The Black Scholars Index » Academia News

Alecia A. DeCoudreaux: 13th President of Mills College

Leshell Hatley — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 02:33:26 +0000

Alecia A. DeCoudreaux has been named the 13th president in Mills College’s 159-year history. She will assume leadership of the College on July 1, 2011.

Born in Chicago, Illinois, DeCoudreaux received a bachelor of arts degree in English and political science from Wellesley College in 1976 and a doctor of laws degree from the Indiana University School of Law at Bloomington in 1978.

DeCoudreaux brings to the Office of Mills College President an extensive and distinguished professional background. A senior executive at Eli Lilly and Company, one of Fortune magazine’s “Global Top Companies for Leaders,” she has served in a variety of important executive leadership roles over the span of the past three decades. As both a graduate of a women’s college and as chair of the board of Wellesley, one of the largest and most selective women’s colleges in the nation, DeCoudreaux provides Mills with a multifaceted professional background.

DeCoudreaux’s professional career is enhanced by extensive involvement in the communities where she has lived and worked, including volunteerism, community activism, and a record of service on numerous charitable and nonprofit boards. DeCoudreaux’s academic experience includes successful service as both a trustee and board chair at Wellesley, director of the Wellesley College Alumnae Association, director of the Indiana University Foundation, and member of the Indiana University School of Law Board of Visitors.

DeCoudreaux’s distinguished professional career began with private practice and continued through executive leadership positions in a Fortune 125 company. Currently DeCoudreaux serves as vice president and deputy general counsel at Eli Lilly and Company. She had been vice president and general counsel of Lilly USA since December 2005. Previously, DeCoudreaux was employed by Pillsbury, Madison & Sutro, in San Francisco, before joining Lilly in 1980 as an attorney. In 1987, she became general counsel for Advanced Cardiovascular Systems, Inc., a former Lilly subsidiary located in Santa Clara, California. DeCoudreaux became director of community relations for Eli Lilly and Company in 1990, director for corporate affairs (state government and community relations) in 1991, and director of government relations (Washington DC) in 1993. She was named executive director of Lilly Research Laboratories, medical administration in 1994. In 1995, she became executive director of Lilly Research Laboratories, research planning and scientific administration, and was named vice president, law, Lilly Research Laboratories in June 1997. In November 1999, she became secretary and deputy general counsel of Eli Lilly and Company.

While achieving professional success, DeCoudreaux has demonstrated creativity, social responsibility, and community involvement. She has also shown acumen for budget management, fundraising, and alumnae relations and engagement. In addition to her positions at Wellesley, DeCoudreaux’s extensive board experience includes service as a board member of The Mind Trust; a member of the Economic Club of Indiana Board of Governors; a member of the United Way of Central Indiana Women’s Initiative; honorary director of Indiana University Foundation, where she served as director from 1998 through 2007; and an emeritus board member of the Indiana University School of Law at Bloomington Board of Visitors, the Women’s Fund of Central Indiana, and Indianapolis Downtown, Inc.

“It is with great honor that I accept the position of president of Mills College,” said Alecia DeCoudreaux. “It has been my stated long-term ambition to fill a leadership role in women’s education. I’m proud of the career I’ve led up until now, and I’ve certainly developed the professional and life skills necessary to fulfill the position of Mills College president. But ever since my college years at Wellesley, I’ve maintained my passion for women’s education. I’m ready now to follow my passion and that passion is what carries me into the academic world.”

DeCoudreaux continues, “I’m looking forward to working with the faculty, staff, and alumnae of Mills, whose reputation for passion and creativity is well known and highly regarded. I’m also looking forward to leading our diverse student body of bright young women and graduate students pursuing their advanced degrees. I am so honored to be a part of such a highly regarded institution with such a proud history. I will work hard to ensure my leadership builds on the success of the 12 great women and men who held this office before me. My first order of business as I plan our vision for the future is to listen to those around me.”

DeCoudreaux will succeed current Mills President Janet L. Holmgren on July 1, 2011. Holmgren, who began her 20-year presidency in 1991, will return to teaching at Mills, writing, and pursuing new avenues for women’s leadership.

What Colleagues Say About Alecia DeCoudreaux
“I am delighted for Alecia. This is a logical next step in her impressive career. Alecia DeCoudreaux has been enormously important to Wellesley. She has been deeply committed to advancing the college’s liberal arts mission, and Wellesley has thrived under her leadership. She has been highly skilled at directing a complex board governance structure in service of Wellesley’s goals and priorities. The trustees and I will miss her strong leadership.

“But Wellesley’s loss is Mills College’s gain. With her long and distinguished history of serving Wellesley well, I know she will do the same at Mills College. During Alecia’s tenure as chair of the board, Wellesley has successfully recruited and retained faculty of exceptional distinction and dedication. She has overseen a steady increase in fundraising and admission results. Alecia leaves us in a position of great strength. She has helped to secure Wellesley’s place as one of the finest undergraduate institutions in the world.” —H. Kim Bottomly, president of Wellesley College

“Alecia DeCoudreaux has provided exemplary service to Eli Lilly and Company over the span of three decades in a variety of important executive leadership roles. In addition, her admirable commitment to community service has benefited Indianapolis and many other locales. Alecia is a capable, caring, and enthusiastic leader, and a person who has served as a mentor and coach for numerous colleagues at Lilly and across the broad community. We wish her the very best in the next stage of her career as president of Mills College, where I have no doubt she will be very successful.” —John C. Lechleiter, PhD, chairman, president, and chief executive officer of Eli Lilly and Company

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Information and image from Mills College website.

Dr. Chad Jenkins: Associate Professor of Computer Science, Brown University

Leshell Hatley — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 10:48:13 +0000

Dr. Chad Jenkins was recently promoted and granted tenure within the Computer Science Department at Brown University. The Department announced the promotion of Chad Jenkins to Associate Professor with tenure, effective July 1, 2010.

“Chad’s promotion recognizes his outstanding research work, innovative teaching, and exemplary service,” said Department Chair Roberto Tamassia.

Education

Dr. Jenkins earned his B.S. in Computer Science and Mathematics at Alma College (1996), M.S. in Computer Science at Georgia Tech (1998), and Ph.D. in Computer Science at the University of Southern California (2003). Prof. Jenkins was selected as a Sloan Research Fellow in 2009.

Awards

Dr. Jenkins was selected as a Sloan Research Fellow in 2009. He is a recipient of a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) for his work in physics-based human tracking and of a CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for his work on robot learning from multivalued human demonstrations. He also received Young Investigator awards from the Office of Naval Research (ONR) for his research in learning dynamical primitives from human motion and from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) for his work in manifold learning and multi-robot coordination.

