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Welcome to The EDU Ledger! We’ve moved from Diverse: Issues In Higher Education.

Section: Opinion

Tuskegee University: An Honorable Track Record

About a week ago, I had the pleasure of visiting Tuskegee University. Tuskegee is a charming institution with lovely historic buildings and a tranquil campus green. In many ways, Tuskegee looks like any other well-manicured, small college. However, Tuskegee has an amazing and unique history, which is exemplified by the statue of Booker T. Washington […]

May 31, 2011

A Black Woman Responds to Don Lemon

Don Lemon is gay. The media, both social and mainstream, have been all atwitter since the CNN anchor made this announcement via Twitter this weekend. This happened as his memoir Transparent is being released this week. Lemon and his book were the subject of a Sunday New York Times feature, in which “he said he […]

May 17, 2011

Male Rape: The Silent Crisis

Most of us are aware of—or have at least heard of—shocking, horrific stories of women who have been sexually battered and violated by men. Such an atrocity happened in my own family. A few years ago, one of my relatives was the victim of a violent rape by a sex offender. She survived. He was […]

May 7, 2011

Faculty & Staff

Empowering Women for Academic Leadership Roles

This past week, I had the pleasure of attending a session on empowering women for academic leadership roles. The event was held at the University of Pennsylvania and featured female academic leaders — our president, deans, center leaders and department chairs. Together, these impressive women offered advice to all of the women in the audience. […]

May 2, 2011

The Business Role in STEM Education

The month of April saw at least two big announcements from the business community regarding the condition of math and science education in America. First, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce released “The Case for Being Bold: A New Agenda for Business in Improving STEM Education,” calling for the nation’s business sector to challenge the status […]

April 30, 2011

Scholars of Minority-Serving Institutions Remain Dedicated, Enthusiastic and Passionate About Their Research

My very favorite aspect of being a faculty member is the work I get to do with new scholars. This past week at the American Education Research Association’s annual meeting in New Orleans, my colleague Clif Conrad of the University of Wisconsin and I hosted a lunch for new scholars. The focus was on research […]

April 12, 2011

Too Many Men Are Carefree About Their Health

Several years ago, in the late 1990s, I remember watching an HBO special where a comedian made the comment “a man can have a foot growing in his stomach and he still will not go to the hospital.” At the time, the audience, like myself, laughed at the comment. Fast forward more than a decade […]

April 6, 2011

Pell Grants as Costly and ‘Harmful’ Welfare?

As American politicians and educators continue to slice and dice away at higher education resources and programs using the hollow, yet sharp knives of austerity, the future of a diverse academy increasingly looks bleak and dreary. The widely used justification — the need to cut costs and reduce the national deficit — seems so difficult […]

April 5, 2011

Students Still Willing to Work Toward Positive Change

I have taught a course called the History of American Higher Education for the past 8 years. It is my very favorite course to teach. Not only is it the course in which I feel most comfortable, but it typically has younger students – mainly master’s students – in it. I enjoy their spirit, their […]

April 3, 2011

Financial Aid Must Go Further

The importance of Pell Grant funding and other forms of need-based financial aid – including aid programs at the state and institutional levels – are well established and fiercely debated by secondary and postsecondary educators, among others, who work with students and families on a daily basis. Hence the flurry of activity, advocacy and commentary […]

March 24, 2011

Depression In College Men and Beyond

Recently, I was at a conference speaking with an acquaintance who teaches at a small liberal arts college in the Northeast. We got to catch up on many things, our families, politics, President Obama, our careers, siblings, academic life in general. For the most part, things are going well for both of us. However, in […]

March 5, 2011

What Student Affairs Professionals Can Do to Empower Students of Color

I am a faculty member, but I began my career in higher education as a student affairs administrator. My experiences working in residence halls, as a judicial affairs officer, on a programming board and in student life make me a bit different from your average faculty member. How? I appreciate the work that those in […]

February 27, 2011

A Reflection on the Need for Achievement-Minded Approaches to Diversifying STEM

I was pleased to read fellow-blogger Marybeth Gasman’s most recent piece on the misrepresentation of Blacks in American history texts and classrooms. Like Dr. Gasman, I too have pondered the portrayal of Black students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, as well as the research approach taken by social scientists who study diverse populations in […]

February 22, 2011

The Benefits of University-Public School Partnerships

At 6:52 one Friday morning last semester, as I was on my way to a local high school to meet my Foundations of Urban Ed class for our weekly field experience, I got the following instructions from one of my students via text message: Here are your lyrics for the rap. Memorize them and don’t […]

February 20, 2011

Black History is American History

This past week, I made a guest visit (via Skype) in Professor Lori Patton Davis’ History of American Higher Education course at the University of Denver. I was asked to talk about an article that I recently wrote on stereotypes of Black college presidents. The article focuses on the origins of these stereotypes and illuminates […]

February 19, 2011

The Future of Higher Education: Non-Profit or For-Profit?

As American higher education continues its jog from public to private, a fierce battled has gripped Washington that could accelerate or slow the pace. Last year, the U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) issued a blistering report that found many for-profit institutions have misled students during the recruiting process, encouraged students to falsify financial aid applications […]

February 16, 2011

President Obama’s 2012 Commitment to STEM

At a time of fiscal constraint and severe cuts to numerous federal programs, President Obama’s fiscal year 2012 budget proposal confirms his commitment to strengthen science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. On numerous occasions–including during last month’s State of the Union address–the president has pointed to the importance of U.S. advancements in STEM for […]

February 15, 2011

College Students Feeling Overwhelmed by Stress

For those of us who have attended college at some point in our lives, we most likely have memories, no matter how distant, of our freshman year. This was a time when we assumed that we would embark on a new journey free from certain constraints that were imposed upon us by mom and dad. […]

February 5, 2011