to meet enrollment goals. from Brazil to study in a STEM program at HBCUs, is a Richardson says historic, persistent underfunding have partnership formed that created more diversity on all-Black affected HBCUs’ competitiveness in the higher education campuses. market, and, thus, made it more difficult for the schools to As a solution, Cooper urges schools to form consortiums attract “a sufficient cadre of the best students.” with neighboring institutions.

“The result is that HBCU enrollments are now grossly Consortiums can lower operating costs and maximize skewed toward the lesser prepared student. HBCUs must production. For example, Morehouse, Spelman, Clark restore an appropriate balance in their student bodies and to Atlanta, and Morris Brown have created their own HBCU do that, there must be a greater investment from the various consortium in Atlanta in which schools can share resources, funding sectors,” Richardson says. course offerings and degree programs those students can “Given the historic success of HBCUs in carrying the take advantage of. The schools share a library, reducing the burden of access against the burden and cost associated with odds of underfunding, I am maintaining four separate libraries, persuaded that if government, and students may cross-register foundations, corporations, and among campuses, providing each other philanthropic individuschool the opportunity to attract als were to invest in the HBstudents with varied interests CUs, the return on the dollar without being burdened to add new would far exceed the return on programs. similar investments at other “Some institutions are strong institutions,” Richardson adds. enough to go out on their own, “Unfortunately, HBCUs have others are not strong enough to go not been viewed as equal parton their own. If you had a consortia ners in the American higher institution, one may benefit with 60 In the 1980s and ‘90s, the fictitious Hillman College” vaulted HBCUs and the education enterprise with percent of the resources, the other idea of HBCU excellence into the mainstream. In the decades to follow, HBCUs meaningful roles in address- would come under constant fire from dissenters arguing their relevance. Photo may benefit at a smaller percent. ing state and national needs courtesy of Hillmanbookstore.com.

Without them coming together, the and priorities, and thus, the benefit would be zero for both parpaucity of support.” ticipating schools,” Cooper says. “It allows them to bring toRichardson cites remediation strategies ordered recently gether faculty, and provide a broader breadth of experience by a Federal judge in Maryland, “to include the develfor students and it leads for success for building programs. opment of new and unique programs at the HBCUs, the And once you have success, it opens a door for sustainable transfer of duplicated HBCUs programs from white campartnerships for HBCUs.” puses back to HBCUs, and collaborative arrangements that “Marketing the HBCUs for their extraordinary success bring additional resources to HBCUs. These strategies will under the most difficult circumstances is imperative,” Richautomatically bring additional faculty and staff, new faciliardson says, adding that focusing on these successes will ties and technology infrastructure, and other resources that help attract new funding for HBCUs, around which they will make public HBCUs as comparable and competitive as can continue to build up their own competitive advantage. other institutions in attracting quality students, regardless “Only documentable success resonates with potential of race.” funders and supporters,” he adds. “HBCUs must focus first on strategies for securing the resources that will make them Coming Together competitive in their capacity to perform and to accomplish Dr. George Cooper, executive director of the White House and then ensure that the world knows and is convinced of Initiative on HBCUs, agrees that HBCUs should rely more on the role and value of their institutions in advancing our partnerships and collaborations since sharing resources among democratic principles, our economy and overall quality of each school will and are already helping struggling HBCUs. life.”

“I believe that one of our priorities is to find ways to “As the public HBCUs become more competitive for stuleverage the collective talents of HBCUs so that by working dents , so will the attractiveness of the entire HBCU comtogether we may be more successful,“ Cooper says. “One munity increase for funding from government, foundations, of the things I noticed is that there have been some efforts corporations and private individuals. A sort of ‘rising tide of among and in between HBCUs that have allowed them to public HBCUs lifts all HBCU boats,’” Richardson says. www.hbcudigest.com

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No Country

HBCU Digest

January 2014

LGBT students in traditional Black

By Shana Pinnock

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he October 2013 complaint by Morgan State University Kappa Alpha Psi hopeful Brian Stewart alleging that he had been denied entrance into the fraternity because he is gay sparked a dialogue amongst National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC) and non-NPHC members alike. Across the country, individuals offered varying opinions on the presence of LGBT members within NPHC organizations, leading to an examination of the history of homosexuality within the African-American community, and the rising of LGBT organizations.

“The issue, for [African-Americans], is that as a people, we are very homophobic – we just choose to not talk about it,” offers Dr. Walter Kimbrough, president of Dillard University, member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Incorporated, and author of Black Greek 101: The Culture, Customs, and Challenges of Black Fraternities and Sororities.

Paula Valor, an identified lesbian, and member of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, agrees, “Being part of the LGBT community, in itself, is taboo. Whether in the church house, or the Greek yard, [African-Americans] often hold a segregate and oppressive opinion of homosexuals.”

“Disclosing is somewhat self-threatening,” said Michael Hughes, a homosexual member of Kappa Alpha Psi. “There’s a distinct level of hostility around what happens when we start embracing differences in sexual identity.

Kimbrough believes such contemptuous behavior by the African-American community can often be the motivation for LGBT individuals to seek membership in NPHC organizations.

“For some LGBT people, becoming a member of these historic and illustrious organizations is used as a defense mechanism – a way to join a group that reinforces traditional gender roles,” Kimbrough says.

Hughes says his experiences confirm this idea. “Immediately after I crossed, my prophytes’ perspective on sexuality was that I wasn’t able to uphold their standards of masculinity and what it meant to be a man in Kappa,” he says.

Valor agrees, “Especially when you’re in undergrad, particularly if you’ve been battling your sexuality for a long time, you’re looking to belong. When you’re in the process of trying to figure yourself out, you’re often just looking for cover and validation in your non-existent straightness – joining an organization provides that.”

Kristin Patterson, a self-identified lesbian and member of Alpha Kappa Alpha contended, “It’s almost like a unicorn; being gay is still novel to most people. With disclosure comes curiosity and a witch hunt, of sorts, against the person who disclosed.”

“The older I become, the more open I’ve found graduate chapters to homosexual members. People who are in their early twenties are not usually far along in their own maturity to be as open,” offers Kimbrough. “My advice to gay students seeking to join an NPHC organization is to find a chapter that is open-minded to homosexuality, but understand that there are going to be barriers and they will have an uphill battle, particularly in a college chapter. There’s a much better shot at

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for Gay Greeks

HBCU Digest

January 2014

sororites and fraternities struggle to find acceptance the graduate level.”

Patterson says it is less people’s concern about her sexuality than it is their concerns about how people will perceive them that is an issue for those she encounters.

“I don’t think it so much bothers people that I’m gay. What bothers them is that, for most people, when you’re friends with someone gay, you’re gay by association,” she says. “That’s the real issue – people don’t want their fraternity or sorority associated with a certain type of man or woman, from a gender perspective, because they believe it reflects back on them and why they joined. It’s moreso the perceptions of what people think gayness, manhood, and womanhood is and what it is not.”

“Kenneth,” a former Morgan State University student, and says that towards the end of his matriculation at Morgan State, he decided he wanted to pledge Alpha Phi Alpha. He held various positions within the school and described himself as “prime Alpha material.”

Upon preparing his application and discussing possible membership with a chapter member, he was told to brace himself for a rejection, which he eventually received.

The rebuff did not quash his desire to join Alpha Phi Alpha.

“I was turned away at one door of the organization, but it wasn’t the only door that I could walk through. I didn’t tarnish the name of a national body of an organization for a chapter’s bad judgment. I pledged [in the graduate chapter], and have been an Alpha for seven years now…[I] sought other av-

enues to get what truly meant the most to me,” he says.

