UNC System Summit - Innovation and Change: Thriving in the 21st Century University

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A Summit Focused on Black Faculty, Staff and Graduate Students in the UNC System

www.wssu.edu/thesummit2015

INNOVATION a

E G N A H C d n A Summit Focused on Black Faculty, Staff and Graduate Students in the UNC System

APRIL 16-17, 2015 l Thriving in the 21st Century University

TABLE OF CONTENTS 2015 SUMMIT KEYNOTE SPEAKER PROGRAM AGENDA ORAL SESSION ABSTRACTS POSTER SESSION ABSTRACTS NOTES

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 28

2015 SUMMIT KEYNOTE SPEAKER

GENNA RAE MCNEIL is professor of history at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill where she teaches United States history, African-American history, and U.S. Constitutional History.

A graduate of the University of Chicago, McNeil is widely known for her prize-winning Groundwork: Charles Hamilton Houston and the Struggle for Civil Rights, which was awarded the Silver Gavel Award for outstanding scholarship in American Legal History by the American Bar Association. Specializing in social movements, race, and law, within the field of African-American history, McNeil is co-editor of three texts: with Michael R. Winston, Historical Judgments Reconsidered; with John Hope Franklin, African Americans and the Living Constitution; and with V. P. Franklin African Americans and Jews in the Twentieth Century. McNeil’s most recent research examines State of North Carolina vs. Joan Little, 1974-1975 and has been published in Journal of African American History and Sisters in the Struggle, edited by Bettye Collier-Thomas and V. P. Franklin. She is also co-author and editor of the forthcoming “ ‘Song of Hope’ – Writings by African Americans on Depression.”

McNeil has served as a research scholar and fellow at both the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in New York City and the Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C. Prior to joining the faculty of the University of North Carolina as professor of history, McNeil taught at Howard University School of Law and chaired the Department of History of Howard University. She has, as well, worked as an archivist at the New York Public Library, served as the national Ecumenical Officer and Deputy General Secretary of the American Baptist Churches in the USA (a multi-racial denomination of more than 1.3 million). Published in February 2014, McNeil is co-author with Houston Bryan Roberson, Quinton Hosford Dixie, and Kevin McGruder of Witness: Two Hundred Years of African American Faith and Practice at the Abyssinian Baptist Church of Harlem, New York.

For further information, see website at www.unc.edu/faculty/History Dr. McNeil may be reached at mcneilgr@unc.edu or by facsimile at (919) 962-1403 C.B. # 3195, History Department, Hamilton Hall, UNC – Chapel Hill (919) 962-2115 Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599-3195 2

www.wssu.edu/thesummit2015

PROGRAM AGENDA THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 2015 Diggs Gallery, Winston-Salem State University 4:00 - 6:00 PM

Registration and Poster Session

5:30 - 7:00 PM

Opening Reception

Welcome

Chancellor Elwood L. Robinson

Winston-Salem State University FRIDAY, APRIL 17, 2015 Hill Hall, Winston-Salem State University 8:00 - 8:45 AM

Registration and Continental Breakfast Lobby

8:30 - 8:45 AM

Summit Opening and Greetings Carthene R. Bazemore-Walker, Winston-Salem State University

Lecture Hall

8:45 - 9:55 AM Concurrent Sessions

SESSION I: Diversity and the Disciplines Room 205

Moderator: Michael McKenzie, Winston-Salem State University

Dynamic and Rapid Entrepreneurial Statistical Measurement and Assessment James Osler II, North Carolina Central University Philliph Mutiysa, North Carolina Central University Mark Wright, North Carolina Central University

Micro-Inequities in Higher Education Cerise Glenn, UNC-Greensboro Edna Chun, UNC-Greensboro Shelly Brown-Jeffy, UNC-Greensboro

The Impact of Peer Assisted Study Scholars (PASS) on Doctoral Student Persistence Comfort Okpala, North Carolina A&T State University Deborah Eaton, North Carolina A&T State University

SESSION II: African-American Women Scholars: Challenges and Opportunities Moderator: Heather Davis, Winston-Salem State University

Investigation of Female Faculty Mentoring at HBCUs Deborah Fortune, North Carolina Central University Goldie Byrd, North Carolina A&T State University Sharon Cook, North Carolina A&T State University

Lecture Hall

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African-American Women Scholars: Challenges and Opportunities Dawn Tafari, Winston-Salem State University Kim Pemberton, Winston-Salem State University Fran Oates, Winston-Salem State University

Voices from the Silent Ranks Rachelle Barnes, Winston-Salem State University Dawn Henderson, Winston-Salem State University Shannon Mathews, Winston-Salem State University

SESSION III: Racial, Gender, Ethnic, and Sexual Diversity in the 21st Century Academy Moderator: Silvia Ramos, Winston-Salem State University

An African-American Studies Course without Borders Armondo Collins, UNC-Greensboro

Living the Truth of Struggle William Boone, Winston-Salem State University

Still Teaching to Transgress Michele Lewis, Winston-Salem State University Shawn Ricks, Winston-Salem State University

“I’m Not Your Superwoman” Shawn Ricks, Winston-Salem State University

10:00 - 10:55 AM

Plenary I: Provosts Panel

Brenda A. Allen, Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Winston-Salem State University

Flora Bryant Brown, Interim Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Elizabeth City State University

Joan F. Lorden, Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs University of North Carolina – Charlotte

Room 331

Lecture Hall

11:00 - 12:10 PM Concurrent Sessions

SESSION IV: Transformative Leadership for a Transformed Academy Room 205

Moderator: Kevin Byers, Winston-Salem State University

Leadership and Coalition Building for a Diverse Society Beverly Williams, North Carolina State University Emily Robinson, North Carolina State University Joy Tongsri, North Carolina State University 4

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Supporting Staff through Professional Development Funding Guila B. Cooper, Winston-Salem State University Michelle C. Jordan, Winston-Salem State University LaVon D. Gray, Winston-Salem State University

SESSION V: Transformative Teaching for a Transformed Academy Moderator: Tiffany Baffour, Winston-Salem State University

Faculty Reading Groups Nancy Polk, Winston-Salem State University Tangela Towns, Winston-Salem State University Jo Ann Coco-Ripp, Winston-Salem State University Antionette Moore, Winston-Salem State University

Transformative Teaching: Empowerment for Social Justice Sensibility Andrea Patterson-Masuka, Winston-Salem State University Dawn Tafari, Winston-Salem State University Kim D. Pemberton, Winston-Salem State University

SESSION VI: Beyond the Ivory Tower: Realizing a University without Walls Moderator: Alvin Atkinson, Winston-Salem State University

21st Century Comm-Uni-Versity Model Philliph Mutisya, North Carolina Central University Prince Bull, North Carolina Central University

We Will No Longer Wear the Mask: Growing Past the Ivory Tower of Black Education Tajanae Barnes, North Carolina A&T State University

College Going Perceptions of Middle School Students from Urban and Rural Communities Annie Burton, UNC-Asheville

“Where do we go from here?” Black Intellectuals and the Future of the University Corey D. B. Walker, Winston-Salem State University S. Maxwell Hines, Winston-Salem State University Jack S. Monell, Winston-Salem State University

12:15 - 1:20 PM

Luncheon Keynote What Do We Need to Thrive in the 21st Century University?

