Black Issues in Higher Education articles from December 2001

Black Issues in Higher Education archives from December 2001

Getting help when and where needed.(Brief Article)(Editorial)
December 6, 2001... Helping students strive for academic excellence and the programs and services used to plant this seed is essentially the subject of our feature articles in this edition -- what's being done to close the achievement gap. Our cover story...

Pell Grant shortfall: will needy students lose out? (Washington Update).(Brief Article)
December 6, 2001... A bipartisan plan to raise the maximum Pell Grant for needy students is facing a major roadblock just as more students are seeking this need-based financial aid for college. With much fanfare, educators and lawmakers hailed a recent...

Quote of note. (Washington Update).(Dr. David Ward)(Brief Article)
December 6, 2001... "Millions of low-income students have been promised that if they work hard and stay in school, the federal government will help them go to college. Now the federal government must keep its part by fixing the Pell shortfall and maintaining the...

Senate approves modest budget increase for minority-serving institutions. (Washington Update).(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
December 6, 2001... After some delays, the U.S. Senate has approved an education spending bill for next year with only modest increases for minority-serving colleges and universities. The bill from the Democratically controlled Senate largely mirrors...

Government's economic stimulus package under fire. (Washington Update).(Brief Article)
December 6, 2001... Should the federal government pump more money into education and job programs to address increased layoffs in industry? It is a question dogging House and Senate lawmakers as they try to reach agreement on an economic stimulus package. The...

Outrage continues over fraternities' racially offensive costumes: expert on race relations says the behavior comes as no surprise. (Auburn, Ala.).
December 6, 2001... AUBURN, ALA. At a time when most Americans are putting domestic differences aside to unite in the international war against terrorism, racially charged events at two southern universities have reminded the nation that the battle against...

`He said, she said' stirs controversy at southern university's New Orleans campus. (Baton Rouge, La.).
December 6, 2001... BATON ROUGE, LA. Dr. Joseph Bouie, chancellor of Southern University at New Orleans, claims he's just asserting his right to assemble his own management team by trying to fire the wife of U.S. Rep. William Jefferson, D-La., and three other...

Student accused of lying about alleged hijackers indicted. (New York).(Osama Awadallah)(Brief Article)
December 6, 2001... NEW YORK A California college student has been accused of lying to a federal grand jury about his association with several of the men thought to be responsible for the Sept. 11 terrorist attack on the Pentagon. According to an...

Mandela delivers peace lecture to university of Maryland audience. (College Park, Md.).(Anwar Sadat Lecture for Peace)(Brief Article)
December 6, 2001... COLLEGE PARK, MD. More than 10,000 people packed the University of Maryland's Cole Field House last month to hear former South African President Nelson Mandela deliver the annual Anwar Sadat Lecture for Peace. Mandela, whose name for...

Prairie view A&M seeks continuation of physics grant. (Prairie View, Texas).(for physicist Dr. Dennis Judd)(Brief Article)
December 6, 2001... PRAIRIE VIEW, TEXAS Prairie View A&M officials will seek continued funding for a Department of Energy grant after a special review determined there was no misuse of federal funds or material non-compliance with policies and rules. The...

Group opposed to desegregation settlement to appeal judge's ruling. (Jackson, Miss.).(Brief Article)
December 6, 2001... JACKSON, Miss. A group opposed to a planned settlement of Mississippi's college desegregation lawsuit will continue its legal fight despite money woes and a court ruling, an attorney says. U.S. District Judge Neal Biggers Jr., of...

ACE presents first Reginald Wilson awards. (Cincinnati, Ohio).(Brief Article)
December 6, 2001... CINCINNATI, OHIO Four higher education officials have received the first Reginald Wilson Awards from the American Council on Education (ACE) for their efforts to promote diversity. The awards were presented at a banquet held on the...

Georgia regents won't appeal university admissions case to supreme court. (Atlanta).(Brief Article)
December 6, 2001... ATLANTA A court ruling declaring the University of Georgia's admissions policy unconstitutional because it considers race will not be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, the Board of Regents said last month. Instead, the university will...

Howard University closes mailrooms after finding trace of anthrax. (Washington).(Brief Article)
December 6, 2001... WASHINGTON Howard University's main mailroom and eight sorting facilities were temporarily closed last month after D.C. Department of Health Director Dr. Ivan Walks confirmed that one of a total of 54 environmental samples from the...