“My problem with this story is that it may have been [Stewart’s] sexuality, but it may have also been his character,” Kenneth says. “One must persevere to get what they want. He is causing a scene that will make it impossible to ever get what he wants.

Chapters can accept who they want that fits their mold…[Stewart] is using the sensationalism of sexuality to cause a firestorm that, in the end, leaves him without the thing he wanted most, to be a member of Kappa.”

Finding Acceptance Acceptance of LGBT members in NPHC organizations seems to vary among chapters.

Tanya Hatton, a lesbian and member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, urges her fellow LGBT members not to “underestimate people. Just because they’re straight and you’re gay, doesn’t automatically mean they won’t accept you. And if they don’t, someone will.

Take your talents and gifts to where they’ll be appreciated.”

Many gay members of organizations, like Valor and Hatton, have managed to take their “talents and gifts” and apply them to both their NPHC organizations and alternative LGBT organizations. Valor and Hatton are both members of Alpha Psi Kappa Fraternity, a “Non-profit, Non-Collegiate, Social and Service Organization for Dominant Lesbian Women.”

Alpha Psi Kappa Fraternity is one of many organizations tailored to members of the LGBT community. Others

include Beta Phi Omega Sorority, a “National African-American/Multicultural Lesbian sorority for feminine lesbian and bisexual women,”and Kappa Psi Kappa Fraternity, a “non-profit, non-collegiate fraternal service organization for men of all colors and sexual preferences,” alongside dozens of others.

Valor asserts that she made room for both Alpha Psi Kappa and Sigma Gamma Rho in her heart.

“Alpha Psi Kappa merely gives me an opportunity to express myself authentically,” Valor says. “Both of my organizations represent a side of my personality equally, so I represent them both just as equally.”

Hatton agrees. “Before joining Alpha Psi Kappa, I never did anything that identified with my sexuality holistically.

Granted, once you’re an AKA, you’re always an AKA, so I’m still a ‘pretty girl,’ but I’m in touch with my masculine side,” she said.

For some LGBT individuals unable to find the balance between their dual memberships, they often seek solace solely from their LGBT organization.

This was the case for a member of Kappa Psi Kappa Fraternity and former member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, who asked to be identified as “Unique.”

Though Unique was not outwardly expressive of his sexuality at the time of his membership in Alpha Phi Alpha, many of his fraternity brothers correctly assumed he was gay. When he began to participate through a graduate chapter, he was still subject to the same assumptions and troubles affecting LGBT members. He eventually denounced his membership in Alpha Phi Alpha.

Valor says she has noticed this pat-

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tern among many of her fellow NPHC/LGBT counterparts.

“A lot of us are leaving Diving 9 organizations. We’re devoting our time within the LGBT community more because, really, we need a haven of our own.”

“Unique” agrees, feeling the decision to leave the NPHC organization was the best choice for him.

“I wanted to be able to do more for people and not have to worry about my sexuality playing a huge role; this led me to Kappa Psi Kappa. K Psi allows me to be who I am. When I was an Alpha, I had to bring females to dances in order to keep up appearances; with K Psi, I’m focused on bringing people together through all walks of life with a dedication to service and brotherhood.”

For many commenting on the frustrations of LGBT individuals attempting to join NPHC organizations, the solution is simple – because NPHC organizations are private, with the ability to accept, or deny, whomever they choose, then homosexuals should merely form their own organizations.

“It blows my mind at how dismissive we can be to our own people,” says Rachel Lee, a lesbian and recent initiate of Alpha Psi Kappa. “Any time we discuss things having to do with Black people, we have to go deeper. Sure, these are ‘private organizations,’ but once upon a time there were ‘private restaurants’ and ‘private bathrooms.’ We in the gay community have gotten so used to being hurt and dismissed by our own people that we bucked the system and turned our pain into strength by starting our own organizations – but we

January 2014

shouldn’t have had to in the first place.”

Though in agreement with Lee and Lawson, Hatton points out, “there is a definite need for LGBT organizations because the Divine 9 doesn’t address issues specific to sexuality, for instance, transgender or identity issues. Unfortunately, NPHC organizations are not be able to address them right now because there isn’t enough representation, and until the bylaws change, there won’t be.”

Kimbrough acknowledges that “there have and will always be gay members in NPHC organizations. Sadly, no one wants to be known as the ‘gay-friendly chapter’ because it goes against the norm. At this point, the only solution I see is if a school decided to sanction an organization if they found them to be intolerant, but I’m not certain how likely that is. Really, if NPHC organizations were more open to homosexual individuals, I’m sure that would greatly help reduce homophobia in the Black community.”

Lee says, “We should go where we’re celebrated, and not where we’re ‘tolerated.’ Black people don’t know how to celebrate one another because we’ve learned the art of tolerating one another in a passive-aggressive way. At the end of the day, I don’t want anyone just ‘tolerating’ me.”

Valor agrees. “LGBT is at the heart of every chapter of life. You may not agree with it, but you should make yourself open enough to understand and grow with it. It doesn’t mean you have to march with me in a gay pride parade, but respect me as a human being,” she says.

014 2 G N I R E SP L B A L NAL I R U O J AVA / RY.COM

USTO C B H T I S FO, VI N I E R O FOR M

Crystal a. deGreGory, editor-in-Chief sydney freeman, Jr., manaGinG editor

HBCU Digest

January 2014

Digest 50 Moments that defined HBCU culture in 2013

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he Digest 50 is a collection of the top news stories and moments from historically black colleges and universities from 2013. The list is compiled by the editorial staff of the HBCU Digest, and takes into consideration the impact or potential impact each story has on the institution, HBCU culture, and in global perceptions about HBCUs. We hope that this list gives a solid depiction of HBCU culture as defined through its most significant moments of the past year. Some were divisive, others were unifying, all were definitive of the year in HBCU culture.

1. Saint Paul’s closes its doors. Years of acrimony, financial struggle and prayer from HBCU enthusiasts ended in July, when Saint Paul’s announced its ‘temporary’ closure. Efforts to raise millions, a lawsuit against the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools for its revoked accreditation, and failed attempt at an acquisition by Saint Augustine’s University brought national attention to the growing financial and cultural struggles of historically Black colleges and universities.

2. Federal judge rules Maryland maintains ‘separate but equal’ system of higher ed. In October, Federal Judge Catherine Blake confirmed what many students, alumni and administrators had long recognized in the Free State; Maryland maintains an illegal, dual system of higher education by way of program duplication. In a ruling with historic and national implications for HBCU funding and support, mediation between Maryland’s system of higher education and constituents of Bowie State University, Coppin State University, Morgan State University

and the University of Maryland Shore has established a new era of leverage for Black college communities against inequitable funding.

3. Grambling State University football boycott.

In the weeks following the firing of iconic Grambling football alumnus and head coach Doug Williams, the only certainty for the Tigers’ football season was a second-consecutive year of struggle and wins at a premium. No one could have anticipated that players would stage an outright boycott of practice and football related activities, ultimately culminating in a forfeited game against Jackson State University, and national attention around HBCU athletic funding and athlete support.

4. Virginia State - Winston-Salem State player fight. No one knows

exactly what happened between five players from Virginia State University and one player from Winston-Salem State University on the eve of the 2013 CIAA Football Championship Game, but we do know that the results caused an unprecedented cancellation of a college football title game, and shaped a moment of public discourse on sportsmanship and the burgeoning issue of violence on the Virginia State campus.

5. Morehouse body issue.

Students at Morehouse College and Spelman College thrust HBCUs into the national spotlight with the publishing of the Maroon Tiger Newspaper’s inaugural ‘Body Issue.’ Modeled after

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HBCU Digest

ESPN’s annual magazine edition of the same title, the Maroon Tiger used the edition to address identity in the contexts of sexuality, gender roles, addiction, abuse, and mental health.

