article via jbhe.com
Walden University, headquartered in Minneapolis, enrolls more than 52,000 students in over 80 online degree programs. The university has renamed its School of Social Work and Human Services in honor of Barbara Solomon. The university has also named a scholarship program for Dr. Solomon. These scholarships are earmarked for students who have shown a commitment to helping underserved populations.
Dr. Solomon played a major role in the development of the social work program at Walden University. Earlier in her career, she was professor, vice provost, and dean of the Graduate School at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. She served on the faculty at the University of Southern California from 1966 to 2004. Dr. Solomon was the first African American to serve as dean at USC. Professor Solomon is the author of Black Empowerment: Social Work in Oppressed Communities (Columbia University Press, 1977).
Professor Solomon is a magna cum laude graduate of Howard University in Washington, D.C. She holds a master of social work degree from the University of California, Berkeley and a Ph.D. in social work from the University of Southern California.
To read more, go to: https://www.jbhe.com/2016/02/walden-university-names-its-school-of-social-work-in-honor-of-barbara-solomon/
Posts published in “Education”
article by Victor Ochieng via financialjuneteenth.com
T.C. Williams High School in Alexandria, Virginia, hosted thousands of students on Saturday, February 20, 2016, where students were awarded scholarships to the tune of $2.1 million, the biggest ever by Alfred Street Baptist Church. The scholarships are channeled to the students through Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
The beneficiaries of the event, 14th Annual HBCU College Festival, are high school students joining college.
The doors opened at 10 a.m., although students and their family members started showing up as early as 7 a.m. A big number of those who graced the event came from Washington D.C., while others came from as far as Alabama, New York, Illinois, Florida, among several other places.
A lot of things went down at the festival, with $41,000 given in waiver for applications and up to 1,000 students getting admitted to different colleges on-site. More than 160 students received scholarships based on merit.
The scholarships saw some students get full rides to different HBCUs. This is just one of the ways through which Alfred Street Baptist Church employs to positively impact the lives of young people, and it’s such a timely event as it comes during the Black History Month.
“Black youth are often stereotyped as uneducated, with no ambition or drive, but events like these dispute the perpetual stereotype of black youth time and time again, as nearly 5,000 youth registered online to attend our college festival,” said Rev. Dr. Howard-John Wesley, pastor of the historic Alfred Street Baptist Church. “Many black youth and their families woke up this past Saturday morning dreaming of a college education and wondering how it would be possible. By noon, of that day, many saw the dreams come to fruition and had answers. God is good and He showed up, and showed out on Saturday.”
The event registered the largest turnout in its history, bringing together more than 3,000 students and members of their family as well as 320 volunteers.
To read more, go to: http://financialjuneteenth.com/virginia-church-awards-2-1-million-worth-scholarships-hbcu-bound-students/
article by Nick Prevenas via uanews.arizona.edu
Ever since he can remember, Rick Kittles always wanted to know where he came from.
Born in Sylvania, Georgia, and raised near Long Island, New York, a great deal of his academic interest was sparked by the desire to trace his ancestral lineage as far back as it could go. This proved to be exceedingly difficult, for a number of reasons.
“There simply wasn’t a strong database in place or any kind of access to information on African genetics,” Kittles said. “Records were either inaccurate or nonexistent, so there were a number of hurdles in place for African-Americans to try to figure out their ancestry.”
An aptitude for biology, coupled with a deep exploration of Alex Haley’s novel, “Roots,” led Kittles on a path that eventually would help thousands of people like him clear these hurdles. He is the director of the Division of Population Genetics at the University of Arizona, which he joined in July 2014.
Developing and implementing a comprehensive African genealogy database seemed daunting at first, but during his graduate studies at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences and, later, though his work at Howard University’s College of Medicine in the late 1990s, Kittles met the historians, archaeologists, anthropologists and fellow geneticists who could help turn this dream into a reality.
“I was looking at my own DNA profile, analyzing my Y-chromosome lineage, and I noticed my Nigerian lineage didn’t track with the other Y-chromosome samples from West Africa,” Kittles said.
article by Nigel Roberts via newsone.com
The Obama administration wants to correct racial and ethnic disparities in how school districts determine which students to place in special education programs.
On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Education proposed (PDF) standardizing the system, Education Week reports.
Each state currently uses its own method of determining “significant disproportionality” in special education. Federal education officials believe the rule change would likely cause more states to fall under that category, according to Education Week.
That’s significant because the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, or IDEA, requires school districts to set aside 15 percent of their federal funds for special education students.
The site points out that a 2013 Government Accountability Office report (PDF) says just 2 percent of school districts nationwide were identified as having minorities represented disproportionately in special education. “This figure fails to represent the true scope and breadth of significant disparities we currently see in special education,” says the report.
“The data we’ve seen makes it very clear that we, as a country, are not living up to the intent of the law,” said acting Education Secretary John B. King Jr., according to Education Week.
Federal education officials also suspect that minority students with learning disabilities are disproportionately disciplined at schools nationwide.
article by Lori Lakin Hutcherson (@lakinhutcherson)
In celebration of #BlackHistoryMonth, Ernst and Young LLP will be hosting a Black History Month Executive Roundtable event in Los Angeles tonight that focuses on stories of cultivating and leveraging diverse teams and achievements of successful black professionals.