Professors receive national award. (Washington).(Cornelius Carter)(Brief Article)
December 6, 2001... For dance professor Cornelius Carter, being named 2001 U.S. Professor of the Year last month was not just a personal triumph or a victory for his institution, the University of Alabama (Tuscaloosa), but a milestone for the field of dance as...

Cal grant funds fall short for eligible students. (Sacramento, Calif.).(Brief Article)
December 6, 2001... Thousands of needy and eligible community college students will not receive a Grant this year, not through any fault of theirs, but because there simply aren't enough grants to go around. The Cal Grant program recently completed a...

Bollinger to continue fighting for affirmative action. (Washington).(Brief Article)
December 6, 2001... Although he is leaving this winter to head Columbia University, University of Michigan President Lee Bollinger says he will continue to press the school's case for affirmative action in admissions. Speaking at the Association of American...

Can TRIO & GEAR UP continue to coexist? Some education advocates say the two programs are different but both worthy of support. Others question whether there is really a need for both. (Cover Story).(Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs)
December 6, 2001... When Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP) was signed into public law by President Bill Clinton in 1998, many in the postsecondary and pre-college communities applauded. The initiative added what they...

Rhetoric vs. reality: colleges confront quagmire of issues associated with remediation.(Statistical Data Included)
December 6, 2001... There's no getting around it. Remedial education -- also called developmental education -- suffers from an image problem. The fact is all too evident at the macro level -- the California State University (CSU) System, for example, expelled...

Fulfilling their potential: faced with demanding coursework and a competitive campus climate, wise students see need to utilize academic support services. (Berkeley, Calif.).
December 6, 2001... BERKELEY, CALIF. Most of them came here as "A" students, earning grade-point averages of 4.0 or above and high SAT scores. They are the finest of the state's high school graduates: Only those who finish in the top one-eighth of students...

HCCS struggles to regain its footing: one of the nation's largest community college systems seeks to overcome board controversies and bad publicity.(Houston Community College System)
December 6, 2001... HOUSTON As it tries annexing more land and pushing a bond election, Houston's largest community college -- and one of the largest nationally -- remains mired in governing board controversies and bad publicity. And for now, the...

Finding room for improvement: Howard University-based team rates HBCU web sites. (Tech Talk).(Brief Article)
December 6, 2001... The perception that a "digital divide" exists in higher education between historically Black institutions and most predominantly White colleges and universities has enabled advocates for Black schools to raise money, attract computer equipment...

Educause research center announces studies. (Denver).(Brief Article)
December 6, 2001... DENVER The Educause Center for Applied Research (ECAR) has awarded two research contracts for major information technology (IT) studies in 2002. One research contract, focusing on trends in wireless communications in higher education, will...

CUNY department seeks papers, proposals on Africana culture, digital age. (New York).
December 6, 2001... NEW YORK The African American studies department at New York City Technical College of the City University of New York is seeking paper and presentation proposals for a conference titled "Africana Studies in Science, Technology and...

Policy report on e-rate released. (Washington).(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
December 6, 2001... WASHINGTON Over the past 10 years, the United States has invested $38 billion to bring technology and Interne{ connectivity to America's K-12 schools. E-Rate telecommunications discounts are estimated to have resulted in a $10 billion...

How to keep from embarrassing yourself online. (Personal Computing).
December 6, 2001... In one Internet discussion group I follow, some of the participants questioned the ethics of a company. The company was accused, among other things, of manipulating the online images of items they were selling to make the items appear more...

University of Illinois.(Brief Article)
December 6, 2001... GHANGIS D. CARTER has been named director of recruitment and retention in the college of education at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Previously, he served as assistant director for programming at Vanderbilt University's Bishop Joseph...

DR. LEONARD HAYNES was named special assistant to the U.S. Secretary of Education.(Brief Article)
December 6, 2001... DR. LEONARD HAYNES was named special assistant to the U.S. Secretary of Education. Previously, Haynes was director of corporate relations and adviser to the superintendent of the District of Columbia public schools. Haynes received a bachelor's...

Claflin University.(Brief Article)
December 6, 2001... DR. HOWARD D. HILL has been named vice president for academic affairs at Claflin University in South Carolina. Previously, he was the dean of South Carolina State University's school of graduate studies and chair of the department of...