Research

Dr. Jenkin’s research addresses problems in robot learning and human-robot interaction, primarily focused on robot learning from demonstration, as well as topics in computer vision, machine learning, and computer animation. Videos of Chad’s current research work can be found on the YouTube channel of the Brown Robotics Group. Visit http://brown-robotics.org to learn more about Dr. Jenkin’s Robotics Lab at Brown University.

Prof. Jenkins’ work strives to address three basic questions. First, how can we capture data from the world that is representative of human performance? Second, how can machine learning and data analysis be used to extract dynamical structure from performance data? Lastly, how can we utilize learned dynamics for building autonomous robot controllers and perception mechanisms?

His previous efforts were mostly geared towards humanoid robotics with respect to learning primitive behaviors for robot control through imitation. More generally, he addresses perception, control, and learning issues at the intersection of robotics, computer vision, computer animation, machine learning and interactive systems.

Author

In 2009, Chad co-authored Creating Games: Mechanics, Content, and Technology with Brown CS alum Morgan McGuire. He has also authored chapters for several other books, including Data-Driven 3D Facial Animation, Human-Robot Interaction and From Motor to Interaction Learning in Robots.

“I consider myself very fortunate to be a part of the Computer Science Department at Brown,” said Chad. “My promotion is both a reflection of the supportive culture and community spirit of the department as well as the hard work of the students and post-docs who have been in my group. I look forward to continued success at Brown, especially with our new robotics lab space in the CIT building.”

IN MEMORIAM: Our Thoughts and Prayers for the Families, Friends, of the 3 Victims of the Horrible Univ of Alabama Shooting – 2 of the 3 were African American

Leshell Hatley — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 23:43:08 +0000

Our thoughts are with the families, colleagues, and friends of the three victims of the horrific shootings that took place last Friday on the campus of the University of Alabama at Huntsville.

We note that two of the three professors shot and killed at a meeting of the biology department faculty were African Americans. The 3rd was Dr. Gopi Podila.

Maria Ragland Davis was a 52-year-old associate professor of biology who specialized in plant pathology and biotechnology. She had been on the university’s faculty since 2002. Dr. Davis was a graduate of the University of Michigan. She held a master’s degree in chemical engineering and a Ph.D. in biochemistry from North Carolina State University.

Adriel D. Johnson was an associate professor of biology and had been on the faculty at the university for more than 20 years. A longtime mentor of minority students, Dr. Johnson was director of the campus chapter of the Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation. Professor Johnson was a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis. He held master’s degrees from Tennessee Technological University and the University of Alabama at Huntsville. He earned his Ph.D. at North Carolina State University.

[Update] NBA (Atlanta Hawks) honors Dr. Andrew Williams and the Spelbots

Leshell Hatley — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 10:06:00 +0000

We've featured Dr. Andrew Williams on June 23, 2009 and Jonecia Keels, one of the Spelbots, on August 23, 2009 (both from Spelman College). However, recently, we learned that the Atlanta Hawks paid tribute to them as Trailblazers during Black History Month. Read more.. Related posts:

[Update] Marvin Lynn: Examining How Teachers Feel about African-American Male Students

Leshell Hatley — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 09:48:12 +0000

We featured Dr. Marvin Lynn on August 21, 2008. But we wanted to provide you with an update as he is now featured on the website of the Teachers College Record talking about an 18 month study he did examining how teachers’ beliefs about African-American male students in a low-performing high school.

Take a look at him briefly describing their findings:

Keith L. Black, MD – Chairman and Professor, Department of Neurosurgery Director, Maxine Dunitz Neurosurgical Institute

Leshell Hatley — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 15:58:11 +0000

Keith L. Black, MD serves as Chairman of the Department of Neurosurgery and Director of the Maxine Dunitz Neurosurgical Institute at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. He also holds the title of (Full) Professor in the Department of Neurosurgery. An internationally renowned neurosurgeon and scientist, Dr. Black joined Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in July 1997 and was awarded the Ruth and Lawrence Harvey Chair in Neuroscience in November of that year.

Career

Prior to joining Cedars-Sinai, Dr. Black served on the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) faculty for 10 years where he was a (Full) Professor of Neurosurgery. In 1992 he was awarded the Ruth and Raymond Stotter Chair in the Department of Surgery and was Head of the UCLA Comprehensive Brain Tumor Program.

Pioneering Research

Dr. Black pioneered research on designing ways to open the blood-brain barrier, enabling chemotherapeutic drugs to be delivered directly into the tumor. His work in this field received the Jacob Javits award from the National Advisory Neurological Disorders and Stroke Council of the National Institutes of Health in June 2000. Dr. Black, along with patients undergoing the first clinical trials of the drug RMP-7, was profiled in 1996 on the PBS program, The New Explorers, in an episode called “Outsmarting the Brain”. Below is a clipped from BET.com posted just a few days ago:

Dr. Black’s other groundbreaking research has focused on developing a vaccine to enhance the body’s immune response to brain tumors, use of gene arrays to develop molecular profiles of tumors, the use of optical technology for brain mapping, and the use of focused microwave energy to noninvasively destroy brain tumors. He was featured on the cover of Time magazine in the Fall 1997 special edition “Heroes of Medicine”.

Dr. Black serves on the editorial boards of the Neurological Research, Gene Therapy and Molecular Biology, Neurosurgery Quarterly and Frontiers In Bioscience. He was on the National Institutes of Health’s Board of Scientific Counselors for Neurological Disorders and Stroke and was appointed to the National Advisory Neurological Disorders and Stroke Council of the National Institutes of Health from 2000 to 2004. He was also selected as a committee member of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine Independent Citizens Oversight Committee from 2004-2006. He is also a member of numerous professional societies, including the American Association of Neurological Surgeons, Neurosurgical Society of America and the Academy of Neurological Surgery. He also is a Founding Member of the North American Skull Base Society.
Dr. Black has a unique ability to combine cutting-edge research and an extremely busy surgical practice. Since 1987, he has performed more than 5,000 operations for resection of brain tumors.

In 2009 Black published his autobiography, co-authored with Arnold Mann, entitled Brain Surgeon. New York Times reviewer Abigail Zuger described the book as a “fascinating, if somewhat stilted, memoir”.The Publishers Weekly review commented that the book

“examines racial hurdles he had to leap to become a neurosurgeon” and “alternat[es] incisive writing about incisions with his personal memoir, insightful and inspirational.”

Early Life and Education

Keith Black was born in Tuskegee, Alabama. His mother was a teacher and his father was the principal at a racially segregated elementary school in Auburn, Alabama; unable to integrate the student body, Black’s father instead integrated the faculty, raised standards, and brought more challenging subjects to the school. Unwilling to send their son to the substandard segregated high school in Auburn, Black’s parents found new jobs and relocated the family to Shaker Heights, Ohio. Black attended Shaker Heights High School. Already interested in medicine, Black was admitted to an apprenticeship program for minority students at Case Western Reserve University, and then became a teenaged lab assistant for Frederick Cross and Richard Jones (inventors of the Cross-Jones artificial heart valve) at St. Luke’s Hospital in Cleveland. At 17, he won an award in a national science competition for research on the damage done to red blood cells in patients with heart-valve replacements. It was during this time that he published his first scientific paper, which earned a Westinghouse Science Award. He completed an accelerated college program at the University of Michigan and earned both his undergraduate and medical degrees in six years. He completed his internship in general surgery and residency in neurological surgery at the University of Michigan Medical Center in Ann Arbor.

