Howard U. picks African diaspora scholar as next president

Continued late “Black Panther” actor Chadwick Boseman have brought fresh prominence and rising enrollment numbers. Major benefactors such as NBA star Steph Curry and MacKenzie Scott, the exwife of Amazon founder and Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos, have come to Howard with significant donations. books, including “Before Mestizaje: The Frontiers of Race and Caste in Colonial Mexico.”

Dr. Vinson, 52, grew up partially in the D.C. area and graduated from high school in neighboring Alexandria. He spent his childhood on military bases in Italy, where his father was a master sergeant in the U.S. Air Force. He has previously served as the founding director of the Center for Africana Studies at Johns Hopkins University, where he also taught history, and as dean of George Washington University’s liberal arts and sciences college.

“I look forward to returning to the DMV (the greater D.C. area), which I consider home, and working with the broader campus community to fortify Howard and help build upon its incredible tradition of delivering excellence, truth, and service to greater humanity,” he said.

The university also has leveraged its prominence to secure a string of headline-grabbing faculty members. Two of America’s most prominent writers on race relations, Nikole Hannah-Jones and Ta-Nehisi Coates, joined the university in 2021, and famed actress and Tony Award winner Phylicia Rashad now heads the College of Fine Arts.

Even so, students have been impatient for change. In 2021, they held sit-ins and slept in tents to protest housing shortages and poor living conditions in the dorms, a concern common to many historically Black universities with aging buildings. After a standoff lasting more than a month, students reached an agreement with Howard and ended the protest.

Dr. Vinson earned a bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth College with a double major in history and classical studies, summa cum laude, and a doctorate in Latin American history, with distinction, from Columbia University. He has been awarded fellowships from the Fulbright Commission; National Humanities Center; Social Science Research Council; University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; and the Ford, Rockefeller, and Mellon foundations.

The chairman of the Howard board of trustees, Laurence C. Morse, said in a news release that Dr. Vinson had “demonstrated his commitment to elevating the diversity of experiences of people of the African diaspora — a commitment that aligns well with Howard University’s mission and vision.”

Free COVID-19 vaccines

Continued from A1 testing locations at www.vdh.virginia.gov/coronavirus/covid-19testing/covid-19-testing-sites.

Want a COVID-19 vaccine or booster shot?

The Richmond and Henrico health districts provides free vaccines for COVID-19 at the following locations:

Long one of the jewels of the Historically Black College and Universities network, Howard is enjoying a season of plenty. High-profile alumni like Vice President Kamala Harris and the two high schools.

• Wednesday, May 24, 2 to 4 p.m. - Henrico West, 8600 Dixon Powers Drive. Bivalent Moderna boosters for age 6 and older, Bivalent Pfizer boosters for ages 5 and older, Novavax primary shots for age 12 and older, JYNNEOS shots and Moderna/ Pfizer baby bivalent boosters. Walk ups are welcome.

• Thursday, May 25, 2 to 4 p.m. - 400 E. Cary St. Available are Bivalent Moderna boosters for ages 6 and older, Bivalent Pfizer boosters for ages 5 and older, Novavax primary shots for ages 12 and older, JYNNEOS shots and Moderna/Pfizer baby bivalent boosters. Walk-ups are welcome.

To schedule an appointment online, visit vase.vdh.virginia. gov, vaccinate.virginia.gov or vax.rchd.com, or call (804) 205-3501 or (877) VAX-IN-VA (1-877-829-4682).

RHHD also offers at-home vaccinations. Call (804) 2053501 to schedule appointments.

New COVID-19 boosters, updated to better protect against the latest variants of the virus, are now available. The new Pfizer booster is approved for ages 12 and up, while the new Moderna booster is for ages 18 and older.

As with previous COVID-19 boosters, the new doses can only be received after an initial two vaccine shots, and those who qualify are instructed to wait at least two months after their second COVID-19 vaccine.

The Richmond and Henrico Health Districts offer Bivalent Pfizer and Moderna boosters to children between the ages of 5 and 11 in clinics in the near future. Children in this age range will be eligible after at least two months since their last vaccine dose.

A total of 99 new cases of COVID-19 were reported statewide Wednesday for the 24-hour period, contributing to an overall state total of 2,306,661 cases in Virginia since the pandemic’s outbreak. As of Wednesday, there have been 459,871 hospitalizations and 23,757 deaths reported statewide.

State data shows that African-Americans comprised 21.7% of cases statewide and 21.15% of deaths for which ethnic and racial data is available, while Latinos made up 9.8% of cases and 3.7% of deaths.

Compiled by George Copeland Jr.

Dr. Vinson’s academic field makes a sharp contrast with that of Dr. Frederick, the outgoing president, who is a Howard-trained surgeon. The university search committee and trustees turned next to a historian, with his focus cast outside of the United States.

Dr. Vinson is a scholar of the African diaspora with an eye especially on colonial Latin America. He is the author of several

In a statement, the president of Case Western Reserve, Eric W. Kaler, credited Dr. Vinson with leading development of that university’s ambitious strategic plan and new general education requirements, and with increasing diversity in its faculty and graduate student recruitment. President Kaler also said that Dr. Vinson was a strong supporter of the humanities at a time when some universities were cutting back on them.

“He is an exceptionally warm and empathetic person and will be a great leader for Howard,” he said.

Schools’ struggle with student absenteeism still present

Continued from A1

Dr. Harris highlighted 10 schools where fewer students were chronically absent, including Swansboro Elementary School, where the percentage of chronically absent students fell from 39 percent in the 2021-

22 school year to 11 percent during the current school year.

But chronic absenteeism is rife at other schools, such as Armstrong High School. The school reported enrolling 747 students in September, of which 276 or 37% have missed 15 or more days of school.

A sampling of other schools where chronic absenteeism remains high include: George Wythe High School, 34%; Albert Hill Middle, 24%; River City Middle, 27%; Blackwell Elementary, 28%; Carver Elementary, 36%; Fairfield Court Elementary, 36%; Henry Marsh III Elementary, 30 percent; Oak Grove Elementary, 39%; and Woodville Elementary, 36 percent.

Remembering Richmond’s finest, first

assigned to the Juvenile Division. On 18 July 1964, Sergeant Randolph was promoted to Detective Lieutenant. While challenged by segregated conditions and discriminatory practices, their perseverance created an inspiring legacy.”