6. Sidney Ribeau resigns. After months of speculation, and a firestorm of criticism over falling enrollment and finances stemming from public dissension among members of Howard University board members and faculty, Howard University President Sidney Ribeau resigned in October, bringing more national attention upon the leadership crisis at HBCUs. 7. FAMU Marching 100 returns.

Twenty-one months after the hazing death of a drum major, the resignation of a president, and an unprecedented look into hazing and oversight at Florida A&M University, the Marching 100 returned to the field Sept. 1 against Mississippi Valley State University. The band’s return was a signal to Rattlers, and HBCU supporters nationwide, that the worst was over for the darkest chapter in the university’s history.

8. Robert Bentley vs. Alabama State.

Nearly one year after the controversial firing of Alabama State University president Joseph Silver, Alabama Governor Robert Bentley launched and published a forensic audit of the university’s board, revealing preliminary findings of fraud, unaccounted spending and improper benefits for associates of ASU board members.

The board sued the auditing firm, and eventually hired alumna Gwendolyn Boyd to serve as the next president.

9. PVAMU SGA gets voting site on campus.

Students at Prairie View A&M Uni-

January 2014

versity, led by Student Government Association President Priscilla Barbour, successfully lobbied for and won the right for the campus to host a polling site for students and citizens in Waller County. The move was historic for the Prairie View A&M community, which has placed students at the forefront of regional and national voting rights action in streets and courts since the 1970s.

Wilson’s departure, and Joel Harrell was named interim director until September, when former South Carolina State President George Cooper was named director for the office, with Ivory Toldson, a Howard professor and senior researcher for the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, named as deputy director.

10. Morris Brown rejects bailout deal from City of Atlanta. In July, officials at Morris Brown College rejected a $10 million buyout offer from the City of Atlanta. Criticized by members of the MBC community as a plan to accommodate a new stadium for the Atlanta Falcons in the area, trustees said a better offer was on the table.

In December, a federal bankruptcy court gave preliminary approval to a plan that would settle Morris Brown’s debt, forge partnerships with private developers and, officials say, will allow Morris Brown to regain accreditation in two years.

13. Montravias King wins seat on Elizabeth City Council.

11. Leadership Changes in White House Initiative.

After John Wilson left the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities in January, the office experienced an unprecedented turnover in leadership and disconnection from the HBCU community.

John Brown served as acting director of the office for six months following

12. Crime reporting forces resignation of ECSU Chancellor.

A sexual assault at Elizabeth City State University led to the discovery of more than 120 reported crimes that went uninvestigated between 2007 and 2013.

The inquiry, which went national over a course of days, led to the resignation of Chancellor Willie Gilchrist and police chief Sam Beamon.

Elizabeth City State University student Montravias King became a national spokesperson against voter discrimination in the fall of 2013, when he was challenged as a candidate for a seat on the Elizabeth City Council. But national attention and local mobilization aided King, who won the right to run for council by vote of the Pasquotank Board of Elections, and eventually, won his seat on the council.

14. Johnny Taylor talks lawsuit against Obama administration. Thurgood Marshall College Fund President and CEO Johnny Taylor made national headlines when he mentioned the possibility of a lawsuit against the Obama Administration for eligibility changes to the federal PLUS Loan program.

In an interview with the Washington Times, Taylor said, “We’re going to continue to pursue the legislative process to find a better solution, [but] if at some point we determine that there

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is no agreement, then we may have to consider going to the courts.”

15. M. Christopher Brown II resigns from Alcorn State.

Less than one year after receiving a unanimous four-year extension from the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning Board of Trustees, Alcorn State University President M. Christopher Brown II resigned amidst an investigation of purchasing irregularities and violations. Brown’s tenure yielded gains in enrollment, campus revitalization, and national attention for its development in the areas of diversity and inclusion.

16. HBCU Football Massacre Weekend. September 21 will long be remembered as a day of infamy for Black college football. Debate about the future prospects for Division I HBCU football programs reached a new high on that Saturday, when Bethune-Cookman University, Florida A&M University and Savannah State University lost their respective out-of-conference football games by a combined score of 207-13. Their opponents, Florida State University, Ohio State University and the University of Miami.

17. Valerie Montgomery Rice named Morehouse School of Medicine president- in-waiting.

Morehouse School of Medicine President John Maupin announces his retirement in 2013, and the MSM announced Valerie Montgomery Rice as his successor. The accomplished

gynecologist will become the first Black woman in U.S. history to lead a free-standing medical school.

18. Dorothy Yancy retires as Shaw president. Dorothy Cowser Yancy announced her retirement as Shaw University president for the second time in her career, ending a career as one of the nation’s great college presidents. In stops at Shaw and Johnson C. Smith, Yancy forged a career as a prolific fundraiser and academic developer.

19. Morgan State student files sexual discrimination claim against Kappa Alpha Psi. Morgan State University senior Brian Stewart thought that he would be a certain selection for induction into the university’s Kappa Alpha Psi campus chapter. But as texts from the chapter’s members revealed, his sexuality only warranted a ‘perception of a fair process.’ The chapter was placed on disciplinary probation until fall 2015.

20. Arne Duncan apologizes for HBCU PLUS Loan crisis during HBCU Week. “I have talked with many of the people in this room about the PLUS Loan challenges, and I know it’s been hard, it’s been frustrating, and some of you are angry. I am not satisfied with the way we handled the updating of PLUS Loans, and I apologize for that.” - Arne Duncan, National HBCU Week Opening Remarks.

21. Tony Atwater fired at Norfolk State. Tony Atwater was fired as president of Norfolk State University in August, amid controversy over an associate’s nursing program losing accreditation, falling enrollment, and a lack of financial reporting to the state’s director of audits. The move was

January 2014

among the more prominent presidential dismissals of the year, because Atwater alleged that a potential merger involving NSU and politics was behind his firing.

22. Obama goes to Morehouse.

With equal parts excitement and controversy, President Barack Obama keynoted the annual commencement exercises for Morehouse College in 2013. Asking graduates to be the example for their families and communities, while not making excuses for obstacles which confront them, real or imagined.

23. Jackson State plans for the dome.

Jackson State University announced plans to build a 50,000 seat domed football stadium in 2013, one of the largest and most ambitious announcements for an HBCU capital project ever made. While state officials did not greenlight public support for the construction of the dome, Jackson State University officials say they have identified multiple funding sources to cover its $200 million price tag.

24. Wale’ gives Hampton student $25,000 scholarship.

Persistence paid off for Hampton Uni-

versity’s Lauren Pryor in June when repeated calls to a local hip-hop radio station in Norfolk landed her on a plane to New York City and to receive a $25,000 academic scholarship from rapper and HBCU advocate Walè.

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25. American Baptist receives HBCU designation. American Baptist College became the 106 college in the nation to hold active designation as a historically Black college or university. The designation was a year in the making for the school established in 1924 for the purpose of educating African-Americans.

26. Obama skips HBCU Week. The president not only missed the conference - despite a planned speech promoting healthcare at a community college less than 20 miles away from the conference site on opening day, he did not meet with advisers faceto-face in the scheduled meeting with the President’s Board of Advisors on Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Obama’s absence at both the meeting and the conference were painfully noted by HBCU presidents and leaders.

27. Gilbert Rochon resigns as Tuskegee’s president. Gilbert Rochon abruptly resigned in October 2013, just three years after his appointment as the university’s sixth president.

The reasons for Rochon’s resignation remain unclear, but his name has since surfaced in several high-profile HBCU presidential searches.