To learn more about Dr. Black, please view his CV here.

For an appointment, a second opinion or more information, please call 1-800-CEDARS-1 (1-800-233-2771) or e-mail the center.

Stephen Stafford II: Morehouse's 13 Year Old Scholar

Leshell Hatley — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 16:02:12 +0000

As a 13-year-old, Lithonia resident Stephen Stafford II can usually be found sitting in front of the television playing video games or playing his drum set. But Stafford is no typical 13-year old – he’s a college student. The triple-major child prodigy is becoming a sensation at Morehouse College.

“I’ve never taught a student as young as Stephen, and it’s been amazing,” said computer science professor Sonya Dennis. “He’s motivating other students to do better and makes them want to step up their game.”

“When I saw how much knowledge Stephen has at such a young age, I wondered what I had been doing with my life,” laughed third-year student, Eric Crawford. A psychology major and computer science minor, Crawford wanted to step up his game so much that he got Stephen to tutor him. “Even though I’m older, Stephen is like a mentor and my elder in computer science,” said Crawford.

“Eric’s a really fun person to be around, and we have a good time together,” said Stafford.

Crawford added, “Stephen has a lot of patience with me. I got a 95 in the class because of Stephen.”

Even at age 11 when Stafford started at Morehouse, he got the highest score in his pre-calculus class. “He breezes through whatever I throw at him. If it’s an hour lab, he can do it in 20 or 30 minutes,” said Dennis.

Stafford said he isn’t nervous about studying with students much older than himself. “I just do what I always did. I show up, I do the work, and I go home,” he said.

When talking to Stafford, it’s easy to forget his age. But his age shows when he’s playing video games or even at dinner, where he eats while also trying to solve a Rubik’s Cube. Still, Stafford finds it hard to relate to teens his age. “I relate better to Eric…most kids my age don’t know when to stop playing around and when to be serious,” he said.

Stafford’s mother, Michelle Brown-Stafford, home-schooled both her children (Stephen has an older sister also in college) and believes that parental involvement is essential for students to excel. But when she realized her son was starting to teach her instead of being taught, she knew he needed to be in a college environment.

“It was surreal because on one hand he’s talking about technical things I didn’t even understand, and on the other hand he was asking me to come watch Sponge Bob with him. So it was bittersweet to let him go.”

Brown-Stafford wondered if there were other parents who shared her experiences with a gifted child, so she helped found a support group: www.gifted-spirit.com.

And the Morehouse family has become a support group for Stafford, personifying the African proverb about it taking a village to raise a child. Stafford is too young to stay on campus, so his mother picks him up and drops him off each day. The students protect him and make a point not to curse or discuss certain mature issues around him, according to his mother and Stafford. Even the staff of Jazzman’s Café, where Stafford tutors Crawford, helps nurture Stephen into becoming a “Morehouse Renaissance Man”–well-spoken, well-dressed, well-read, well-traveled, and well-balanced. The cafe’s general Manager, Darren Page, added an unofficial principle: well-fed. “A Morehouse Man cannot study on an empty stomach,” said Page. So whenever Stafford comes to Jazzman’s, Page gives up his own employee meal for the 13-year-old.

It seems that everyone wants to be a part of helping Stafford graduate in 2012, and go on to Morehouse School of Medicine. And because of a Georgia law that requires a student to be 16 to graduate high school, he’ll be getting his high school diploma the same year he receives his college degrees in math, computer science and pre-med.

“Kids will live up to your expectations. But I ultimately want Stephen to be happy,” said Stephen Stafford Sr. Brown-Stafford added, “I want him to be well-rounded and still connect with kids his own age, so we put him in DeKalb County’s 4-H Club and other programs.” She added that she’s thankful to the Morehouse family for embracing her son.

“I want to see what Stephen becomes 10 years from now,” said Crawford. Page added, “I want to be at his graduation. And then I want to walk by and touch the [campus] statue of Dr. Martin Luther King and recognize I had a role in [Stephen] walking in Martin Luther King’s footsteps.” And how fitting, since Dr. King entered Morehouse at age 15.

So to put a spin on Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, Stephen is being judged by the content of his character, not by his age.

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Courtesy of Champion Newspaper, Dekalb County, Ga

Taylor Yarborough: Freshman Spelman Student & Tavis Smiley Foundation Honoree

Leshell Hatley — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 01:53:38 +0000

Taylor Yarborough, a freshman, pre-med/biology major at Spelman, was among 100 young adults honored recently by the Tavis Smiley Foundation for being an example of positive youth engagement, volunteerism, community service and leadership. The New Orleans native was presented with a $5,000 scholarship at the Foundation’s annual Salute to Youth Leadership Benefit and Auction in Los Angeles, CA.

Taylor is also currently serving a three year term as a member of the Tavis Smiley Foundation’s National Youth Advisory Council, and has received several scholarships including, but not limited to, the UNCF/NAACP Agness Jones scholarship and the NextGen Scholarship.

A talented writer and Spelman Glee Club member, Taylor graduated with honors from Lusher Charter School in New Orleans, where she also received a certificate of artistry in creative writing. She is a contributing poet for the Guernica Online Magazine of Art and Politics, and contributing author for Hope, Change and Obama (NLS Publishing).

The daughter of Courtney Nelson and Gason Nelson, a personal chef for New Orleans Saints running back Reggie Bush, Taylor is considering a career in sports medicine, and is currently a trainer for the Morehouse College football team.

Tavis Smiley Foundation’s Youth to Leader (2008)

Information obtained from Spelman’s website.

Khadijah Williams: From Homeless to Harvard

Leshell Hatley — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 15:18:51 +0000

Khadijah Williams was in third grade when she first realized the power of test scores, placing in the 99th percentile on a state exam. Her teachers marked the 9-year-old as gifted, a special category that Khadijah, even at that early age, vowed to keep.

“I still remember that exact number,” Khadijah said. “It meant only 0.01 students tested better than I did.”

In the years that followed, her mother, Chantwuan Williams, pulled her out of school eight times. When shelters closed, money ran out or her mother didn’t feel safe, they packed what little they carried and boarded buses to find housing in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Ventura, San Diego, San Bernardino and Orange County, staying for months, at most, in one place.

“I have felt the anger at having to catch up in school . . . being bullied because they knew I was poor, different, and read too much,” she wrote in her college essays. “I knew that if I wanted to become a smart, successful scholar, I should talk to other smart people.”