Genna Rae McNeil, University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill

Room 331

Chaos or Community: (Re)Imagining the Classroom as a Beloved Community Hope Jackson, North Carolina A&T State University Jawana Little, North Carolina A&T State University Robert Randolph, North Carolina A&T State University

Lecture Hall

Lecture Hall

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1:30 - 2:40 PM Concurrent Sessions

SESSION VII: Transformative Leadership for a Transformed Academy Lecture Hall

Moderator: Letitia Wall, Winston-Salem State University

Advancing Gender Equity through Institutional Change for All Zakiya Wilson, North Carolina A&T State University Stephanie Teasley, North Carolina A&T State University Goldie Byrd, North Carolina A&T State University Robin Coger, North Carolina A&T State University

Exploring the Leadership Experiences and Challenges of African-American Women Scholars Evelyn Leathers, North Carolina A&T State University Comfort Okpala, North Carolina A&T State University

Diversity Succession Planning in Higher Education C. Ellen Washington, North Carolina State University Paul Baker, Bennett College

SESSION VIII: Recruiting and Retaining Black Faculty Moderator: Melvin Fenner, Winston-Salem State University

Mentorship: A Strategy to Increase Promotion and Tenure of Junior Faculty Wanda Lawrence, Winston-Salem State University Vanessa Duren-Winfield, Winston-Salem State University

Leaving Academe: Academics Reflect on the Ostensible Departure of Black Women from the Tenure-Track Crystal Chambers, East Carolina University

“Because you are, I am�: Transformative Mentorship through Black Feminist and Critical Race Theory Oni Crawford, North Carolina A&T State University Jawana Little, North Carolina A&T State University

SESSION IX: Transformative Leadership for a Transformed Academy Moderator: Louise Allen, Winston-Salem State University

Extending the Reach: Embedding Librarian Instruction Melinda Livas, Winston-Salem State University Sandra Wilder, Winston-Salem State University

Demystifying Information Technology in the Undergraduate Classroom Malishai Woodbury, North Carolina A&T State University

Interdisciplinary Synergy: Integration of Information Literacy into the Curriculum Stephanie Dance-Barnes, Winston-Salem State University Michael Frye, Winston-Salem State University 6

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Room 205

Room 331

Integrative Learning: A Model for Student and Faculty Development Tennille Presley, Winston-Salem State University Jill Keith, Winston-Salem State University

2:50 - 3:45 PM

Closing Plenary II: Summit Futures

D. Kathy Stitts, Associate Provost and Dean of University College and Lifelong Learning Winston-Salem State University

Peggy Valentine, Dean of the School of Health Sciences Winston-Salem State University

Corey D. B. Walker, Dean of the College Winston Salem State University

Carlton E. Wilson, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences North Carolina Central University

Zakiya Wilson, Associate Dean for Faculty and Student Success North Carolina A&T State University

3:50 - 4:00 PM

Summit Closing Carthene R. Bazemore-Walker, Winston-Salem State University

Lecture Hall

Lecture Hall

 

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ORAL SESSION ABSTRACTS PRIMARY PRESENTER Rachelle Barnes EMAIL barnesr@wssu.edu

Name Dawn Henderson Email hendersondx@wssu.edu Name Shannon Mathews Email mathewssh@wssu.edu

TITLE Voices from the Silent Ranks ABSTRACT Women, specifically Black women, have forged pathways to enter the ranks of academia and traverse the tenure process. There exist narratives of the experience of being a woman, a Black woman, in challenging social structures and spaces that reinforce subjugation and their silence. Within margins of womanhood and Blackness, there are further points of marginalization and silence that exist in motherhood. Black women are not only managing the challenges and expectations to adhere to the pressure of “productivity and scholarship,” but most negotiate this demand as mothers. The stress of managing these multiple roles influences whether Black mothers advocate for or dissociate themselves from academia completely. Narratives collected from Black mothers in academia will serve as the backdrop for this presentation as attendees engage in dialogue on the challenges for Black women mothers as faculty and administrators. The innovative workshop will use spoken word as a medium for activism to highlight the value of giving voice to “motherhood” through the experience of Black women faculty and ways to transform academic structures to reflect opportunities for tenure and promotion. This creative workshop specifically aims to use a liberatory framework to facilitate dialogue on strategies used to support Black mothers throughout the tenure process.

PRIMARY PRESENTER Tajanae Barnes EMAIL tajanaelb@gmail.com

TITLE We Will No Longer Wear the Mask: Growing Past the Ivory Tower of Black Education ABSTRACT For years, black people have fought for rights to receive an education (being able to read and write academically and think for themselves critically).

Blacks were told, and even believed, the only education they should desire is learning a trade (seamstress, carpenter, etc.). However, some people felt strongly about education and founded thriving Historically Black Colleges and/or Universities (HBCUs). Today, those same universities created for black people are threatened by the “ivory tower” of American society. The ivory tower, in this sense, represents the lack of educational opportunities and suspension of the flourishing or realization of true potential in 21st century academia. Black people are placed in classrooms with teachers who refuse to access the student’s full potential and diminish the knowledge black students hold. In her novel, Quicksand, Nella Larsen writes “This was, he had told them with obvious sectional pride, the finest school for Negroes anywhere in the country, north or south; in fact it was better even than a great many schools for white children” when describing an HBCU in a southern town, Naxos. If HBCUs were some of the most profound institutions, why are they now crippling black students of the opportunities previously afforded to them? My presentation will explore the constant crippling and examine the thriving success of black HBCU students who believe in learning outside the box and excelling beyond walls placed in their existence.

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ORAL SESSION ABSTRACTS PRIMARY PRESENTER Annie Burton EMAIL aburton3@unca.edu

TITLE “College Going Perceptions of Middle School Students from Urban and Rural Communities: An evidence-based approach at UNC Asheville” ABSTRACT Explore the Tour (ETT) was designed on the premise that students would glean a more authentic college experience if carried out by college students.

To test this assumption students were asked to rank their experience with college students and faculty. Students are also asked to name three major takeaways gleaned from the campus tour. The methodology seems to be effective based on pre- and post-surveys capturing qualitative and quantitative data analyzed by cohort after each ETT session. To date, data from Valley Springs Middle (C1), Rugby Middle (C2) and Apple Valley Middle (C3) showed a college confidence increase from 57%, 71%, and 47%, to 91% (up 60%), 100% (up 41%) and 88% (up 87%) respectively, and confirmed that schools with the lowest college confidence rate have the highest number of students eligible for free and/or reduced l federal lunch programs. The resulting data is used to identify population-based variances in order to continuously improve future ETT sessions.

Participants will come away with a myriad of ways in which higher education can work collaboratively with school districts to promote a college going ideology, leveraging its most precious resources, faculty and students. More importantly, participants will glean a better understanding of the communities they serve and how best to meet their needs. UNCA will launch a “College and Career Readiness” professional development model for teachers in partnership with UNC Chapel Hill that will have an international reach to countries as far as Madagascar. This effort assist teachers in complying with the necessary CEU requirements as proscribed by the NCDPI and also foster college and career readiness in the K-12 classroom setting.

In addition, participants will learn strategies about engaging faculty on their campuses to serve as content experts to spark teacher engagement on innovative topics to introduce into the classroom setting.

