When students and scholars gather in Bermuda in October for the 5th annual International Colloquium on Black Males in Education, they will pay homage to Dr. Lee Jones, founding president of the Brothers of the Academy Institute (BOTA) who passed away late last year.
Jones, who died of cancer last December, was the visionary behind the academy, which was founded to help Black men gain tenure-track positions within the academy and to “foster collegial networks and relationships among the members.”
In 2000, Jones edited a popular book called Brothers of the Academy: Up and Coming Black Scholars Earning Our Way in Higher Education, which scholars interested in the trajectory of Blacks within higher education continue to cite.
“The Brothers of the Academy book was an industry transformation effort,” says Dr. Jerlando F. L. Jackson, the Vilas Distinguished Professor of Higher Education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
The success of the book caused participants to establish the Brothers of the Academy Institute and “sparked a new generation of Black males and others to pursue Ph.D.s and the professoriate, brought greater awareness of the value research can bring to Black communities, and provide a comfortable professional space for all of us,” says Jackson, who is the organizer of the Colloquium along with Dr. James L Moore III of The Ohio State University.
“Without BOTA, none of the joint efforts that Brother Moore and I have activated would exist, including the Colloquium,” says Jackson, who is also the director and chief research scientist for Wisconsin’s Equity and Inclusion Laboratory. “We were compelled to shine a spotlight on the work and anniversary of the organization because it truly made an imprint on the academy.”
Later, Sisters of the Academy (SOTA) was formed.