28. Cheyney alumni threaten lawsuit against Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. On the heels of the historic decision in the Maryland HBCU equity lawsuit, alumni from Cheyney University of Pennsylvania threatened to reopen a lawsuit against the Commonwealth, originally filed in 1980, on similar grounds. According to the potential plaintiffs, decades of inequitable funding and poor response from state legislature has caused significant damage to the nation’s oldest HBCU in low enrollment, poor facilities and limited resources.

29. Tom Joyner offers Rachel Jeantel a full ride.

At the conclusion of the highly-charged trial of George Zimmerman for the murder of Trayvon Martin,

Rachel Jeantel made national headlines for her role as a key witness in the daily analysis of the case. Criticized for her testimony, radio personality and HBCU philanthropist Tom Joyner thrust Jeantel back into the national headlines, offering to pay the full cost of her college career to the HBCU of her choice.

30. Study: Southern states withheld $57 million in mandatory funding from HBCUs. The Association of Public Land Grant Universities released a September study outlining funding disparities between southern states and their 1890 land grant HBCUs. According to the report, states matched just over $188 million of a possible $244 million in federal funding from the US Department of Agriculture under its land grant program between 2010 and 2012. Funds that aren’t matched by states must be returned to the federal government, and states face no penalties for the unmatched funds.

31. Lonnie Bartley becomes winningest HBCU women’s basketball coach.

In January, Fort Valley State head women’s basketball coach Lonnie Bartley secured his 624th victory, becoming the all-time winningest women’s head basketball coach in HBCU history. Two months later Bartley announced his retirement after 29 years heading the program.

January 2014

32. Va. University of Lynchburg unpaid rent forces mass eviction of students. VUL was sued in October for $1 million, with an apartment housing company alleging that the school failed to pay rent on units housing dozens of students. The students were evicted and forced to move to other accommodations, but the investigation of the non-payment has revealed several lawsuits pending against the university, all of which are related to payment disputes and financial wrong doing.

33. Tennessee State breaks HBCU Division I football playoff losing streak.

Tennessee State University defeated the Butler Bulldogs 31-0 in November, winning its first NCAA playoff game since 1986 and the first HBCU Division I playoff wins since Florida A&M in 1999. TSU was one of three teams, including Bethune-Cookman and South Carolina State to make the FCS playoffs in 2013.

34. Myrlie Evers delivers inaugural invocation. Alcorn State University’s Scholar-in-Residence Myrlie Evers-Williams became the first non-clergy member to deliver an invocation for a presidential inauguration. Her appearance coincided with the nation’s observance of the 50th anniversary of the assassination of her husband, activist and Alcorn alumnus Medgar Evers.

35. Terron Armstead breaks 40 yard dash record at NFL combine.

In 4.71 seconds, University of Arkansas Pine Bluff offensive lineman Terron Armstead completed the 40 yard dash at the 2013 NFL combine, recording the fastest time ever at the position, and vaulting one of the SWAC’s best athletes onto NFL draft boards league wide.

36. Southern takes Gonzaga to the wire in NCAA tournament. The SWAC basketball champion Southern Jaguars came into 2013’s March Madness looking to be the latest HBCU to upset

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a higher-ranked team in the national tournament. A 64-58 final score held the Jags just short of the goal of being the first 16 seed to upset one of the nation’s top four teams, but the national attention cast new perspective and respect on the SWAC and HBCU basketball at large.

37.HBCUsplayinaugurallacrosseall-stargame.

Lacrosse players from Morehouse, Howard, Hampton, UDC, and Morgan State played in the first HBCU all-star game in November, helping to bring national attention to a sport with a growing club-level following at HBCUs nationwide.

38. Morehouse launches LGBT Studies Course, First at HBCUs. In January, Morehouse offered a brand new academic course - A Genealogy of Black LGBT Culture and Politics. For the historic training ground for Black men in higher education, the course a progressive move towards LGBTQIA diversity on the campus, and a historic effort in HBCU culture.

39. Greensboro police fired, disciplined following treatment of NCA&T, Bennett students. One officer was fired and several others disciplined by the Greensboro Police Department in June after students from North Carolina A&T and Bennett College alleged rough and unfair treatment against the officers during their investigation of a crime in the area.

40. Alcorn State memorializes Medgar Evers with campus statue.

“How ironic and fitting it is that current and future generations will forever see him, if you will, and get to know him at the same place that I did.” Myrlie Evers-Williams, on the memorial statue unveiled at Alcorn State University in June 2013.

41. White House launches HBCU tech innovation, start-up program. In an effort to promote STEM innovation and entrepreneurial development, the White House launched an innovation

fund and campus training program to foster tomorrow’s green and tech businesses at Black college campuses nationwide.

42. “Hampton Ladies Do Not Twerk.”

A slide show presentation on social media decorum at Hampton University led to a two-day whirlwind of reaction from the Twitter and blogosphere over an alleged ban on ‘twerking’ at the campus. Officials quickly debunked the rumor, but the reaction from students and media helped to generate conversation about personal expectations and the impact of bad behavior on HBCU culture.

43. Joe Taylor returns to Virginia Union. One of the all-time great coaches in HBCU football history returned to the school where he began his illustrious career. Joe Taylor, who built the Panthers into a national contender, Hampton into a football dynasty and brought FAMU back to relevance over a 30-year career, was hired as the athletic director at VUU in November.

44. Toyelle Wilson leaves PVAMU to join Baylor staff. After defeating Prairie View A&M University in the 2013 NCAA national women’s basketball tournament, Baylor head coach Kim Mulkey advocated for PVAMU head coach Toyelle Wilson to get a raise. Three months later, Mulkey did just that, giving Wilson, a three-time SWAC championship winner, a spot as an assistant for the Baylor Bears.

45. HBCU Tip-Off Championship canceled. The inaugural HBCU TipOff Championship was canceled in late October, just two weeks before its scheduled debut in Atlanta’s Phillips Arena. Citing a lack of corporate sponsorship, tournament organizers are hopeful for a 2014 debut. But national debate around the cancellation centered around dwindling attendance and support for Black college sporting events of all kinds.

46. Cici Soto named first Latina Miss

January 2014

Paul Quinn. The third time was the charm for Paul Quinn’s Cici Soto, who was named the school’s first Latina Miss Paul Quinn in 2013. The win was the latest chapter in a growing narrative on diversity and inclusion at historically Black colleges nationwide.

47. Nelly claims Spelman robbed him in 2004. Nearly 10 years after Spelman College made national headlines for protesting a planned concert by rapper Nelly, Nelly reignited perspectives on the boycott in 2013. On Huffington Post Live, Nelly reflected on the protests and their impact on his bone marrow match drive. Days later, Spelman alumnae responded on HPL, suggesting that Nelly unfairly asked the campus to choose between misogyny and bone marrow, and that the same students organized their own drive following Nelly’s cancellation.

48. ‘Scandal’ talk with Bennett President Rosalind Fuse-Hall. Bennett College for Women President Rosalind Fuse-Hall used weekly chats about the ABC hit drama ‘Scandal’ to engage students on issues of loyalty and power in today’s culture.

49. Dillard’s. Kimbrough Asks Dr. Dre ‘What About HBCUs?’ The “Hip Hop Prez” took on a hip-hop icon in print after Dr. Dre gave a $35 million gift to the University of Southern California. Kimbrough pointed out that it would have been nice for the gift to have returned to our own community.

50. HBCU Story symposium brings historical research on HBCUs to national forefront. Tennessee State University faculty member Crystal DeGregory launched the HBCU Story Symposium in 2013, bringing research and case studies on HBCU philanthropy, athletics and academic development to one day of scholarly presentation in Nashville. The event attracted more than 500 presenters, HBCU administrators, faculty, alumni and students.

