Chancillor of Alabama’s two-year college system Bradley Byrne recommended Munnerlyn for the position after completing a presidential search process which brought in 45 applicants from across the country. Munnerlyn has served as interim president since April 2007, replacing Dr. Anthony L. Molina who died after an extended illness. Molina had served as president of Trenholm State Technical College since its merger with Patterson State Technical College in 2001.

“Sam Munnerlyn has unquestionable integrity and has demonstrated his dedication to this college. We had a pool of applicants from all over the country, but we realized that the best person for the job was right here on our own doorstep.” Byrne said.

Munnerlyn has been employed with Trenholm State Technical College since 1978. He has served in an administrative capacity since 2006, as the chief administrative officer of the college in the absence of the president. During this interim administrative period,

Munnerlyn continues to serve as the dean of students, a position he has held since 1995, coordinating college-wide student services planning and management. As the dean of students, he also provides oversight for the Educational Talent Search, Student Support Services, and Welfare-to-Work Programs.

Previously, Munnerlyn served in various student services positions associated with the development and implementation of a comprehensive retention program, coordination with state and federal agencies regarding policies and procedures, and compliance with laws and regulations relating to servicing disabled and special population students. Prior to that, he served as the Veterans Affairs program; assistant financial aid director; and as the program coordinator for a variety of college initiatives.

Munnerlyn received his master’s degree in Guidance and Counseling from Alabama State University in Montgomery, and holds a bachelor’s degree in History and Political Science from Stillman College in Tuscaloosa.

Trenholm State Technical College is located in Montgomery, serving students in Bullock, Elmore, Lowndes, Macon and Montgomery counties. Trenholm Tech is part of the Alabama College System, offering technical certificate and degree programs, workforce training, and adult education.

Related posts:

1. [HBCU Presidents] Dr. Helen T. McAlpine: J.F. Drake State Technical College
2. [HBCU Presidents] Dr. James Lowe, Jr. – Bishop State Community College
3. [HBCU Presidents] Horace Mann Bond: 1st Black President of Fort Valley State College & Lincoln University

Dr. Robert Michael Franklin ’75 is the tenth president of Morehouse College, the nation’s largest private, four-year liberal arts college for men.

Prior to Morehouse, Franklin was a Presidential Distinguished Professor of Social Ethics at Emory University, where he provided leadership for a university-wide initiative titled “Confronting the Human Condition and the Human Experience” and was a senior fellow at the Center for the Study of Law and Religion at the law school.

He provides commentary for the National Public Radio (NPR) program, “All Things Considered,” and weekly commentary for Atlanta Interfaith Broadcasting Television.

Franklin graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Morehouse in 1975 with a degree in political science and religion. He continued his education at Harvard Divinity School, earning a master of divinity degree in Christian social ethics and pastoral care in 1978, and the University of Chicago, earning a doctorate in ethics and society, and religion and the social sciences in 1985. He also undertook international study at the University of Durham, UK, as a 1973 English Speaking Union Scholar. His major fields of study include social ethics, psychology and African American religion.

An insightful educator, Franklin has served on the faculties of the University of Chicago, Harvard Divinity School, Colgate-Rochester Divinity School and at Emory University’s Candler School of Theology, where he gained a national reputation as director of Black Church Studies.

He also has served as program officer in Human Rights and Social Justice at the Ford Foundation, and as an adviser to the foundation’s president on future funding for religion and public life initiatives. Franklin also was invited by American film producer Jeffrey Katzenberg to prepare an online study guide for the congregational use of The Prince of Egypt, a DreamWorks film (1999).

In 1997, Franklin assumed the presidency of the Interdenominational Theological Center (ITC), the graduate theological seminary of the Atlanta University Center consortium. He served as the Chautauqua Institution’s Theologian in Residence for the 2005 season.

Franklin is the author of three books: Crisis in the Village: Restoring Hope in African American Communities (2007); Another Day’s Journey: Black Churches Confronting the American Crisis (1997); and Liberating Visions: Human Fulfillment and Social Justice in African American Thought (1990). He has co-authored (Don S. Browning, et. al.) a volume titled From Culture Wars to Common Ground: Religion and the American Family Debate (2001). He is the co-editor of the forthcoming The Cambridge Companion to Martin Luther King Jr., published by Cambridge University Press.