PRIMARY PRESENTER William Boone EMAIL boonewi@wssu.edu

TITLE Living the Truth of Struggle: Educational Pioneers, Liberal Education and 21st Century HBCUs ABSTRACT Living the Truth of Struggle: Educational Pioneers, Liberal Education and 21st Century HBCUs In “The Vocation of the Black Scholar and the Struggles of the Black Community,” Vincent Harding argues that African-American scholars should serve as liberating agents of socio-historical change for African-American students. Harding challenges American notions of the detached academician, while situating the Black scholar within the context of African-American, community struggle. How can Harding’s analysis be applied to professors at historically Black colleges and professors in general? How can Harding’s work on black scholars and vocation inform liberal education and critical pedagogy at HBCUs? This paper examines Harding’s work as an entry point to examine the intersection between liberal education, critical pedagogy and student success at HBCUs. This research utilizes “educational pioneering”-or the exploration of uncharted pedagogical, theoretical and institutional terrain—as a conceptual framework to discuss transformative teaching and critical pedagogical strategies at historically Black colleges and universities in the 21st century.

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ORAL SESSION ABSTRACTS PRIMARY PRESENTER Crystal Chambers EMAIL chambersc@ecu.edu

TITLE Leaving Academe: Academics Reflect on the Ostensible Departure of Black Women from the Tenure Track ABSTRACT In this critical content analysis, I analyze responses to a Chronicle of Higher Education news blog on the disproportionate departure of Black women from the tenure track. From behind the veil of anonymity, bloggers explore issues of social factors within reappointment, promotion, and tenure processes, “women’s issues,” uneven faculty workloads, disparate pay, and affirmative action. The accuracy of the underlying report notwithstanding, I analyze the civility of discourse about issues concerning gender, the incivility of discourse around matters of race, and comparative disinterest around matters intersecting the two. Implications for climate within academe and why leaving academe can be a rational response to the multiple marginalizations of women of color are explored.

PRIMARY PRESENTER Armondo Collins EMAIL arcolli2@uncg.edu

TITLE An African-American Studies Course Without Borders: E-Portfolios and Innovative Instructional Methods ABSTRACT Armondo Collins is the Head of the Digital Media Commons at the University of North Carolina Greensboro, where he works with students and faculty to more effectively incorporate digital design technologies into their assignments. This presentation discusses the author’s use of Google Sites as a platform to deliver course content. Armondo merges his research interests in African-American literature and Black Nationalist rhetoric with his practical experience working with emerging website design technologies. Collins suggests that content-display platforms, like Google Sites, can be used to create an asynchronous open-source African-American studies classroom that will provide important access to scholars and non-scholars, alike.

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ORAL SESSION ABSTRACTS PRIMARY PRESENTER Guila Cooper EMAIL coopergb@wssu.edu

Name Michelle C. Jordan Email jordanmi@wssu.edu Name LaVon D. Gray Email grayla@wssu.edu

TITLE Supporting Staff through Professional Development Funding ABSTRACT Through Professional Development funding, many opportunities exist for staff to continuously grow and develop skill sets that increase their ability to deliver excellence as a member of a team, department, school, or college at Winston-Salem State University. Professional development is a wide-ranging term that applies to activities and opportunities that help one grow in terms of performance, satisfaction, and status within the workplace. Professional development can involve job enrichment and expanding one’s current position through adding new responsibilities or taking on new projects; lateral movement into a different area of the organization; and/or vertical movement to positions of higher status and greater responsibility.

Given our academic environment, professional development activities can take the form of staff attending classes, lectures, conferences, and other academic and cultural events; and undertaking training and mentoring opportunities aimed specifically at staff.

This presentation will demonstrate the positive impact of the WSSU Staff Senate Professional Development Program (SSPD) towards enhanced staff professionalism, improved customer service, and innovative inter-professionalism and connectivity to peers at other institutions.

The program has provided a significant number of opportunities for eligible WSSU staff members in their pursuit of professional development activities related to current roles and responsibility, or anticipated changes. A key outcome for SSPD is that staff would actively pursue their full potential personally and professionally; maintain current training in the tools, policies and procedures relevant to their position and assigned duties.

PRIMARY PRESENTER Oni Crawford EMAIL ocrawfor@aggies.ncat.edu

Name Jawana Little Email js980558@ncat.edu

TITLE “Tending Our Mother’s Gardens as Our Own: Navigating Interdependent Mentorship in Undergraduate Research for the Black Female Professoriate” ABSTRACT This paper examines the importance, complexities, and impact of interdependent mentorship amongst Black women on the undergraduate and graduate/ faculty levels. The purpose of this research, written and conducted by a faculty mentor and an undergraduate scholar, is to further examine and interrogate current research methodologies from which Black women scholars have been excluded, erased, and commoditized within the academy that they serve and contribute to. This work adds to the current literature as it is a unique and precise comparison that explicates the complexities of the Black woman’s shared narrative through undergraduate mentorship. Through undergraduate mentorship, the faculty member and student both share experiences that further their individual research to contribute to a larger body and pave a continual path through academia. In an engagement of critical race theory, traditional pedagogical practices, as well as pedagogical practices that pertain specifically to African-Americans, we have been able to conclude that the academy functions as a reflection of a much larger hierarchal system that has permeated academic spaces. The thematic elements of space and ownership that govern universities across the nation are not irreconcilable with the Black woman’s essence within scholarship. Mentorship amongst Black women, Black feminist literature and theory, and the Black female professoriate contain dialectics of identity that have heightened levels of communal awareness and illuminated space for undergraduates and faculty that has yet to be recognized by the masses.

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ORAL SESSION ABSTRACTS PRIMARY PRESENTER Stephanie Dance-Barnes EMAIL dancest@wssu.edu

Name Michael Frye Email fryema@wssu.edu

TITLE Interdisciplinary Synergy: Integration of Information Literacy into the Curriculum ABSTRACT The ability to use information technologies effectively to find and manage information, and then be able to critically evaluate and ethically use that information to solve a problem are key characteristics of an information literate individual. Employers of the 21st century are looking for people who understand and can adapt within this Information Age. Students that are deemed information literate correlatively have strong critical thinking, analytical, and problem solving skills that translate into a more adaptable, capable, and valuable employee, with much to contribute. The proposed presentation will address the development of synergistic teaching partnerships between faculty from various academic disciplines with university librarians to successfully integrate information literacy throughout the undergraduate curriculum. The objectives will be to define what information literacy is; demonstrate why it is important for student learning; and provide examples of how it can be incorporated into the classroom. The presentation will highlight the roles of both the faculty and librarian in the preparation and implementation of an information literacy based course. Additionally, the effectiveness of information literacy based courses will be primarily supported by providing strategies and outcomes that have been successfully utilized during the instruction of BIO 2304 (Scientific Investigation of Diseases) offered by the Department of Biological Sciences at Winston-Salem State University. This course has served as a model for general education and upper division courses that have sought to integrate information literacy within the curriculum. These courses are of tremendous value because they serve as examples of successful teaching partnerships across the academy that has led to innovative teaching strategies that promote student self-directed learning. Therefore, students that have “learned how to learn” and can utilize various modes of information technologies upon graduation will be more attractive job candidates and productive citizens in society.

PRIMARY PRESENTER Deborah Fortune EMAIL dfortune@nccu.edu

Name Goldie Byrd Email gsbyrd@ncat.edu Name Sharon Cook Email swcook1@ncat.edu

TITLE Investigation of Female Faculty Mentoring at HBCUs ABSTRACT Faculty mentoring programs are designed to help junior faculty develop long and productive careers in the academy. A study at the University of Wisconsin revealed that untenured female faculty was resigning, voluntarily, at a greater rate than that of their male counterparts. To address this issue, a structured mentoring program was developed for women faculty. Limited information exists in the professional literature regarding female faculty mentoring at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). Thus, the purpose of this study was to investigate the mentoring experience of female faculty at HBCUs. The research questions for this study were: • To what extent did female faculty receive mentoring as a junior faculty?