Norfolk State University.(Jennifer Keane-Dawes)(Brief Article)
December 6, 2001... DR. JENNIFER KEANE-DAWES has been appointed director of graduate studies at Norfolk State University. Previously, she taught in the department of language, literature and communications at Elizabeth City State University. Keane-Dawes earned a...

University of Toledo.(John Davis Reynolds Jr.)(Brief Article)
December 6, 2001... JOHN DAVIS REYNOLDS JR. has been appointed director of the EMBA and MBA programs at the University of Toledo in Ohio. Previously, Reynolds was an associate director in the college of engineering career center. Reynolds earned a bachelor's from...

Camden Community College.(Sharon Wedington)(Brief Article)
December 6, 2001... SHARON N. WEDINGTON, an administrator at Camden Community College in Blackwood, N.J., has been appointed assistant vice president for enrollment and student services. For the last two years, Wedington served as the dean of enrollment services....

Grants & awards.(briefs)(Brief Article)
December 6, 2001... Colorado State University received $2.5 million from the National Science Foundation to administer a program designed to double the number of minority undergraduate students studying science, mathematics, engineering and technology. Morgan...

A missing element in the retention discussion. (Last Word).(graduation rates)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
December 6, 2001... The current concem about graduation rates in higher education and especially among minority students in historically Black colleges and universities is not without warrant given the high economic costs and the incalculable social costs of low...

Remembering 2001: a year of tragedy and triumph. (Editor's Note).
December 20, 2001... What a year. Many people are already looking back on 2001 with a groan, saying it has been a "bad year." The ongoing war in Afghanistan and the now-sporadic reports about anthrax-contaminated mail are daily reminders of Sept. 11. Most people...

Education reform package faces criticism: lawmakers concerned about decrease in education spending. (Washington Update).(Brief Article)
December 20, 2001... The K-12 education reform package -- the subject of intense negotiations on Capitol Hill -- is beginning to draw concern from a variety of education advocates, including African American lawmakers. As House and Senate members move toward a...

Budget bills still under negotiation. (Washington Update).(student aid in limbo)(Brief Article)
December 20, 2001... Student financial aid programs continue to operate with temporary funds as the House and Senate try to reach a final agreement on education spending for 2002. Support for Pell Grants, work/study and Black colleges remains in limbo as House...

Legislation offers D.C. students incentive to attend HBCUs. (Washington Update).(historically Black colleges)(Brief Article)
December 20, 2001... A Senate committee has approved legislation that would provide more tuition benefits for District of Columbia residents, particularly if they choose to attend historically Black colleges. Legislation from the Senate Governmental Affairs...

`Free speech' becomes primary issue in Auburn `blackface' case: suspended fraternity members file lawsuit against university citing violation of constitutional, civil rights. (Noteworthy news: the latest news from across the country).(Brief Article)
December 20, 2001... The issue of free speech is at the heart of a lawsuit filed last month by suspended members of the fraternity Beta Theta Pi against Auburn University. The university suspended 10 members of two White fraternities -- Beta Theta Pi and Delta...

Report: female presidents Juggle More, earn less. (Washington).(Brief Article)
December 20, 2001... WASHINGTON Women still have fewer opportunities to gain top leadership roles at the nation's colleges and universities, their salaries lag behind those of men and they face greater personal and professional demands, according to a report...

New data sheds light on student aid, college affordability. (Washington).(private colleges)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
December 20, 2001... WASHINGTON The percentage of full-time undergraduate students at private colleges and universities who receive some form of financial aid, and the average amount of their awards, reached new highs in the 1999-2000 academic year, according...

Southern University System president backs firing of congressman's wife. (New Orleans).(Leon Tarver suports firing of Andrea Jefferson)(Brief Article)
December 20, 2001... The president of the Southern University System is backing the chancellor of the New Orleans campus in his half-year battle to fire Vice Chancellor Andrea Jefferson, wife of U.S. Rep. William Jefferson, D-La. Leon Tarver said late last...

University of Texas is finished fighting affirmative action, officials say. (Austin, Texas).(Brief Article)
December 20, 2001... AUSTIN, TEXAS After years of appeals, the University of Texas said last month that it was finished fighting its landmark court battle over affirmative action. The decision effectively ends the case named for Cheryl Hopwood and three...

