HBCU News and Commentary
A few months ago, the University of Arkansas Pine Bluff received the biggest donation in school history from Simmons Bank — a $2.5 million gift in support of upgrades to its athletics programs and facilities. No one could have guessed that the announcement would be just the beginning, and perhaps a footnote, in a summer of success for the Golden Lions community.
[Read more…] about UAPB is Tired of Being a ‘Best Kept Secret’
Several historically black college football programs will be searching for new head coaches this spring, as Black Monday in the HBCU football landscape dawned on campuses over the last 24 hours.
[Read more…] about Resignations, Firings Usher in HBCU Football ‘Black Monday’
In this work, the research team demonstrated the first set of optically pumped GeSn edge-emitting lasers that covers an unprecedented broad wavelength range from 2 to 3 micron and higher efficiency than all previous reports. This work is an essential step towards obtaining high performance and cost-effective Si-based monolithic integrated mid-infrared laser sources.
The technology will improve not only lasers, but also detectors in a wide range of applications such as lasers for medical use, infrared detections, and in optical communications. The development of this technology will undoubtedly lead to opportunities for commercialization of the technical innovations to significantly contribute Arkansas economic development.
Five public and private historically black colleges and universities will work to recruit and train black males to serve as secondary teachers in underserved cities and towns, thanks in part to a three-year, $1.5 million grant awarded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation to the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association, which helped to organize the training consortium.
Southern University, Tuskegee University, the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, Alcorn State University and Claflin University are the lead institutions in Project Pipeline Repair: Restoring Minority Male Participation and Persistence in Educator Preparation Programs (Project PR). The program will support academic development, mentoring, and skill training for black males beginning in their junior year of high school, to foster interest and talent in secondary teaching career paths.
Officials say the program will work to eliminate social and economic barriers which limit college entry and completion and contribute to dismal statistics of underrepresentation of black men in teaching. According to SHEEO press release, only two percent of all secondary teachers in public school systems are black men.
The partnership is the second major secondary education initiative involving historically black colleges and universities in the last six months. In October, Virginia State University and Albany State University were announced as part of a $47 million national initiative to help in training principals in underresourced areas.