• To what extent did female faculty desire mentoring?

• What should be included in a structured mentoring program?

Data were collected via focus groups at four HBCUs in North Carolina. The study was approved by the Institutional Review Board at an HBCUs in North Carolina. Approximately 25 female faculty participated in the four focus groups. The majority of the participants were African American female faculty.

Major findings of the study included the following: 1) most of the participants indicated that they had not received formal mentoring from faculty at their institutions; 2) the participants felt that male faculty received more mentoring on their campuses than the female counterparts; and 3) majority of participants felt there is a need for structured mentoring programs at HBCUs for female faculty. In conclusion, it seems that women junior faculty are not receiving adequate mentoring to assist them in having successful careers in the academia. Based upon this study, this presentation will provide recommendations for developing structured mentoring programs for women faculty at HBCUs.

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ORAL SESSION ABSTRACTS PRIMARY PRESENTER Cerise Glenn EMAIL clglenn@uncg.edu

Name Edna Chun Email e_chun@uncg.edu Name Shelly Brown-Jeffy Email slbrown2@uncg.edu

TITLE Micro-Inequities in Higher Education: Recognizing and Addressing Subtle Forms of Discrimination in Everyday Interactions ABSTRACT Our interactive session engages micro-inequities, more covert forms of power imbalances due to social inequalities, for underrepresented groups in institutions of higher learning. Micro-inequities include subtle messages, sometimes subconscious, that discourage, devalue, and ultimately impair performance in the workplace. These can include nonverbal messages, such as looks, gestures, or tone of voice. Omissions can also create a “chilly climate” for those with less social power. For instance, an African American female professor describes how none of her colleagues were mean or rude to her, but she felt invisible because they did not address her at all. Micro-inequities can also take the form of micro-aggressions, verbal expressions of aversive racism that are more ambiguous and often unintentional. For example, a student looking for a professor to address an issue sees a person of color in the hallway of the department front office. When the professor asks if the student needs help, the student politely states an assistant cannot help her and asks to speak to a professor instead. The cumulative effects of micro-inequities often result in macro level, systemic issues of prejudice and discrimination. Furthermore, they can lead to damaged self-esteem and, eventually, withdrawal from co-workers in the office.

Overarching questions that guide our workshop include, 1) How do these micro-inequities manifest themselves in the day-to-day experiences of minority faculty, administrators and staff? 2) How do we recognize and interpret them? 3) What is their impact on the self-esteem, confidence, and perceptions of competence for minority faculty, administrators, and staff? 4) How are micro-inequities manifested in organizational processes such as compensation, evaluation, promotion, and tenure? 5) How can we create new terminology to define micro-inequities when they result in macro-inequities? We will utilize role playing activities and/or case studies to address these questions and develop strategies of resistance.

PRIMARY PRESENTER Hope Jackson EMAIL jacksonw@ncat.edu

Name Jawana Little Email jawana.southerland@ncat.edu Name Robert Randolph Email rerandol@ncat.edu

TITLE Chaos or Community: (Re)Imagining the Classroom as a Beloved Community ABSTRACT Offering victims and victimizers hope of reconciliation and redemption after the devastating Civil Rights era, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. held that the “Beloved Community” would be a model of inclusiveness, understanding, and love. This panel will present how we foster an environment of a beloved community classroom in our HBCU courses. We will discuss various critical, pedagogical discourses as framework to negotiate painful trauma, memory, and silence, specific obstacles in classrooms that are present African American culture and literature. Drawing on educators such as bell hooks, Cornell West, and Toni Morrison, we will offer personal anecdotes about how we approach and teach various subjects, such as lynching, domestic and sexual violence, and homophobia. In the process, we recognize that sharing personal experiences must be reciprocal involving us and our students. And, while some refer to a beloved community as an impossible, utopian experience, we (re)imagine humanity as Dr. King did. In his book, Where do we go from Here: Chaos or Community, Dr. King demonstrated “radical engagement.” Likewise, in our classrooms, we challenge our students to ask themselves: who are you today? And, now that you know this painful information, what will you do with it? As critical pedagogues, we are advocates for the truth, but for also challenging the meaning of that truth. More importantly, we remind our students that only through exercising reflection of that truth does transformation take place. Our goal in the beloved community classroom is to teach our students how to navigate trauma by recognizing their agency and using it in a socially responsible way to distance themselves from the chaos and move closer towards a true community.

www.wssu.edu/thesummit2015

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ORAL SESSION ABSTRACTS PRIMARY PRESENTER Wanda Lawrence EMAIL lawrencew@wssu.edu

Name Vanessa Duren-Winfield Email winfieldva@wssu.edu

TITLE Mentorship: A strategy to increase promotion and tenure of junior faculty ABSTRACT Introduction: New opportunities, expectations and responsibilities of new faculty can be very overwhelming with expectations to participate in teaching, university, community service and scholarship. Due to the shortage of faculty, the focus tends to be “teaching,� consequently neglecting scholarly activities. As a result, faculty are not prepared for tenure and promotion. Background: The School of Health Sciences (SOHS) composed of four departments had very few tenured faculty in 2009, and Junior faculty were not prepared for promotion and tenure. The SOHS Research and Advisory committee created a plan to prepare junior faculty for promotion and tenure. Method(s): A Research Mentorship Program was launched whereby new and junior faculty members were matched with senior research faculty who shared their experience and knowledge, thus supporting seamless and successful entrances into the research enterprise. The goal of the program is to provide research-oriented knowledge and skills necessary for junior faculty to progress toward and accomplish tenure and promotion. Outcome criteria were established for the 2-year program and evaluation methods determined.

Scholarly and research intensive education sessions were planned. Evaluations were completed by mentees and mentors at various times. A pre-post test design was used in this study. Results: The first year was completed May, 2009 and three faculty members received tenure and promotion. The second cohort was completed August, 2011 and participating faculty completed applications for promotion and tenure. Discussion & Conclusions: Leaders in universities must endeavor to determine strategies to recruit and retain faculty. Results of this mentorship program indicate that a program of this magnitude may serve as one of the solutions for recruiting or retaining faculty. This presentation will address strategies that one school in a university implemented to prepare junior faculty for tenure and promotion. The presentation will discuss the planning, implementation and evaluation of the Research Mentorship Program.

PRIMARY PRESENTER Evelyn Leathers EMAIL evelyn.leathers@yahoo.com

Name Comfort Okpala Email cookpala@ncat.edu

TITLE Exploring the Leadership Experiences and Challenges Faced by African-American Women Scholars in Higher Education ABSTRACT The purpose of this phenomenological case study was to explore the leadership experiences and challenges faced by African-American women scholars in higher education. The major goals of the study were to 1) determine the experiences of African-American female scholars during their leadership transitions in higher education, 2) determine the leadership challenges faced during their transition in higher education, and, 3) determine whether their experiences and challenges vary by school type. Criterion sampling technique was used to select five individual case studies of women that fit the criteria for the study. The study was grounded in constructivist world view with the utilization of multiple data collection methods. Data from interview, document analysis, observation, and surveys were analyzed using interpretive paradigm to understand the experiences and challenges faced by the participants.

The results from the data showed that the participants experiences varied by school type. The participants faced multiple challenges which also varied by school type.