Prairie View president faces criticism over commitment to research. (Prairie View, Texas).(Brief Article)
December 20, 2001... PRAIRIE VIEW, TEXAS Prairie View A&M President Charles Hines is the target of a letter signed by 18 faculty members criticizing him for repeatedly interfering with research and academics at the historically Black university about 50 miles...

College presidents share advice with aspiring leaders. (Hampton, Va.).(Executive Leadership Summit)(Brief Article)
December 20, 2001... HAMPTON, VA. Aspiring college presidents and executives got a firsthand glimpse at the challenges of such positions when they attended Hampton University's Executive Leadership Summit last month. The summit brought together former...

Washington attorney inducted into Black College Hall of Fame. (Atlanta).(William A. "Bud" Blakey )(Brief Article)
December 20, 2001... ATLANTA A longtime advocate for Black colleges, William A. "Bud" Blakey was inducted into the National Black College Hall of Fame recently during a ceremony in Atlanta. Blakey, a graduate of Knoxville College in Tennessee, received the...

University, medical center to train doctors on bioterrorism (Knoxville, Tenn.).(Brief Article)
December 20, 2001... KNOXVILLE, TENN. Emergency-room doctors have little information to help them diagnose and treat people infected with sicknesses spread by bioterrorism, so the University of Tennessee and Detroit Medical Center are offering their...

Delaware, Spelman sign historic partnership agreement. (Atlanta).(Brief Article)
December 20, 2001... ATLANTA The University of Delaware and Spelman College in Atlanta signed an historic partnership agreement to create educational opportunities for students and faculty in conjunction with the Paul R. Jones Collection of African American...

New NAFEO leader proposes ambitious agenda. (Washington).(National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education)(Brief Article)
December 20, 2001... WASHINGTON The National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education put lawmakers and higher education leaders on notice earlier this month, when its new president announced that his priority will be seeing to it that more...

(Re)tracing oral history in ink: after years of teaching, researching and writing about literature of the African Diaspora, several English professors have turned their focus toward a more personal nature. (Cover Story).
December 20, 2001... Growing up in Charles City County, Va., Dr. Daryl Cumber Dance and her family did not know the story of their great-great-great-great-great-great-grandmother Elizabeth Brown, whose three sons were taken away from her at different times and made...

English: by the numbers.(Statistical Data Included)
December 20, 2001... * Top English Degree Producers BACCALAUREATE * ENGLISH LANGUAGE/LITERATURE/LETTERS Total Minority Baccalaureate RANK INSTITUTION 1 University of California-Los Angeles 2 University of California-Berkeley ...

MLA preview: Gwendolyn Brooks panel, Callaloo anniversary -- just a few highlights of the conference.(Modern Languages Association )(Brief Article)
December 20, 2001... While everyone else is making Christmas lists and checking them twice, language and literature professors from around the country are planning for their annual post-Yule ritual -- the Modern Languages Association conference -- a huge annual...

North Carolina Central employees give University early Christmas present. (Faculty Club).(salary increases given back)(Brief Article)
December 20, 2001... Sixty-six professors and administrators from North Carolina Central University in Durham have given their institution an early Christmas present: They gave back their salary increases in November to help the school deal with a reversion crisis...

Roxbury president resigns after audit shows millions mismanaged. (Boston).(Roxbury Community College's Grace C. Brown)(Brief Article)
December 20, 2001... BOSTON The embattled president of Roxbury Community College, who had been accused by state auditors of mismanaging $3.5 million in financial aid, has resigned. But her downfall has apparently brought to light an even bigger financial mess...

Howard symposium highlights scholarship of teaching, learning. (Washington).(Howard University )(Brief Article)
December 20, 2001... WASHINGTON A lecture by Dr. Lee S. Shulman on the scholarship of teaching and learning attracted an enthusiastic audience of more than 150 Howard University faculty members and graduate students to a half-day symposium on improving...

2001 a year in review.
December 20, 2001... 2001 is a year most Americans will not forget. The year the United States experienced its worst act of domestic terrorism, claiming the lives of approximately 4,000 to 5,000 people. Following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, college...

IT networks going wireless at tribal colleges. (Tech Talk).(Brief Article)
December 20, 2001... It's not surprising that Turtle Mountain Community College's president, Dr. Gerald E. Monette, wants to use technology to alleviate the isolation experienced by the North Dakota-based tribal college. Located a few miles from the Canadian...

