Prairie View A & M University has a long and storied tradition of “producing students who are productive citizens.” On the ground level, this process takes place in the classroom, through developing mentor/mentee relationships with students, and providing students with opportunities to apply the knowledge attained in class to real-life situations.
Dr. Marco Robinson, Assistant Professor of History in the Division of Social Work, Political and Behavioral Sciences, has taken this challenge to heart and works to uphold the longstanding tradition of academic excellence at PVAMU. For Robinson, the foundation of academic excellence “Starts in the classroom and developing relationships with students.” Robinson stated, “Going into my second year I set a goal to make sure my student’s in-class work would translate into opportunities for them outside of the classroom.” Dr. Robinson did just that by getting his students involved with obtaining tangible skills through working with PVAMU’s Special Collections and Archives Department and hosting workshops led by outside experts.
These experiences provided Robinson’s students with a wealth of knowledge and experience to apply to programs outside of the classroom. Two of his mentees, Jessmine Cornelius (rising Junior, History Major) and Daren White (rising senior History Major), received Robinson’s message and made their in-class work translate into summer opportunities.
Cornelius participated in the New Leadership Texas Summer Institute hosted by The Center for Women’s & Gender Studies held at the University of Texas, Austin in June 2018. During the one week institute, she attended leadership workshops where several noted Texas female political leaders spoke to the participants. Cornelius exclaimed, “I had a good experience and am ready to apply what I learned.”
Daren White went to Pennsylvania State University where he participated in the Emerging Scholars Summer Mentoring Program. While at Penn State White was exposed to the rigors of graduate school, the admission process and conducting primary source research. White stated, “The program has profoundly shaped my desire to go to graduate school and gave me an opportunity to further my research.”
Dr. Robinson was a co-facilitator of a digital humanities workshop titled dealing with ‘Jumpstarting Digital Humanities Projects‘ in June 2018, which was funded by the Mellon Foundation. His section of the workshop dealt with ‘Collecting and Digitizing Historical Items.’ Robinson lamented, “My research ties into my student’s training as budding historians…whether they go into the public or private sectors I want them to have the experience and skills to compete.”
Professor Robinson enlisted student research assistants to work on all of his current research projects. Additionally, he collaborated with Phyllis Earles, M.L.I.S. PVAMU University Archivist and Dr. Farrah Cambrice, Assistant Professor of Sociology at PVAMU in a recent journal article. Robinson’s forthcoming article deals with the history of Prairie View during the Jim Crow Era and the university archival collections related to this history.
Dr. Robinson’s work as a teacher, researcher and mentor is having a profound impact on his students, colleagues, and the broader community. Moreover, his scholarly work brings attention to the importance of mentoring students, historical preservation, and making the rich history of PVAMU more accessible to the nation and world.

 

Author: Marco Robinson, Ph.D.