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ORAL SESSION ABSTRACTS PRIMARY PRESENTER Michele Lewis EMAIL lewismi@wssu.edu

Name Shawn Ricks Email rickssh@wssu.edu

TITLE Still Teaching to Transgress: The Unique Challenges of Black Scholars and Women and Gender Studies at Historically Black Colleges and Universities ABSTRACT At Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), curricula that deeply address women and gender studies and diversity of sexual and gender identity among Black populations is limited. Thus, for Black scholars in the academy whose teaching and scholarship prioritizes these issues, it can be a challenge for this work to gain recognition and appreciation as valid academic achievement. As well, the journals which are more likely to prioritize publishing such work may not have the same “top tier” readership. However, given that teaching and scholarship in these areas are examples of doing social justice work, these topics align with the historic missions of HBCUs. This presentation will highlight the significance of integrating these issues into the curriculum to benefit HBCU students, and to benefit the perceived validity of the professional dossiers of tenure-track Black faculty who teach and research women, gender, and sexuality among Black populations.

PRIMARY PRESENTER Melinda Livas EMAIL livasmm@wssu.edu

Name Sandra Wilder Email wildersa@wssu.edu

TITLE Extending the Reach: Embedding Librarian Instruction ABSTRACT The advent of technology has redefined how academia offers online education and has shifted the way librarians approach teaching library instruction to distance learners. Online teaching has been an integral part of the educational landscape since the beginning of the 21st century and has experienced unprecedented growth within the last 10 years, (Allen & Seaman, 2013). Because of this trend, librarians are always thinking of creative ways to connect distance students to library services, resources and research assistance. More librarians are becoming embedded librarians, hoping to engage distance learners through technology.

As the distance services librarian, the largest distance program I serve is the RN/BSN program, which offers face-to-face and online classes. In an effort to better serve our distance students I am embedded into two core nursing classes where I get an opportunity to directly connect with online students by providing point of need services.

Research indicates that when librarians are embedded into a university’s LMS (learning management system), librarians serve as catalysts for connecting library resources and research expertise to academic disciplines within the university community. Collaborating directly with RN-BSN nursing faculty has given me the opportunity to better serve our RN-BSN students. I have been practicing embedded librarianship for the last two years and assessment data gleaned from my experiences have been very positive.

During this panel discussion we will explain why this topic is so relevant and highlight areas where students have benefited the most from the librarian’s presence in the learning management system.

We will also touch upon the beginning processes for becoming embedded and the required collaborative efforts between the librarian, faculty members, and the learning management coordinators.

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ORAL SESSION ABSTRACTS PRIMARY PRESENTER Philliph Mutisya EMAIL pmmutisya@nccu.edu

Name Prince Bull Email phbull@NCCU.EDU

TITLE 21st Century Comm-Uni-Versity Model: Critical Issues for Faculty and Administrators Professional Development in Higher Education ABSTRACT Traditional culture of education (K-20) has created “Critical risk factors”, those students bring to college that are challenging faculty and administrators in the academy today. Faculty Professional Development and leadership in the academy tend to ignore these risk factors students bring to college. Failure to address these factors and barriers has resulted in student failure and inertia that impacts student’s recruitment and retention. Also, the faculty and Administrators have created Critical Barriers in the way they perceive policies, design and develop programs, and by neglecting the critical role of the faculty and leadership professional development. A major aspect that affects the teaching and learning effectiveness is negating critical role of experiential learning. Experiential learning in addressing these factors and barriers are critical in faculty and administrators Professional Development in order to create a culture of success in the academy. The discussion in this session will focus on Critical Barriers, Student Risk factors, and Strategies that faculty and Administrators need to incorporate in Faculty Professional Development in order to make effective shifts in future direction of Higher Education Culture that transforms the academy into a Comm-Uni-Versity to prepare 21st century culture of success and lifelong learners.

PRIMARY PRESENTER Comfort Okpala EMAIL cookpala@ncat.edu

Name Deborah Eaton Email deaton@aggies.ncat.edu

TITLE The Impact of Peer Assisted Study Scholars (PASS) on Doctoral Student Persistence: A Qualitative Study ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to explore the impact of Peer Assisted Study Scholars (PASS) on doctoral students persistent with a focus on one historically Black university. PASS workshop sessions are facilitated by students and graduates from the same doctoral program. Doctoral students are the most educationally advanced students in the higher education, but, unfortunately, they are the least likely to achieve their goal of completing a doctoral degree (Golde, 2000). According to the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS, 2008), about 41% of students enrolled in doctoral programs successfully complete their degrees within 7 years, while 57% complete it within a 10-year period. Previous studies have shown that different factors influence degree completion (Lovitts, 2001), but none focused on the impact of PASS on persistence of doctoral students. UsingTinto’s (1993) doctoral education persistence theory as a theoretical framework, data from multiple sources was analyzed to examine the impact of PASS on doctoral students’ persistence. PASS, an example of the single most important environmental impact of student development and support (Astin, 1993), seeks to foster and further develop the learning community among peers. The preliminary results from focus group interviews, observations, document analysis, and surveys show that students have benefited from the PASS program. The themes that emerged from the analysis will be shared at the conference.

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ORAL SESSION ABSTRACTS PRIMARY PRESENTER James Osler II EMAIL josler@nccu.edu

Name Philliph Mutisya Email pmmutisya@nccu.edu Name Mark Wright Email mwrigh45@eagles.nccu.edu

TITLE Dynamic & Rapid Entrepreneurial Statistical Measurement & Assessment Using Tri-Squared Analysis ABSTRACT This presentation provides an active discourse and overview on a new and innovative research methodology that incorporates, infuses, and integrates the best of qualitative and quantitative data analysis. It combines, compares, and analyzes data to determine the validity of the research hypothesis through a dynamic and investigative strategy. This strategy can be used as a practical model for in–depth investigations in education and the social behavioral sciences.

Keywords: Trichotomy, Tri–Squared, Education Science, Eduscience, Statistics, Data Analysis.

PRIMARY PRESENTER Andrea Patterson-Masuka EMAIL pattersona@wssu.edu

Name Dawn Tafari Email tafaridn@wssu.edu Name Kim D. Pemberton Email pembertonkd@wssu.edu

TITLE Transformative Teaching: Empowerment for Social Justice Sensibility ABSTRACT Amidst much national upheaval, social injustice and unrest, is the consistently growing need to graduate students who are committed to engaging in social justice advocacy work in order to effect the much needed change in urban school systems and communities. However, empowering students with a “social justice sensibility” (Patterson & Swartz, 2014) is not easy. There are unique challenges and opportunities that come with the work of empowering students with the tools to depart from the university with a social justice disposition armed and willing to do the work necessary for meaningful change to occur. This panel gives a vision of transformative teaching from an interdisciplinary perspective on social justice. This presentation is designed to fill a void of that authentic experience of truly understanding how to work within schools and communities to effect change for a more inclusive society. The panelists’ goal is to spark a conversation about what faculty can do to facilitate the transformation necessary for students to become change agents. This panel is also designed to investigate strategies for cultivating undergraduate students’ understanding of what social justice means, how it looks, and how it feels to sincerely be a social justice-minded advocate. This panel presentation concludes with a discussion of the centrality of what one panelist calls a “social justice sensibility”.

