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Posts published in “Education”

100 Percent of Urban Prep Academy Seniors College Bound for 4th Year in a Row

By goodblacknews on April 2, 2013
Urban Prep SeniorsUrban Prep Academy is continuing its record of success.  For the last three years, all graduating seniors from the charter school’s Englewood campus have been college bound. This year, the inaugural graduating class of the West Campus has  accomplished the same goal.  In all, 167 seniors, all African-American males, have been accepted to a four-year college or university.

“What this 100 percent proves beyond a doubt is that it need not be the exception but it should be the expectation for every child in the city of Chicago,” Mayor Rahm Emanuel said at a ceremony where the final students exchanged their red uniform neckties with the red-and-gold striped ones that signify their college-bound status.

Urban Prep founder Tim King said he was exceedingly proud of the young men.  “It’s really heartwarming. It’s really an inspiration,” said Tim King. “These guys are an inspiration to all of us because they show you what can happen when you really work hard and do the right thing. I feel great. There are no words to describe how powerful and wonderful it is to be a part of Urban Prep.”

First Lady To Visit Chicago For Youth Empowerment Gathering

By goodblacknews on March 27, 2013
Michelle Obama Chicago
First Lady Michelle Obama (pictured standing) will be returning home next month to join Chicago Mayor and former White House Chief Of Staff Rahm Emanuel for a gathering with community leaders focused on youth empowerment. Given the high rate of violence in the city and the deeply embedded gang culture, Mrs. Obama will be addressing the group with the hopes of developing opportunities for young people.
The meeting, called the “Joint Luncheon Meeting: Working Together to Address Youth Violence in Chicago,” will be held on Wednesday, April 10, and hosted by Mayor Emanuel at the Grand Ballroom of the Hilton Chicago. Invited organizations and groups include the Commercial Club, the Economic Club, the Executives’ Club, and World Business Chicago.

CalTech Astrophysicist Wins Teaching Award

By goodblacknews on March 25, 2013

John A. JohnsonJohn A. Johnson, an assistant professor of planetary astronomy at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, received the Richard P. Feynman Prize for Excellence in Teaching from the university. The prize was established by the university “to honor annually a professor who demonstrates, in the broadest sense, unusual ability, creativity, and innovation in undergraduate and graduate classroom or laboratory teaching.” Dr. Johnson’s research focuses on searching for plants outside our solar system.
Dr. Johnson is a graduate of the Missouri University of Science and Technology. He holds a Ph.D. in astrophysics from the University of California at Berkeley.
article via CalTech Astrophysicist Wins Teaching Award : The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education.

Edison O. Jackson Named President of Bethune-Cookman University

By goodblacknews on March 24, 2013

Edison O. JacksonEdison O. Jackson is the sixth president of Bethune-Cookman University in Daytona Beach, Florida. He has been serving as interim president since May 2012. He has agreed to serve as president until July 2016. The board of trustees stated that it would begin a search for his successor in January 2015.
Dr. Jackson previously served as president of Compton Community College in California and as president of Medgar Evers College, part of the City University of New York system. He retired as president of Medgar Evers College in 2009 after serving in that position for 20 years.
Dr. Jackson earned a bachelor’s degree in zoology and a master’s degree in counseling from Howard University. He holds a doctorate in education from Rutgers University.

 article via jbhe.com

Three African-American Men Win Marshall Scholarships

By goodblacknews on March 24, 2013

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(L to R) Ronald Allen, Keith Hawkins, and Jacob Tzegaegbe

In 1953 the Marshall Scholarships program was established by an act of the British Parliament. Funded by the British government, the program is a national gesture of thanks to the American people for aid received under the Marshall Plan, the U.S.-financed program that led to the reconstruction of Europe after World War II. The scholarships provide funds for up to two years of study at a British university, and include money for travel, living expenses, and books. Applicants must earn a degree at an American college or university with a minimum of a 3.7 grade point average.  The Marshall Aid Commemoration Commission is authorized to award up to 40 scholarships each year. This year 34 scholarships were awarded. It appears from JBHE research, that three of the 34 winners are African Americans.
Ronald Allen is a senior at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis. He will be commissioned into the Marine Corps in May. A native of Seattle, he plans to study for a master’s degree in public policy at King’s College in London.
Keith Hawkins is a senior at Ohio University in Athens. He is an astrophysics major in the university’s Honors Tutorial College. Last summer he spent time conducting research at Institute for Astronomy of the University of Hawaii. He will pursue a Ph.D. in astronomy at Cambridge University. An avid bicyclist, he routinely bikes 50 to 60 miles each weekend.
Jacob Tzegaegbe is a 2011 graduate of the Georgia Institute of Technology with a degree in civil engineering. This May he will earn a master’s degree in civil engineering. His research focused on bus rapid transit systems in African cities. With his Marshall Scholarship, he will pursue a Ph.D. in planning studies at University College London.
article via jbhe.com