She finished only half of fourth grade, half of fifth and skipped sixth. Seventh grade was split between Los Angeles and San Diego. Eighth grade consisted of two weeks in San Bernardino.

At every stop, Khadijah pushed to keep herself in each school’s gifted program. She read nutrition charts, newspapers and four to five books a month, anything to transport her mind away from the chaos and the sour smell.

At school, she was the outsider. At the shelter, she was often bullied. “You ain’t college-bound,” the pimps barked. “You live in skid row!”

Khadijah Williams - Graduation

In 10th grade, Khadijah realized that if she wanted to succeed, she couldn’t do it alone. She began to reach out to organizations and mentors: the Upward Bound Program, Higher Edge L.A., Experience Berkeley and South Central Scholars; teachers, counselors and college alumni networks. They helped her enroll in summer community college classes, gave her access to computers and scholarship applications and taught her about networking.

When she enrolled in the fall of her junior year at Jefferson High School, she was determined to stay put, regardless of where her mother moved. Graduation was not far off and she needed strong college letters of recommendation from teachers who were familiar with her work.

This soon meant commuting by bus from an Orange County armory. She awoke at 4 a.m. and returned at 11 p.m., and kept her grade-point average at just below a 4.0 while participating in the Academic Decathlon, the debate team and leading the school’s track and field team.

“That’s when I was really stressed,” she says, at once sighing and laughing.

Khadijah graduated Friday evening with high honors, fourth in her class. She was accepted to more than 20 universities nationwide, including Brown, Columbia, Amherst and Williams. She chose a full scholarship to Harvard and aspires to become an education attorney.

Early adversity

She tried her best; she never smoked or drank, never did drugs, and she never put us in abusive situations. However, that was the best she could do.

There are questions about her mother Khadijah is not ready to ask, answers she is not ready to hear. How did her mother end up on the streets? How come she never found a stable home for her daughters? Why wasn’t there family to turn to, no father, no grandparents? And what will become of her little sister?

“I don’t know. I don’t know,” is often her response. Ask personal questions about her mother and the fire in Khadijah’s eyes turns dim. She knows when she arrives in Cambridge, Mass., she will need to seek counseling. So much of her life is a blur.

She knows she was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., to a 14-year-old mother. She thinks Chantwuan might have been ostracized from her family. She may have tried to attend school, but the stress of a baby proved too much. When Khadijah was a toddler, they moved to California. A few years later, Jeanine was born.

She has chosen not to criticize her mother. Instead Khadijah said she inspired her to learn. “She would tell me I had a gift, she would call me Oprah.”

When her college applications were due in December, James and Patricia London of South Central Scholars invited Khadijah to their home in Rancho Palos Verdes to help her write her essays.

When they went to return her to skid row, her mother and sister were gone.

Khadijah accepted the Londons’ invitation to spend the rest of her school year with them.

In their comfortable hilltop home, Khadijah learned a new set of lessons. The orthopedic doctor and nurse taught her table manners, money management and grooming.

She won’t be the first homeless student to arrive at Harvard.

Julie Hilden, the Harvard interviewer who met with Khadijah to gauge whether she should be accepted, said it was clear from the start that Khadijah was a top candidate. But school officials had to make sure they could provide what she needed to make the transition successful.

They plan to connect her with faculty mentors and potentially, a host family to check in with every so often. She will also attend a Harvard summer program at Cornell to take college-prep courses.

“I strongly recommended her,” Hilden said. “I told them, ‘If you don’t take her, you might be missing out on the next Michelle Obama. Don’t make this mistake.’ ”

Seeking connections

“I think about how I can convince my peers about the value of education. . . . I have found that after all the teasing, these peers start to respect me . . . . I decided that I could be the one to uplift my peers . . . . My work is far reaching and never finished.”

Khadijah expected to feel more connected after nearly two years at Jefferson, to make at least one good friend.

Students flock to the smart girl for help with homework and tests and class questions. She walks through campus tenderly waving and smiling and complimenting everyone she knows.

But when prom pictures arrive, they show her posing alone in a silky black and white dress. In her yearbook, hundreds of familiar faces look back, but the memories are missing.

“It’s a nice, glossy, shiny, colorful yearbook,” she said. “But it feels like they’re all strangers. I’m nowhere in these pages.”

In the last six months, she saw her mother only a few times and on Thursday tried to find her. Khadijah headed to a South-Central storage facility where they last stored their belongings.

She found Chantwuan sitting on a garbage bag full of clothes.

“Khadijah’s here!” her sister Jeanine yells. Chantwuan’s face lit up.

She explained the details of her graduation, the bus route to get there and gave her mother a prom picture. She said she would leave for summer school Friday.

There is no talk of coming home of for Thanksgiving or Christmas.

Proudly, Khadijah modeled her hunter green graduation cap and gown and practiced switching the tassel from right to left as she would during the ceremony.

“Look at you,” her mother says. “You’re really going to Harvard, huh?”

“Yeah,” she says, pausing. “I’m going to Harvard.”

For more information visit, http://www.khadijahwilliams.com.

Obtained from LA Times. Recommended by BSI FB Fan Page Member Isaiah Imani.

You & All The Black Scholars in Your Life!

Leshell Hatley — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 17:44:36 +0000

The BSI Staff has reflected about a great many issues over the past 3 months of our existence in this current form. We realized that we have celebrated the lives of two young Black Scholars whose lives have been taken from them (Derrion Albert & Jasmin Lynn) , we’ve thematically shined light on some amazing Black Scholars in academia, and we’ve probably been the first online entity to celebrate the Presidents of Historically Black Colleges and Universities in the US. We’ve done a great deal!

However, we realize that none of it would have meant much without the readers who check-in every day, who have used our content as summer enrichment and class discussions, and those who have shared comments of appreciation.

So today, we’d like to show appreciation for You & the Black Scholars in Your Life! For without them, the content of this website would not be as important to you as it has been expressed. As part of this appreciation, we’ve decided to add more content aspects such as tips for young students (Black Scholars in the making), job announcements, etc. So, please continue to check-in daily, share you comments, and look forward to more great content as we move into the next quarter of The Black Scholars Index!

Derrion Albert: A Great Scholar in the Making

Leshell Hatley — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 19:08:39 +0000

While most news stories explain the tragic death of Derrion Albert, The Black Scholars Index celebrates his life and his status as an honor roll student at Christian Fenger Academy High School on Chicago’s South Side. We send our prayers to his family and friends and will remember him as a Great Scholar in the Making!... Read more.. Related posts:

William Kamkwamba: Harnessed the Wind at Age 14

Leshell Hatley — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 15:35:01 +0000

William Kamkwamba, from Malawi, is a born inventor. When he was 14, he built an electricity-producing windmill from spare parts and scrap, working from rough plans he found in a library book called Using Energy and modifying them to fit his needs. The windmill he built powers four lights and two radios in his family home.