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ORAL SESSION ABSTRACTS PRIMARY PRESENTER Nancy Polk EMAIL polkn@wssu.edu

Name Tangela Towns Email townsta@wssu.edu Name Jo Ann Coco-Ripp Email rippjc@wssu.edu Name Antionette Moore Email moorea@wssu.edu

TITLE Faculty Reading Groups: Nourishing Scholarly Teaching and the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning ABSTRACT As educators, we understand the value of engaging actively in conversations about complex, real-world, compelling problems for our students. This has been well established, and we are making strides toward facilitating more of it. But we generally overlook the fact that there is great value for faculty, as well, to explore similarly complex and challenging “problems” with respected peers—particularly when those problems are significant and connected to their professional lives. And what could be more relevant and ripe for study, reflection and collaboration than teaching and learning?

In 2014, two WSSU faculty reading groups committed to learn more about teaching and learning through readings and conversation about evidence-based teaching practices. One group read a varied collection of published articles and book chapters, the other group read Ken Bain’s _What the Best College Teachers Do_, and both engaged in productive discourse around teaching and learning scholarship and stories from their own teaching practices.

Both groups were deemed successful in creating opportunities for faculty of different disciplines, age groups, ranks, and teaching experience to advance their own teaching and contribute to teaching effectiveness campus-wide. Newer faculty appreciated professional development that was low-risk, collegial, and non-evaluative; tenured faculty enjoyed some validation as well as new ideas and understandings. All relished the camaraderie, mutual mentoring, multidisciplinary perspectives and resulting projects.

Faculty reading groups provide an excellent structure to help faculty members develop scholarly teaching and create the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL). A panel of reading group participants will offer insight into this particular avenue for providing diverse faculty opportunities to improve their effectiveness as professionals and achieve success in the academy.

PRIMARY PRESENTER Tennille Presley EMAIL presleyt@wssu.edu

Name Jill Keith Email harpj@wssu.edu

TITLE Integrative Learning: A Model for Student and Faculty Development ABSTRACT We will present results from a pilot involving Integrative Learning in the General Biology I course since many students who learn basic biological concepts have difficulty connecting them to other disciplines. Thus, certain concepts of physics were incorporated into the course, including metabolism, cell communication, cellular respiration, and biomolecules. The students’ knowledge and their beliefs towards biology were assessed using AACU’s “Integrative Learning VALUE Rubric” and the Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey (CLASS) to connect indirect and direct assessments. For comparison, these same assessments were given to students in a General Biology class that did not use Integrative Learning. We learned that there are some correlations with the students’ attitudes towards the subject and their overall understanding of the material.

The results were shared with Winston-Salem State University’s faculty from various disciplines at a Faculty STEM Institute. These Institutes allowed us to receive insights from colleagues in psychology, chemistry, biology, physics, math, behavioral sciences, education, and nursing. They also served as a venue for forming interdisciplinary partnerships.

Our next step is to track the General Biology students as they progress into other science courses and continually encourage faculty to use this model and form new partnerships within and across disciplines.

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ORAL SESSION ABSTRACTS PRIMARY PRESENTER Shawn Ricks EMAIL rickssh@wssu.edu

TITLE I’m not Your Superwoman: The Role of Mental Health on the Physical Well-Being of African-American Women Scholars ABSTRACT This presentation will examine the concious and unconscious ways African-American Women Scholars engage in self-care as a survival mechanism.

African-American women continue to outnumber other racial and ethnic groups in rates of obesity, heart disease, diabetes, stroke, and numerous other physical health indicators. This presentation will present preliminary data from a grant funded study in an effort to begin a discussion on the role of mental health on the overall physical health and well-being of African-American Women Scholars.

PRIMARY PRESENTER Dawn Tafari EMAIL tafaridn@wssu.edu

Name Kim Pemberton Email pembertonkd@wssu.edu Name Fran Oates Email oatesfr@wssu.edu

TITLE African-American Women Scholars: Challenges and Opportunities ABSTRACT In this interactive, question-and-answer, panel-style session, members of the DIVAS (Distinguished, Intellectual, Virtuous, Academic, Sistas) Collective will explore how we have been working to reconceptualize the doctoral experience and create a safe space for Black women who are in doctoral programs and who have already acquired their terminal degrees to thrive in academia. The DIVAS were formed in 2009 as a collective to address the unique concerns and perspectives facing Black Female Ph.D. students at a public higher education institution in the southeastern United States. The DIVAS collective has allowed Black women doctoral students and new professionals to “stand in the gap” and become the “othermother” (Guiffrida, 2005) for Black women during their Ph.D. processes. As DIVAS, we understand that the experiences of Black women in academia are very complex and nuanced. As such, our mission is to empower Black women in the academy by providing mentoring as well as academic and research support to enhance scholarship and community involvement as we believe that service to one’s community is an essential characteristic of social uplift. The panelists will unpack the Essential Components of the DIVAS framework and discuss how this structure has not only helped and continues to help them support one another, but they will also share how this innovative framework forms the catalyst for merging the personal and the pedagogical (Brock, 2005).

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ORAL SESSION ABSTRACTS PRIMARY PRESENTER Corey D. B. Walker EMAIL walkercd@wssu.edu

Name S. Maxwell Hines Email hinessm@wssu.edu Name Jack S. Monell Email monelljs@wssu.edu

TITLE “Where do we go from here?” Black Intellectuals and the Future of the University ABSTRACT From Cardinal Newman’s The Idea of a University (1852) to Julia Benda’s La Trahison des clercs (1927) to Harold Cruse’s The Crisis of the Negro Intellectual (1967), scholars throughout the modern era have attempted to formulate a critical understanding of the role and function of the intellectual and the university. In light of the tremendous upheavals in higher education as a result of the global crisis in capitalist political economy, university based intellectuals have experienced a new and profound crisis of vision, mission, and vocation. For black intellectuals in the American academy, the current crisis can be said to be one that is always, already in light of their precarious historical and contemporary circumstances and existence in the university. The current situation for black academic intellectuals however is particularly acute given the extensive regime of fiscal austerity, internally resurgent disciplinary dictates, and pervasive technocratic thinking that instrumentalizes thought and human potential. This panel conversation seeks to make a critical intervention in this conjuncture by examining the unique contours of this moment within the context of North Carolina. By highlighting the exceptional challenges and distinct opportunities facing black intellectuals in the university, the panel will provide new avenues for thinking and hosting alternative visions for black intellectual life and institutional existence within an ever changing university.

PRIMARY PRESENTER C. Ellen Washington EMAIL cewashi2@ncsu.edu

Name Paul Baker Email pbaker@bennett.edu

TITLE Diversity Succession Planning in Higher Education ABSTRACT At present, women and minorities are having considerable trouble moving into leadership roles in higher education. According to a 2007 report by the American Council on Education, the numbers of women and minorities in presidential positions at colleges and universities have not increased significantly since 1998. Not only has there been little movement in the presidency, but these groups are also underrepresented in other senior administrators such as, Dean, Provost and Vice Presidents. Due to the low numbers of women and minorities assuming leadership roles, the need to develop “succession planning models” should be considered to help increase the number of minorities in leadership. Succession planning can help institutions realize current employees who not only have talent, but potential to move into leadership roles. The ACE report highlights the fact that almost half of all college presidents are age 61 or older, which offers opportunities for renewal. As a result of this data, ACE and others are recommending that more women and minorities should be considered for presidencies, as well as promoting more women and minorities to chief academic officer positions-the most traditional preparation for the presidency. In order to address these deficiencies, institutions of higher education should consider the following factors for developing a succession plan: (1) mentoring, (2) professional development models, and (3). The Chronicle for Higher Education shows there are currently 8 sitting college/university presidents who have tenures of 30 years or more in that role. This presentation will cover the ideal of succession planning and the impact of mentoring in the senior administrative planning for institutional survival.