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HBCU Digest

2014 Genesis Scholars

January 2014

G

raduates of historically Black colleges and universities are some of the most successful Black professionals around the country. Often, though, when scholars leave our institutions and join the faculty of majority schools, they become associated with the employing institution, and many are unaware that they are homegrown scholars.

Through the Genesis Scholars awards, HBCU Digest sought to recognize our alumni who are presently making notable contributions to the faculty and admnistrative staffs of majority institutions across the country.

Among the inaugural class of Genesis Scholars are an associate provost, an associate dean, diversity chief, a vice chancellor and many distinguished professors and chairs of top programs across the country. Selections were made based on peer nominations of qualified candidates. It is our desire to continue to showcase the contributions of HBCU students, faculty and alumni, and we believe these individuals exemplify some of the best and brightest minds to have used their HBCU educations to make the world a better place.

2014 GENESIS SCHOLAR Developing Leaders Who Make a Positive Difference in the World 32

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HBCU Digest

January 2014

Dr. Katrice albert

vice president for equity & diversity university of minnesota Attending Xavier University only made sense to Dr. Katrice Albert after she spent a summer on the campus after during a summer Excel program.

Albert, who grew up a devout Catholic, says, “Once I finished that summer program, I knew that Xavier was the one for me.”

“To have the opportunity to go to the one institution that was Black AND Catholic, I thought it was a great sign of commitment to my faith and my family,” she says.

Once at Xavier, Albert says she benefited from “a very nurturing environment [that was also] very academically sound.” She says that the expectation at Xavier was that students would go on to receive graduate and post-doctorate degrees, and faculty treated them accordingly, which helped demystify the graduate school process.

The faculty, she says, “expected more of you, because they knew that they were preparing you for the next level. But it was not without the nurturing” that is signature to the HBCU experience.

Albert went on to obtain a master’s degree in counseling psychology from the University of Southern Mississippi and a Ph.D. in the same from Auburn University. It was at Auburn that she says she decided that she wanted to be “a Black psychologist, and not just a psychologist who was Black,” and where she decided she may want to go into higher education administration.

She says having mentors still at Xavier whom she can call

for advice, to share her feelings about a particular situation, and to continue to lean on as she learns and grows in her career has been critical to her success.

“That speaks to the commitment of faculty and staff, particularly at HBCUs,” says Albert, who adds that her mother was on the faculty of Southern University for over 35 years, turning down numerous lucrative opportunities to leave Southern and go into industry. “Their work is not work.

Their work is passion.”

She says that graduates of HBCUs have a responsibility to continue to serve as a voice to give presence and life to the issues facing HBCUs. In addition to being a major donor to Xavier University, she takes every opportunity to speak up in public on their behalf.

“To have the voices from predominantly white institutions of alums to speak up for the HBCUs” on issues like federal funding, program offerings and the continued need to support HBCUs is key, she says.

“If alums of HBCUs are a part of that discussion, even if they are working at PWIs, they have a responsibility to be very thoughtful and very vocal on the benefits of HBCUs,” Albert adds.

Now seven months into her position at the University of Minnesota, Albert is working to increase the pipeline for students at Xavier University — and HBCUs overall — interested in graduate opportunities, because most of our schools are undergraduate-serving institutions, she says.

For Albert, her professional ambitions stem from her years as an undergraduate.

“I’m standing on the shoulders of all of those people at Xavier,” she says. “It didn’t just happen as happenstance that I have this passion for people of color in higher ed.”

“It has to do with my experience at Xavier, and really having the experience at Xavier where people cared,” she says. She goes onto to describe the isolation felt by many Black students on PWI campuses, and says that, in some instances, this isolation can be a roadblock to success, so she has dedicated herself to “making sure that students have the climate to succeed.”

“I’ve worked just about every position you could have in diversity,” Albert says. “I’m going to help transform lives like folks at Xavier did for me.”

- Autumn A. Arnett 28

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HBCU Digest

January 2014

Dr. Sandra Barnes Professor vanderbilt university

As a sociologist, professor and ordained minister, Dr. Sandra Barnes contributes much of her life’s work in urban poverty research to her undergraduate career at Fisk University.

Valedictorian of her high school in Gary, Indiana, Barnes’ options for higher education were limitless, yet she precisely knew that Fisk was the college for her.

“I really liked the HBCU focus. There was something about it that seemed to resonate with me about my Black identity and what I wanted to do in the future,” says Barnes.

Growing up in a majority Black community, Barnes’ family faced economic challenges. As the steel mill industry transitioned out of the city, her family —and many of her neighbors— shifted from middle class to working poor due to the lack of available jobs.

However, the internal strength of her community, despite financial constraints, sparked her interest in researching positive adaptations of poverty.

“Although there is a lot of research about negative things associated with poor spaces, my experiences watching my family and watching other people dealing with economic challenges were different,” says Barnes, who was raised on strong values in education, family, community and religion.

Fisk nurtured her youthful ambitions and prepared her for a professional career surrounding equity within race, class and gender.

“One of the strengths that existed was the ability to get a strong education while learning about the importance of racial identity, giving back to society and connecting with disenfranchised groups,” says Barnes.

Distinguishably impressive of the institution, Barnes notes, is that the quality education and mentoring that she received was during a time when the university experienced its most pressing economic challenges.

But much like her personal upbringing, a shortage in finances did not undermine the school’s ability to provide progressive outcomes for students.

Teaching at a predominately White university, many of her students rely on television, movies and media for insight into the Black experience.

“My classes are very important in terms of facilitat-

ing additional learning for students,” she says. ”That’s what it means to be a professor.”

Although she double majored in mathematics and economics, her undergraduate experiences prepared her for her Ph.D. studies in sociology. Today, while she believes that no dollar amount equates to her experience, Barnes’ professional success affords her the opportunity to show her gratitude through monetary contributions to Fisk on a monthly basis. She has also spoken during several convocations to students at her alma mater.

“Many people don’t realize the value of HBCUs, but I know the benefits associated with that type of comprehensive, culturally relative education,” she says. “Fisk was a critical turning point in shaping who I am as a scholar activist.”

- Christina Sturdivant

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HBCU Digest

January 2014

Dr. Craig Cameron

eberly chair in biochemistry and molecular biology penn state university

For Dr. Craig Cameron, attending Howard University was a transformational experience. Not only did his HU experience instill in him an unmatched work ethic, it showed him that being an intelligent, driven Black student did not make him an anomaly.

“Realizing I was not the exception was really good for my self-esteem,” he says. Understanding that there were so many more like him, that the weight of the entire Black race was not on his shoulders, was a key turning point in his academic career.

“I think that’s the reason my parents wanted me to go to an HBCU,” says Cameron, who grew up in a predominately White neighborhood in Shaker Heights, Ohio.

“Growing up in a suburban environment might help you, some, but you need that network, too. When you want to make opportunities, people that look like you are going to be more likely to give you those opportunities.”

What Cameron found at Howard were students who were “as driven and as determined as I was,” and, in some cases, students who were smarter than he was or who worked harder than he did.

He says that the competition among his classmates pushed him to be the best he could be. Without the competition of his classmates to be the best, he says he would not have been able to accomplish many of the things he has been able to accomplish.

Now a scientist on the cutting-edge of research, Cameron is leading efforts to anticipate the adverse effects of medicines designed to treat Hepatitis C to improve the efficiency of clinical trials and develop new drugs that will eliminate certain viruses. He is also working to develop a personalized approach to medicine, whereby doctors and scientists may begin to examine the impact of genetics and other factors may have on an individual’s response to viruses and their treatment. He has won numerous awards, including including the Howard Temin Award from the National Cancer Institute and an Established Investigator Award from the American

Heart Association.