How Ted.com learned about William Kamkwamba

After reading about Kamkwamba on Mike McKay’s blog Hactivate (which picked up the story from a local Malawi newspaper), TEDGlobal Conference Director Emeka Okafor spent several weeks tracking him down at his home in Masitala Village, Wimbe, and invited him to attend TEDGlobal on a fellowship. Onstage, Kamkwamba talked about his invention and shared his dreams: to build a larger windmill to help with irrigation for his entire village, and to go back to school.

How TEDGlobal responded

Following Kamkwamba’s moving talk, there was an outpouring of support for him and his promising work. Members of the TED community got together to help him improve his power system (by incorporating solar energy), and further his education through school and mentorships. Subsequent projects have included clean water, malaria prevention, solar power and lighting for the six homes in his family compound; a deep-water well with a solar-powered pump for clean water; and a drip irrigation system. Kamkwamba himself returned to school, and is now attending the African Leadership Academy, a new pan-African prep school outside Johannesburg, South Africa.

Kamkwamba’s story is documented in his autobiography, The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope. A short documentary about Kamkwamba, called Moving Windmills (featured below), won several awards last year; Kamkwamba and friends are now working on a full-length film. You can read the ongoing details on his blog (which he keeps with help from his mentor), and support his work and other young inventors at MovingWindmills.org.

-From Ted.com

Ty Hobson-Powell: Howard's 14 year old Sophmore

Leshell Hatley — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 14:07:34 +0000

Ty Hobson-Powell

As the school year gets under way at Howard University, one of the new faces on campus already has done enough work to rise to sophomore standing. And he’s only 14 years old.

“To me it’s just normal, you know,” Ty Hobson-Powell said. “I’m just in a different environment. Couple of older kids, but it‘s nothing different.”

The D.C. teen is Howard’s youngest student, having completed his high school requirements in just two years. His Howard classmates are shocked by his age and accomplishments, but many said they admire that and respect Ty for it.
He’s living among them in a campus dorm so he doesn’t miss out on too much of the college experience before he moves on to his career dreams.

“I wouldn’t knock down the offer to be president, like Barack Obama,” he said.

A political science major, Ty rose to sophomore standing with the help of community college classes and online courses. He plans to spend no more time as an undergrad than he did as a high school student.

“Well, I hope to go into kind of like an incorporation of law and medicine, because I want to go to medical school and law school,” he said.

His parents knew he was gifted at a very young age.

“Before he even had teeth in his mouth, he was actually talking,” said his father, who teaches pediatric medicine at Howard.

As a 3-year-old, Ty began to learn Chinese, giving him a leg up on his classmates — and pretty much the vast majority of the rest of us — when he started the first grade at 4 years old.

“I’m extremely proud of Ty, and I just thank God,” his mother said. “I think we’re really blessed.”

BSI mourns Jasmin Lynn, Spelman Student who died this morning

Leshell Hatley — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 19:58:19 +0000

Jasmin Lynn

The Black Scholars Index mourns the death of Jasmin Lynn, a Spelman University student who was killed earlier this morning by a stray bullet. Below is a message for Spelman’s President….

“I am very sorry to inform you of the death of a Spelman student, Jasmine Lynn C’2012.Words cannot express the sadness I feel about the tragic loss of Jasmine’s life, the result of senseless violence. Jasmine was an innocent bystander struck by gunfire early this morning in the vicinity of the CAU Commons. On behalf of the entire Spelman College community, I want to express our deepest sympathy to Jasmine’s family and friends. Our thoughts and prayers are with them at this time of grief. The Spelman College flag will be flown at half-mast today in Jasmine’s honor. We will share information regarding funeral services as soon as it is available.”

With deep sorrow,
Beverly Daniel Tatum
http://speakupspelman.blogspot.com/2009/09/spelman-college-mourns-death-of.html

Jonecia Keels: Computer Science Junior @ Spelman, One to watch!

Leshell Hatley — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 14:54:48 +0000

Keels with the inspiration for her iPhone App

SpelBots co-captain Jonecia Keels, C’2011 at Spelman College, dreams of starting a computer software company that creates revolutionary applications for mobile and computing platforms. The dual-degree engineering major is well on her way to making that dream come true.

Keels has created the hugely popular iPhone app, iDex, for gamers of the Pokemon game franchise. According to Keels, iDex gets downloaded 1,500 times a day worldwide. Since its release, the Pokemon app remains on the Top 25 list of more than 2,600 apps in the reference category. One of 25 students chosen to participate in the Cocoa Camp at Apple to create iPhone apps, Keels is currently working on her second iPhone app while creating updates to iDex. “What started as a fun little side project for me turned into this ridiculously successful worldwide application,” she said. “The best part is receiving emails from people around the world who appreciate my creation.”

Left to right: Jonecia, Dr. Andrew Williams, Jazmin, Mimi, Tajiana

The Spelbots, the undergraduate Robotics Team at Spelman University lead by Dr. Andrew Williams (now chair of the Computer Science Department), won many awards and competitions over the last several years. They are the first all-women and African American undergraduate team to compete in the International RoboCup Four-Legged Soccer Competition in Osaka, Japan (2005) and Bremen, Germany (2006). The won 2nd place in 2007 and tied for 1st in 2009.
Watch recaps of these last two competitions below:

2009: 1st Place Tie

2007: 2nd Place ‘Passing Challenge’

HBCUs: A Historical & Statistical Perspective

Leshell Hatley — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 16:00:43 +0000

Today, we have decided to feature HBCUs from a slightly different perspective than our usual Tuesday feature on HBCU Presidents. In the spirit of political transparency, we thought it would be great to simple share with you the historical formation of the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges & Universities along with a few statistical facts about HBCUs and their impact on society in this country and abroad.

DID YOU KNOW?
The 2009 National HBCU Week Conference will be August 30 – September 2, 2009 at the Renaissance Hotel, Washington, D.C. Visit the website to register and get more information.

If the government is doing something to support HBCUs, then we all definitely should!

Howard University (facing Founders Library)

White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities:

Mission

To strengthen the capacity of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) to provide excellence in education.

A Brief History

In 1980, President Jimmy Carter signed Executive Order 12232, which established a federal program “… to overcome the effects of discriminatory treatment and to strengthen and expand the capacity of historically black colleges and universities to provide quality education.”

In 1981, President Reagan, under Executive Order 12320, established the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities, which expanded the previous program and set into motion a government-wide effort to strengthen our nation’s HBCUs.

In 1989, President George Bush signed Executive Order 12677. This Executive Order established a Presidential Advisory Board on Historically Black Colleges and Universities to advise the President and the Secretary of Education on methods, programs, and strategies to strengthen these valued institutions.