Active in a range of organizations, Franklin is a former trustee of the Jessie Ball duPont Fund (Jacksonville) and a member of the Atlanta Rotary Club, the Kappa Boule of Sigma Pi Phi fraternity and the 1999 class of Leadership Atlanta. He has served on the boards of the Community Foundation of Metro Atlanta, Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, Character Education Partnership, Congress of National Black Churches, Public Broadcasting of Atlanta, Atlanta Interfaith Broadcasting, Demos: A Network for Ideas and Action, FaithTrust Institute (formerly the Center for the Prevention of Sexual and Domestic Violence) and the Fund for Theological Education. He is the past chairman of the board of the Regional Council of Churches of Atlanta. In 2000, Mayor Bill Campbell appointed him co-chair of Atlanta 2000, the city’s official coordinating committee for Y2K activities and celebrations.

A seasoned traveler, Franklin has studied seven languages and visited Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and the Caribbean. He is the recipient of a Ford Foundation grant to examine religion in public life in Asia and produced NPR commentaries based on this research. Since 2003, he has served as a consultant for the Annie E. Casey Foundation.

Related posts:

1. John Hope: First African-American President of Morehouse College
2. [HBCU Presidents] Dr. Robert L. Satcher, Sr – St. Paul’s College
3. Louis W. Sullivan, M.D.: Founding Dean and 1st President of Morehouse School of Medicine

Dr. Maulana Karenga is professor of Africana Studies at California State University, Long Beach. He is also chair of the President’s Task Force on Multicultural Education and Campus Diversity at California State University, Long Beach.

Education

Dr. Karenga holds two Ph.D.‘s; his first in political science with focus on the theory and practice of nationalism (United States International University) and his second in social ethics with a focus on the classical African ethics of ancient Egypt (University of Southern California). He also holds an honorary doctorate of philosophy from the University of Durban-Westville, South Africa.

Moreover, he is the director of the Kawaida Institute of Pan-African Studies, Los Angeles, and national chairman of The Organization Us, a cultural and social change organization, so named to stress the communitarian focus of the organization. Dr. Karenga has had a profound and far-reaching effect on Black intellectual and political culture. Through his organization Us and his philosophy, Kawaida, he has played a vanguard role in shaping the Black Arts Movement, Black Studies, the Black Power Movement, Black Student Union Movement, Afrocentricity, rites of passage programs, the study of ancient Egyptian culture as an essential part of Black Studies, the independent Black school movement, African life-cycle ceremonies, the Simba Wachanga youth movement, and Black theological and ethical discourse.

Kwanzaa

Dr. Karenga is also widely known as the creator of Kwanzaa, an African American and Pan-African holiday celebrated throughout the world African community on every continent in the world. He is the author of the authoritative book on the subject: Kwanzaa: A Celebration of Family, Community and Culture and lectures regularly and extensively on the vision and values of Kwanzaa, especially the Nguzo Saba (The Seven Principles), in various national and international venues. Visit its official website for more information.

Dr. Karenga has also played a key role in national united front efforts, serving on the founding and executive committee of the Black Power Conferences of the 60′s, the National Black United Front, the National African American Leadership Summit, the Black Leadership Retreat, the National Association of Kawaida Organizations (NAKO) and on the national organizing committee of the Million Man March/Day of Absence as well as authored the Mission Statement for this joint project.

Dr. Karenga is author of numerous scholarly articles and books, including: Introduction to Black Studies, the most widely used intro text in Black Studies; Selections From The Husia: Sacred Wisdom of Ancient Egypt; The Book of Coming Forth By Day: The Ethics of the Declarations of Innocence; Kawaida: A Communitarian African Philosophy; and a translation and ethical commentary on the classical Yoruba text titled, Odu Ifa: The Ethical Teachings. His most recent publication is Maat, The Moral Ideal in Ancient Egypt: A Study in Classical African Ethics from Routledge/University of Sankore Press. An activist-scholar of national and international recognition, he has lectured on the life and struggle of African peoples on the major campuses of the U.S.A. and in Senegal, Nigeria, Egypt, South Africa, the People’s Republic of China, Cuba, Trinidad, Britain and Canada.