But he says that he does not feel the same personalized approach from, connection to, or recognition by his alma mater.

“While I was in graduate school,” he says, “I would go back to the campus, and [I would think] ‘no one really knows me there. No one knows I exist.”

Cameron says he feels a huge sense of responsibility and longing to reach back to those who are coming behind him, but he is completely cut off from the Howard University campus.

“You would think that [my classmates and I] could inspire those at Howard to follow in our footsteps or use some of that knowledge [that we have accrued through the years].

We have walked a certain path, so we should be able to facilitate — through mentoring and networking — moving a student from point A to point B,” he says.

But Cameron says that, because he has lost contact with campus administrators and staff, “I wouldn’t even know where to begin” to get involved with projects and initiatives at Howard. “Do I say ‘hey, I’m an alum?’ You would hope that, from a development side, they would track their alumni, but they really don’t reach out.”

He says that in conversations with his classmates and friends have unveiled similar sentiments among many alumni.

“We’re all willing to do stuff or help out. We want to do more than just send a check, [we want to do things] where you can actually … see some benefit to a student and their professional development.”

Citing a long list of organizations and institutions who have called upon him to consult on various projects and serve on boards, Cameron says that he and other classmates would love to provide the same for their alma mater. “We would gladly give our opinions for free,” he says. “The information and experience that we have can be leveraged so much more.”

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- Autumn A. Arnett www.hbcudigest.com

HBCU Digest

January 2014

Dr. Nikky Finney

When award-winning author and poet Dr. Nikky Finney was beginning to think about her postsecondary education, she knew the only choice for her would be to attend an historically Black college or university in the South.

The daughter of two Claflin College (now university) graduates and Black activists, Finney describes herself as “a child who was heavily influenced by the Black college tradition.” Between her parents and community members who had graduated from HBCUs — “they were graduates, and not just quiet graduates, they were jubilant graduates” who spread the word about their HBCU experiences —Finney narrowed her list down to Hampton University, Fisk University, Howard University, Spelman College and Talladega College.

“I wanted to support the tradition that I had come out of, that my parents had come out of,” Finney says.

She says she was unsure which school she would attend until then-admissions director John McCray showed her Talladega’s library at the end of her campus tour. Along the library’s walls were a series of three murals —the Amistad murals, detailing “the revolt,” “the court scene” and “Back to Africa” done by famed artist Hale Woodruff.

“Instantly, when he started talking about the Amistad murals … I knew that I wanted to study to become a writer there beneath those murals … that meant something to me” Finney says. “I was already a child of the Black arts movement” and Black history and activism movements.

“In this little womb of a space [at Talladega], I thought that I could dedicate my life to the arts and to social justice,” she says.

“There was no distinction between artists and politics where I grew up. … From the people that had the greatest impact on my young life, there was no separation. Talladega fit right into that space for me.”

One of the longest-lasting principles she learned during her Talladega tenure, she says, was developing a strong work ethic.

From feeling the presence of freed slaves who had built a bannister in the school’s main academic building, to abandoning Friday night plans to follow her mentor to the library in pursuit of reading every book in the building, the work ethic instilled in Finney during her four years as an undergraduate student www.hbcudigest.com

at Talladega transformed her “from something that could be mediocre to something [mentor Dr. Gloria Wade Gayles] was telling me could be great,” she says.

Finney recalls Dr. Gayles coercing her, “under threat of death,” to “put some poems in a little manilla folder” and accompany her to the airport to pick up famed poet Nikki Giovanni, who was to visit as part of the campus’ Black arts festival.

She says that Giovanni took the folder home with her, and “she and her mom sat at their kitchen table and corrected my bad freshman poetry and sent it back to me with a note that said: ‘underneath of all of those red marks … was something beautiful trying to happen.”

Photo by Rachel Eliza Griffiths

John H. Bennett, Jr. Chair of Southern Literature and Creative Writing university of south carolina

“It was that kind of tutelage and nurturing [from both Gayles and Giovanni, a Fisk graduate] that made me believe that I could be a poet,” Finney says.

She appreciates most that faculty and staff on campus spoke “something to me that had more to do with my spirit and my confidence than any particular course,” and she credits Talladega with developing her as a woman and an artist.

Twice an HBCU grad — she earned a master’s degree at Atlanta University — Finney laments what she calls a “disconnect” between herself and the HBCU community.

“I have really not been approached by HBCUs,” she says, “and that has been an empty place in my heart.”

Still eagerly awaiting the call from the HBCU community, she understands that the omission is likely circumstantial.

“I think it’s a very difficult time for Black colleges. There are many more things they have to deal with in a daily, prioritizing way,” she says. “I wish there was a Black college circuit, that Black colleges could come together to get [Black artists] on their campuses.”

Still, she says, if her alma mater or the HBCU community at large would reach out to her, she would happily leap at the opportunity to serve, to impact the lives of Black students the way faculty and staff at Talladega impacted her life.

- Autumn A. Arnett 31

HBCU Digest

January 2014

Dr. James Johnson

director, Urban Investment Strategies Center Distinguished Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship University of north carolina Dr. James Johnson laughingly tells the story about his path to graduate school. A mentor reached into a pile of acceptance letters and chose the one that fit a strange criteria.

“Go to the University of Wisconsin. I’ve never had a student there before,” Dr. Theodore Speigner, founding faculty member of the North Carolina Central University department of geography, had said.

Johnson says he was the last among a group of 17 NCCU undergraduates who, under Speigner’s tutelage, all went on to earn doctoral degrees in a variety of fields. It is an achievement that he says is familiar to HBCUs across the country, but may be unique for one bold professor who insisted on doctoral-level education, but would never allow his students to enroll in universities in the deep south.

“Doc had worked these deals and relationships with Big Ten universities to take his students. My senior year, he would write these glorious letters for you for recommendations to graduate programs. And even while we were in school, we would all keep in contact with him, and he would share all that everyone else was doing. It was almost like a competition.”

Among Johnson’s classmates and playful competitors — newly-appointed Florida A&M University President Elmira Mangum.

Johnson had no idea that Speigner’s random selection of a graduate program would have such a profound impact on his life. But nearly 40 years after earning his undergraduate degree in geography from NCCU, he has enjoyed the toils and spoils of being a renowned professor in a range of disciplines, from California all the way back to his home state of North Carolina.

In his current post at the University of

North Carolina, Johnson embodies many of the characteristics of his mentor, and delivers professional training and community development with an uncanny compassion and precision.

After leaving NCCU, the Greenville, N.C. native earned his master’s degree from the University of Wisconsin at Madison and his Ph.D. from Michigan State University.

With an interest in geography and demography, Johnson served for 12 years as a professor at UCLA, and there his interest turned to populations shifts among minorities in the state and the resulting economic impact.

His work eventually brought him to UNC, where he now teaches and researches economic disparities along racial lines, and develops entrepreneurial approaches to workforce development and community engagement. He is the co-founder of a the Global Scholars Academy, a public charter school in Durham, N.C. which offers training in entrepreneurship and financial literacy, foreign language and health and wellness, beginning in kindergarten.

He credits HBCUs with providing the nation’s Black students a unique opportunity for access to education, but says the process must begin before college, where attitudes and approaches to learning are often too far embedded in the minds of students.

“When I was at UCLA, we had money to recruit students from HBCUs. But more than that, our school is trying to give kids a pathway to college, and particularly young men of color.”

Johnson also heads a college preparatory program, which counts an annual college tour of HBCUs and predominantly white institutions as one of its signature offerings.

“We try to make them aware of all options,” Johnson says.

