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campus news
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Margie Lee relates some of her experiences with the tenure process.
(Photo by Peter Frey) |
Making a place
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| Faculty members,
graduate students share experiences, offer advice at inaugural Black
Issues in Higher Education Conference |
By Angela Hains
anicole7@uga.edu
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“We have a space,
but do we have a place at the University of Georgia or in higher
education to tell our African-American stories, and know that they are
both affirmed and evaluated without judgment, a place of support?”
asked Talmadge Guy in closing UGA’s inaugural Conference on Black
Issues in Higher Education.
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Rob
Branch makes a point. (Photo by Peter Frey)
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“Today, this conference has brought us together, and together we make a
place,” he said.
A diverse audience of nearly 100 UGA faculty and graduate students
attended the Feb. 3 conference, which illustrated that the plight for
equality in higher education here and across the country is far from
over.
“Education is the oldest form of combating racism,” said Norvella
Carter, the endowed chair of urban education at Texas A&M
University and one of two keynote speakers, “but there is still an
unequal balance of blacks in higher education, whether you’re talking
about faculty or students.”
In many Research I universities, black faculty account for just 1
percent of total faculty and only a small number of that 1 percent are
tenured, full professors, according to Carter. In fall 2005, 6 percent
of UGA’s faculty were African American, and 4 percent were full
professors, according to the 2005 UGA Fact Book.
Over the past several years, the university has worked to increase
black enrollment, and the numbers are slowly improving. In 2005, UGA
offered admission to 570 African Americans for the fall freshman class,
a 36 percent increase over the previous year. However, black enrollment
still represents a small percentage of the 33,000 students who attend
UGA each year.
The inaugural BIHE conference was initiated by faculty members in UGA’s
College of Education, which has been a campus leader on issues of
diversity. In fact, black faculty account for 17.9 percent of full-time
faculty in the COE. Further, nearly half of COE black faculty are
tenured and hold the rank of full or associate professor.
“Given the demographics of our state and our campus, it is important
that we have this focus and this conversation,” said Juanita
Johnson-Bailey, professor and graduate coordinator of adult education
and women’s studies, and co-planner of the conference.
Between keynote speakers, nine UGA faculty members from disciplines
across campus served on panel discussions, sharing stories on obstacles
they faced in higher education and addressing participants’ questions
and concerns. Among the issues discussed were low enrollment of black
students at land-grant institutions, under-representation of black
faculty and retention of black faculty.
Bettye Smith, an associate professor in the department of workforce
education, leadership and social foundations and co-planner of the
conference, said she hoped the critical mass of black faculty at the
conference will spawn conversations about African Americans’ uniqueness
and circumstances on UGA’s campus and in academia.
“We want to be deliberate in our intention to build a community of
mentors for our junior faculty and graduate students,” said Smith. “Our
panels and guest speakers addressed such issues such as, ‘How do you
build a research agenda? How do you get published?’ and ‘How do you
find a mentor?’”
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Going places
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Panelists at the Black Issues in Higher Education Conference included
UGA faculty members
(from left) Ron Cervero, Diane Morrow, Kecia Thomas and Juanita
Johnson-Bailey.
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Faculty talk about plight for equality in higher education at conference
(Photos by Peter Frey)
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Emory
University’s Vanessa Siddle-Walker delivers a keynote speech at the
conference.
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Norvella Carter from Texas A&M University delivers a keynote speech
at the conference.
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Inyega Justus, program coordinator for science education at UGA in
Gwinnett, listens to the keynote address given by Norvella Carter.
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Malcolm Butler, assistant professor of
mathematics and science education, listens to keynote speaker Norvella
Carter.
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