In 1993, President William Jefferson Clinton signed Executive Order 12876. This Executive Order required that a senior level executive in each agency have oversight in implementing the Order; and that the Office of Management and Budget be involved in monitoring implementation of the Order.

On February 12, 2002, President George W. Bush signed Executive Order 13256. This Executive Order transferred the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities to the Office of the Secretary within the U.S. Department of Education.

(Read the current Executive Order)

HBCUs are a source of accomplishment and great pride for the African American community as well as the entire nation. The Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended, defines an HBCU as: “…any historically black college or university that was established prior to 1964, whose principal mission was, and is, the education of black Americans, and that is accredited by a nationally recognized accrediting agency or association determined by the Secretary [of Education] to be a reliable authority as to the quality of training offered or is, according to such an agency or association, making reasonable progress toward accreditation.” HBCUs offer all students, regardless of race, an opportunity to develop their skills and talents. These institutions train young people who go on to serve domestically and internationally in the professions as entrepreneurs and in the public and private sectors.

HBCUs: Brief Statistics and Impact
The nation’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) hold a 130-year record of significantly increasing the percentage of black Americans who are able to attend college, effectively creating cohorts of black leadership, and helping achieve economic mobilization of African-American communities. HBCUs play the critical role of awarding more than 19 percent of bachelor’s degrees earned by African-Americans; graduating 40 percent or more of all African-Americans who receive degrees in physics, chemistry, astronomy, environmental sciences, mathematics and biology; and producing nearly 50 percent of the African-American public school teaching force. Many HBCUs specialize in teaching students from disadvantaged backgrounds. Ensuring their continued success will play an important part in reaching the president’s goal of becoming first in the world in college completion.

HBCUs cannot simply survive. They have to thrive. The historical importance of these schools cannot be overstated. Their relevance today is as great as at any time in the past.

—Secretary of Education
Arne Duncan

HBCUs from 1976 -2001:
The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) is the primary federal entity for collecting, analyzing, and reporting data related to education in the United States and other nations. In September 2004, NCES released the Historically Black Colleges and Universities, 1976 to 2001, a report that presents a quarter-century of Historically Black Colleges and Universities trends. The report contains summary information for HBCUs on enrollment, degrees, staff, salaries, and finances, with comparisons to other colleges and universities. In addition, the report contains detailed information on individual HBCUs, with trends in enrollment, and detailed data on degrees, staff, and finances for recent years. To obtain a copy of the report please see the link: http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2004062

National Science Foundation Report

The National Science Foundation issued a report in 2008 entitled the Role of HBCUs as Baccalaureate-Origin Institutions of Black S&E Doctorate Recipients. This report can be reviewed here.

Figure from NSF Report

INSIDE HIGHER ED Article
Take a look at Inside Higher Ed’s article entitled Who Produces Black Ph.Ds?

HBCU Live
Watch all four segments of ‘HBCU Live’ on YouTube. A very interesting dialogue about HBCUs and their relevance today:

For more information and additional resources regarding HBCUs and this Initiative, please visit http://www.ed.gov/about/inits/list/whhbcu/edlite-index.html

[ Academic_Resource ] The PhD Project

Leshell Hatley — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 12:41:26 +0000

For Minority Doctoral Students

The PhD Project (http://www.phdproject.org) was established by The KPMG Foundation in 1994, following the termination of the Minority Summer Institute (MSI) run by GMAC and AACSB. MSI encouraged minorities at the undergraduate level to look at a career in academia, but did not meet intended expectations. With an investment of just $5,000 each, Bernie Milano, then head of recruiting at KPMG, and Peter Thorp of Citigroup, led a process to shift the model and focus on minorities at the graduate level instead. The PhD Project was launched with additional support from GMAC and AACSB…it worked, and continues to achieve great success!

In 2005, The PhD Project once a program of the KPMG Foundation, became a separate 501(c)(3) with the KPMG Foundation remaining as the primary funder and administrator. The Project receives additional funding from many other prominent corporations In addition, we receive significant funding from the academic community including over 200 doctoral and non doctoral granting institutions. The Project has celebrated many milestones over these past 15 years — doubling and then tripling the number of minority business professors in the U.S. and we look forward to capping our 1,000th professor soon!

VISION

A significantly larger pool of highly qualified African-Americans, Hispanic-Americans, and Native Americans for positions in management.

MISSION

The PhD Project’s mission is to increase the diversity of corporate America by increasing the diversity of business school faculty. We attract African-Americans, Hispanic-Americans and Native Americans to business Ph.D. programs, and provide a network of peer support on their journey to becoming professors. As faculty, they serve as role models attracting and mentoring minority students while improving the preparation of all students for our diverse workplace and society.

OBJECTIVES

To inform and educate minorities about all aspects of a business doctoral program, and encourage them to follow their dream of becoming a professor;

To provide a nurturing support network for minorities as they navigate their doctoral program;

To increase the number of minority business professors who can function as role models and mentors;

To influence more minorities to pursue business degrees/careers;

To increase the number of qualified minority applicants to fill critical positions in the business disciplines;

To improve the preparation of all students by allowing them to experience the richness of learning from a faculty with diverse backgrounds; and

To reach the goal of a better prepared and more diversified workforce to service a diversified customer base.

Currently, The PhD Project has 400 minority doctoral student members pursuing their dream. Like you, they were professionals or recent grads satisfying their quest for a high level of achievement and answering the call to mentor. With an expansive network of support, The PhD Project is now helping them prepare for success in academia.

Whether you become involved as a doctoral student, professor, participating university, or supporting organization…just become involved. Learn more by visiting the links on the left.

Participation in The PhD Project is available to anyone of African-American, Hispanic American and Native American descent who is interested in business doctoral studies.

[ PostDoc_Student ] Dr. Thurman Bridges

Leshell Hatley — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 11:31:19 +0000

Dr. Thurman Bridges - Postdoc at Columbia

Thurman Bridges is a teacher, scholar and educator whose focus is on teacher beliefs, including the ontologies, epistemologies, and pedagogies [beliefs and ways of teaching] of African-American male educators. His dissertation, Peace, Love, Unity and Having Fun: Storying the Life Histories and Pedagogical Beliefs of African-American Male Teachers from the Hip Hop Generation, examined the cultural contexts in which his participants’ experiences with Hip Hop culture, their motivations to teach, and their pedagogical approaches emerged.

Dr. Bridges earned his Doctorate of Philosophy in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Maryland, College Park where he was awarded the Promising Researching Fellowship by the Department of Curriculum and Instruction and honored as a Distinguished Teaching Assistant by the Graduate School and the Center for Teaching Excellence. He also holds both a Bachelors of Arts and a Masters degree in Teaching from the University of Virginia.

Prior to enrolling in graduate school, he was a middle school social studies teacher in Richmond, Virginia, where he was honored with the First Year Teaching Award.

