Digging Out of the Digital Divide
Scholar and entrepreneur Randal Pinkett discusses how far America still must go to achieve technological equality.
By Peter Galuszka
One of the most prominent engineers and entrepreneurs in the country, Dr. Randal D. Pinkett keeps a high profile on issues related to minorities, technology and education. The holder of five degrees, Pinkett has built an academic record that includes a doctorate and MBA from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He was also named a Rhodes Scholar in 1994.
While an undergraduate at Rutgers University, he founded BCT Partners, a consulting firm now based in Newark, N.J. Its clients include many technology giants, such as Hewlett-Packard, Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer. Black Issues In Higher Education, Diverse’s predecessor, first introduced readers to Pinkett when he was named an Arthur Ashe sports scholar more than 10 years ago. But he gained national, if not worldwide fame as the 2005 winner of Donald Trump’s NBC reality-based television show, “The Apprentice.” The Philadelphia native has also been praised for his work to help close the digital divide. As a graduate student at MIT, Pinkett founded a project to bring the Internet to a mostly Black housing project in Boston.
Pinkett, author of the recently released Campus CEO: The Student Entrepreneur’s Guide to Launching a Multimillion Dollar Business (Kaplan Publishing, 2007), talked with Diverse about boosting minority representation in the sciences and closing the digital divide.
DI: How are you dealing with the aftermath of “The Apprentice” win?