Ernst and Young partner Gracelyn Hodge will be moderating the panel. Panelists will be Dr. Robert Cherry, Chief Medical and Quality Officer at UCLA Health, Cookie Johnson, President of CJ by Cookie Johnson, Beverly Kuykendall, President of American Medical Depot and Guy Primus, CEO and Co-Founder of The Virtual Reality Company.
WHEN:
Wednesday, February 24, 2016
6:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. | Reception/Networking
7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. | Program/Panel Discussion/Q&A
WHERE:
The L.A. Hotel Downtown, 333 South Figueroa Street, Los Angeles, CA 90071
RSVP:
http://bit.ly/1S6PKDi
article via jbhe.com
Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts, has announced the establishment of the Diversity, Excellence, and Inclusion Scholarships. The program will provide full-tuition scholarships for five students in master’s degree programs in the humanities, social sciences, and the arts. Recipients of the scholarships will also receive a $10,000 stipend.
Laurie Nichols, Director of Admissions, stated that “we are looking for any students who may be traditionally overlooked by graduate admissions processes.”
Eric Chasalow, Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, added that “a commitment to diversity is one of Brandeis’ core values, and some that we take very seriously. We have seen similar program provide benefits to our undergraduate students, so it made absolute sense to bring those benefits to the graduate student population.”
article via jbhe.com
John J. DeGioia, president of Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., made a major commitment to address racial issues on campus. Last fall students staged a sit-in outside the president’s office demanding the university address its past ties to slavery, increase the number of Black faculty on campus, and begin an ongoing and discussion of racial issues confronting the university.
President DeGioia stated that the university would create a major in African American studies and create an academic department in the field or a larger interdisciplinary program in the discipline. He also said that the university would establish a new research center “focused on racial injustice and the persistent and enduring legacy of racism and segregation in the American experience.” He vowed to recruit an appropriate number of faculty members to support the research center and African American studies initiative and to hire a new senior executive to oversee these programs.
RELATED: Georgetown University Renames Two Buildings on Campus That Honored Men with Ties to Slavery
“I hope to encourage all of us to pick up the pace – to commit to a more energized effort to address what has been the besetting conflict – evil – of our American society – racial injustice,” DeGioia said in an address to the university community. “For a place like Georgetown, it is of special importance for us to recognize this history – to recognize its implications for our nation and our responsibilities to one another.”
article via jbhe.com
Kimberlé W. Crenshaw, a professor of law at Columbia University and a professor of law at the University of California, Los Angeles, will receive the Outstanding Scholar Award from the Fellows of the American Bar Foundation.
Professor Crenshaw is the author of many books including Say Her Name: Resisting Police Brutality Against Black Women (African American Policy Forum, 2015).
Professor Crenshaw is a graduate of Cornell University and Harvard Law School. She earned a master’s degree in law at the University of Wisconsin.
article by Courtney Connley via blackenterprise.com
Harvard University announced Friday that Michelle A. Williams will become dean of its School of Public Health, making her the first black person to head a faculty at the university and the first female dean of the school.
Currently an epidemiologist and professor in the School of Public Health, Williams will start her new position in July, following David A. Hunter who has served as interim dean for the past six months after Julio Frenk stepped down to become president at the University of Miami.
“She is a skilled builder of bridges—between the theoretical and the practical, the domestic and the international, the different disciplines that drive the School’s academic endeavors, and the different communities that shape its identity and aspirations,” University President Drew G. Faust said in a statement. “I know she will approach her new role with the intelligence, dedication, integrity, and humane spirit that she brings to all she does.”
Williams’s appointment comes at a time when Harvard students have been more outspoken about the lack of diversity in leadership at the institution. Recently, students from the university’s medical school delivered a petition to Massachusetts Hall, calling on Faust to prioritize the school’s need for more diversity as they search for their own new dean.
“As an alumna and faculty member, I have witnessed the transformative impact that this institution can have in education, research, and discovery related to the health of communities in need,” Williams said. “We have an imperative to lead and to serve, and I am looking forward to working even more closely with the School’s faculty, students, staff, and alumni to build on the school’s achievements.”
After earning a bachelor’s degree from Princeton University and a master’s from Tufts University, Williams attended Harvard’s School of Public Health before joining the faculty at the University of Washington. In 2011, she came back to the Harvard family as chair of the epidemiology department in the School of Public Health. That same year, she was also presented the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring by President Barack Obama.
To read more, go to: http://www.blackenterprise.com/education/michelle-williams-harvard-first-black-faculty-dean/
article via jbhe.com
Morgan State University, the historically Black educational institution in Baltimore, received a $5 million gift from Calvin E. Tyler Jr. and his wife Tina. Tyler is a retired senior executive of United Parcel Service (UPS). The donation will provide need-based scholarships for students from the City of Baltimore. The gift is the largest in Morgan State’s history. The university believes that the $5 million donation is the fifth largest gift by individuals to any HBCU in the nation.
David Wilson, president of Morgan State University, stated that “this incredibly generous donation from the Tylers will provide many talented, hard-working students with a higher education they may not otherwise have achieved. But more than that, it will help ensure the success of Morgan’s mission and benefit the youth of Baltimore City, at this particularly challenging time and far into the future.”
Tyler entered Morgan State University in 1961 but had to drop out in 1963 because he could no longer afford to attend college. He took a job at UPS in 1964 and worked at the company until 1998, retiring as senior vice president of operations.