Dr. Bridges is returning to the classroom this fall as a post-doctoral fellow with the Department of Curriculum and Teaching at Columbia University. His research will focus on the life histories and identity development of African American male teachers from the Hip Hop Generation.

Thurman has appeared as speaker and moderator on several occasions and has authored many publications, including the contribution to a chapter in The SAGE Handbook of African American Education. Stay on the look out for his future work!

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If you or someone you know should be featured on The Black Scholars Index, please let us know – featured@blackscholarsindex.com.

Kevin Clark, Ph.D. – Associate Professor Instructional Technology

Leshell Hatley — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 14:29:53 +0000

Dr. Kevin Clark

Kevin Clark, Ph.D. holds a bachelors and masters degree in computer science from North Carolina State University, and a Ph.D. in Instructional Systems from Pennsylvania State University. Dr. Clark is currently an associate professor in the Instructional Technology, and director of the Center for Digital Media Innovation and Diversity at George Mason University.

Before joining the faculty at George Mason University, Dr. Clark was an assistant professor in the Educational Technology department at San Jose State University. Prior to his work in academia, Kevin worked as a designer and senior program manager of educational software and interactive media for Lightspan, Inc. (now Plato Learning), and was the founder/director of a non-profit community-based after-school program in San Diego, CA.

Dr. Clark’s research interests include the role of video games and interactive media in the education of children, particularly from underserved communities. His recent scholarly activities focus on the use of video game design to increase interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) careers, and issues of diversity in the design and development video games and other educational media. Dr. Clark has presented at national and international conferences, and has published numerous scholarly publications. The video below is from The George Lucas Foundation and Edutopia where Dr. Clark and this project was featured.

For more information about Dr. Clark and this project, review this George Mason article.

For more information, please visit http://mason.gmu.edu/~kclark6.

Youngest Black Female Pilot: Kimberly Anyadike

Leshell Hatley — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 14:05:12 +0000

Today, we elected to showcase a different type of feature. This one highlights an incredible feet from a young Lady who has made history!

A 15-year-old Los Angeles girl has become the youngest African-American female pilot to fly solo cross country.

Kimberly Anyadike landed a single-engine Cessna to cheering crowds at Compton Woodley Airport this past Saturday. She took off from Compton 13 days before with an adult safety pilot and Levi Thornhill, an 87-year-old who served with the Tuskegee Airmen during World War II. They flew to Newport News, Va., making about a dozen stops along the way.

Anyadike learned to fly when she was 12 at Tomorrow’s Aeronautical Museum, an after-school program that offers aviation lessons to at-risk youth [BSI doesn't agree with that descriptive phrase at all].

[From NBCLosAngeles.com]

An interview before take-off…

And we are happy that she talks about high cognitive abilities in African-American and the assumptions against them in the video above.

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If you or someone you know should be featured on The Black Scholars Index, please let use know be emailing featured@blackscholarsindex.com.

HU Med Student Leads Free Clinic for Uninsured

Leshell Hatley — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 14:29:10 +0000

Raolat Abdulai, a third year medical student who began the effort more than a year and will serve as the clinic’s director.

Raolat Abdulia - Photo by Justin D. Knight

Howard University Hospital opened free medical treatment clinic for low-income, uninsured patients on Thursday, June 18, on the first floor of the hospital.

The New Freedmen’s Clinic is run, staffed and funded by medical students from the Howard University College of Medicine and is open from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. every Thursday.

Each Thursday, four medical students, overseen by two Howard University Hospital physicians, will treat patients by appointment and those referred to them by the hospital’s Emergency Department.

The clinic is largely the culmination of the dream of one student, Raolat Abdulai, a third year medical student who began the effort more than a year and will serve as the clinic’s director. Abdulai, 27, from Silver Spring, Md., got the idea for a free clinic in an email from instructor Dr. Christopher DeGannes that told her of a course being offered in Portland, Ore., on how to organize student-run clinics.

She attended the course and found overwhelming support for a free clinic when she returned to Howard.

“When we had a meeting to see who might be interested, more than 100 students showed up, and there were some faculty members as well,” Abdulai said.

She later was selected from more than 3,000 women who applied to a joint project between,O, The Oprah Magazine and The White House Project, a national nonprofit organization working to advance women’s leadership. The initiative, entitled Women Rule!, provided training for a select group of women leaders to bring their dreams to fruition.

Abdulai and 79 other women were selected to attend the three-day leadership-training workshop in New York City run by The White House Project. The women learned to write a business plan, to negotiate, build teams and organize themselves and others.

She and other students later visited and observed the workings of a student-run free clinic at Bread for the City, a non profit agency that provides food, clothing, medical care, legal and social services for low-income Washington residents.

“That’s when I really learned how much effort has to go into a project like this,” Abdulai said. “We needed attending physicians. We needed a space. We needed to learn lab skills and perfect our clinical skills in order to serve the patients. And I really learned it’s a hectic pace at these kinds of clinics.”

Undeterred by those obstacles, she and fellow students applied to the Association of American Medical Colleges for funding and received a $30,000 grant.

“After we got the grant, we finally realized that our dream would come true,” she said. “I’m so excited. I’m ecstatic. I can’t wait until opening day.”

Dr. Charles Mouton, chair of Department of Community and Family Medicine at the College of Medicine and advisor to the clinic, said the students’ efforts reflect the medical school’s mission.

“Howard University College of Medicine’s mission is to serve the underserved populations and reduce health care disparities,” Mouton said. “Our students are driven by that mission. That’s why they came here, because they want to serve people.”

Dr. Robbin Chapman: E-Learning Consultant and Author of New Book

Leshell Hatley — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 12:53:30 +0000

[podcast]http://blackscholarsindex.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/RobbinChapman4.mp3[/podcast]

Dr. Robbin Chapman

Dr. Robbin Chapman is currently the Manager of Diversity Recruitment for the MIT School of Architecture and Planning where she is responsible for strategic leadership and development of faculty and graduate student recruitment programs and initiatives. Dr. Chapman received her Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2006.

She conducted her dissertation research at the MIT Media Laboratory, where she explored computational tools and practices for promoting critical reflection embedded in design-based learning activities. Her theoretical framework, Cooperative Constructionism, establishes a design-based approach to critical reflection. Dr. Chapman has several publications about her research, including the newly published book, The Computer Clubhouse: Constructionism and Creativity in Youth Communities and chapters in Social Capital and Information Technology, Communities of Practice: Creating Learning Environments for Educators.

She has presented her work at numerous conferences and invited talks. She also develops workshops for exploring creative ways of leveraging technology for deeper learning. She earned her S.M. degree at MIT’s Artificial Intelligence Laboratory where she developed a novel method for robust sign language identification. She is the recipient of, with a group of colleagues from several universities, a CILT (Center for Innovation in Learning Technologies) grant to investigate equity issues as they relate to the use of technology in education.