While opportunities and access are at the core of the HBCU mission, Johnson says economics are also among the strongest traits of why the institutions must not just survive, but thrive for the sake of promising students, and communities, across the nation.

“Tuition continues to rise, hurdles to get in are growing, and for some, (predominantly white institutions) just aren’t in the realm of possibility. We have a whole cadre of kids, who, like me, won’t qualify for admission to a school like Carolina right out of high school.”

“HBCUs play a pivotal role for an entire cadre of kids for whom that is the only option. It is so important to maintain and ensure that they survive, because so many students come out of their doors and do just fine.”

- Jarrett L. Carter, Sr.

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HBCU Digest

January 2014

Dr. James L. Moore III

Assoc. Provost, office of diversity & Inclusion Ohio State university From running up and down the football field at Delaware State University to serving as the associate provost in the Office of Diversity and Inclusion at Ohio State University, Dr. James L. Moore III acknowledges his start at Delaware State University paved the way for his career.

“As both a student and athlete, I had fond memories and experiences at Delaware State University. I was extended many opportunities to grow intellectually, socially, and spiritually,” Moore says. “Because of these experiences, I believed that I could compete with anyone. The institution took great interests in my success at DSU and beyond.”

Originally from Lyman, South Carolina, Moore is the oldest of three children. He received a scholarship to play football at DSU, but his football career ended when he tore a ligament.

Moore says he has “a fond appreciation for HBCUs. Moore’s work as the inaugural director of the Todd Anthony Bell National Resource Center on the African American Male, Moore continues to nurture his passion for the education of Black men. The center focuses on recruitment and graduation of Black males. He works to share his research and expertise to “improve African-Americans on HBCU campuses and others alike.”

“I critique HBCUs, but I also support through work and research. It’s a calling,” he says. “What I do is a major part of my DNA and what I want to project.”

Moore says, “HBCUs mirror some of the conditions of young Black males. The young males come from school systems that don’t adequately prepare them. Graduation and retention rates of HBCUs are quite dismal, which are effects of matriculation through our education system. Generally speaking, HBCUs have a collective mission that if you don’t have come in at the level you’re supposed to, they’ll help you get to where you need to be.”

Moore finds it unfortunate that some students may go all the way through college and never have a Black male teacher.

He says, “Naturally, when we see someone who looks like us, we tend to naturally gravitate toward them. These young men can live vicariously through their teachers. Typically when they do, it’s a P.E. teacher.”

In the latest study from the National Center for Education Statistics, it was reported that 76 percent of educators are female.

“Even though women have done an outstanding job in this realm, there is a need for Black males in education. People foreclose on occupational options because of what they don’t know,” Moore says.

He suggests that the same amount of time spent getting young Black males into STEM programs should be the same as education programs.

Moore says that the challenges we see in working with troubled young men of color may lead others to avoid them altogether. However, it is his mission to never shy away from a young man he may be able to lift up.

Though Moore says his “experience at DSU was rich and meaningful; it contributed immensely to the things I have accomplished and hope to accomplish in the future,” he believes he has found a permanent home at Ohio State University. He is doing a job that he built a research career on, a job that he says he would do for free.

“I currently work at an institution with immense resources and reach to impact the masses. ... I believe that my current role at Ohio State University gives me the ability to partner with HBCUs to make a positive difference in our society, he says.”

“I’m very satisfied with my job. What lies in my future…I’m doing this work on a greater scale and a greater impact…Hopefully at Ohio State. I have no aspirations to be anywhere else.”

Still, he remains cognizant and appreciative of what HBCUs have meant to him and his family.

“I’m a product of an HBCU. I’m a servant to HBCUs. I study unapologetically Black males and HBCUs,” Moore says.

“I am forever ‘thankful’ for my experience at Delaware State University, and equally ‘grateful’ that Ohio State University has extended me the opportunity to focus on important diversity topics,” like improving education access and success for students of color and low-income students, Moore says.

He says that HBCUs helped his family move up to the middle class; his siblings, wife, and he are all proud products of HBCU, and Moore donates not only to his alma mater, but to Norfolk State University, where his wife attended, and Hampton University, where his brother and sister attended.

Moore created a scholarship in his mother’s name at Hampton, as well as a scholarship in his wife’s name at Norfolk. Not only does Moore donate money, he donates his time as well. He frequently assists in writing grants, consulting, and recruitment for HBCUs. He says, “As long as I’m breathing on this planet, I’ll continue to contribute personally and professionally to HBCUs.”

- Brittany Somerville

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HBCU Digest

January 2014

Dr. Leonard Moore

Assoc. VP, Division of Diversity and Community Engagement University of Texas

Coming out of high school, Dr. Leonard Moore had a 1.6 grade point average, and an ACT score of 15. Despite his underwhelming academic record, Jackson State University took a chance and open its doors to the young Moore.

“They welcomed me with open arms,” he says. “They saw potential in me that I didn’t even see in myself.” And that recognition sparked a fire within him to succeed.

Moore went on to earn his bachelor’s degree in history from Jackson State University in 1993, then went on to receive a master’s degree in history at Cleveland State University and, at the age of 26, a Ph.D. from Ohio State University.

Moore did not let his high school grades define him; with the help of his JSU, he knew he was destined for greatness. He instills the same potential seeking demeanor in his students that his mentors and professors at JSU instilled in him.

“I spend a ton of time working with Black male student-athletes,” Moore says. “Being at a large institution with [financial] resources allows me to implement cutting-edge programs and policies across the academic pipeline that [may serve as a model to] many of our HBCUs.” Among those is a program to mentor Black student-athletes to help improve their academic success, thereby increasing retention and graduation rates. It is his hope that he is able to use his position at UT to benefit HBCU students across the region.

College sports are convoluted and dramatic not only to the fans but to the players as well. Such added stress affects team members as a whole, no matter which university they attend. A well-constructed academic plan must be instilled to set these athletes on the road to graduation; not just at PWIs but at HBCUs as well, he says.

“I feel that I can continue to give back to HBCUs from my current post by working with HBCUs to put effective structures and strategies in place to increase graduation and retention rates” of student-athletes and Black male students in general, he says. Moore remains dedicated to his students’ success and achievements, to help enable them to reach their full potential academically and athletically.

Moore has expanded his initiative not only across the country, but worldwide as well, traveling with UT teams, implementing his teachings and establishing new techniques for student-athletes to succeed academically while on the road.

“The global programs I direct in Beijing and Cape Town are open to students from other universities, so hopefully we can establish a study abroad consortium with HBCUs with the University of Texas at Austin serving as the hub,” Moore says. His commitment to HBCUs is something he does not wish to let go of, but needs others to hear his call.

Today, Moore is the epitome of an academic innovator; a leader and role model to students and their communities around the world. Moore’s thoughts and comments have been used as commentary for an abundance of news outlets including ESPN, CNN, NPR, 60 Minutes, USA Today, and the New York Times.

- Elizabeth Montgomery

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HBCU Digest

January 2014

Dr. Isiah Warner

endowed Professor of Analytical, Environmental Chemistry

Louisiana State university Louisiana State University’s Dr. Isiah Warner often says he did his first chemistry experiment at the age of two.

“When I was young, electricity was very unstable, so we used kerosene lamps a lot, and I was fascinated by it,” Warner says. One day, his family didn’t lock away the oil, he says, and he drank it.

“I often say that was my first chemistry experiment. Ten years later, I got my chemistry set, but I had learned that taste was not one of those senses I used to test things,” he says, laughing.

Now he is a highly-respected chemist, serving as LSU’s Vice Chancellor for Strategic Initiative, Boyd Professor and Philip W. West Professor of Analytical and Environmental Chemistry and Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professor.