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ORAL SESSION ABSTRACTS PRIMARY PRESENTER Beverly Williams EMAIL bjwilli6@ncsu.edu

Name Emily Robinson Email eerobins@ncsu.edu Name Joy Tongsri Email joy_tongsri@ncsu.edu

TITLE Leadership and Coalition Building for a Diverse Society: A Transformative Course ABSTRACT This presentation will focus on the transformative impact of a general education course based on the National Coalition Building Institute (NCBI)’s model of prejudice reduction. NCBI offers a comprehensive structure for embracing different individuals and perspectives in a variety of settings.

The course provides a structure in which students critically examine issues of individual identity, group identity, experiences of other groups and the impact of discrimination. Students learn skills for addressing prejudicial comments, intergroup conflict and more. The course emphasizes the importance of developing students’ awareness as global citizens, and provides techniques and strategies for successfully leading diverse groups.

Students in the course realized learning gains in their self-reports on measures of intercultural awareness including strategies to deal with intergroup conflict, comfort in leading diverse groups of people, comfort in interacting with people who are different from themselves, and commitment to being an inclusive leader.

This session will share insights gained from the instruction of this course as well as areas where we are growing. The instructors will share learning outcomes for the course as well as sample course assignments should other groups be interested in replicating or modifying the course. (It should be noted, however, that this course relies heavily on NCBI principles and should not be taught by someone who is not affiliated with NCBI).

PRIMARY PRESENTER Zakiya Wilson EMAIL zwilson@ncat.edu

Name Stephanie Teasley Email luster@ncat.edu Name Goldie Byrd Email gsbyrd@ncat.edu

TITLE Advancing Gender Equity through Institutional Change for All at North Carolina A&T State University ABSTRACT A significant body of research on gender inequity in the academy has focused on women in majority institutions. Women faculty at minority-serving institutions, such as Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), experience many of the same types of barriers as women in other institutions with some additional dynamics. The unique history of these academic institutions in advancing racial equity has in many ways limited discussions on the status and success of women within them. Consequently, gender issues, especially those at the interface of race and gender, often receive minimal attention. In 2012, North Carolina A&T State University (NCA&T) initiated a baseline climate study of the university in preparation for a NSF ADVANCE Institutional Transformation proposal. Salient findings illustrated the underrepresentation of women faculty in STEM and the need to address representation of women at the full professor level. Underrepresentation of women in senior professorial roles at HBCUs, like NCA&T, chronicles significant inequities in the system and a need to advance the status of women within these institutions. Female faculty also indicated the need to address issues related to workload balance, marginalization, support for scholarly productivity, mentoring, and professional development. This presentation will discuss the genesis of efforts to catalyze gender equity at NCA&T and the initiatives being implemented for institutional transformation to improve the success for women in STEM at a HBCU.

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ORAL SESSION ABSTRACTS PRIMARY PRESENTER Malishai Woodbury EMAIL malishai_msa@yahoo.com

TITLE Demystifying Information Technology in the Undergraduate Classroom: Tech Tip Takeaways to Innovate Teaching and Personalize Learning ABSTRACT Across the country, from Secondary to Higher Education, personalize learning has become the teaching methodology of the 21st century. The primary resource to effectively implement this strategy is technology. Ideally, since students have access to a 1:1 environment, then they can conveniently access information and create products based on their own voice and choice. However, based on my Secondary experiences as a Personalized Learning Environment Coordinator and Instructor at the collegiate level, there is a need to demystify how educators can simply integrate information technology into the classroom or course in order to personalize learning.

In this session, I will model a few strategies that I use in the courses that I teach at NC A&T State University. Below are a few of the tech tip takeaways that I will show to help others personalize learning with technology integration: 1.

2.

3.

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Take Student Attendance with Google Forms/QR Code Organize and Share Research using Symbaloo Digitize your Lectures with VoiceThread and Screencasting Create a Virtual Classroom and Backchannel using Todaysmeet.com Instant Message with Remind Me Collaborate with Google Drive Create a Virtual Poster Board or Live Current News on Padlet.com Create Digital Answer Sheets for On-Line Assessments using Edmodo Create On-Line Peer Observations for Presentations using Google Forms or SurveyMonkey Your Voice... Your Choice... (Participant On-Demand Activities) Bonus: Develop an App for your course with Tasker or Appy Pie

Prior to attending the session, an optional survey will be available to post questions or requests for specific technology.

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POSTER SESSION ABSTRACTS PRIMARY PRESENTER Alexis Littlejohn EMAIL alittlejohn111@rams.wssu.edu

Name Burl Jones Email bjones411@rams.wssu.edu Name Keels Jones Email kjones114@rams.wssu.edu Name Brandon Bowden Email bbowden111@rams.wssu.edu Name Georgia McCauley Email mccauleyg@wssu.edu Name Elijah Onsomu Email onsomue@wssu.edu Name Johanna Porter-Kelley Email porterkelleyj@wssu.edu Name Vanessa Duren-Winfield Email winfieldva@wssu.edu

TITLE Implementation of a Screening Protocol to Assess Knowledge and Sickle Cell Trait Among Minority Athletes Enrolled at a Historically Black College and University ABSTRACT Introduction: Sickle cell trait (SCT) is a hereditary condition in which the individual has one normal and abnormal gene for hemoglobin. Approximately 3 million people living in the U.S. have SCT and are unaware of their status; the condition affects 1 in 12 African Americans (AA) in the U.S. Athletes with SCT are potentially more vulnerable to exertional heat stroke, severe muscle breakdown and sudden death when participating in strenuous exercise in intense environmental conditions. The study screened minority athletes for SCT and assessed their knowledge about the disease.

Methods: The study recruited 112 student athletes who were screened for SCT. The athletic department aided with recruitment by asking student athletes to report for SCT screening following their orientation. Athletes were consented and asked to complete a brief 14-item survey that included demographic and specific questions about their knowledge and beliefs about SCT. Finger blood stick samples were conducted by Clinical Laboratory Science professionals and were sent to the lab for testing. Results: Among student athletes, males were 86%, Freshman (38%), Sophomore (21%), Junior (16%), and Senior (21%). None of the athletes knew what SCT was, and 64% had never been tested for SCT; 67% did not know SCT can be inherited and 74% did not believe they would be removed from the team if they tested positive for SCT; 9 athletes tested positive for SCT. Conclusion: Institutions should screen athletes based on the potential to provide key clinical information and targeted education that may save lives among those who need it most

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POSTER SESSION ABSTRACTS PRIMARY PRESENTER Vanessa Curlee EMAIL vcurlee106@rams.wssu.edu