Books By an About Dr. Maulana Karenga:

He also served as chairman of the African American delegation to the Second World Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture, Lagos, Nigeria, 1977; the spokesman for a delegation of African American Educators of Independent Schools to the People’s Republic of China; 1977; member of the Planning Committee for the Pan-African Festival of Arts and Culture, Dakar, Senegal, 1986; chairman of the delegation of educators/activists of the Organization Us to Cuba, 1986; co-planner and co-convener of the Annual Ancient Egyptian Studies Conference of the Association for the Study of Classical African Civilizations, Cairo, Egypt, 1987; Inaugural Lecturer for the initiation of Black History Month, London, England, 1987, Honorary Doctorate Recipient and Commencement Speaker, University of Durban-Westville, South Africa, 1998 and Official Guest and Lecturer, 160th Anniversary of Emancipation, Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, 1998.

Honors & Awards

Moreover, he is the recipient of numerous awards for scholarship, leadership and community service including: the National Leadership Award for Outstanding Scholarly Achievements in Black Studies from the National Council for Black Studies; the Diop Exemplary Leadership Award from the Department of African American Studies-Temple University; the Richard Allen Living Legend Award from the African Methodist Episcopal Church; the Pioneer Award from the Rainbow PUSH Coalition and Citizenship Education Fund; the Executive Committee Award for a Lifetime of Achievements, Department of Africology, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee; the Outstanding Humanitarian Award, the Nigerian Community of Southern California and Associated Groups; the C.L.R. James Award for Outstanding Publication of ScholarlyWorks that Advance the Discipline of Africana and Black Studies, the National Council for Black Studies; and the Distinguished Africanist Award, the New York African Studies Association.

You have to watch this video. It is extremely timely!

===

Information obtained from Dr. Maulana Karenga’s personal website.

Related posts:

1. Jared A. Ball: Activist, Professor, and FreeMix Radio Creator
2. [HBCU Presidents] Dr. Robert M. Franklin, Jr. – Morehouse College
3. Alain Locke: 1st Black Rhodes Scholar, Author, Full Philosophy Professor @ Howard

Dr. Alicia Nicki Washington is an Assistant Professor and the first African American female faculty member in the Department of Systems and Computer Science at Howard University. She is also the youngest tenure-track member of faculty. Before joining the faculty, she was a Senior Member of the Technical Staff with the Aerospace Corporation in Chantilly, VA. She is a 2000 graduate of Johnson C. Smith University, earning a B.S. in Computer Science. In 2002, she received her M.S. from North Carolina State University and, in 2005, became the first black female to receive a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the university. She is a David and Lucille Packard Fellow and a NASA Harriet G. Jenkins Pre-Doctoral Fellow.

Dr. Washington has given numerous presentations on the importance of attracting and retaining minority students in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines, and pursuing undergraduate and graduate degrees in STEM. She is a member of the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE), Society of Women Engineers (SWE), Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Her current research interests are in the area of performance modeling and analysis of WDM and wireless networks.

Dr. Washington

“Eventually it’s about being able to bring other people in. It shouldn’t necessarily be that we’re the first and that we’re the elite few. It should be commonplace for African American students, who are in science and engineering, especially at historically black colleges and universities, to be able to go on to obtain higher degrees, so that they can come back and teach at these universities and influence and support and inspire the generations behind them.” -Dr. Washington

Specialty

• Computer Networking
• Simulation and Modeling
• Software Engineering

Research

• Traffic-Groomed Tandem Optical Network Modeling and Simulation
• Disruption Tolerant Networking
• HCI
• Non-traditional Learning methods
• Heterogeneous Networks
• Sensor Networks

Subjects Taught

Computer Science II, Human Computer Interaction, Network Modeling and Analysis, Modeling and Simulation.

Related posts:

1. [ Newly_Tenured ] Dr. Sherri Frizell – Associate Professor @ Prairie View A&M
2. Dr. Brian Blake named Associate Dean at Notre Dame
3. Ayanna Howard receives NSBE's 2009 Torch Award

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.

Related posts:

1. [ Newly_Tenured ] Dr. Sherri Frizell – Associate Professor @ Prairie View A&M
2. Dr. Lawrence Clark: Professor and Math Education Researcher
3. Dr. Fox Harrell: Researcher, Artist, and Associate Professor