University of Tennessee Names Its First Building After an African American

By goodblacknews on March 24, 2013

Fred D. Brown JrThe University of Tennessee board of trustees recently approved names for new buildings and the renaming of several existing structures on the Knoxville campus. Included in these actions is the naming of the Fred D. Brown Jr. Residence Hall, the first building on the Knoxville campus to be named after an African American. The building is the first new residence hall on campus in 43 years. When completed in 2014, the new residence hall will house 700 students.
Fred D. Brown was a longtime staff member at the university and the founder, 40 years ago, of the Office of Diversity Programs in the College of Engineering. Brown was a graduate of Tuskegee University.
article via University of Tennessee Names Its First Building After an African American : The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education.

Craig Cameron Named to an Endowed Chair at Penn State

By goodblacknews on March 23, 2013

Craig E. CameronCraig E. Cameron was named to the Eberly Family Chair in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Pennsylvania State University. Professor Cameron joined the Penn State faculty in 1997. His research focuses on the development of strategies to treat or to prevent infections by RNA viruses.
Professor Cameron is a magna cum laude graduate of Howard University in Washington, D.C., where he majored in chemistry. He holds a Ph.D. in biochemistry from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio.
article via Craig Cameron Named to an Endowed Chair at Penn State : The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education.

HBCU Elizabeth City State University Opens a New Art Gallery

By goodblacknews on March 23, 2013

guitaplayerjones
“Guitar Player” by Leonard Jones

Elizabeth City State University, the historically Black educational institution in North Carolina, recently opened its new Kermit E. White Graduate and Continuing Education Center. The center houses the university’s art gallery.
One section of the gallery will display pieces from the university’s permanent collection of African and African American art. The other part of the gallery will exhibit a rotating selection or a visiting collection.
Professor Alexis Joyner, chair of the art department at the university, loaned eight pieces from his personal collection for the opening exhibit. In addition, works by Leonard Jones, a former professor at Virginia State University and Charles Joyner of North Carolina State University are in the opening exhibit.
The accompanying illustration shows one of the pieces in the exhibit, “Guitar Player” by Leonard Jones.
article via jbhe.com

Words and War: Toni Morrison at West Point

By goodblacknews on March 22, 2013

Students at West Point attending a reading by Toni Morrison on Friday. She read from her novel “Home,” which focuses on a Korean War veteran. (Kirsten Luce for The New York Times)

WEST POINT, N.Y. — As thousands of hungry West Point cadets streamed into the mess hall for their 20-minute lunch break here on Friday, they paused from the rush to the tables to give a rousing group cheer to a guest who has received hundreds of accolades, but perhaps none this thunderous.

“I can’t believe this — it’s like a movie,” said Toni Morrison, who sat at one of the 420 wooden tables in the flag-bedecked Washington Hall, a majestic Romanesque structure at the United States Military Academy.

Seated with members of the African-American Arts Forum at West Point, Ms. Morrison ate her Army-issue ravioli and prepared to read from her most recent novel, “Home,” to the freshman cadets, who studied the book in English class this semester.

The novel is the story of Frank Money, a black Georgia native and Korean War veteran struggling to reintegrate into civilian life in a segregated America, while struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder.

Los Angeles Sheriff Seeks to Replace Men's Central Jail Cells With Classrooms

By goodblacknews on March 22, 2013
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Sheriff Lee Baca Addresses Inmates

NBC Southern California – The gutting of Men’s Central Jail cells to be replaced with inmate classrooms is one element of a dramatic re-envisioning of the Los Angeles County jail system as proposed by Sheriff Lee Baca.

During his tenure, Baca has expanded educational opportunities for county inmates. Gutting the old central jail to make room for inmate classrooms would take the program to a new level.

Inmates who obtain their high school graduate equivalent degrees (GEDs) are more likely to find work when released into society, and less likely to re-offend, Baca is convinced.

The response to the county’s inmate educational program is “like nothing I’ve seen in my 47 years in law enforcement,” Baca told reporters Tuesday outside the County Hall of Administration.  “It’s a good idea,” said one man following his release from Men’s Central Jail after serving a week for a drug violation. “Not everyone, but a lot of the men want to change.”

“Education can help,” said the former inmate, who declined to give his name. Other aspects of his plan include building a new central jail, repurposing Lancaster’s Mira Loma detention center, and transferring women inmates out of the Century Regional Detention Facility, either to Mira Loma or to the Pitchess Detention Center in Castaic.