According to the U.S. Department of Education, President Jimmy Carter signed an executive order in 1980 establishing a federal program “to overcome the effects of discriminatory treatment and to strengthen and expand the capacity of historically black colleges and universities (HBCU) to provide quality education”. In 2011, President Barack Obama established the National HBCU Week to provide a forum to exchange information and share innovations among and between institutions. Stakeholders, which include federal agencies, private sector companies, and philanthropic organizations, provide an overview of successful engagements that if replicated, could improve instruction, degree completion, and understanding of federal policies that shape and support higher education.
Prairie View A&M University Leadership PVAMU members, executive leaders, and students attended the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges during National HBCU Week in October 2016. During this conference, participants engaged in dialogue and benefited from lectures by Loretta Lynch, Ivory Toldson, Kim Hunter Reed, Gwendolyn Boyd and more. They were also able to hear panel discussions moderated by individuals such as former “A Different World” actors Darryl Bell and Jasmine Guy on student movements and empowerment, and Chad Womack, Director of Science Education Initiatives with the United Negro College Fund as he and other leaders shared the status and overview of HBCU STEM and R&D performance and investment trends in STEM.
The summit closed with an engaging discussion on the institutional capacity for faculty success in sponsored research initiatives. Danielle Y. Hairston-Green, Program Specialist, and Leadership PVAMU Cohort 2 member, shared that “many of the speakers discussed how important it is to engage in meaningful research and that we need to do better letting the world know about the research that is occurring on our campuses.” Chris Cotton, Program Specialist, and Leadership PVAMU Cohort I member, explained, “This summit provided an opportunity for leaders and emerging leaders to connect and brainstorm new and innovative approaches to move our HBCU’s”. He further stated that “as a result of the network that I established during this summit a new relationship was forged that will allow PVAMU to benefit from the talents of Lincoln University (Missouri)”.
Leadership PVAMU is an executive succession program. The “primary goal of this program is to fortify PVAMU’s leadership pipeline through the creation of a talent pool of qualified and PV trained individuals with effective leadership competencies”.
Danielle Hairston-Green, Ph.D.
Program Specialist, Family and Consumer Sciences
dyhairstongreen@pvamu.edu
(936) 261-5118