Florida State showcases student films on internet. (Tallahassee, Fla.).(Brief Article)
December 20, 2001... TALLAHASSEE, FLA. Florida State University has a special Web site to enable the general public to view the work of its student filmmakers. Through RealPlayer or QuickTime, FSU's School of Motion Picture, Television and Recording Arts' Web...

U.N. launches digital divide venture to reach the world's poor. (New York).(Brief Article)
December 20, 2001... NEW YORK Last month, the United Nations launched a global task force to help build universal interconnectivity and spread the benefits of the digital revolution to the world's poor. An initiative of U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, the...

Microsoft establishes IT Academy Program. (Redmond, Wash.).(Brief Article)
December 20, 2001... REDMOND, WASH. The Microsoft Corp. last month introduced he Microsoft IT Academy Program, a training program that academic institutions can adopt to offer information technology instruction to students. The program has course-work and...

When there's a need for speed. (Personal Computing).(Brief Article)
December 20, 2001... Speed has played a key role with computers since the inception of the digital age in the 1940s. The very raison d'etre of electronic machines is their ability to carry out computational procedures faster than humans. Speed is not always...

Dear BI career consultants: I have heard of programs to increase the number of minority faculty by allowing them to teach if they are in the final stages of their doctorate. Can you tell me if there are any programs like this for prospective college administrators? (Career Consultants).(Brief Article)
December 20, 2001... Programs to increase the number of minority college administrators -- analogous to those designed to increase the number of minority professors -- are rare. There is indeed a need to increase the numbers of people of color and women in...

The new McCarthyism. (Speaking Of Education).(Brief Article)
December 20, 2001... What's wrong with this picture? The Rev. Jesse Jackson, a frequent campus speaker, tells students at Harvard Law School that the United States should "build bridges and relationships, not simply bombs and walls." Many, including the most...

Essex County College.(Annie Allen)(Brief Article)
December 20, 2001... ANNIE ALLEN has been named assistant to the president for institutional planning at Essex County College (N.J.). Most recently, Allen was associate to the provost for outreach and executive officer for cultural pluralism at the University of...

North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University.(Brief Article)
December 20, 2001... WILLIE T. "TOMMY" ELLIS JR. has been appointed vice chancellor for business and finance at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University in Greensboro. Ellis most recently served as the university's budget director. He earned a...

Fashion Institute of Technology.(Brief Article)
December 20, 2001... JOSEPH S. LEWIS III has been appointed dean of the School of Art and Design at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York. Lewis comes to FIT from California State University at Northridge, where he was chair of the art department. He...

Cornell University's Institute for African Development.(Brief Article)
December 20, 2001... DR. MUNA B. NDULO has been named director of Cornell University's Institute for African Development. Ndulo also will continue as a professor of law at Cornell. Ndulo earned a law degree from the University of Zambia, a master's from Harvard...

Bowie State University (Md.).(Brief Article)
December 20, 2001... DR. VERNON C. POLITE has been named the first dean of the School of Education at Bowie State University (Md.). Previously, Polite was an education professor at Catholic University. He earned a bachelor's from Boston University, a master's from...

Virginia State University.(Brief Article)
December 20, 2001... THOMAS REED has been appointed director of university relations at Virginia State University. Before joining Virginia State, Reed worked for the Virginia Tourism Corp., in Richmond. Reed earned a bachelor's from Virginia Polytechnic and State...

Grants & awards.(Brief Article)
December 20, 2001... California State University-San Bernardino has received $300,000 from Riverside County to evaluate the effectiveness of several county juvenile crime prevention programs. Oklahoma State University's College of Business Administration has...

Events.
December 20, 2001... JANUARY January, 18-19 Eighth National African American Student Leadership Conference "Connecting Progressive African American Minds for Effective Leadership: A Continuing Legacy" Rust College, Holly Springs, Miss. Phone:...

Building a scholarly community on the road to the Ph.D. (Last Word).(Brief Article)
December 20, 2001... When I entered a doctoral program in English Literature, I committed myself to six years of intensive study. According to my acceptance letter, teaching was also required. The path was clear: Study, teach, graduate. After 4 1/2 years, I...