She currently serves as Regional Liaison for the Ford Diversity Fellowship program, sponsored by the National Academies of Science. Dr. Chapman has also served as Assistant Program Director for NASA’s Space Life Sciences Training Program at Kennedy Space Center, where she was responsible for all aspects of program logistics and administration. She was also a member of the LSSF (Life Sciences Support facility) flight hardware team, which develops technologies to support life science experiments aboard the Space Shuttle. Her projects at NASA include work on the Variable Speed Mid-Deck Centrifuge (VSMDC), Algae Liquid Fixation Apparatus (ALFA), and the Microgravity Plant Nutrient Experiment (MPNE). She served as Science Instructor for the Eureka math and science program for teenage girls desiring careers in science.

In her spare time, Dr. Chapman volunteers at after-school centers, working primarily with underserved communities and as a peer counselor for at-risk teens. She is a founding member of the Habibis, MIT’s Middle Eastern dance troupe and has been performing with the group for over six years. Additionally, she has been very active in numerous MIT student and community initiatives.

The Clubhouse Clubhouse - Book Cover

ABOUT THE BOOK
This book is about the Computer Clubhouse — the idea and the place — that inspires youth to think about themselves as competent, creative, and critical learners. So much of the social life of young people has moved online and participation in the digital public has become an essential part of youth identities. The Computer Clubhouse makes an important contribution not just in local urban communities but also as a model for after-school learning environments globally. The model has been uniquely successful scaling up, with over 100 clubhouses thriving worldwide. Showcasing research by scholars and evaluators that have documented and analyzed the international Computer Clubhouse Network, this volume considers the implications of their findings in the context of what it means to prepare youth to meet the goals of the 21st Century.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Yasmin B. Kafai is a Professor of Learning Sciences at the Graduate School of Education at the University of Pennsylvania. Kylie A. Peppler is an Assistant Professor of Learning Sciences at Indiana University, Bloomington. Robbin N. Chapman is a learning technologies consultant and researcher, and serves as Manager of Diversity Recruitment for the MIT School of Architecture and Planning

Contributors: Brenda Abanavas, Gail Breslow, Grace Chiu, Stina Cooke, Shiv Desai, Patricia DÃ az, Rosaline Hudnell, John Maloney, Amon Millner, Jesse Moya, Mitchel Resnick, Natalie Rusk, and Elisabeth Sylvan

Dr. Quintard Taylor and BlackPast.org!

Leshell Hatley — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 13:33:35 +0000

Screen capture of Blackpast.org

This weekend BSI’s Founder visits Google, the powerhouse of all things data-related, for winning the Google Anita Borg Scholarship. For this reason, we’d like to highlight a website that features all things related to data about Black history – http://www.blackpast.org – and the Black Scholar who created it, Quintard Taylor, the Scott and Dorothy Bullitt Professor of American History at the University of Washington. Here’s a description of this resource from its website:

Dr. Quintard Taylor, creator of BlackPast.org

BlackPast.org, an online reference center makes available a wealth of materials on African American history in one central location on the Internet. These materials include an online encyclopedia of over 1,500 entries, the complete transcript of over 125 speeches given between 1789 and 2008, over 100 full text primary documents, bibliographies, timelines and four gateway pages with links to 50 digital archive collections. Additionally 75 major African American museums and research centers and over 400 other website resources on black history are also linked to the website. The compilation and concentration of these diverse resources allows BlackPast.org to serve as the “Google” of African American history.

Blackpast.org has dozens of contributors and has an extensive historical progression of its existence. Check out more about this amazing resource (and it’s specific tribute to Michael Jackson today).

RIP Michael Jackson! May your memory inspire many Black Scholars of the future to dance in the middle of their studies!

MIT Converge!

Leshell Hatley — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 15:39:50 +0000

MIT's CONVERGE program, a graduate preview weekend held on campus from
October 1-4, seeks to attract candidates from underrepresented and
under-served communities and to offer on-campus exposure to those
interested in pursuing graduate studies at MIT. The deadline for all
applications is August 1, 2009.

Exposure to graduate life and learning are fundamental to the CONVERGE
program. Invitees will have the opportunity to develop faculty contacts
within their primary department of interest, as well as to meet central
office administrators. Applicants must be US citizens, permanent
residents, or attend a US college or university. Students should be
within 1-2 years of attending graduate school, have strong research
skills, a minimum 3.5 grade point average, and have a genuine interest
in obtaining a PhD. Those who are invited to attend this fall preview
weekend will have all their expenses paid.

Applications are currently available online: http://web.mit.edu/converge/

A complete application consists of the following materials:

*application form
*all official undergraduate transcripts
*two (third optional) strong faculty recommendation letters

You may contact Gail Rock (grock@mit.edu) if you have questions or need
additional information.

BSI Celebrates M. Lucia James

Leshell Hatley — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 13:56:20 +0000

M. Lucia James - 1st African-American Member, University of Maryland

Today, BSI celebrates Dr. M. Lucia James. She was the first African-American faculty member at the University of Maryland and served as the Director of the Curriculum Laboratory in the College of Education until her death in 1977.

In selecting Dr. James to be highlighted, we wanted to include a great deal of information about her. However, after conducting a ‘Google’ search, we realized that she really is an unsung hero as there is not much information online about her. We think she was a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. but are not sure if this reference regarding the history of the Orlando Alumnae Chapter is the same person.

We did however, find this image on UMD’s historical website (with barely a sentence about her) and discovered that there seems to be a university scholarship in her name. We also spotted a reference to one of her publications in 1968 entitled Instructional Materials Can Assist Integration here in Educational Leadership, a journal published by the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Needless to say, we are continuing our search for more information about here and will update this post upon receipt. At that time, Dr. James will also be added to our Scholar Directory.

In the meantime, we are honored to celebrate her and her legacy and use this experience as proof of the need for resources like The Black Scholars Index.

If you have any information about her or would like to suggest another Black Scholar we should celebrate, please share your comments with us when you can.

Brain-Computer Interfaces?

Leshell Hatley — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 02:28:39 +0000

Dr. Adriane Randolph Brain-Computer Interfaces

In case you haven’t heard, Dr. Adriane Randolph, Director of the BrainLab – Coles College of Business, Kennesaw State University, “is working to discover impactful solutions for brain-computer interfaces by uncovering the underlying characteristics that effect users’ control.”

Paul Harvey of SmartBusiness asked, “But what if technology could bypass disabilities, allowing humans to conquer genetics or disease and enable a return to a normal or improved life?” He got a bit closer to the answer in his interview with Dr. Adriane Randolph. They discussed these and other questions:

What are brain-computer interfaces?
What types of brain-computer interfaces are studied?
Who are ideal candidates for these interfaces?
What is the biggest challenge of changing thoughts into actions?
How might brain-computer interfaces cut across business methodologies?

You can read more about the answers to these questions in this 2008 SmartBusiness article.