He has developed a successful program to graduate more STEM students who may go on to follow in his footsteps: 90 percent of students in his program graduate, compared to a 40 percent graduation rate for STEM students in the university overall.

But Warner says he would not have been able to accomplish any of it without the nurture and admonition he received as a student at Southern University as a young man.

“I wouldn’t be here now if it weren’t for Southern University,” he says. “That institution made me the man that I am today.”

Warner recalls being “a little country boy from the town of Bunkie, Louisiana … trying to figure out how to survive in the big city,” and the institution’s influence on his worldview.

“Southern helped me to mature gradually and be ready for the real world,” he says. “I am proud to be the product of an HBCU.” He laments the fact that the other students may not have the same opportunities to take advantage of the HBCU experience he enjoyed.

“As has been done in the past, many of the state institutions are beginning to say ‘oh, we don’t need HBCUs,’” Warner says, noting that states are not maintaining the funding for HBCUs to continue a segregated learning institution. “I totally disagree with that. There are lots and lots of ‘little country boys from Bunkie, Louisiana’ who need that nurturing and support that HBCUs provide.” www.hbcudigest.com

He does say that, though he knows people won’t want to hear it, HBCUs may have to make some changes to the way they have always done things to remain afloat and continue to be able to serve students, like himself, who need them the most.

Citing a lack of funding as the biggest hurdle the schools face, he says they will need to “broaden their base. The idea of maintaining a totally segregated institution is not going to work any more, whether an HBCU or a majority institution,” Warner says.

Additionally, the schools must be more open to collaborating with larger institutions with more funding to share resources. Though he maintains a relationship with Southern from his post at LSU, Warner says he would like to see the institutions work together more.

“We have some projects that we collaborate on. We have grants in common, I interact with faculty. I would like to do more, but that hasn’t worked out.”

For him, key to increased interaction between the schools is getting the administration at his alma mater to understand the contributions he can make as a researcher at a neighboring school.

- Autumn A. Arnett

HBCU Digest

January 2014

Dr. Allyson Watson

endowed education chair northeastern state university Dr. Allyson Watson always knew she would be a teacher and always knew she would be an HBCU graduate.

“From the moment I could apply to college, I knew my choice would be an HBCU,” she says. After attending an early college program at Bethune-Cookman College, Watson went on to receive a degree in Elementary Education from the institution and began her teaching career in urban Tulsa (Okla.)Public Schools. She then went on to earn her master’s degree from the University of Oklahoma and was a Gates Millennium Scholar in the program’s inaugural year.

At 25, she became the youngest African-American to graduate with a Ph,D. in Educational Leadership from OU at the age of 25.

Watson applied for a tenure-track position at Northeastern State. Upon joining the faculty there, she brought a desperately-needed cultural consideration to the predominantly white institution with the development of her urban education research program, tailored to prepare pre-service teachers for fields in urban school districts.

Her commitment to making a positive difference in the lives of students, urban schools, and teachers has earned her the respect of peers and leaders, and she credits her passion for developing positive cultural awareness in education to her love for her HBCU, as well as a history of pride and appreciation for HBCUs in her family.

“Although I am a first generation college graduate, I come from a long line of family members who graduated from Bethune-Cookman and other HBCUs,” says Watson.

She takes her cultural emphasis one step further by working with and mentoring high school students in high-challenge areas and speaking publicly to first-generation college students, like herself, in Oklahoma and around the nation.

“I enjoy my role because of the leverage it provides to reach other young

students who were just like me. I truly attribute who I am and what I do to my experiences at an HBCU,” she says.

A true staple in the community, the work she has initiated will directly benefit urban schools in higher education and urban school and university partnerships. Her work with urban schools through the NSU Urban Institute for Effective Teaching began in 2011, and since then, she has received many recognitions, including the Northeastern State University Martin Luther King Leadership Award.

In further tribute to her path through an HBCU, Watson serves as a scholarship reviewer for the United Negro College Fund (UNCF), a commitment she makes to help ensure other deserving students an opportunity to glean from the HBCU experience.

Her work and dedication has inspired students for 14 years, and she shows no sign of slowing down.

“My current work is just the beginning to what I like to do,” she says.

Watson is presently working with fellow Bethune-Cookman alumni to provide current research on the impact of HBCUs on teacher education preparation programs. She also works closely with colleagues and friends from Langston University on learner-centered teaching research.

She combines her passion for research, cultural education, impacting youth, and teaching at her current position at NSU, and she hopes to one day be able to bring back all of the knowledge and skill she has acquired back to an HBCU to benefit more students traveling the road she traveled.

“My plan has always been to return to an HBCU and work to continue to carry out the plans that history has truly provided us through wonderful schools,” she says. “I believe that I am part of a legacy that one HBCU gave me and I want to continue that legacy.”

- Elizabeth Montgomery

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HBCU Digest

January 2014

Dr. Lynn Wooten

assoc. dean for undergraduate programs university of michigan If asked as a junior in high school if her first choice for undergraduate studies would be at an historically Black college, Dr. Lynn Wooten would have said no.

The associate dean for undergraduate programs at the University of Michigan once had her eyes set on Washington, D.C., after applying to study business and accounting at Georgetown University.

However, after reviewing her SAT scores and academic interests, Wooten was contacted by North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University with a full tuition scholarship offer.

“When I visited, I fell in love with the campus, experience and faculty—and that’s what inspired me to go to A&T,” says Wooten.

She promptly declined her acceptance to Georgetown and packed her bags for Greensboro, N.C. “I’m motivated in my current job to create transformational experiences because of my undergraduate experience at North Carolina A&T,” says Wooten.

For almost three years as associate dean, she has been dedicated to creating pathways for memorable academic and social experiences for 1,400 undergraduate business students at the University of Michigan so that students excel under her guidance.

Vital to her professional foundation was the development of a learning orientation marked by curiosity for knowledge and a strong work ethic, which steered Wooten to valedictorian of her class and a passing score on the CPA exam while still in undergrad.

Equally important to her current success was the advisement she received at A&T that can be attributed to a host of individuals who forged an environment of security, growth and scholarly achievement.

“I had faculty who loved about me and cared about me and they brought academic excellence in the classroom,” she says. “They were not only professors, but they were mentors and parents to us.”

Likewise, Wooten’s relationships with her classmates, dormmates and sorors were steeped

in family values.

“The friendships that I met there were lifetime friendships and that experience is nurtured by the environment of historically black universities and the type kinship networks that you find,” she says.

With her at the University of Michigan, she holds this spirit of love and belonging to specifically taking on the role as mentor to graduate students coming from HBCUs. She also takes time to speak with any student she comes across who is interested in attending an HBCU, sharing her experiences at A&T and praising her mentors who have guided her academic path, even after her undergraduate career.

Her own children are split on the HBCU experience. Her son who attends Cornell University for a specialized career path, her daughter has found an interest in HBCUs. “One of her mentors is a freshman at Howard, and my mother, who is a huge proponent of historically black colleges went to Virginia State, so I think she may be the one,” says Wooten, who plans to organize road trips soon for her daughter who she believes will continue her family’s tradition within the HBCU experience.

“Everything that ever happened to me educationally, I can trace back to my mentors at A&T,” she says.

The scope of her current professional research focuses on how changes in workforce demographics and the knowledge economy influence the implementation of strategic human resource management practices. A specific portion of her research delves into diversity, a component which she believes is often overlooked when people characterize HBCUs. “Sometimes people think if you want to get diversity, you have to get it at a non-HBCU college, but even going to A&T, there were lots of different dimensions of diversity that I learned how to navigate,” she says. “Being from the North was one component because they saw me as a Yankee, and most of them were Southern.

So you still develop how to deal with differences at historically Black colleges.”

- Christina Sturdivant

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