Name Elijah Onsomu Email onsomue@wssu.edu

TITLE Association between Race/Ethnicity and Depression Symptoms Among Participants in a Criminal Justice Drug Abuse Treatment Study (CJ-DATS) Collaborative Behavioral Management (CBM) ABSTRACT INTRODUCTION: Policy initiatives on recidivism typically focus on substance abuse treatment, while data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics show that approximately half of all inmates suffer from mental illness (MI), and the prevalence and type of MI varies by race/ethnicity. The purpose of this study was to examine the association between race/ethnicity and depression symptoms among CBM participants. METHODS: Inclusion criteria included: being ≥18 years, English speaking, drug dependence prior to incarceration, substance use treatment – parole condition, moderate-to-high-risk drug relapse and/ or recidivism. Exclusion criteria included: psychotic symptoms, leave prison without parole or probation, special parole caseload, and non-participating supervision officer. Of the 569 men and women in the dataset, 288 were part of the treatment group – analytic sample. The outcome variable was depression and the exposure variable was race/ethnicity. Descriptive, bivariate, and univariate and multivariate logistic regressions were conducted using SPSS 21 and Stata/SE 13.1. Bivariate analysis was used to estimate prevalence of depression symptoms with various study characteristics. Multivariate logistic regression assessed the association between race/ethnicity and depression adjusting for other covariates. RESULTS: Prevalence for depression symptoms among participants in the CBM program was 36.1% (83 men and 21 women); representing 44.1% Whites, 41.2% African Americans (AAs), 10.7% Hispanics, and 3.9% other races, (X2 = 8.33, p = 0.04). In the unadjusted results, AAs and Hispanics were 49%, p = 0.01 and 56%, p = 0.04 less likely to have depression symptoms compared to Whites respectively. In the adjusted model, this was 42%, p = 0.08 and 52%, p = 0.13 respectively.

CONCLUSION: The prevalence of depression symptoms (36.1%) of this sample was greater than that of state prisons (23%). Policies and initiatives aimed at implementing integrative rehabilitation programs must address the lack of MI treatment initiatives and resources to effectively plan community treatment interventions post-release.

PRIMARY PRESENTER Christian Griffith EMAIL cgriffith113@rams.wssu.edu

Name Notis Pagiavalas Email pagiavlasno@wssu.edu

TITLE The Battery Vampire ABSTRACT The EPA estimates that 179,000 tons of batteries are disposed of each year in the United States. Worldwide, that number increases to nearly 10 billion batteries per year. What is even more shocking is that when these disposable batteries cease to provide power to their various devices, they are disposed of with approximately 50% of their energy still remaining. As a result, various harmful chemicals and unnecessary waste are unknowingly being thrown into landfills, causing toxic leaks into the environment surrounding us.

The Battery Vampire, developed by 2ndLife Technology, LLC in Winston Salem, has invented and patented a software chip that can revolutionize the way consumers use batteries in the future. When installed in battery-operated devices, BatteryVampire will double the available energy capacity in a device.

Benefits of BatteryVampire include reduced waste in our landfills, enhanced consumer life experiences, and decreased spending on batteries. In addition, military and other civic organizations will benefit from simultaneous improvements in the range of search and rescue operations while reducing the weight of equipment used during their missions.

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POSTER SESSION ABSTRACTS PRIMARY PRESENTER Marcia Gumpertz EMAIL gumpertz@ncsu.edu

Name Renee Moore Email rhmoore@ncsu.edu

TITLE Faculty Retention and Promotion ABSTRACT This study takes an in-depth look at the promotion and retention patterns of underrepresented minority (URM) faculty at two large research-extensive land grant universities with historical emphases on engineering, agriculture and veterinary medicine. There has been great concern about the “revolving door for underrepresented minority faculty” (Moreno et al. 2006, MIT 2010), with evidence for the view that retention is at least as important as recruiting for faculty from underrepresented groups (Myers and Turner 2004). Moreno et al. (2006) found that nearly three in five new URM faculty hired went to replace URM faculty who had left the institution.

We find that both faculty retention and time to promotion from associate to full professor vary considerably among disciplines. When the probability of leaving the institution is estimated for the entire university, URM faculty appear to be at much higher risk of leaving than other faculty. However, when the analysis is done separately for different disciplines, the difference between URM and other faculty shrinks considerably for some disciplines.

PRIMARY PRESENTER Alexandra Kurepa EMAIL kurepa@ncat.edu

TITLE Research and Relevance: The Impact of a Master’s Program at an HBCU ABSTRACT We discuss both the research and relevance impact of the NCA&T Applied Mathematics Graduate Master’s Program. Through recent strengthening and successful redesign, the program has significantly increased the country’s pool of minority Ph.D. candidates in Mathematics. It has also provided a qualified group of graduates that continue to be recruited by various research government agencies, by hospital biostatistics and analytics teams, and by community colleges. Therefore, we argue that both research and relevance describe the successful mathematics graduate program at this HBCU in the UNC System.

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POSTER SESSION ABSTRACTS PRIMARY PRESENTER Antionette Moore EMAIL moorea@wssu.edu

TITLE Facilitating Digital Literacy in African American Male Youth: The Utility of Afterschool Programs ABSTRACT The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore computer utilized in the daily lives of seven African-American male youth in the southeastern region of the United States. Critical pedagogy was selected as the theoretical framework using Paulo Freire’s ideas of problem-posing education to promote awareness towards using the computer other than for entertainment purposes. Data were collected from three individual semi-structured interviews, samples of participants’ work, and a video recorded focus group. The data were analyzed using the phenomenological methodology as described by Moustakas (1994). The results from this study indicated that African-American male youth used the computer to typically play video games. But, this study also explored how to transform their technology literacies using targeted software application and technology (e.g., Scratch and XO laptop).

PRIMARY PRESENTER EMAIL

Savannah Thompson sthompson114@rams.wssu.edu

Name Brianna Lee Email blee213@rams.wssu.edu Name Cynthia Williams Brown Email williamsc@wssu.edu

TITLE Impact of a Summer Fitness Camp on Low-Income Children’s BMI ABSTRACT Low-income children are at increased risk for obesity (Kumanyika & Grier, 2006) with the rate of obesity among minority children being more than double that of white children (Ogden, 2010). Many interventions fail to understand and take into consideration the unique environmental factors that influence behaviors in low-income minority children (Kumanyika & Grier, 2006). This study explored a summer fitness program’s effect on Body Mass Index (BMI in low-income minority children. The Rams Fitness Academy was a childhood obesity intervention implemented in a summer camp setting targeting 10-12 year-old children from low income families. The long-term goal of the proposed project was to reduce the prevalence of childhood obesity for minority children from low income families living in Forsyth County, North Carolina. The project tested the feasibility and effectiveness of a 6-week summer fitness & wellness program designed to address the social and environmental barriers that unique to low income families. Participants for the Academy were recruited primarily from the local housing authority areas. Additional recruitment occurred at selected public elementary and middle schools that had at least 95% of their children on free or reduced lunch, as well as, selected local churches located near the targeted housing authority areas. Approximately 120 low income minority children, ages 10-12 were recruited to participate in the summer fitness and wellness camp called Rams Fitness Academy (RFA).

Results included pre- and post-BMI data.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The Chancellor and the Provost would like to thank the following for their support of this event: Aramark Business Services The College of Arts, Sciences, Business and Education Office of Marketing and Communications Office of Science Initiatives School of Health Sciences Staff Senate University Advancement University College and Lifelong Learning

SUMMIT PLANNING COMMITTEE: Rudy Anderson Carthene R. Bazemore-Walker, Chair Anthony T. Bennett Marian Anderson Booker Chelii Broussard Karen Cession Evelyn Chunn Theo Chunn Guila Cooper Heather J. Davis James M. Dubose Vanessa Duren-Winfield Rotunda L. Eaton Sigrid R. Hall Derrick K. Hargrove Sarah Hinshaw London Mickle Charles Parrott Sandy Reid LaMonica Sloan LaKeith Stevenson Tarina A. Whitfield Cynthia Williams-Brown 28

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